dirac

Croce wouldn't have had to see the Bejart troupe regularly in those years to reasonably conclude that Bejart had contributed in a positive way to the "new" Farrell. However, I don't think that any airbrushing was involved; my hunch is that Croce believed that any improvement in Farrell's artistry was largely due to Farrell's maturation and commitment and not to her having survived five years with Bejart. Croce's main complaint about Farrell's dancing just before she was fired from NYCB in '69 was that it was vulgar and overemphatic - exactly the kind of tendency that might be expected to be amplified after exposure to the Bejart aesthetic. Instead, Farrell seems to have absorbed the good from Bejart - international experience, a heightened theatrical projection, the ability to hold the stage without having much to dance - and avoided the obvious pitfalls. Farrell has been very generous about Bejart and rightly so, but it's hard to say that Bejart was the central force in making the dancer who came back to NYCB. It should also be noted that Croce's opinions regarding the sharper distinctions between pre-Bejart Farrell and post-Bejart Farrell were not shared by other critics. And whatever Farrell gained in Brussels, she also lost irreplaceable years -- and so did NYCB. It would be interesting to get a European perspective.

Thank you for posting this, YouOverThere. Seems to me it's an experiment worth trying. I note that it's black suits and frocks, so the uniformity of black evening wear, with it's non-distraction factor, will not be completely lost.

I have not come across anything like that myself. I recall Croce's review of the company with Farrell, "Folies Bejart," but not a retrospective analysis of any length from her apart from what she said in her review of Farrell's autobiography. The period is certainly worth analysis, given that, as Croce observed, she was Bejart's prima ballerina for as long as she had been Balanchine's up to that time, and when she returned she was in many respects a different dancer. (Or, as William Weslow said in "I Remember Balanchine," "With Bejart, she had to wear makeup." ) It's hard to imagine Balanchine making "Tzigane" for the pre-Bejart Farrell.

Thank you for posting, volcanohunter. I hadn't heard yet. Truly, one of the last prima donnas.

There was a PBS American Masters show on Carson that was just depressing to watch - broken marriages, broken friendships. Stuff you'd really rather not know if you ever liked watching the guy. However, personality freeze isn't limited to comedians. Last summer I read Jane Fonda's memoir, and the brrr factor was very high in any household headed by Henry Fonda. macnellie writes: I haven't, but I'd be interested to hear from someone who has. Share, please.

Completely agree with all of the above--and I always found Mcbride-Tomasson a wonderful partnership! I wish I had seen them together.Tomasson has spoken warmly about dancing with McBride. I really do hope he is included in some way.

My hunch, lmspear, is that both "slights" to McBride and Mazzo meant........absolutely nothing.

It’s interesting that with the rise of social media something that would normally be a semi-private matter, like congratulations between old colleagues, has become another source of public scrutiny, with people checking out a person’s tweets in search of snubs or omissions. I think Villella and “The Man I Love” are both obvious choices. Would love to see Tiler Peck dance it. Baryshnikov would be nice for name recognition value even if it wasn’t a partnership made in heaven. McBride and Helgi Tomasson danced quite a bit together before the hiring of Baryshnikov. Tomasson probably isn’t enough of a name but it would be nice to see a tribute from him. Congratulations to Edward Gorey’s beloved Miss McBride!

They were "bundled together" for many reasons, although I can certainly understand Rivers' wishing to underline differences. It was nice of Joan to let Edgar off the hook, but others didn't get off so easily, as the NYT article describes.

True - and a perennial complaint of mine. On the other hand, it makes life easier for the actresses if they rely in the main on simple sheaths -- it provides them with the kind of protective and generally flattering uniformity that men's evening dress has traditionally provided for the opposite sex (who aren't subject to the same kind of savage scrutiny). Rivers was indeed an influence, and a bad one IMO - but then I think the whole red carpet business has gotten completely out of hand...... We had a discussion here about Rivers when the documentary "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work" (highly recommended, BTW) came out some years ago. As noted in the old thread - by Drew, if I remember without checking first-- Rivers was an insult comic, but unlike male insult comics her nastiest cracks were often at her own expense. This was true of Phyllis Diller as well - perhaps these pioneers of female standup comedy had to channel the aggression that is to some degree inherent in the form against themselves to be acceptable. NYT obit. Thank you for posting, Cygnet. I share your feelings. Rivers was indeed a piece of work. A sad way to go, but she was preparing to go out on the road to work -- where she seems to have been happiest.

I fear many if not most layoffs are for the benefit of Wall Street, since a company's stock price generally goes up after they are announced.That's how the system works these days.

Of course they do: a public firing has emotional and sometimes financial consequences that a private parting of ways does not. Swift and brutal can be independent. In fact, I've seen some brutal slow firings that nearly destroyed groups.Any assumption about the timing is just that: an assumption. We don't know if the firings were done at the behest of Corella or as a result of performance evaluations independent of Corella's appointment. Reading carefully, Corella never says that he did the firing or that it was his decision: he was asked for the reasons, which he pretty much brushed off and focused on the team he hired. We don't know if any of this started before Corella took the helm a little over a week ago. All we know is that one person involved, the ballet administrator, Phil Juska expressed surprise, that the firings took place on Monday with no announcement from the Company, that it was leaked to the press on Wednesday, and that the website was updated today. Juska is the only one involved who has spoken. I still don't see that any dirt sticks to the people who were let go (except in the manner of their being let go), but perhaps the phrase means different things to different people (?) Very possibly the internal situation was such that business couldn't go on as usual.There is no way mass dismissals don't get outside attention; it's the responsibility of whoever is running things to see that matters don't get out of hand, as they did here. Toward the more general point, as I mentioned previously, there is no way to get rid of large numbers of people without distress and disruption. I was simply speaking to what appeared to be a general assumption that fast and large is always better and, by implication, "clean."

