dirac

And there's room on that tiny stage for about four swans in addition to Odette.

Well, I think Elena and Anton are recovering. Things got very cutesy-wootsy with them and and the Canadians at the exhibition last night -- a two-couple death spiral for example. (Yagudin put on a fine show, also. In more ways than one.) Funny thing about the exhibitions and shows. It's as if the skaters say to themselves, "Terrific! No more combination jumps to worry about, and at last I can skate to all the family friendly pop music I want! Bring me those Neil Diamond tapes pronto!" An exception being Elena and Anton, who did a charming Chaplinesque number. (I should note for the record that I mean no offense to any Neil Diamond fans who may read this board. I mention this only because I know that Neil's fans can be quite intense. He's a great guy. Really. )

I wonder if manners have changed, and perhaps people think that they're supposed to sit and not interrupt the performance, obviously a hazard when the piece being performed has those pauses built in, so to speak. The Nicholas Brothers do seem to be in the room with you, don't they? I always get the feeling that they're going to leap off the screen into my lap, especially when I'm lucky enough to see them in the theatre and not on television.

Yes, let's have the courage to be formal. Jonathan's, definitely. (The tutus are more flattering, also.) I would like to wear the red shoes, but there's another ballet movie that will let me do that!

As BalletNut noted, she seems a little full of herself right now. A contrast to Hughes, who didn't come on like La Divina, she just went out and skated divinely. Colleen, looking forward to hearing your views on last night --

David Draper weighs in on the ladies' costumes in the long program, for the San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?.../SPcostumes.DTL

It is just a tad ironic, isn't it? Of course, the Russians may be looking at the Canadian precedent and thinking, "Gee, it's really not that hard. All we have to do is complain and threaten to stop the Games in their tracks, and they'll give us medals to make us go away!"

It may be worth pointing out that, for all the talk about things being "easier" for Hughes because of her berth in fourth place, she may very well have felt a great deal of pressure to prove herself,and it would have been just as "easy" for her to lose her nerve after the short program than to skate as well as she did. It's rare to see an athlete surpass all expectations in such spectacular fashion. Interesting also that this year, it didn't come down to "artistry vs. athleticism"; Hughes beat everyone on both counts. I felt lucky to be watching. As for Kwan -- well, Scott Hamilton called it "a courageous performance," which is what they always say when an American crashes and burns. I have not been impressed by her recently, but she showed a champion's guts in pushing through to the bitter end. The poor jumping threw off her performance rhythm and even her presentation abilities failed her. I was not rooting for her but it's sad to see a great star go out this way. I'm still puzzled as to why she has not been able to raise her jumping game in the last four years --she was seventeen in Nagano, hardly too old to work on it. Oh, well. I think we're approaching the time when a skater who can't do at least one clean triple-triple is not going to make it to the top spot on the podium, if we're not there already. Sasha Cohen -- indifferent choreography, and although strictly speaking this next isn't relevant, the back of her costume appeared to be missing. She has a very special quality, but I hope she realizes that just because you can raise your leg really high is no reason to do it all the time. That dog-on-a-hydrant look is the sort of thing one really must strive to avoid. One more thing, and this is also a matter of taste -- split jumps are exciting but not very attractive, and there's no need to overdo them. Slutskaya -- well, she just blew it. The word that occurred to me was unfocused. A pity that she has been graceless in implying that she's just another victimized Russian. She had her chance, and I'm sure on some level she must know that -- last night she didn't have the look of someone who thought she'd been robbed, but of one who knew she just hadn't quite done her best. (She may feel, and one sees her point, that if Kwan could hold onto first after two-footing and falling, that she herself had done well enough to get the gold, by those standards.) Saw Fumie Suguri for only the second time. Very impressed, although I hope she drops the soulful looks that seem to be popular with some skaters. (To me it just looks like intestinal distress.) Finally -- the commentators last night kept referring to"another teenager [beats Kwan]." First, if Hughes hadn't beaten Kwan, Slutskaya probably would have. Second, as noted Kwan was an elderly seventeen in Nagano to Lipinski's fifteen, and she's still not exactly aged. Also, from the intonation on the word "teenager" you'd have thought that there was a conspiracy of evil teenyboppers conspiring to rob Princess Michelle of her rightful throne.

In my day the teacher called it "the assignment." Of course, we students had other terms.

Well, Canadian rich people, anyway.

I enjoy watching her, too. She's a little too hearty to fit into the waif or princess mold, but energy, daring, and enthusiasm go far with this viewer. In the past her lack of musicality was a little oppressive for me; one of the things I always admired about Kwan was her unfailingly musical skating, and frequently to music whose rhythmic impulse was not at all obvious. Slutskaya was better with things like "Don Quixote". But she can really light up an arena.

Michelle Kwan is the best of her time, the compleat skater. There isn't any argument about that, and when she's at her best no one combines athleticism and artistry as she does, or did. But I'm seeing an awful lot of artistry right now, and not nearly as much genuine athletic excitement as Kwan used to provide for us. And there's a sense, harsh though it may be, in which it doesn't matter that Kwan has dominated for years. The gold medal, or first place in any competition, is not a body-of-work award, although the judges sometimes seem to treat it as such. But that's skating. Jere Longman and friends judge the short program, for the New York Times. Yes, it's a chick thing: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/21/olympics/21FANS.html [ February 21, 2002: Message edited by: dirac ]

I get a lump in my throat when the corps starts coming down the ramp in the Shades scene. Never fails.

