dirac

BW, there's no need to apologize at all. Reasonable people can disagree. If differing views don't get aired, energetically, we don't have much in the way of discussion!

Report on the event from the Associated Press. Sounds like quite an evening. Looking forward to the broadcast: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a...enter_honors_22

I have a copy of “The Surrender,” too, although I haven’t started it yet. A glance-through indicates that it’s actually not that bad, but can’t decide that till I’m finished. Bentley would seem a very logical choice to review a dance biography for NYTBR, and I enjoyed her article. Like Farrell Fan, I'm looking forward to the Kirstein bio -- it should be great!

Mindy Aloff weighs in, in the pages of The New York Observer: http://www.observer.com/pages/book2.asp Aloff raises one of those there-ought-to-be-a-law points: An appendix with a list of Fonteyn's roles, with attendant details, would have been immensely helpful, especially in a career of such length and breadth. There was the same omission in Suzanne Farrell's autobiography. (One of the things I appreciated about Peter Martins' book "Far From Denmark" was the inclusion of a list of his roles, the year he assumed them, whether or not the role was made on him, and his partners. )

I finally caught it and then never got around to posting, so I’m finally reporting to say that although this movie will be a very strange experience to those unfamiliar with the Guy Maddin M.O., it’s definitely worth your time. It won’t take you long – the movie is not much more than an hour. Although Maddin uses sound, he employs various techniques (old film stock, iris shots, double/triple exposure, animation, tinting, melodramatic titles, etc.) -- buffs may feel at times that Maddin is channeling Murnau) to emulate the visual texture of silent films. This is in black-and-white, with occasional use of red – for blood, natch – and green. As mentioned above, this is not your straightforward film-of-a- ballet. You do see some good dancing, but if you are interested in the movie primarily for that you may be dissatisfied as it’s difficult to get much sense of the choreography (although the dancing is highly effective within the movie’s own terms). However, this looks like a good, serious Dracula. In this telling, and I’m simplifying hugely, Van Helsing and Lucy’s suitors are the true villains, willing to kill Lucy (Tara Birtwhistle, terrific) and Mina (Cindy Marie Small) in order to save them. Dracula (Zhang Wei-Qiang) is a surprisingly youthful, sympathetic vampire. The first half of the movie, ending with the demise of Lucy, is the best – dance and drama fall off after that, until the finale. If Maddin and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet are anything to go by, Winnipeg is in fine shape, culturally speaking. Actually, BW, Maddin's entire oeuvre is a cult classic. However, name actors are now appearing in his movies, so I have hopes that one day he will exercise a broader appeal.

Some of her moves looked a teeny bit recycled from previous Firebirds-on-skates, but she still looked very fresh. What with this and Jeffrey Buttle’s skate – which was wonderful —the Canadians are starting to look very good.

It's been years since I read the book, but I recall no scene involving "Swan Lake," and I do not believe the dates match up. Sounds like you saw the version with Sophie Marceau?

Saw the long programs from Cup of China on ESPN last night, and while I was pleased to see Irina Slutskaya back (and looking good, everything considered), I was impressed by Joannie Rochette of Canada’s “Firebird” program. Very fast and crisp, good jumps, good choreography suited to the music – and Stravinsky's music is somewhat tricky for skating. Rochette is a little too cheery for the Firebird, but I liked her a lot and will be looking for her and this program later in the season.

What Ari said. I had the same reaction. It’s not that I wasn’t aware of her beauty before, but in some of the photographs (which could have been reproduced a little better, IMO), especially the ones taken of Fonteyn on vacation (Fonteyn topless! Who knew? ), she looks lushly gorgeous in a way that I’d never seen before.

Cygnet, may I suggest with all courtesy that you might have a different opinion if you were that 90 year old and felt, rightly or wrongly, that you had become a nonperson in the life of someone who meant a great deal to you? Without addressing the pros and cons of Daneman’s own choices and judgments, I would also add that biographers will often come across information that reveals someone to be more (or less) significant in their subject’s life than previously supposed -- in that biographer's opinion.

I hope people aren’t deterred from reading this book. I'm enjoying it very much, and finding much of value in it.

I confess, Roma, I did see what you mean about the lengthy quotations – it was particularly noticeable in such a brief volume. “Geva said [long excerpt from Geva’s book], but Danilova said [long excerpt from Danilova’s book].”

