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Having now read and enjoyed Franko's article, I better understand his anger (not that I share it). Here are several things that struck me. Minor points. 1) Based on Balanchine’s Adagio Lamentoso and Homans' description of the dancers in the Four Temperaments as having “a cold rigor and precision – an angelic detachment,” Franko writes that for Homans, “apparently, Balanchine spoke of dancers as angels because of what he perceived as their emotional detachment.” I don’t follow his logic. 2) Franko is mistaken that Homans doesn’t cite Tim Scholl’s earlier ballet history, “From Petipa to Balanchine” in her bibliography. She cites the book in her secondary bibliographies for chapters 7 and 8. More major: Franko writes that for Homans “ballet by its very nature is ‘unconstrained by tradition and the past,’” as if she likes it that way, and goes on to reprove her for complaining, contradictorily, in the epilogue that lack of constraint is causing decline. But in the introduction where he takes that quote she goes on to write that “it does have texts, even if these are not written down . . . when an older dancer shows a step or variation to a younger dancer, the ethics of the profession mandate strict obedience and respect; both parties rightly believe that a form of superior knowledge is passing between them" [emphasis mine]. When she writes that “Ballet, then, is an art of memory, not history,” she seems not to be discounting its history but to be saying that the muscle memory to be handed down is its history, rather than, as Franko paraphrases her, “dance exists primarily in the present.” There is so much more in Franko’s critique, which I hope others will discuss, much of it concerning the intersection of ballet history with politics and theology (political and religious opinion are verboten on BA, but history is something else again). Thanks, Ray, for alerting us to the article. Does TDR publish letters to the editor? Let us know if she responds!

Actually, to answer my own question, the article includes a link to 13 NYCB photos by one Alfred Eisenstaedt, so the photo I posted is probably his as well.

The Huffington Post article dirac posted in Links today has a Balanchine photo, said to be from 1962, that I don't remember seeing before. Does anyone know the photographer? One ballet photo book I regret not purchasing when I could find a cheaper copy is "Fred Fehl at New York City Ballet." I wonder if this is Fehl's shot.

What I was trying to say is that when we say a piece of writing has certain qualities, we are effectively saying that in writing it the writer was displaying those qualities. For example, when a critic gets off a unkind crack at the expense of a dancer, we don’t just fault his turn of phrase, we fault him.

In defense of Franko, though, Homans opens the door by starting from an autobiographical place. But I actually have to disagree that the criticism here is personal; he's characterizing the writing as nasty/self-indulgent, not the person (he's careful to aim his criticism at the writing throughout, I think). For "unnecessarily harsh and judgmental and personal" I'd look to Macaulay's review of Doug Varone--or any other dance review that launches an ad hominem attack. I don't know how we can separate attitudes in the writing from attitudes of the writer. In my opinion, right or wrong, clearheaded or fuzzy minded, etc. are appropriate categories. Where it gets tricky, I guess, for both critics and reviewers and readers, is that because art and writing about art are personal, attacking them can look like attacking their creators.

I wish I had access to the full article, but it seems to me that Homans gives us both history and value judgments, which makes for interesting and stimulating reading. And regardless of what he thinks of her opinion of the future and present state of ballet, "nasty and self-indulgent" sounds unnecessarily harsh and judgmental and personal.

Very interesting. I'll have to reread some of the criticism. I don't think of Balanchine as consciously drawing on psychology but, as Freud would say, that may have been in the back of his mind. abatt, I disagree that the son is rejecting a religious and traditional background. Those categories are lacking in the source material - the parable - which Balanchine, who professed Orthodox faith, is illustrating. More importantly, they’re ahistorical. Society was completely religious. Rebellion against religion and family are modern categories, not New Testament ones. In the ballet, Balanchine shows the son preparing to leave before the Father appears. The Father then draws the family together to bless the son. That’s what a patriarch did. In other words, Balanchine shows the family being the family, in order to put into relief the son’s leaving the family.

