kfw

I couldn't get any sound, so I watched Theme and Variations while continuing to listen to the Vijay Ijer Sextet in a livestream from the Ojai festival for contemporary classical music in California. The dancers were lovely but they were waaay off the music. 

10 minutes ago, YouOverThere said:

 

Nobody who has ever been to a rock concert would consider the music for Times are Racing to be loud. In fact, I've been to classical music performances that at least for small sections was louder than that. While I thought that Times are Racing was a lightweight piece (something on the order of Celts), I prefer to not be stuck with the same old, same old all the time, even at the risk that not all of the new stuff will be good.

 

I'm a fan of Hindemith, and don't understand why he isn't more popular. His music is more melodic than most of his contemporaries.

I agree about Hindemith, but not really about Times, Context matters, and in the context it was loud, although I loved it, especially the first section, and the volume suited the choreography. "Lightweight" might be an apt description, but at least as a one-off I found it winning. I know the company and the Center want to appeal to young adults, as Deacon's score undoubtedly does, but I feel for the patrons who were unpleasantly surprised. 

2 hours ago, Natalia said:

American Rhapsody: I loved it. No more "Broadwayish" than Who Cares?, IMO.

Agreed, with the difference that Wheeldon is no Balanchine (and Who Cares? is far from one of may favorites Balanchines). But if you loved it, more power to you.

On 6/9/2017 at 7:13 PM, lmspear said:

$25 ticket offer now includes the weekend performances!!!  And I'm out of town.

 

Dates Added!

The Kennedy Center is offering tickets at the special price of $25.00 for orchestra seats for the performances of the New York City Ballet in the Opera House Theater on Friday, June 9  at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 10 at 1:30 p.m.; and Sunday, June 11 at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are regularly as high as $79 in the orchestra.

You can click the link below and your discount will appear automatically. If you call or stop by the Box Office for the discount, be sure to mention Offer Number "263834." See you at the Kennedy Center!

New York City Ballet

 

Thanks a lot, Imspear. I was planning on skipping the company's visit this year because there was so little Balanchine, but we had to be in Herndon in the morning anyhow, so I picked up discount seats for the matinee. Wheeldon's piece left me cold, Rhapsody in Blue notwithstanding, but then Broadway's not my thing. The Four Temperaments received a mostly strong performance, I thought, and it's a big favorite, but I've sometimes been disappointed. I had no/low expectations for the Peck but though it was great fun, especially with that thunderous score. I do feel sorry for the two elderly couples in the orchestra we saw leaving - and we were halfway down the floor so there may have been more. They must have hated the loud contemporary music, and there was nothing in the program or in the marketing, at least that I saw, to prepare them for it. The Hindemith score can't be everyone's cup of tea either, as great as it is. There was no typically lovely classical music to be heard this afternoon, but that was fine with me.

Well put, Jack. And even though his Instagram page identifies him as the Times critic, he's not writing for the Times on that page. Anyone can make a mistake.

Another way is to see the company at the Kennedy Center. Tickets for the January 30 open rehearsal are $15 and go on sale tomorrow, May 31. 

2 hours ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

What's "popular music" these days anyway? There's a ton of thoughtful, well-wrought, demanding music out there that is neither "classical" nor "popular" in the sense of lots of people finding it approachable and liking it. Jazz comes immediately to mind, of course, but yeah, there's some hip-hop that would fit the bill, too.

Agreed about the "ton." And if the artists need financial support, and their music needs support because it hasn't already found its largest possible audience, it has a place at the Kennedy Center in my opinion. There may be some hip-hop that fits that bill, but I'd be surprised. 

1 hour ago, dirac said:

Pandering to whom, kfw?

Pandering to people who don't appreciate the Center's core offerings. 

Sandik, no doubt a few people buy tickets just because they're there and see something advertised. Beyond that, it would be nice to think that this kind of outreach makes a significant difference. I know some creative artists in the fields of jazz, dance and drama are using and/or being influenced by hip-hop. Naturally. And I see a couple of upcoming Center programs that fit the bill. The breakdance contest they had last fall does not, and could have found another venue. I also remember the hip hop the NYCB ballet audience was forced to hear between acts of Jewels a couple of years ago. That was a rude way to treat paying customers.

