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puppytreats, would you say that Ballet Alert posters who wish Kevin McKenzie would cast from within the company more often, and rely less on outside stars, have an acceptable opinion about what ABT needs, or have an agenda? Do Veronika Part fans who overlook her technical weaknesses have a bias, or is the bias on the side of the detractors who are unmoved by her strengths? As I’m sure you’ll agree, education breeds taste, and taste breeds likes and dislikes. What are educated likes and dislikes but biases, and what are wishes but agendas? Part of a critic’s job is to tell us what he likes and dislikes, and how he’s formed his judgment, and Macaulay’s criticisms always come with explanations. I agree that his tone is too harsh sometimes, but critics should have and express strong opinions, the better to sharpen the thoughts and perceptions of their readers.

Thanks for that post, bart. While you were posting, I was posting about that same description and analysis. It is one of the things I love about Macaulay’s writing, one of the things that, in my opinion, make him an excellent critic.

Yes, but the photo doesn't suggest he's serving the tradition, but that the dancers are serving him. In any case, it wouldn't bother me if it didn't reference the Balanchine photo.

The quote may have been the photographer's idea, not Hubbe's, but I don't care for it. The dancers in the Balanchine photo came from the school he founded, and he further trained and cultivated them once he chose them for his company. Hubbe has been leading the Royal Danish Ballet for three years - how many of those dancers are really his? I don't think he's earned that pose.

Unfortunately, in both cases that's Marjorie Spohn. She is in the 1968 Concerto Barocco, with Farrell and Ludlow.

I love all these reviews. Would anyone care to compare Cojocaru's Giselle last night with the one on DVD with the Royal Ballet, with Kobborg as Albrecht?

Patrick, I don't read Macaulay as talking about the sexuality of the dancers or the choreographer. I wonder if he was taking a shot - dirac's word is better than my "slam" - at Millepied for (supposedly) taking care to show that the men in the piece were not gay. That's all. Actually, dirac's "pointless jibe" might be even closer to the truth. It might have been more a joke in passing than an actual criticism. Who knows? Not me.

Thanks for your take on it, Patrick, and you may be correct. To answer your question, that "don't worry" sounds mocking, as if he's presuming the existence of and then mocking hetero sexual (no pun intended) insecurity. That's why I wonder if there is something defensively hetero in the piece . . . and, er, just how he would know it.

verged on profound If he wrote like this all the time, which is definitely more understated than we almost ever get, I wouldn't complain. I don't know, that last quip of Macaulay's sounds uncalled for, given that Millepied is heterosexual. Can anyone who saw the ballet explain the line? Is it really justified by the choreography, or just a cheap slam? Or am I misreading it?

I count five paragraphs of introduction and editorial comment, two of which are only a sentence apiece, before the heart of the review. A good many posters here seem to be wannabe ABT (or NYCB or Mariinsky) artistic directors, and who can blame them? (Me, I have a few suggestions for Suzanne Farrell, if she's foolish enough to listen to them). I'd have liked more on "Shadowplay," since it seems to be rarely performed in New York, but there were those three premieres to concentrate on. And I want a critic to be engaged enough to give advice. Macaulay's hardly the only one who does.

I think Weber has certainly demonstrated, as so much fashion photography does, how to make shallow art: art that trivializes instead of enobles like (to pick the most obvious recent example at NYCB) Apollo.

Great point. As related in Greg Lawrence's bio Dance with Demons, Robbins went to see Grecian statues in Naples after being impressed with photographs in a book brought back by Bart Cook. The book quotes the following from Robbins' original program note (I wonder why NYCB doesn't have this on its website): "Like Epigraphs and Afternoon of a Faun, Syrinx [for those not familiar with the ballet, this is one of the Debussy pieces the ballet is set to] was inspired by French poetry about life and myths of Greek antiquity."

Quite right, of course. Here are ABT's notes on the ballet. canbelto, what an interesting idea.