I don't think the people who were dismissed have anything sticking to them (?) As for the present management, time will tell. Not off to a great start, but this will blow over. A layoff doesn't have to be swift and brutal to be "clean," I would respectfully suggest. And there are frequently other options for management. Unfortunately, and particularly in this country, they tend to be first rather than last resorts.

I can think of all sorts of legitimate reasons for making a mad dash for the exits as soon as the performance ends -- the last bus/train home, a baby-sitter who has school the next day, a long drive ahead on a work night. Those are all factors that can be considered before one buys a ticket. I have to agree with the writer that leaving immediately is rude to both the performers and to the audience (it breaks the spell), especially for audience members who can't attend frequently, for whom a performance is a truly special occasion. Anyhow, Macaulay has a piece today on a similar topic, The Delayed: To Sit or Not to Sit? As others have pointed out, people often have good or "good" reasons to leave immediately. I've done so myself. However, when I leave early, I am depending on others to stay and applaud - in effect, to do my job as an appreciative audience member for me. So maybe it is worth remembering that leaving too quickly is, if not outright rudeness, less than ideal, even if it is sometimes necessary. Perhaps there's a tipping point? When it's relatively few people, not a problem. But I have been to (good) performances where it seemed like a lot of people were rumbling toward the exits early, and it does put a damper on things, no question.

This. Nothing says you didn't measure up like getting laid off a year after the shakeup. Many mass dismissals aren't nearly that impersonal by any means. Companies can get away with all manner of personal business under the cover of a layoff. In this case, IMO the dramatic fashion in the way the Pennsylvania Ballet people got canned draws attention to their alleged deficiencies: "The situation was so bad we just had to get rid of these people pronto. No time to waste!"

Well, if it needs to be said, I will say it: it sucks to get laid off and it especially sucks when it's splashed all over a newspaper before a formal (and gracious) announcement has been issued by the company. That to me is the real shocker: someone from the company's administration should have had an announcement prepared and in Corella's hands and ready for the press before the laid-off staff members were told they were being let go. A professional organization does not let its new leader say something dismissive like "I'm sure the people were great, but ..."; it coaches him to say something along the lines of "Jeffrey and Tamara (always names, and always first names) have served this company with distinction for many years, as our wonderful dancers and ambitious repertoire make abundantly clear ... yadda yadda yadda" In fairness, we don't know what else Corella might have said during the interview nor what the context of his comment was, but as printed it sounded as if he'd barely met Gribner, Hadley, and DeGregory before he decided to replace them. I don't know much about how a ballet company works: it may be that telling someone at the beginning of the season that you're going to replace them before the end of the season so sours the relationship that little good work can get done. A swift departure -- with a generous severance package -- might be better for all concerned. Businesses have chosen to tell a group of people that changes are afoot and they should probably be thinking ahead. Not only does not necessarily sour the relationship, it can avoid hard feelings and unnecessary hurt. Brutal layoffs have become customary in this country and there seems to be a general assumption that it's unfortunate, but this is how it always is. It isn't. and doesn't have to be. $573 can be a big chunk of change when there's no money coming in except for unemployment. It sounds as if the unemployed in PA are relatively fortunate, but COBRA goes a lot higher very fast in other states.

Even allowing for the fact that new administrations usually make changes, sometimes sweeping (and needful) ones, these mass firings seem callous at best. Like Amy, I'm surprised that this is happening so swiftly; it is entirely possible for an organization to let people know which way the wind is blowing, and give them time to begin preparing, and many do. I also hope with Amy that these people who have served the company faithfully have decent severance packages. I regret to see so little mention here of the human pain and humiliation involved in getting the sack, especially under these circumstances. There is no good way to get rid of a lot of people at once, but some ways remain better than others. COBRA is very costly in most cases and unless you have a substantial financial cushion most unemployed people can’t make those payments for very long on their own. Nor is the ACA anything like a cure-all for those without work in every state, although obviously it is far better than nothing.

Thanks, pherank. It is a fun topic. I agree that unless you wish for your own reasons to broadcast your displeasure with the performance to everyone, you don't leave a live performance till intermission. I have never committed a Protest Walkout myself, although I did duck out of a Cunningham myself once, I forget which one. My ears were unhappy. (I was on the aisle, too.) I have heard and read more than one person of a certain age say something along the lines of, "Yes, I walk out. I don't have any more time to waste." I can understand that. After a certain point you know what you like and what you don't, and maybe you don't want to sit through that three-hour "epic" movie or that "experimental" dance or watch another Don Quixote pas de deux.

MICHAEL: Better to let you have it all at once. EMMA: Better for whom?

Sometimes it's not up to the film director and producer to air the footage uninterrupted. When the permission to use the footage is granted, it may attach a condition that the footage be adulterated, i.e. with voice over. Very true, mussel.Possibly it wasn't a director's choice. As a viewer, I can still whine about it, though. It really was detrimental in this case.

Thanks for posting, all. Haven't seen this but I saw The Guard and liked it. I guess at last John Michael can stop grinding his teeth every time Martin has a success.

Thanks, Lynette. I certainly hope it'll be available to us in the States. Truly a remarkable career. He was supposed to oversing himself out of the business early, you know.

I too was pleasantly surprised by The Master's Muse. There's a spirited discussion of the book in the Writings on Ballet thread. The Kirstein book also sparked discussion in that forum. Great responses, everyone. Keep them coming!

Fairchild is young but he's not too young to be a veteran. I don't see it as a problem (?)

Williams' Reddit AMA, from 2013.