dirac

Another perspective: Which reminded me of a remark by Fran Lebowitz: “An audience with a high level of connoisseurship is as important to the culture as artists. That audience died in five minutes.”

Great news, terrific choice. Oh, I'm always pleased when Roth doesn't get it, Pamela. He can always weep on the shoulder of the nearest available writer for The New Yorker. Thank you for the link, Quiggin. A quote: I'm embarrassed that so many of those names are only names to me (and some not even that).

What a fun idea, Jayne. Miss Ashley in "Ballo della Regina" always perks me up.

Agreed. Very sad it ended this way.

Many thanks, Pamela. Looking forward to another snub of Philip Roth!

I also note the sponsors are listed underneath the dancers' photos. All that's needed is a slight emendation, perhaps ("Diana Dollar Knowles's Principal Dancer")?

I think Kent's influence is generally acknowledged (?) It would probably be more widely acknowledged if she'd committed herself to Balanchine and dance more intensely than she did. She also has a larger place in cultural memory than many of the other Balanchine girls. There is her book, her appearance in Six Balanchine Ballerinas, the photographs of Bert Stern which are regularly reproduced, and she gets mentioned in Vogue and Vanity Fair. Not bad.

Kickstarter is a fine idea, but I'm not sure it's the answer for long-term expensive undertakings. Opera requires rich people opening their pockets in a big way or state support. No getting around that, I'm afraid.

The dance of death certainly wasn't any kind of social or formalized dance and sorry if I seemed to suggest that in my post. The connection between the actual link dances that people did and the dance of death imagery seems pretty clear, I think. From the movie. ("They dance away in a solemn dance, away to the dark country.") The dancers certainly aren't eager to get into the act, but as noted above they're not eager participants....

Strangest thing, but for some reason your link takes me to our home page(?) Interesting topic. I do remember reading that people used to dance in circles around fires (or churches), which the Wikipedia entry (here) also mentions. There were also link dances - one thinks immediately of the Dance of Death.

African-Americans, like other oppressed groups, tend to be in the avant-garde. They usually set trends, they don't follow them, and mainstream white audiences, chronically behind the curve, catch up later. By the time the whites are interested in large enough numbers, they've already moved on. Without having delved into the material, I'd guess that part of it is the non-recovery recovery. That wouldn't necessarily be too bad for orchestras, opera and ballet, heavily attended by the 1%, but I'd think other performing arts would be hurt. People working mandatory overtime and two jobs are pooped. And there are more attractive entertainment options at home and on your phone than ever before.

It's charming, indeed. Thanks, Mme. Hermine (and to you, too, sandik). You always find such treasures!

I've nothing intelligent to add to the discussion at present but thank you for the links, pherank. My goodness.

The Starz channel has a new series in the works: and from the casting call notes:

It may feel that way to us, but for the vast majority of the television audience who really don't have any experience with the art form, this is an incredible amount of information. True, and it'll be a real shame if the show is canceled, its flaws notwithstanding. There aren't many other shows on basic cable featuring Wendy Ellis Somes coaching. Fingers crossed. Since this final episode apparently wasn't the real season wrap-up, if the article is accurate, we won't know the note that the show was intended to close on unless that episode sees the light of day. These last two episodes weren't bad - as with last season the show did improve over time,. I liked the dancing that we did see and the dancers looked cool and happy posing in their sunglasses. Perhaps I have heard Christiana declare that work is her refuge a few too many times (and I was slightly stupefied by Allison's announcement that she realized she's been in love with Sexy Rexy all along). Divorce is always tough but judging by Monday's episode Chris will not be wanting for consolation. Good luck to both of them. If there is a third season I'll be curious to find out if Rex holds firm in his intent to keep Allison at arm's length for the time being.... That was a nice bit.

Cheer up, naysayers: With these ratings, soon you may not have "Breaking Pointe" to kick around any more.

Good to hear, atm711. I envy you the chance to see Watson live. This role sounds perfect for his talents.

No doubt the "great score-keepers of race" are conscious that other ethnicities are out there. African-Americans face special challenges because they endured centures of slavery and de facto slavery in this country. From the stats sandik quotes, I don't see any evidence of diversity that the "score-keepers" are somehow missing. Like Ray, I don't see a lot of it up there on the stage, although it is better than it used to be. Individual support systems are important (and I expect "parents of African heritage" are as supportive as any), but these problems are increasingly institutional and structural.

I've never seen Osipova live, so I would grab that chance, ord7916. Regarding Giselle, you probably will find Act One less than fascinating (I prefer productions that dispatch it clearly and efficiently), but Act Two is a piece of Romantic-era ballet that you should definitely see at least once even if you do conclude it's not your cup of tea. The score is very well-constructed for its purposes but not wonderful listening otherwise, but you'll be watching it with dancing (and probably some pretty spectacular dancing) and I find that helps greatly. I hope you tell us about everything you see!

A lot of talented white kids have found themselves in the same boat, so they'll have company.

They do get more money and media attention generally, but I don’t have a problem in principle with popular musical artists receiving the quasi-official recognition that the Kennedy Center Honors represent. Without them the program might not be viable for network broadcast. This way the show reaches as many people as possible. The downside is that they tend to be overrepresented (at least, I'm assuming they're overrepresented; haven't crunched any numbers).

Good point, lmspear, with the note that MacLaine may have gone on for Haney but she was a chorus dancer. Not in Haney's league dancewise, as viewers of the movie version of Sweet Charity may observe. It was Hal Wallis, the producer, who was in the audience that fateful night. Yeah, sure. Not that I don't understand. They want to attract a wide audience to the broadcast, it's not PBS.

This year's honorees are announced. No dancers on the list.

Dancers are artists. They are also workers. I think dancemaven makes some good points. The article is skimpy on details and I would not extrapolate too much from it. The remarks on the subject of the orchestra are impolitic to put it mildly but I wouldn't draw any conclusions about the quality of the dancers' representation from them. It is absolutely true that San Francisco is an expensive town these days.....

Thank you for posting this, pherank. I have little knowledge of Salinger, sorry to say - I read Catcher in the Rye as assigned reading like everyone else, but it didn't spur me on to read more. I understand he was a hard man to get hold of and some fans seem to like naming their cats and children Zooey. Also something about Joyce Maynard. Opening the floor to more informed readers (and viewers of this movie), please speak up....