Hip hop is popular and it's music, so it's popular music. That seems self-evident. It may be good pop, but it's still pop. For complex interaction, they can bring back Cecile McLorin Salvant. A quick check brings up only one appearance of hers. 

6 hours ago, sandik said:

 

The short answer is that some work label "pop" is capable of inspiring and supporting deep analysis, while some work that would seem to be in the "high art" box is considerably more shallow.  So perhaps what you're really asking for is a venue that supports the complex stuff, whatever the label.

 

And yes, apparently the hip hop crowd does buy tickets to Ailey.

The Center has traditionally brought the complex stuff, yes, and the stuff which isn’t all over the airwaves and the news and the street already. In regards to what’s sophisticated and what’s shallow, sure, absolutely, there are exceptions to every rule.

Is there evidence that just bringing pop fans to high art venues sells a significant number of tickets? 

18 minutes ago, sandik said:

I'm not sure that the distinction between high and low art is serving you well here, or there would be all kinds of stuff that you would have keep that you might not want, and all kinds of things that you'd like to see that would have to be excluded.

I don't mean to say all high art is good art, or all pop is bad, or even always of less value. But pop is easily approachable. Is bringing it into a place devoted, for the most part, to work that is more demanding, work that to be fully understood and appreciated requires effort and education, justifiable outreach, or is it pandering, is it checking off the diversity box? And if it's outreach, is it working? Is there evidence the hip-hop crowd is buying, say, Alvin Ailey tickets? 

The mandate for high art is implicit in what the words "the greatest" would have meant at the time, before pop and folk art had the respect it does today, and in the history of what it has presented. The fact that the KC Honors presents awards to pop stars is another lapse from that mission. The Education Department, on the other hand, is faithful to that core mission, Kids don't need to be taught to appreciate hip-hop. Again, why does pop music need the support of the Kennedy Center?

3 hours ago, dirac said:

When the term “lowest common denominator” is applied to public and consumer taste, it is generally taken as derogatory and it has been used to apply to people as well as their tastes and opinions. I don't want to make too much of this, but I suggest with all due respect that a less pejorative way of putting it would be “The Kennedy Center does not as a rule program pop and/or folk-derived music, with the exception of hip-hop.” I think a brief look at a usage reference will bear me out on this. Naturally you are free to use the term as you choose, but don’t be surprised if it’s taken in a way you may not intend.

 

Copeland has danced with the Washington Ballet, so she does have a previous connection to the city. Aside from her celebrity status, which of course never hurts, I can see why her name came up. She's about five years older than Justin Peck, so she's seen at least as much as he has...............

I explained what I meant by lowest common denominator, and I explained that I understand your discomfort with the term and how it could be misunderstood. I don’t think we’re disagreeing here. Your rewrite is fine as far it goes, but it doesn’t get to my point that not only is the music (and more important, the level of taste it takes to appreciate it) relatively unsophisticated, a far cry from the high art which is the core of what the Center presents and was created for (see the mission statement Helene posted) (granted, it also shows musicals), but it’s highly popular and doesn’t need support, doesn’t need another forum.

I like some forms of pop culture. If I was young, I’d listen to hip-hop. But some of us go to the Kennedy Center to get away from pop culture. The question that needs to be asked is “Why hip-hop and not other folk-derived music (if you prefer that term)?” The answer, clearly, is political, probably in more ways than one.

You and Helene both make good points about Copeland, although Peck as both a dancer and a choreographer probably has insights she doesn’t. But I think we all know she was chosen for her name, not her expertise, because if expertise was the point, there are people with far more. Actual curators have a deep and wide knowledge of their field. It would have been interesting, for example, to see what a couple of critics, or ex-company directors, would have chosen. I hope her name did sell lots of tickets.

1 hour ago, dirac said:

The term “lowest common denominator” seems needlessly loaded in this context. 

