dirac

A list of the winners along with the other nominees:

Thanks for the pics, drb. "WOW" indeed!

I agree, Farrell Fan. Or at least a more nominal charge -- $25 or so. Thank you for the heads up, drb!

In a spirit of fair play, I rented Crash on DVD, and although the small screen serves it better its flaws were still as evident as before. Brokeback isn’t perfect, either, but the difference in quality between the two is not even worth debating, for this viewer anyway. Ebert's defense of "Crash is here,

Grissi, below is a link to one of the threads that Dale mentions where two recent Balanchine bios (short ones) are discussed. As Dale says, it’s been a recurring topic on the board, and if you browse around Writings on Ballet or do a search more is likely to come up. http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=17904 Regarding Kirkland’s relationship with Balanchine, there is no one place to go. There is Kirkland’s book, of course, and there are comments made by other dancers in their own books and in interviews. Melissa Hayden made some interesting comments to Robert Tracy for his book, “Balanchine’s Ballerinas” remarking, as I recall, that Kirkland “got too much too soon without the right kind of support.” She seems to have gotten too much from Balanchine in a sense, and yet not enough. Kirkland made a poignant statement in her first book about Balanchine – “I never knew what to do with my love for him” (again from memory) -- which sounded as if it came from the heart. It’s too bad that it didn’t work out for them. What roles he might have made for her!

Thank you for starting an interesting topic, Treefrog, and thank you, Hans, for your thoughtful response. The issue is not simple because ideals of beauty and proportion change over time – especially, but not exclusively, where women’s bodies are concerned. What qualities are part of a fundamental ballet aesthetic and which ones may be products of time and place?

Well, it’s Oscar weekend. If “Crash” actually beats “Brokeback Mountain” I will never stop laughing.

It didn't do much for me. I plan to give it another try this season, though.

Yup, none of the others you mentioned involve sequins and bugle beads.

Treefrog, thank you for the very useful info. Excellent idea! I'm not sure I'd opt for any of them though -- the whole thing reminded me of those horse costumes where there's one person in front and another in back, which always looked desperately uncomfortable to me. I wouldn’t have minded ‘Blue Snake’ so much if we had ballet films coming out every year, but I had the willies thinking that people new to ballet might go to the movie and think, “That’s what it’s like?” That probably didn't happen, though.

Most articles tend to focus on falls, which is characteristic, but although I haven’t been tracking down all the recent commentaries I saw some favorable things about Cohen and how she was able to get it together after her ghastly start (a contrast to Slutskaya, who pretty much went into free fall). I think it was that unfortunate comment about a “gift” that some have misunderstood. People thought Cohen was referring to the judges, whereas it was clear that if she received any gifts, it was from Suguri, Slutskaya, et al. Big stress, big rewards if you succeed. That's sport. But the Olympic pressure on a skater is probably one of the most intense kind around.

T. Wilson’s analysis was very helpful. However, you don’t need the math to understand this result – it was all out there on the ice yesterday -- alas. canbelto wrote: She looked extraordinarily nervous during the warmup. You could sense disaster. Normally I don’t go for sports sob stories, but I do feel bad for Slutskaya. I hope all goes well for her in the future. Arakawa's dress was another good argument for a nice pair of pants.

I didn’t find the competition as a whole to be very inspiring, but we tend to forget that great Olympics skating nights are the exception rather than the rule. Arakawa skated cleanly and with her customary virtues, but that’s about all I could say for the program, although I was pleased for her. She did play it safe, but under Olympic conditions that’s no sin. (Although I’d have liked to see one of those dazzling combinations of which she’s capable.) To skate cleanly under such pressure on the greatest stage your sport can offer is no small achievement. canbelto wrote: I had no problem with the placements, but I think it could have gone either way. I prefer Cohen’s skating overall to Slutskaya’s, but in part that’s a matter of taste – Cohen has her weaknesses, too. Cohen’s relief at getting that silver was palpable. Gina wrote: That crossed my mind also. Everyone was skating with caution and I didn’t see anyone out there doing anything Kwan could not have matched with her own skills. Even so, I thought it was a good night for Michelle even if she wasn’t there. Cohen and Slutskaya now join her in the ranks of those who were in good scoring position for the gold and failed to get there in two Olympics. I don’t regard this as a black mark against any of them, mind you, but maybe it will make the sportswriters shut up about Kwan the Choker.

