dirac

Baseball bats would work for me.

Balanchine was someone who had the rug pulled out from under him many times in his life. It must have made him very tough. I'm sure once he reached adulthood he didn't cry too often.

Close, but no cigar, nydog. I think the all time champ in this category is still the movie star Robert Taylor, whose original moniker of Spangler Arlington Brough became the stuff of legend. Fred Astaire was Frederick Austerlitz, and Ginger Rogers was born Virginia Katherine McMath.

Laura Jacobs said a lot worse for the Washington Post. And both are largely correct. It's just that where they put a minus I will put the occasional plus. I'm not saying Teachout's book is better as biography or commentary, and I probably ought to have made that clear. But if I knew someone totally new to ballet who wanted to read something short and sweet, I'd probably recommend Teachout and tell him to move on to Gottlieb if he liked what he read.

Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that Cohen fell in the LP this time around -- only that it's been pretty clear from her marks (to me, anyway ) that the judges are willing to overlook virtually everything else if she just doesn't fall. Considering that Slutskaya was near her best and Cohen wasn't -- Cohen was very close in the LP. I admit, she's not a favorite of mine, and that may very well color my judgment. (I thought she was fabulous when she first appeared on the scene, but later on it struck me that she was a tad overpraised.) I desperately missed Dick Button's commentating this time around. He's not as sharp as he once was, but he still catches things no one else does. If Susie Wynne had been there I might not have missed him quite so much, but Fleming and Carruthers left a lot to be desired. It's just not the same without "That was first rate!" and "That was UNCALLED for!"

Herman, you reminded me of the following, from Woody Allen’s “Play It Again, Sam,” an artifact of the Seventies: (Woody is wandering around a museum in the hope of picking up women. He sees a pretty girl standing in front of a painting): Allen: That’s quite a lovely Jackson Pollock, isn’t it? Girl: Yes. Allen: What does it say to you? Girl: It restates the negativeness of the universe -- the hideous lonely emptiness of existence; nothingness; the predicament of man forced to live in a barren, godless eternity, like a tiny flame flickering in an immense void, with nothing but waste, horror, and degradation, forming a straitjacket in a black, absurd cosmos. Allen: What are you doing Saturday night? Girl: Committing suicide. Allen: What about Friday night? Those were the days. I don’t know that the above is word perfect. I once played the girl in a high school production, which is part of the reason, apart from seeing the movie several times over the years, that I recall this exchange. Sorry. Back to the topic.

True. They’ve been giving her gifts for years now – all she has to do is stay on her feet. Thank you so much for a report from the scene. How did the men look to you?

I definitely don't think digital animation is going to do the trick. I'm a firm believer in casting dancers as dancers even if they're not going to win any acting awards. It's very difficult to cast anyone as a great star -- it applies to actors as well as dancers. If you cast a lesser performer to type, then you miss the charisma that a star would have. If you cast another great star, it tends not to work because each one has unique qualities. Firth would be absolutely perfect as Lambert, Cygnet.

Reminds me of an anecdote from Gore Vidal’s memoir, “Palimpsest.” He reports hearing Markova and Dolin hissing loudly at each other throughout one performance (“Put me down! It’s the third beat!” “Since when could you count?”, etc.) None of it was evident to the audience, apparently.

I don’t think it’s the new system alone that’s hurting Kwan. She was done in by several factors. She was damaged by her performance in the qualifying round and could not make it up. No matter how much she tinkered with the Bolero program, it never jelled. Etc. Kwan is just not a favorite with the international judges right now. Maybe she can change that – fourth place is not total disaster – and maybe not. Very little top of the line skating in this competition, I think. No one was at his best. Very happy for Lambiel and Buttle. Very upset at ESPN for its meager coverage. I know. It's just too bad. I heard Rochette and Phaneuf didn't do well, and was sorry to hear it.

dido, I think we may have read the same article, although I can't recall now where I saw it. It did say that about cell phone owners, but it added that people tend to have this negative view of other people's cell phone use, not their own. They never bother anybody with their phones. What I find especially bothersome is the habit people have of speaking very loudly into their phones, apparently convinced that such itty bitty objects can't possibly carry their voices clearly unless they scream.

