dirac

Thanks, volcanohunter. Have you seen the ballet?

Joseph, I don't know of any biography except for Lifar's own book, unread by me. Perhaps someone else knows of one. He doesn't seem to have been the most agreeable fellow but he certainly deserves a book. Autobiographies aren't always self-serving, or let's say they aren't always completely self-serving and Lifar's may well have value - someone who's read it could confirm that for us. My understanding is that Lifar was accused after the war of collaboration with the Nazis, and it's not at all clear that he was guilty?? Anyone?

You know, I wouldn't have thought to mention it, but I do picture Farrell when I read this poem. And, for Mr B: It’s funny to think that Balanchine almost wound up in Stevens’ neck of the woods. I don’t think Kent ever danced Chaconne, it came along too late for her. She would have been ravishing in the first pas de deux, although I’m not sure if her technique and stamina would have been quite up to the baroque extravagance of the second? I guess we're wandering afield, like Mr. Daniels.....

I like to think he did.

Thank you for reporting back. It's been a long time since I've seen anyone live in recital - I have to get back out there. Has anyone else heard von Eckardstein or Beus?

At least there was not a cut in funding! And adding "only" 50 million dollars is not insignificant. The budget for the NEA has ALWAYS been puny compared to other national programs like subsidies to businesses or the Pentagon. True, fandeballet, and thanks for posting, but there’s puny and there’s puny. $50 million sounds like a lot, but given the savage cuts the NEA has borne and the prominence Obama gave the arts in his campaign platform, it’s not as much as some expected (and it is a tad self-serving of his wife to trumpet the figure as if the fifty mil was a really bold sum). Given the economic climate, the government really needs to lead from the front on this issue. Early signs indicate that the Obamas will, so let’s hope this is just the beginning.

I’ve had the same reaction. A wonderful writer and I always look for his byline -- but. This piece sounds a bit extravagant even for him. I think very few writers can get away with it, though. It’s okay coming from Edmund Wilson but a risky business for most others.

Money is critical, too. Let’s hope she follows up and we get an increase from that $50 million, a tiny amount when you consider the billions of taxpayer dollars the Administration is hurling at various parties. Rocco Landesman seems like the kind of man who's not afraid to bang his spoon on the high chair for attention, so that's good, too.

I hereby put the Cooking with Balanchine articles to rest. Although now I'm curious to find out how Ashton liked his chicken.

And Kirkland on the cover of Newsweek. Those were the days. I add my thanks to Drew's. I really enjoy reading these reviews.

Neither Ashton nor Tudor was known for cooking or their use of cooking metaphors in relation to their art. I’m sure if Tudor had ever expressed strong feelings about Italian cuisine they would have made it into BR one way or another. And if a ballerina wants to write an article(s) about the time she spent cooking with a great choreographer and she has good stories to tell, I imagine that piece would be welcomed by BR, no matter who it happened to be. It’s a conspiracy. Personally, I think the Illuminati are behind it. Balanchine probably left his ballets to individuals not only as a token of affection but because he didn’t trust any institution, even his own, to look after them. Those individuals formed the Balanchine Trust to streamline matters and to ensure the ballets were presented properly.

Thanks for that quote. Law of Desire is a great movie. It’s my favorite Almodovar, and it’s nice to know that its creator thinks as highly of it as I do. Couldn’t quite steel myself for that one, but I do intend to see it one of these days. I did see Gomorrah recently, a good picture about the contemporary Italian mafia in the multiple-story form a la Traffic that seems to be so popular these days, but it didn’t quite live up to the expectations I had from some of the glowing reviews.

Michelle Obama speaks on the subject of the arts today. Nice words. But somebody please tell the woman to start crossing her legs at her ankles. Dear me.

That was fun reading, Ray. Thanks.

Those articles were written by Karin von Aroldingen, one of Balanchine’s most favored dancers, and they are not only about food but about Balanchine in private. Von Aroldingen was his closest friend in his last decade and what she has to say about him is important for the record. Balanchine took cooking seriously, and I think if he had spent an equal amount of time on, say, painting or amateur music making, the subject would be of sufficient interest for a BR article.

And the appearance of Leonid Massine! True, although there's no tragic ending in that case, thank goodness. I'm sure that the Nijinsky story was in the minds of the filmmakers but doubt if they were making any special connection with the presence of Massine, who was a huge star at the time. Yes, bart, it's the only ballet-centered movie that's also an established classic of interest to people not otherwise interested in the art form.

That is also my impression. With the exception of "Jewels," SF audiences seem to regard going to see Balanchine as a little like eating your spinach. There may have been periods in Balanchine's career when he qualified as a cult figure, but no longer, I think, any more than you would talk of a 'Shakespeare cult.' You could if you stretched the definition far enough, but it doesn't really fit.

Did you get to go? How was it? Tell, tell.

I’m not willing to don the sackcloth and ashes just yet. Judging from the trailer, it looks as if they’re making a big play for straight guys, and why not, I guess. I have confidence not so much in Rob Marshall as in Day-Lewis, who may have made a flat-out turkey at some point in his life but every picture I’ve seen with him as the star has something going for it even if it's not-that-great. Anyway I, like glebb, will certainly be there. If I could sit through Dreamgirls I can certainly manage this.

There are several stories in this week's Links about the newly restored version of the film that Martin Scorsese brought to Cannes, and one of them noted that the film will be re-released on DVD and Blu-Ray. It's Scorsese, so we can trust him to be faithful to Powell's vision. Won't be quite the same as seeing the new version on the big screen but should still be spectacular.

Thanks for the heads up, glebb. Here's a link. I feel sorry for all British actresses of a certain age who aren't Judi Dench. Joan Plowright must be just sick.

Quite right, Farrell Fan, and I'll correct it. In my defense, I've seen it spelled that way in Respectable Publications and it never occurred to me that it was wrong.

Ballet broadcast performances tend to be dominated by well known titles - Swan Lakes, Romeos and Juliets, Nutcrackers, etc. and evening length ballets with a famous name, like the Lubovitch Othello, which made Martins' Swan Lake look like a masterpiece. The Diamond Project broadcast, a mixed bill, had such poor ratings it never made it out to the West Coast. Mixed bill broadcasts do happen but they seem to be a harder sell these days. Thanks for posting, Drew. You sounded just right.

Thanks for reporting, sidwich.

Isn't it lovely? So simple and classy, and no breastworks on display. Thanks for the description of the landscape then and now, Mashinka. They had stars in those days. (Although the case for a golden age of class is not aided by shots of Diana Dors and Bardot flashing her panties.) Shrimpton and Stamp were really a striking couple.