Ceeszi, it's good to read that you were finally able to see NYCB again! Afternoon of a Faun is something of a take off on Nijinsky's L'après-midi d'un faune. I could say more, but you'll find it more interesting to note the similarities and differences yourself. Try YouTube if you don't know the Nijinsky. Robbins choreographed Antique Epigraphs after seeing bronze statuary in Naples. He wrote that the ballet "was inspired by French poetry about life and myths of Greek antiquity." I hope that helps.

I agree. The "fire on the rock" sequence at the end of the opera did work well -- especially at the very end when the "fire colored" lights shone thru the planks, but that only lasted for 20 seconds, and I felt some nervousness as they set the scene up while they locked Voigt down so they could start to tip her nearly upside down (that wasn't a double was it??). It was a double, actually, but I was so caught up in the scene that I didn't wonder abut it until she was 90 degrees vertical.

I didn't think that worked at all. It looked dumb to me, and IMO the strangeness of this image detracted from what should be one of the most dramatic moments in the entire Ring. At this point I'd be willing to dump "The Machine" on the scrap heap of history. P.S. They didn't stand on the "planks" per se, but rather they sat on a ledge just above the "plank" while their legs dangled down the "plank" as it moved up and down like some sort of see-saw or Loch Ness monster. Most distracting of all, I thought, was the dismount when each Valkyrie slid down the plank like a 7 year old down a slide at the playground. All I could pay attention to was the relieved look on their faces once they hit ground without stumbling so they could go on with the show. In the two operas performed so far, that was the one scene in which I disliked the Machine, and you've described why very well. I didn't see horses, I saw a gimmick and a trick I had to hold my breath through. I loved the end of Act 3, though. I think it was regarding this scene that one critic complained that the Machine overshadowed what should have been the focus, the intimacy between Father and daughter even as they're torn apart. I can understand having that reaction in the house itself. On the HD screen, where we'd seen their feelings for each other in close-up, I thought the spectacle evoked the grand scale of the tragedy.

Hah! The theater I watch in sells champagne, wine and coffee, but I forgo all liquids until at least the last intermission and get my caffeine from dark chocolate.

Whether it's VIPs relinquishing seats or ordinary folks, I've often found good seats at theaters all over the place at the last minute. My favorite example of this is when I decided to go to Kyra Nichols' last performance no more that 10 days beforehand, and all that was available was high Fourth Ring. Fresh in town a few hours before the performance, I traded that seat for one in the Third Ring, and when the doors opened I bought a center seat in the Second Ring.

Sorry to hear you missed some of the audio, Helene. I'm a little surprised the Met didn't announce right away what was causing the delay, although I should have guessed. All along I was hoping Levine hadn't had to cancel at the last minute.

Someone on the tech team explained the problem during the first intermission, but beforehand, after one showing of a video on the summer season, we were just shown a graphic about that season, then a notice that the broadcast had been delayed (no reason given), then a notice that it would start in 15 minutes. I think it was more like 20 or 25 minutes before Placido Domingo came on to introduce the opera, saying nothing about the delay.

Sixty-six years and counting - that's just wonderful. Are men allowed to say "you go, girl"? I hope you'll tell us about what you see this season.

I don't think it will be much help, but this must be what you were thinking of: Getting the Most Ballet (View) for Your Buck.

And I love dissenting opinions - it's such a treat to see the ballets through different eyes! Thanks again to all the New York posters.

Hearty thanks to everyone who's reported on this thread. It's wonderful to read the reactions of NYCB regulars. I had a similar reaction when I saw this pair at the Kennedy Center last month. I've seen Kowroski in the role before and I love her in it, but the two of them seemed to be dancing on two different dynamic levels. I missed Hyltin's Terpsichore, but I'm not surprised by Macaulay's criticism. The role is not without playfulness at times, but it needs gravitas too, and that doesn't seem to be within her natural personality onstage, at least from what little I've seen of her. Perhaps I'm wrong.

Thanks, Cristian! Some of this short (??) 256-page book is available on Google Books.