In addition to the typos cited by others, I also noted "Kenneth MacMillian," "Yury Kylian," and "Anthony Tudor" (excuse me if someone else already posted these and I missed them). Just curious -- did the essay contributors supply their own bios?

Regarding the Vanity Fair article discussed earlier in this thread, Gottlieb does mention it in the back of the book, thanking Graydon Carter for allowing him (Gottlieb) to "cannibalize" it. Those who are familiar with said VF piece will note that huge swatches of it can be found in "Ballet Maker" --the section on the rise of Farrell, for example, seems virtually identical. If I had to recommend one of these books to a newcomer, someone not necessarily looking for a formal biography, I think I would go with Teachout's. Yes, there's much to take issue with, but that makes it lively. Teachout's bibliography is not as thorough as Gottlieb's, but I enjoyed his comments more. It's a very minor point, but Teachout's book gets Tanaquil Le Clercq's name right-- as Le Clercq, not LeClercq. I did like Gottlieb's anecdote concerning Balanchine's view of the untimely death of John Cranko. Gottlieb appeared on Charlie Rose last night to discuss the book (he's the second of three interviews). It may be repeated today or tomorrow in some areas. No news, but an enjoyable chat.

It's always nice to have a heads-up, perky. I hadn't heard of it, myself (or if I aw notice of it, whichI might have, it slipped my mind).

John Gross, author of "Shylock," one of my favorite Shakespeare books, reviews new Shakespeare books by Stephen Greenblatt and Marjorie Garber, for Commentary: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article.asp?aid=11903059_1

I wonder if the essential quality is the understanding that if she doesn’t look good in front of you, neither of you is going to look or be at your best. That might spring from personal warmth or generosity, but it could also come from a practical sense of what is right for the stage.

It is nice to see new people. I'd like to see someone like Joannie Rochette make a big splash. I thought Plushenko's Biellmann looked kind of neat when he was seventeen or so, but he's been too old for it for some time now. It looks labored. Same for Slutskaya's. Unfortunately, because the new scoring system values Biellmanns so highly, it's likely that neither skater will see the light on this issue.

I suspect that Swan Lake invites this unfortunate manhandling for more than one reason. It’s the most immediately identifiable brand name in ballet with probably the most celebrated score, and there’s something about the angst of the subject matter that makes it attractive to “revisionists.”

Well, I'm sure the publisher is probably delighted, in any case.

It does seem counterproductive, doesn't it? I haven't read the book and so can't attest to its quality, but it does seem to have engaged the interest of many people in the distant past, always a plus in my view. (I loved your little parody earlier in this thread, Farrell Fan. Even someone who hasn't read it can get the point!)

Our culture seems to have an unappeasable appetite for insipid diversion even without Watergate. I agree that Sullivan's explanation isn't quite satisfactory. "Seasons in the Sun” was part of a song genre that I think has died out, no pun intended, although I would be interested in hearing from our posters born in or around 1980 on this point – the Death Comes for a Teenager Song, which usually involves some unfortunate young person experiencing untimely death via car, train, motorcycle accident, drowning, disease, etc. There used to be tons of them, like Mark Dinning’s “Teen Angel” quoted by Mme. Hermine, in which the-not-too-bright-angel-to-be meets her fate by getting in front of an oncoming train in order to retrieve her boyfriend’s high school ring. And carbro's "Honey," too, although I forget how Honey kicks the bucket -- or maybe she just goes away somewhere........

Thanks for the link, Marga. Awesome!

Thanks, Funny Face. From the reports I’ve seen it sounds as if Kwan just had a bad skate, but it doesn't look as if this is her year. Slutskaya will be difficult to beat, unless Cohen or Arakawa can come up with something.

The Vatican expresses unhappiness with “The Da Vinci Code”: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4350625.stm

You don’t have to be a snotty dance pointyhead to dislike the kitsch and glitz of “Riverdance.” Also, I understand Rockwell’s apparent need to keep bringing the subject back to music, where he is most at home, but the pop/classical parallel doesn’t hold here. I am still trying to hope for the best, but I can't say that Rockwell has demonstrated a gift for generalization in his new post.