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dirac

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Everything posted by dirac

  1. Easy enough. Just get into George Balanchine's company, catch his eye, get him to fall in love with you, and the rest is cake.
  2. Farrell suffered a knee injury early in her career that put a crimp in her jumping ability and she had chronic knee problems thereafter. Several dancers, including Melissa Hayden, complained that Balanchine stopped giving jumps in class because of her problem, and some steps were changed in some ballets to accommodate it, in Apollo and Concerto Barocco, for example.
  3. Michael1, you may wind up broiled, but not by me. All this vivid reporting makes me wish I was in Edinburgh.
  4. In "Conversations with the Muses" Melissa Hayden says approvingly of Balanchine that she respected his ability to get the job done. "He didn't sit around waiting for Terpsichore to inspire him," she said, or something like that. I've read several comments to the effect that, during festival time, he'd allow all the other choreographers to take first pick of the available dancers. Then he'd take whoever was left and come up with the best ballet. (I bet he probably enjoyed showing he could do it, too.)
  5. Kent and Kistler were two of the dancers interviewed in Anne Belle's film, "Dancing for Mr. B: Six Balanchine Ballerinas" and it contains footage of Kent coaching Kistler in the role. Kent has some interesting things to say about dancing La Sonnambula in her autobiography, "Once a Dancer..." also. The book alexandra mentions is by Robert Tracy, and I think the complete title is "Balanchine's Ballerinas: Conversations with the Muses". Obviously the alliteration has a powerful appeal.
  6. I don't think we have "variety" in the Ed Sullivan sense any more. The idea seemed to be that you could show Joan Sutherland one week,The Beatles another, on the same program. Nowadays it's assumed that the audiences for opera and pop are mutually exclusive. I wonder if the advent of public television might also have played a role. The networks said, Well,they can do the culture stuff, we don't have to. Leonard Bernstein once explained symphonic structure in prime time, but when documentaries on his life appear, they're on PBS. The arts got cordoned off. All of which is off topic, of course. I really enjoyed the review, Manhattnik, must go buy that video.
  7. I wonder if opera might not have been an influence also? In the nineteenth century mad scenes were almost de rigueur, especially in bel canto (perhaps on the rationale that you'd have to be crazy to try all that coloratura stuntwork).
  8. I should have figured that, but I always assume it's someone I ought to have heard of but haven't.
  9. I'm sure this is a dumb question, but who was Ted Bissell? I remember Ted Kivitt, and Patrick Bissell, and Ted Bessell of That Girl.... I just noticed that Yvonne duplicated my inquiry, so never mind. [This message has been edited by dirac (edited July 25, 2000).]
  10. I saw a film about Torvill & Dean some time ago that chronicled their comeback to competition after a long absence. Christopher Dean remarked that at first they were getting consistently low technical marks on what was a very difficult routine. Eventually they figured out what was wrong. It wasn't enough to do hard things; they had to telegraph that they were doing them to the judges. "Hey!Look at this huge preparation! Big jump coming right up!Wow! We did it! Wasn't that great!" He seemed rather depressed that this method worked.
  11. I did try that parlor game with "I Remember Balanchine." It's like Rashomon. Hardly anyone agrees on anything, except that the original "Concerto Barocco" had a much more syncopated allegro feel and a couple of people were told by Balanchine that "Stravinsky Violin Concerto" was his favorite ballet. And a number of people seem to have had trouble understanding what he saw in Suzanne Farrell anyway. I also enjoyed the book "Portrait of Mr. B". It is mostly a gallery of pictures of Balanchine at work, but many of the shots are revealing and there's a lovely essay by Kirstein,two excellent interviews with the great man by Jonathan Cott, and Denby's essay on Agon.
  12. While she was still in Russia Makarova had several roles made on her by Leonid Yakobson, in experimental ballets such as "The Bedbug", "Waltzes", and "The Kiss". He ran into trouble with the censors for political and artistic reasons and she stopped dancing for him after he left the Kirov. Roland Petit made some things for her toward the end of her career. I'm sure there are others I don't know about. Makarova used to remark frequently on the paucity of roles created for her. An anecdote from Karen Kain might shed some light on this. For Makarova's Broadway outing, "Makarova and Company" she commissioned a new ballet from Lorca Massine, son of Leonide. On the night of the ballet's debut, Massine Jr. was appalled as Makarova apparently rechoreographed his ballet onstage. Partner Anthony Dowell complained to Kain that he didn't see much point in all those rehearsals if Makarova was just going to improvise anyway. In Makarova's defense, the pas de deux may not have been that great in the first place and she decided to perform some remedial surgery. I don't remember hearing or reading that she messed around with the choreography of, say, Tudor.