You could actually argue that Kwan deserved first, although I'm not disposed to make the argument myself. She wasn't very fast, but her spins were better centered than Slutskaya's, for example, and although Irina's footwork was more striking there were a couple of dead spots before her jumps. And she has a huge inbuilt advantage in that even on an off night she's easier to watch and has a better line than almost anyone else. I'm inclined to think that whichever one skated last would have gotten the top score. I'm not sure that I'd call Kwan terrified right now. She pumped her fist as if she'd creamed everyone else, although that may have been bravado, and her demeanor as she acknowledged her rapturous audience was not exactly "Aw, shucks, me?" To me it looked more like, "I'm here, I've waited four years, and I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. De Mille." Pretty cheeky of her to thumbs-down her technical marks, I thought. Two links: Costume designer David Draper comments on the fashions at the Olympics this year, for the San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?.../SPcostumes.DTL Bill Plaschke comments on Kwan's performance last night for the Los Angeles Times: http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition...s%2Dpe%2Dsports

Yes, unsatisfactory video is better than none at all (most of the time, anyway). Of course, we don't want our ballet history by video alone. There's hardly any commercial video available of Gelsey Kirkland, for example, but you can enjoy a surfeit of Karin von Aroldingen, if you're so inclined. Go figure.

Try to be sure to spell the names correctly if you can (although Google will try to be helpful and suggest other spellings if your first try doesn't work). If you're looking for action photographs in book form, Fred Fehl has published several books of dancers captured in performance.

I'm sure we're all sick of this topic, but here are a few sensible words from Allen Barra: http://www.salon.com/news/sports/col/barra...ting/print.html

Very impressed by Slutskaya last night. No, she'll never be Miss Seamless Flow, but she has worked very hard and improved her presentation immeasurably. Amazing the way she gets into the air for her jumps. I thought the night was hers, and Cohen's. However, it's the short program, and all anyone wants to do is not fall down, be in position for a medal,and get off the ice. All the girls in the lead did what they needed to do, although Sarah Hughes must be more than a little disappointed. Kwan was far from her best, I thought, and benefited from the save-the-best-marks-for-last mindset. Admired her spunk in pulling out that triple flip, but can't say a lot more than that. Interesting to note that the NBC commentators, who have been voluble on the subject of possible judging irregularities, were mum last night, preferring instead to favor us with insights into Michelle's Renewed Joy in Her Skating.

It isn't just you. It may be the determined set of Bourne's jaw, but I always get the feeling she's muttering, "Now don't screw it up THIS time, Victor" through her teeth at her hapless partner.

I bet Mr. B was just using the sedation as an excuse. An obstacle to ballets with historical themes may be that dance, by its nature, tends to make things personal. It's generally agreed that MacMillan's "Mayerling" is successful, but its success lies in its choreographer's vivid dance realization of Rudolf and Vetsera's fatal sex/death equation. The political dimension of Rudolf's problems, not to mention the complex domestic politics of Austria-Hungary, are shortchanged, not because of any lack of skill or comprehension on MacMillan's part, but because these matters are not danceable. I would imagine that Darrell's Queen of Scots ballet probably emphasized the personal rivalry of Mary and Elizabeth and the failure of Mary's two Scottish marriages, because how would you convey in dance the equivocal positions of, for example, Darnley and Bothwell vis-a-vis the rest of the Scottish nobles? (You could show that Darnley is unpopular and dissolute, yes, and you could show that Bothwell is arrogant. But not much more than that.) Irrelevant note: Edward II makes an appearance in Braveheart. Gibson shows him and Piers Gaveston making eyes at each other during Edward's marriage ceremony. But have no fear, Macho Mel will come to the aid of the English succession.

I also noted the phrase "problematic classic" and I just took it to mean, "I like it, with qualifications," or "the early Balanchine that's not so good as 'Apollo.'"

The camerawork in the "Giselle" video is indeed maddening. Bruhn or Toni Lander will be demonstrating some stupendous bit of technique, and instead of just letting us watch there'll be a dissolve or a cut to something to keep the proceedings "cinematic."

I hope I wasn't too harsh. But last night was really unpleasant for me to watch. I liked the Duchesnays also, now that I recall. (Christopher Dean, who was married to Isabelle briefly, used to choreograph for them, I think.) They were indeed a little too far ahead for their time, and they were brother and sister, which never helps.

Wilbon's piece is interesting. He seems to be more offended by hints of sexual ambiguity than anything else. Men shouldn't have long hair; shouldn't clutch stuffed animals; shouldn't wear flowing costumes; shouldn't allow themselves to be lifted. All of that is women's work, one gathers.

I'm going to be wishy-washy and say that both views are correct, to a point. Ballet does evolve; to cling too closely to past practice would make dancing look stale and quaint. Having said that, there's no reason for every arabesque to be converted to 180 degrees; and I can't really define where it's right and where it's not, except to say, as Justice Stewart said of obscenity, that I know when I see it. I realize this is not helpful.