dirac

I was very impressed too, Angelica. I had never seen Mearns before. Would be interested to read a compare-and-contrast by anyone who saw Farrell in it. The ballet is perhaps not ideal for televising but it was great fun to watch. I could imagine Balanchine in the studio with all these girls racing around with their hair flying and thinking "This is what I live for."

A profile of Copeland by Aaron Hicklin in The Guardian.

And private money often comes with strings attached, as well.

Natalia, I'd refer you to California's comment above: It is certainly part of the NEA's remit to encourage diversity. Traditionally it's not hard to get culturally aware rich people to support ballet, opera, or orchestras (although even that is changing), but even those establishment endeavors can benefit from NEA recognition. It would obviously be better if the NEH and NEA could give more and I have a feeling the Sarasota Ballet wouldn't send the checks back. The appropriations for both the NEH and the NEA are drops in the budgetary bucket and cuts to them, or eliminating the NEH and NEA entirely, will not affect the government's bottom line one way or the other.

Many actresses would look just fine with a little more meat on their bones. The ladies all looked lovely. Adrian would never have made that thing Dakota Johnson wore for Garbo.......

I thought the PBS broadcast does better justice to the second movement of Symphony in C than the Kent-Ludlow film shown in Six Balanchine Ballerinas. I'm sure Kent was magical in it, but I didn't really see it in that clip. Kent's book is one of the most interesting of ballerina autobiographies, and considerably franker than most.

Just a note to say I always enjoy reading your comments on dancers, atm711. I never saw Farrell in it but I did read Croce saying that it wasn't one of her best roles, so I appreciate hearing other views. So often the critic(s) get the last word!

Speaking of which -- I found the height discrepancy between Teresa Reichlen and the other three ballerinas to be a mite distracting in the fourth movement finale of the TV transmission. Also Tyler Angle disappeared behind her for seemingly long periods during the great second movement pas. I know Balanchine’s cavaliers are supposed to be self-effacing, but there are limits. It could be me, of course. I also really enjoyed Sonatine. Those delicious details that Balanchine and only Balanchine seems to be able to produce without effort. I wasn’t crazy about Megan Fairchild’s Sugar Plum from the Nutcracker broadcast, but I thought she was very nice here, although perhaps without the special perfume that Verdy probably brought to it. Joaquin De Luz’s haircut evoked for me 1) a Michael Somes wig and 2) the Fonz. I have loved Tiler Peck each time I have seen her on the teevee and this broadcast was no exception. I hate long flights but maybe it is time for me to get on a plane…………… I didn’t have any problem with PBS dividing the performance into one-hour segments. I didn’t like the scheduling – 10:00 pm and 9:30 pm on Friday nights, respectively. But this was bounty compared to the usual invisibility of classical and modern dance on PBS and I intend to renew my subscription and tell them why. In my area they showed "Black Ballerina" after the second broadcast and I enjoyed it.

Dmitrichenko eager to get back on stage:

Thanks, Quiggin. I did see that, having followed the Isherwood dustup with some interest. (I guess he's been stewing like some junior ballerina at the Royal waiting for Fonteyn to quit.) Looks like they're seeking someone young and cheap who won't talk back to the principal. It is more than a little insulting to the craft. I presume the Times wouldn't hire, for example, an architectural critic who knew nothing of buildings except what he liked.

Good point, sandik. abatt, your remark about the lifestyle trivia, with which I agree, is exactly the kind of complaint the paper needs to hear right now, because that is the direction in which their coverage is headed.

The Times is the only US paper that sends its critics out of town to review dance performances in other parts of the country (and the world), so I would suggest that's actually a Good Thing. I can also understand why Macaulay might be more interested in covering Ratmansky's new version of The Fairy's Kiss than re-reviewing Martins' Sleeping Beauty, even with cast changes -- and some of his audience might be more interested in reading about it. (Ideally, there would be no choice to make and both would get reviewed.)

Ilona Landgraf reports on a two-day conference sponsored by Dutch National Ballet recently.

I agree. In Macaulay's case it registers not so much as a cause as more of a bee in his bonnet that won't stop buzzing. I also wonder if there is actually any need to worry about "acceptance" of mix 'n' match gender partnering since as far as I know audiences aren't complaining (?) Lesser's point is a good one, but a ballet choreographer who can't "do couples" would be in a bit of a spot as a ballet choreographer; the pas de deux remains a central element in the art form. In fairness to the NYT, it has held the line on arts reviews and coverage a lot longer than any other broadsheet and many magazines. As the article Emma linked to notes, the paper has the only remaining stand-alone book review in the country. Sandik has mentioned the collapse in print advertising revenue, also mentioned in the article, which is driving the current cutbacks. Another factor is that in the internet era, clicks are all, and reviews are not getting the clicks. Even the theater reviewers, traditionally the most influential critics, are being told there will be fewer reviews and less space in which to write them. I would suggest that anyone here who subscribes to the NYT or otherwise financially contributes to the paper in some way write to the editor with their concerns.

That's a great find, Quiggin, especially Francis X. Bushman at the Brown Derby. (This seems to be a Hedda moment - Helen Mirren played her in the recent Dalton Trumbo biopic. She was a nasty piece of work.) I agree, ABT Fan.

Hi, sidwich, good to hear from you. Yes, I remember your mentioning that you'd seen Gosling in class. True, mimsyb. "An American in Paris" was never a big favorite of mine but I caught the same broadcast and I see more things in it now.

I saw the trailer for this and I have middling hopes. (All too often these made-for-cable movies take a great idea and then don’t do much with it.) There’s also a sterling supporting cast: I would have preferred to see J. Davis in either one of the leads. Lange, I’m sorry to say, has become a Horrible Example of celebrity plastic surgery gone wrong. She's starting to look like Doris Duke. I’m not sure who FX thinks will be the audience for this, but I thank the network for keeping us in mind.

Thanks for the link!

Steph Curry is awesome on so many levels.

A report from Ilona Landgraf in her blog. Would like to hear from others if they see it!

Sad news indeed, Cygnet. The NYT obit describes how groundbreaking her show was in its time. Moore was a dancer and Toni Bentley describes in Winter Season an occasion when Moore took class and did respectably for a civilian.

An article on the potential fallout if this latest attack on the NEA succeeds: I've already contacted my representative, who needs no persuasion on this point. I do not think it is too soon.

They were at the Liberty Ball and the Freedom Ball, I believe.

The Republican establishment has not always been hostile to arts funding - quite the contrary. In the (relatively) recent past these attempts came from what was once regarded as the harder right. Times have changed, alas. I don't recall any attempts to eliminate the endowments since Gingrich's charge in the mid-nineties. This time the situation is somewhat different. If these reports are true, the initiative is coming from the White House, not from Congress or outside activists. Nor has there been any recent high-profile controversy regarding an NEA grant. Also, now there are Republican majorities in both houses. It'll be up to the Senate.

We may have part of the answer: Related.