  13. I'd never bash Minkus but most of his music strikes me as awfully ordinary; the first time I saw "The Kingdom of the Shades" I was jarred by the pristine classicism of the choreography and the tinkly bouncy-bouncy music which accompanied most of it. A lot of what he did was hack work, to put it bluntly, but as Steve observes, it's enjoyable, unpretentious, well crafted hack work which fulfills its function successfully. Having said that, it was a great thing for ballet that Delibes and Tchaikovsky came along to compose music that was more than just competent accompaniment to dancing. And I don't think the dance impulse in Delibes or Tchaikovsky is weaker than in Minkus; it's just more subtle.
  14. It's not really a ballet book per se, but I was introduced to ballet between book covers by Noel Streatfeild's "Ballet Shoes",one of several "Shoe" related books she wrote for children. (It might appear that I'm misspelling her name, but I'm pretty sure that's correct.) I loved it when I was little and it holds up just fine today. My first ballet book proper was Agnes de Mille's "Book of the Dance", which is lavishly illustrated and has a typically pungent text. It's horribly out of date now, but I'd still recommend it, especially for the sections on the beginnings of ballet. I also came across by sheer accident a quaint little volume by Ashton's friend William Chappell on Fonteyn, with photographs by Cecil Beaton. I could not make much of the text at that time (it seems droll today), but Beaton posed her skillfully and she looks beautiful. I'd never seen her on film at that point, but I bought it because of the pictures. I'd also endorse "Stories of the Great Ballets" -- it's the closest ballet comes to Milton Cross. There's one more volume whose name escapes me that I found useful as a reference and I'll look it up. I also remember looking at a few books devoted exclusively to technique, but didn't get much out of those until I had seen more.
  15. I second Leigh about the Kirstein books, with the caveat that he is an unashamed propagandist with a number of axes to grind,in other words very far from an objective observer. For example, in his book "Movement and Metaphor" (quoting title from memory)which describes epochal ballets and their influence through a century or two, he includes exactly one Ashton ballet! I'm of two minds about the Buckle books. I think his books tend to lack shape and his powers of analysis are not great, but on the other hand there's really no place else to go for a complete biography of Balanchine, for example. You need to have them. Taper's book on Balanchine originated as a magazine article and shows it, becoming very sketchy towards the end. I kind of liked Garis' book. His approach is self-absorbed, not to say eccentric, but while there's lots of guff about his mental "collaboration" with Balanchine, there's also insightful material on the relationship between Balanchine and Stravinsky, for instance. Also, he was friendly with people like Edwin Denby and B.H. Haggin who were also writing about ballet and has interesting things to say about them. I loved Nijinska's book. "No Intermissions" was a problem for me -- I find de Mille's life in some ways more interesting than her work and was eager to read this, but it was written by a professional biographer with not much background in dance, and so she groups de Mille with Balanchine, Ashton, and Tudor as if all four of them were working on the same artistic level -- just doesn't seem to know the difference. De Mille's book on Graham should be read but it is unashamedly partisan, ultimately too much so for me. I got a kick out of the anecdote describing Erick Hawkins auditioning for Rodgers and Hammerstein, though. Hope this helps.
  16. Aren't things like bad coaching and the trend of "stars getting what they want" ultimately attributable to bad or weak company direction? It takes a strong ballet master who knows what he wants to say no. For example, I remember after Balanchine's death Merrill Ashley saying something in an interview to the effect that "Peter's one of us" as opposed to an authority figure. She knew whereof she spoke, since she was dancing ballets like Chaconne and Concerto Barocco in which Balanchine had not cast her. I never saw her in either ballet, but I can't imagine that she would have been right for either one, not on technical grounds but stylistic ones.
  17. I think it's acceptable to leave during calls as long as you leave promptly and circumspectly and don't stand up blocking the view as you put on your jacket and so forth. (This drives me nuts in movie theatres as well. I look closely at the closing credits, especially for movies I like.) As one who deals with heavy traffic and long lines for public transportation regularly, I can attest to the difference that an extra fifteen minutes can make.
  18. dirac

