kfw

Refreshing, but maybe a little didactic at the same time, since most people choosing to watch the show have probably already learned that for themselves. Better perhaps if they’d felt free not to touch on the stereotype at all. It's clear to me--and shows like this just point it up--that even if some individuals have "learned that for themselves" (and I have known many conflicted individuals in the dance world on that score, btw), the PR depts. are not interested in sharing that knowledge with audiences. It is part of life, especially in a dance (or any performing arts) ensemble; it's notable and infuriating when it's omitted; and it shows up yet another way in which the ballet world (or at least its public face) can be out of touch with the reality of human lives. Or--simple solution: just show more dancing! . I really appreciate your perspective as a former dancer.

Thanks, Jack. I'm looking forward to Saturday's programs.

It never is.

Refreshing, but maybe a little didactic at the same time, since most people choosing to watch the show have probably already learned that for themselves. Better perhaps if they’d felt free not to touch on the stereotype at all.

I could have done without all the hoisting of the bro cups over the male-to-female ratio in ballet studios, though. (Episode 8: Male Dancers) And I'd like to see a same-sex couple. I realize that this is AOL ... but the demographic this series is targeting is commendably relaxed about same-sex marriage. (According to a March 2013 ABC / Washington Post poll, 81% of adults under 30 are in favor of same-sex marriage.) Yes, Kathleen. My non-dance friends can't believe that the ballet world seems to be so obsessed with heterosexuality. Sometimes I can't, either. They were mostly talking about their experiences as kids, though. I think it’s only natural that adolescents, engaged in identity formation, would want their friends and peers not to mistake their sexuality, and to think that, in the dating department, they're doing well.

The NY Times ran an article on "The hunt for the lost Britten score" recently.

Big color photos, kitschy sculpture, funky furniture . . . that promenade sure gets abused. I wish people would leave elegance alone. Thanks for the gala review.

I heard the Sirius broadcast in 2010, and the broadcast a few weeks ago, and loved both, and bought a ticket for the HD showing, but was invited elsewhere and had to miss it. Gergiev's recording of the opera is on Spotify.

And of course the irony is that he supposedly mumbled and spoke so softly that the audience didn't hear it very well and realize how great it actually was.

Pretty cool. What I have been doing is putting my cursor above the quote, then hitting Page Down on my keyboard. Nice to be reminded of typewriters though!

That was my impression, but Wilde gives a different one. I wish she'd been more specific.

Yes, to the effect that if Le Clerq hadn't been stricken, she and Balanchine probably would have separated, and Adams would have replaced her, with her blessing.

A quick digression here; I know nothing about the arts in San Fransisco, but I note that San Francisco Opera did premiere Mark Adomo's The Gospel of Mary Magdalene.

w I believe that's the woman cantdance identified as Valerie Tellmann in Agon. She's new to the Farrell company.That's Elizabeth Holochuk, a longtime soloist in the company, in the following movement.

It's so nice to have last night's performance archived already, especially since in the past - as late as 2012, at least - archiving of Millennium Stage performances has taken months. And to have full movements of Episodes, nowhere else to be seen but onstage and at the NY Public Library branch at Lincoln Center . . . fabulous!

I give her credit for trying, but I don’t think a good editor needs to know dance to flag phrases like the one Ray copied, or like “performing swirling arm movements,” as amateurish. And what about “Diamonds, emeralds, and rubies, like a company marking 50 years, are rare and majestic, worthy of celebration. But this one was a little low-key.” Never mind that 50 years doesn’t necessarily make something rare and majestic. I lack the grammatical knowledge to say why “celebration” needs to be “a celebration” to make “one” correct in the next sentence, but the mistake grates nonetheless. Criticism in Chicago newspapers fed my love of the arts in the 70’s and 80’s. I feel sorry for people who read this stuff instead.

My wife called me for the dance segment, which had Peter Martins talking about what a thrill it was to make A Fool For You and have Ray Charles himself participate. Andrew Veyette and a couple of NYCB women I couldn't identify on a little screen then danced to It Should Have Been Me.

No, I don't remember that, but according to a post by Alexandra, they planned to close a Tchaikovsky program with it in December 2003, but I can't find posts about, and don't remember, a 2004 season. I do remember a considerable desert we fans of that troupe had to cross before we got another season around that time... That's the program I was thinking of.

Jack, do you remember, didn't Suzanne Farrell Ballet close with Serenade during their Kennedy Center run in 2004? It seems more like an opening ballet to me, but I'd take it anywhere I could get it!

Anne Midgette In the Washington Post is scathing about the two leads: And people say that a certain NY dance critic is tough . . .

Hytlin doesn't seem like the mysterious type, although New Yorkers who see her a lot may disagree. It's very interesting to read such divergent opinions of last night's Prodigal Son. Thank you, forum posters.

She doesn't list it in her bibliography.

She did it in D.C. in March, although for once I was less than thrilled with her performance. I'm sure she can be great in the role.

Welcome, eekmholt! Are you thinking of GPL's photos of Lew Christenson in Filling Station? That costume is indeed transparent, although in the photos lighting the transparency is mostly in the torso. You can find a Ballet Alert! discussion of the costuming for Filling station here.

On the videorecording, at least, the playing is credited to Gordon Boelzner.