Well.....I wouldn’t say no greater satisfaction. I do think the ballet comes first, although the ballet may not be what we discuss first – especially if it’s not a new ballet. I might rephrase the sentence as, “And for serious ballet lovers, there are few greater satisfactions,” or something along those lines. Gottlieb is correct in that this particular pleasure is reserved for initiates. You must go regularly and frequently to do this kind of tracking of a young dancer’s progress. (And to feel the smug satisfaction of saying to yourself, “I was right!” when the company powers-that-be see things as you do and promote that dancer. ) Although it is possible for people who are not regular balletgoers to spot someone promising – potential stars in any field have a way of making you notice them.

Having looked through Gottlieb’s book at Tower Books and Records, I decided to give it a pass, speaking for myself only. I heartily recommend the Vanity Fair article, also. It’s a splendid piece. (Whenever I order online, I recommend our site sponsor, but Tower has been struggling recently and I greatly appreciate having a place to go where I can browse through books, CDs, and specialist magazines not easy to find elsewhere, browsing being one of my great pleasures in life. My branch also offers the Sunday editions of many out-of-town newspapers. So do pay a visit to your local Tower Records/Books once in awhile, if you have one. They offer a 20% discount on hardcover books, and I bought the Daneman bio of Fonteyn there.)

I see your point. I have read several of the "Penguin Lives" series, and when they are good, like Edna O'Brien's biography of James Joyce, the interest lies chiefly in the writer's take on the subject, along with having a concise account of the famous person's life. Obviously, my view will be better informed once I actually get hold of Gottlieb's book.

Robert Gottlieb’s review, from The New York Review of Books: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17593

I gather that the “Eminent Lives’ volume by Gottlieb is part of a series of brief bios, and it would be surprising to find new information there – I haven’t seen a book from the series yet, but it looks as if they are aimed at a general reader who is new or relatively new to the subject. (In any case, it’s unlikely that Gottlieb or Teachout would have anything new to tell ballet fans and followers of this board -- many of us have been reading them for years on the subject -- given the format and purpose of this kind of biography.)

Hello. Her book on "Balanchine technique" (bear in mind that some people question whether it should be called that, or whether it ought to be codified in this way) is definitely aimed primarily at an audience of teachers, pupils, and pros, but any ballet fan would find much of it interesting and enlightening.

Also, if you live in an area with plenty of stores selling used books, as I have the good fortune to do, it pays to check the shelves regularly. I missed out on a copy of "Ballerina" years ago -- can't remember now why I decided not to buy it -- and have been kicking myself ever since. The stores often give you a better deal on the book, too. I purchased a great copy of "Repertory in Review" by Nancy Reynolds for thirty dollars, and it sells for a good deal more than that on the Web.

She shouldn’t be the only critic present, so I’ll crash the party as the late Pauline Kael, Croce’s New Yorker colleague. We can argue about the relative merits of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. I shall arrive with several “Paulettes” in tow, and refuse to see any ballet more than once.

I certainly intend to. I hear it's very good. I understand Regina King has a good part, playing Margie Hendricks. I like her a lot and it will be nice to see her in an attention-getting role.

I like the story from Otis Stuart’s Nureyev bio, “Perpetual Motion,” where he quotes a dancer present during The Fall who maintained that Nureyev did not push/drop/trip Makarova, but rather that he lost patience with Makarova’s failure to keep with the music. So when the lady took a nice long balance at a point Nureyev felt was inappropriate, he did not dash over to lend support but stayed right where he was, hence the splat.

That bostondirtdogs. chat is worthwhile reading. He's a chatty guy. His parents sure went wrong calling him "Curt" -- never was a man less aptly named. As to the communicator/media whore dichotomy, he's probably a bit of both, I imagine. I always read his interviews -- at least he gives you something to chew on. Among other things, he chatted about his injury, about which some rumors ("That's not really blood") made it into print, and you could call this going over the heads of the printpersons to the people. When Suzanne Farrell's hip problem surfaced, there was a lot of talk about the cause, and if boards had existed then, I could imagine (well, I can't imagine Farrell herself, but another dancer in that situation) popping onto the board to say, "No, Balanchine's training did NOT hurt my hip! Those speculations are groundless! It's hereditary!"

Nobody owns it (I think) which is why you can slap the name "Swan Lake" on any old "reinterpretation."

We did do it years ago, and I still want to wear Suzanne Farrell’s gown from “Vienna Waltzes,” although it wouldn’t look nearly so good on moi. After seeing “The Company,” it occurred to me that if you want to show up at the party with a group, about a dozen of you could come as the blue snake.