I've read somewhere -- perhaps the Daneman biography but I am not sure-- that Fonteyn wore Freeds.

Thank you, Amy, for posting your comments – better late than never! I saw the film again on cable fairly recently and my reaction was pretty much the same as before. I felt it was mostly an opportunity missed, although there are good things in it. It's too bad there wasn't any alternate footage on the DVD -- were the extras interesting?

I prefer watching the men as a rule, but I admire Arakawa greatly and am delighted for her win. Richly deserved. Too bad for Kwan that she wasn’t there and in shape – she might very well have made the podium. Very pleased for Joannie Rochette's showing as well. I'd have loved to see Fumie Suguri on the podium, but it just wasn't meant to be.

I never thought I’d be springing to the defense of groupies, but not all of them qualify as stalkers. Some of them are rich, beautiful, and accomplished. A Beatle married one. bobbi, if he’s someone who contributes to ballet companies, perhaps he didn’t mean to hurt your feelings – just thoughtlessness, maybe. Thanks for your kind remarks about the board, BTW.

I like Slutskaya’s strength and speed. Cohen has her own strengths too, and so does number three, Arakawa. Any one of them would be a deserving winner. As for the pants, I’d just like to see more of the women getting out of those little dresses and skirts. It’s about time.

Unfortunately, nothing will happen unless somebody feels some pain. I’d be embarrassed for the sport, if I regarded ice dancing as a sport......

The costumes in Dance, especially, made me wonder what the point was in having any rules about taste, if those didn’t violate them.

The recently repealed rules were put in place after Katarina Witt's appearance at the European championships in '88 wearing a Vegas showgirl costume, complete with feathers, and sans any skirt. So the women were required to wear skirts, and I think they specified that hips and buttocks had to be covered.

Well, I still miss Michelle. Not the same without her. I prefer watching the men over the women, even if the guys have a splatfest as they did this year, but the ladies do have the added element of suspense -- there really is a chance that Arakawa or Cohen could beat the favorite. I wouldn't mind seeing Arakawa at the top, but I suspect that it will come down to nerves, and I doubt hers will hold. Three cheers for Slutskaya's costume. I love the way she displays her splendidly athletic figure while taking advantage of the rule allowing women to wear pants in competition. She makes Cohen look like JonBenet Ramsey. I also like her cute short hair, swimming against the bunhead tide. She has my fashion vote. Delighted for Meissner, really happy for her.

I didn't think this was so bad, actually. As noted above, Rose does have a bad habit of interrupting his guests. It’s true that, as he admitted, he’s not well versed in dance and so perhaps couldn’t draw Whelan out in some respects. However, he did an interview with Susan Jaffe on the occasion of her retirement that went quite well. Generally speaking, with guests who are well versed in the art of the interview, Rose will ask a question and in answering the guest will develop a theme (when Charlie permits, of course. ). You saw this with the British politician Chris Patten, who preceded Whelan; even with some of Rose’s less promising sallies, Patten would respond with paragraphs. I wouldn’t necessarily expect that kind of loquacity from Whelan, but when Rose asked Whelan about her favorite roles, I could see how that might have led into more details, and he did try; he asked Whelan if by romantic roles she meant the classics, and she said, no, she meant Balanchine-style romanticism, and I was actually waiting for her to say something like, “A ballet like La Valse or Ballade, for example” and talk along those lines.

We stand warned. Kathleen, thank you for starting the topic. I'm not sure I'd call this an example of crossover in the usual sense, as it would be if Pape were actually singing with the group in its customary manner. This sounds perfectly legit, as it were. Anthony_NYC, if you do get around to listening to it, let us know what you think.

Speaking for myself, I'd have to know more of the context of the remark before passing judgment on bobbi’s co-worker. Much depends on context, body language, tone of voice. As Farrell Fan says, no harm may have been intended. I would certainly hope that the co-worker intended it as a pleasantry, but you never know. The primary definition of “groupie” as I understand it is someone, specifically a young woman, who follows a rock band around when it tours. There is usually the implication that the woman in question is available for sex. This definition has expanded to refer to performers in other fields. Not necessarily; “groupie” has taken on a secondary definition as referring to someone who is a committed and enthusiastic fan. I’ve read and heard references to a theater groupie, a fashion groupie, an art groupie.