Good points, thanks. But as you say, that pose comes only at the end of their encounter – it doesn’t reflect his initial attraction – and it also seems to be more her doing than his. The disparity in size of course reflects the disparity between her sexual power and his power to resist it, or to at least resist being ruined by it.

As much as I appreciate and learn from Macaulay, I find the following bit in his 10/8 NYCB review pretty far-fetched: Leaving Parsifal aside, a religious background the hero doesn’t appreciate? There is no hint of this in the Biblical story or, as far as I can see, in the ballet. A siren whose allure includes a maternal element? Does the son confuse domination with maternal love, or does Macaulay? A powerful recognition scene? In the Biblical parable, the son recognizes that he’d be better off as a hired hand on his father’s land than as the pauper he’s become. Is this really in the ballet?

Likewise, I loved being immersed in St. Petersburg life, and I'm grateful to Kendall for her work. Apollo's Angels author Jennifer Homans, who reviews Kendall's book in the current NY Review of Books, will interview her at the New York Public Library on Tuesday, December 10.

I found that really discomfiting. Was she enjoying it and playing along, or was she feeling frightened and being abused? I couldn't see her face well enough to tell how she was acting it. "Kuda, Kuda" was the highlight for me as well. I wasn't crazy about the sets, or about how they were realistic in the first act, but not by time of the duel.

Hopefully, its being the decent thing to do will override their silence. Yes. Isn't their slogan of the moment "we invite you into our world?" I guess everything is beautiful at the ballet.

Dance Magazine is Wishing the Best for James Fayette and His Family. The brief article includes a lovely photo of Ringer and Fayette, probably taken in December 2011. I'm surprised NYCB hasn't publicly expressed sympathy and best wishes to the Fayette-Ringer family. I would imagine many fans would send their own wishes if the company made an address for that available.

Whoa, thanks for pointing that out. I've fixed the link.

Does anyone here know how to do the Carole? This article isn't on ballet history per se, but as it's European dance history, it's pertinent to the subject: How did medieval people dance?

He can't stand Wendy Whelan. He almost always gave her negative reviews. "Can't stand" is a little strong. Reviewing her Jacob's Pillow program this summer he wrote that

It's available in a Kindle edition as well. For any newcomers reading, I'll mention that both paper and electronic editions can be ordered through the Amazon box at the bottom of each Ballet Alert page. So doing helps fund BA.

If we think of people attending performances for their own pleasure and enrichment rather than to support the presenting organizations, I don't think it's surprising that African American's would focus on a troupe largely focused on their own history and heritage. What fascinates and encourages me is the finding that in 2012 African Americans attended jazz at higher rates than did whites. Of course that stat refers to rates, and whites greatly outnumber African Americans in the general population, but I don’t think I’ve ever attended a jazz performance in which African-Americans were the majority, not even free performances in Grant Park in Chicago in the 70’s and 80’s. In any case, this is great news for this art form, and for this community.

Thanks, Swanhilda8. Sounds like a wonderful night. I wish Boston Ballet had danced on Common when I lived there in the 80's. I love the last line of your blog review!

Admirable though it is for Johnson to commit to the important goal of "changing people’s perception," it would be understandable if individual dancers wanted to prove themselves in established ballet companies. For the time being, that would necessarily mean in largely white companies. Of course it's also understandable that this would disappoint Johnson.

True, but making ballet training more widely available to minority kids will likely bring more minority families to the theater, as well as some of those minority kids once they're old enough to buy their own tickets.

We've been fortunate in both Prodigals and Sirens, but I've been interested in the overall structure of the work the last few times I've seen it. Prodigal Son is a ballet I'm never too excited about seeing yet again, but am always blown away by anyhow. I'm especially looking forward to Suzanne Farrell Ballet's staging of Mozartiana this season. Can't wait to see the casting!

Yes. I'll probably enjoy the Santana, though not the Billy Joel, tribute, but I'm always a little disappointed to see pop stars honored at a place where they very rarely perform. They get enough attention already, IMO.

Wow!

The full 105 minute video was for sale for awhile, so we have good grounds to hope that the full Leclerq documentary will be sold as well.