dirac

Thank you for the correction, Pamela. You did indeed explain it well for us.

Thanks for starting the topic, Mashinka. You vividly evoke the performance. Without having seen the work in question, I would say that it's the audience who has to determine the limits, by walking out or booing or asking for their money back. If a company hires a choreographer and gives him carte blanche, they have to live with the results. You are probably right about that. Unfortunately, the bar for shocking people is very high these days. (By all means post a few reviews if the comments are interesting, but please bear in mind we try to avoid posting too many such links in discussion threads. Thanks. ) Simon, did you see this?

I agree that a topic like this one is 'impossible' in a way, SanderO, but isn't it also fun to take a few minutes to think about those moments in a performing art that really take you to a different place? 'Du bist der Lenz,' is another one for me. The music just blossoms forth.

Thanks, abatt. Perhaps the interview will show up online. I'm sure Gelb has a point but he might want to ease up on the talk about those fuddy duddy older folks in the audience. I see the need to attract a younger audience but the old folks pay a lot of the bills.

OT- It is indeed necessary to distinguish between Kennedy as inspiration and Kennedy the actual chief executive (as you do). JFK was an impressive man in a number of ways but it might have been better to have Ike in there for a third term. I do note that Kennedy was a legitimate war hero who had spent five years in the House and seven years in the Senate when he came to the Presidency. Obama is not that far removed from his stint in the Illinois state senate and he spent most of his time in the public eye before achieving the White House running for the next higher office, barely staying in the Senate long enough to find the men's room.....) Yes, indeed.

Okay, I'll give it a shot. (Otello Act I Love Duet) Dramatically, it was Boito's stroke of genius to condense Act I of the play into a narrative between the protagonists. Although a love duet, It is an intelligent conversation between adults. It ends with one of more ravishing images in opera ("Venice is resplendant"), with music to match. I could never decide on just one 'beautiful five minutes' but I agree fully with Helene. This duet ravishes me every time.

I thought he went as far as he reasonably could in that direction in his statement. As SanderO notes, he didn't accept it in his own behalf. I think many people of all political views could see that the arrogance of the previous Administration (which, it should be noted, Bush had begun to walk back in his second term; he doesn't usually get credit for that) in its dealings the world didn't help the United States. I think the Prize was premature, but I also don't think it's such a bad thing and I doubt that the votes of anyone will be moved by it. Obama's fate will be determined by greater forces than the Nobel committee.

And because of the magic of the Internet, we get to hear from all of them. Sigh.

Turning it down was a non-starter and most likely it would have made a less than ideal situation worse. Considerations of courtesy aside, for Obama to hand the honor back saying something along the lines of “I don’t deserve it” would only cause many of those same critics to say “ See! He admits he hasn’t done anything yet and look, he says so himself!” (I can also easily envision him getting criticized as arrogant for rejecting the prize.) And after all, it isn't bad that international opinion thinks so highly of the new guy. To that extent the justification for the award makes sense - just by Obama doing and saying the things he's doing and saying, he's making the world feel better about American power and American influence. (Whether we should be feeling better about what American power is doing is another question, but that's another topic.) This piece by Hendrik Hertzberg sums up the situation Obama is in quite well, I think.

Nicely put, Estelle.

Well, that's settled.

Wonderful.

Considering the Norwegians apparently blindsided them, I think the Administration has done well. Obama gave a modest and tactful statement in response to the news and apart from that I’m not sure what else he personally can do. The Administration is already playing it as an honor for the country and the American people in general, which seems reasonable enough, and Obama's approval ratings apparently went up a notch, although I'm not sure if the Nobel had anything to do with that. (There is an argument to be made, as Quiggin noted earlier, that the award isn’t totally from left field, as it were, but it’s relatively complicated and it is best to let surrogates make it. )

Good idea. And maybe avoid tag lines such as "All Anne Frank! All the Time!"

Thanks, bart. Friedman was a good reporter once upon a time. I hope Obama doesn't pay too much attention to him as a rule, frankly, although I don’t doubt the speech in Oslo will have flattering references to our soldiers, as would only be appropriate.

‘Smart people’ I take to mean those who are au courant with what’s happening artistically and intellectually and although there can be overlap between such folk and the upper classes it’s not the same thing. It might be material for another thread, but I too would like to hear about those, leonid.

There must be a balletomane on the writing staff, because Don's latest adulterous love interest is named Suzanne Farrell. Could be coincidence, but I don't think so. The character herself is kind of obnoxious and I hope she's written off the show soon, but maybe a ballet connection can be worked into the plotline. The year is 1963, so Don sees a performance of Bugaku and becomes obsessed with Allegra Kent. Allegra, like apparently every other woman in Manhattan, regards Don as so much catnip and the two have an affair. The photographer hired for a new Sterling Cooper ad campaign is Bert Stern. Complications ensue.

Many people won't, though. If they can get it for nothing, even if the product is somewhat compromised, they will. I think eventually an arrangement will be reached where people will be able to pay a fee online to see performances and clips.

I had the same thought, Farrell Fan, and it is interesting that Wendy Whelan of NYCB is the one Sulcas quotes as giving the nod to Forsythe. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Forsythe 'invented' the postmodern ballerina. (Whelan herself would seem to owe little to the Farrell example, which dominated the company for so long; perhaps NYCB viewers will have more to say about that.)

Here's a more extended quote from the passage cited by Ray: Thoughts?

Wow. That's amazing footage. (And because of YouTube we can all see it.) A quote from the article: The Anne Frank Channel as part of a museum exhibit doesn't sound too bad.

bart also had a post up and I seem to have made it go away. My apologies, bart. There's been no previous mention, Peggy, so you're not duplicating. Not a big deal in any case.

This is great news, PeggyR, and thanks for posting it. Updated or no, it will be good to see the Ring in San Francisco again.

Great interview, Lucy Johns, and thank you for posting it. (And welcome to BT!) I think this would be a good topic for the Aesthetic Issues forum and am going to move it over there. I hope it sparks an interesting discussion.

Good topic, bart. I'm running out of time today, but hope others will post! (With explanations, please. )