    The Millenium Awards

    There may even be areas where ballet can help out sports. I was watching figure skating recently and thinking that a little dance training would help some of those skaters do something with their arms besides flap them around. (I assume that many of them are already getting dance training; it just doesn't seem to take, somehow. So often their legs just hang in the air like sausages. I'm afraid the late John Curry labored in vain.) Also, a few beers at the ballet would be welcome, especially after some Forsythe. I realize none of this has anything to do with the millenium.....
  19. dirac

    The Millenium Awards

    To choose between Diaghilev or Balanchine for the century is so difficult that I propose not to do it. My first thought was of Diaghilev, because of the reasons mentioned above, but Balanchine deserves fifty percent of the credit because he raised the game to an even higher level; because of him ballet is taken seriously in intellectual quarters where even the Ballets Russes did not gain admittance -- he's acknowledged as the equal of figures in other arts such as Picasso and Stravinsky, which hasn't happened before in ballet, as far as I know. Diaghilev was the prime mover, but without Balanchine ballet might have continued to be a marginalized art (it's still marginalized to some extent). He also redefined the art, placing the emphasis on dance as dance, something that was expressive with music in itself without scenery, elaborate costumes, and libretto. As for the millenium, I have to second Alexandra's nomination of the Sun King. We owe much to his well-turned ankle. Ballet: can't choose. I really don't think I've seen enough of them to make a truly informed choice. If I had to, however, I'd opt for Apollo, for its classical purity, its score by the preeminent ballet composer of the century, and its status in its time as a harbinger of things to come.
  20. I was also very interested in Money's account of Pavlova's dealings with Diaghilev -- I think it was a real misfortune for both parties when they could not agree. De Mille does say that Pavlova's technique was sadly deteriorated; she also says that her effects were magical anyway. (Apparently Nijinsky also danced, but he made no special impression!) Money makes the point early on, however, that technique and raw power were never Pavlova's strongest points; Kschessinskaya is quoted as saying something like, "poor little thing,she can hardly stand on pointe." It must have been a shock when the "poor little thing" tore the house down in La Bayadere.
  21. The best Pavlova book I've come across is a huge coffee-table item by Keith Money called, reasonably enough, Pavlova. It has its longuers -- the amount of touring Pavlova did was stupefying and sometimes it's slightly stupefying to read about it -- but the photographs alone are worth the price of the book. She was an extraordinary camera subject, never the same picture twice. (Note the many retouched pointes.) Money has a tendency to whitewash a little, as he loves Pavlova and wants us to love her, too. Agnes de Mille saw Pavlova when the former was very young and the latter nearing the end, and de Mille gives an interesting account of Pavlova in the first volume of her autobiography. I understand there's a book about Pavlova with commentary by Marianne Moore, which I'd love to see, but I haven't encountered it yet.
  22. I too have Balanchine's Tchaikovsky at home and enjoyed reading it, especially for the throwaway obiter dicta on dancing and music. You should be cautious about the factual material Balanchine provides about the circumstances of Tchaikovsky's life; new research has produced a lot of new data. Solomon Volkov actually gained a certain notoriety for a similar memoir from Dmitri Shostakovich, wherein the composer (I may garble the facts here; it's been awhile)made statements about his relationship vis-a-vis the Soviet regime that were hotly disputed (it was Volkov's, not Shostakovich's, veracity that was being questioned.) I'm inclined to accept what he says Balanchine said -- the text sounds similar to interviews with him I've seen and read. On Balanchine and women: my first instinct is to say that of course you can separate the life from the work, but when you're dealing with someone as consumed by his work as Balanchine I think a more complicated response may be needed. Sure, he didn't psychologically brutalize women as Picasso did (and please, Picasso fans, don't get mad, I admire the man) ; but he did not always behave responsibly. In Suzanne Farrell's case, for example, you do have to wonder a little about a sixty year old man who puts a vulnerable teenager into virtual social isolation. I don't mean we have to condemn him -- I mean it might be worth looking at the creative imperative that drove him to do what he did in her case and others. I would also add that "deification" of women is not necessarily a positive trait -- it can lead to maltreatment of actual women who fail to live up to the worshipped ideal (I'm not implying Balanchine was guilty of this.) There are many people who think Suzanne Farrell should be running NYCB today. May I suggest that perhaps one of the reasons she's not doing so is that Balanchine never really encouraged the women in his company to choreograph or take on real power positions, apart from ballet mistresses and administrative assistants? (In Balanchine's Ballerinas, Ruthanna Boris indicates that he didn't exactly welcome her choreographic efforts with open arms.) I apologize for the lengthiness of this missive. This is a fascinating topic.
  23. I'm touched by Richardson's innocent faith in RAD by donating the collection without, apparently, any legal caveats about its preservation or ultimate disposal. This is a horrible story. I also note in the LA Times artice that the dealer says he tried to interest various libraries and they nixed it, apparently on the grounds that nobody's interested enough in this really old dance stuff to justify the investment. I think this is even worse, and shows you just how much (or how little) these institutions regard dance history. [This message has been edited by dirac (edited August 13, 1999).]
  24. If a company like the Kirov is putting on productions with no point of view, then it seems to me that's information for the lead of the review, not the end of it, and it would also be an indicator of a company not in "transition" but "deep trouble." Since I'm not in New York, I guess I won't find out...
  25. I think the concern with production is a perfectly legitimate and something that marks this century off from previous eras in which the performer dominated and could pretty much interpolate and/or eliminate as he wished. Recall that we have the music for "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux" because a ballerina wanted to put in another composer's pas de deux and the only way Tchaikovsky could head her off at the pass was to compose a new one. In opera, there is the celebrated,or notorious, example of Jean de Reszke eliminating "Celeste Aida" because he felt he wasn't warmed up enough to sing it. I think it's safe to say this could not happen today.
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