Farrell also has no (formal) credentials as a choreographer. I’m not sure why the fact of being a dancer only makes Copeland somehow unqualified; the dancers are the ones who have to get onstage and make the choreography work, not always as easy as they make it look.

(I also found the use of "curated" irksome. At Starbucks they are now offering snacks "curated" by the staff, so we now have curated turkey jerky.)

I’m guessing exactly that, Natalia. I tend to feel as you do, but attracting younger audiences is not an unreasonable consideration. If it was such a stratagem, I wonder if it worked?

There is perhaps a better term than "lowest common denominator" -- a term than clearly connotes that it's being applied to simple tastes, and not to the people who hold them, and that doesn't imply that the people who have them don't have other, more sophisticated tastes. I just don't know what it is. In small doses - one or two of their short songs - I like the Ramones. It would be hard to get more lowest common denominator than that. 

It's true Farrell's not a choreographer (formally, yes), but she worked extensively with one of the greatest, and she's just been around a whole lot longer than Copeland and has presumably seen more. Copeland may in fact have exceptional taste, I don't know, but the KC made no attempt, at least that I saw, to argue that, to argue why she of all possible candidates should be the one chosen to "curate" (ugh, yes). 

7 hours ago, California said:

Me, too. I'm looking seriously at the Russian Masters program in October, especially to see Ratmansky's Bolero. One reservation: am I correct that everything in the Eisenhower Theater (October and next April) uses recorded music? I'm also guessing that the March programs at the Harman  Center will use recorded music. The R&J is in the Opera House, although it doesn't say specifically that they will have a live orchestra. I was under the impression that Robbins' estate would only license his work if live music was used, so I'm wondering what they'll do for The Concert at Eisenhower next April. Can locals fill us in on this issue?

This post aroused my curiosity. I'm sure Natalia can fill you in on what Washington Ballet's practice has in recent years, but the Eisenhower has an orchestra pit, and when Suzanne Farrell Ballet appeared there they always used it. Apparently Washington Ballet is using it again as well:

Quote

The Washington Ballet reaffirms its commitment to the presentation of performance to live music with the return of The Washington Ballet Orchestra under the baton of guest conductors Charles Barker from American Ballet Theatre and Pittsburgh Ballet for the March 1-5, 2017 performances of Giselle, 

9 hours ago, Helene said:

The Kennedy Center's mission:

 

 

 

The Kennedy Center doesn't program country music, and it doesn't program rock. The only lowest common denominator music it programs is hip hop. I'm all for diversity, but does it have to be patronizing? As for the dance programs "curated" by Peck and Copeland, Peck at least, as a choreographer, has taste worth paying attention to. Copeland has no such credentials and doesn't need them, for obvious reasons. Her name is enough to sell tickets, even though the Center specified that neither she nor Peck would appear. Maybe that's reason enough.

On 5/16/2017 at 2:57 AM, Drew said:

..as a fan of classical ballet my tolerance for--and pleasure in--exquisite idealizations and otherwise symbolically deployed women (an issue Burke touches on as well) is obviously very high, though I think one could at least make a psychological case for why those figures remain so powerful even if one doesn't actually want to LIVE in Aurora's kingdom.

I don’t have a problem with the idealization either. For one thing, people do idealize each other in romance. That’s not all of life, but it’s a good and universal part of it, and it’s a form of wonder, reminding us of things greater than ourselves. Second, if idealization is also a form of blindness – no one lives up to what they’re romantically conceived to be – still it’s akin to and often leads to a more lasting good: a deep respect rooted in the determination to see and remember the best in people even when they’re at their worst. Third, in Balanchine’s case especially we can see how he was drawing from his own history, from having been separated at a young age from his mother. So in that way too it’s true to life, not ideologically determined.

Having said that, it’s true that historically the woman on the pedestal was actually in a circumscribed and subservient position vis a vis the men who put her up there.

Congratulations, Alexandra, and thanks! Danceviewtimes is a treasure.

Today is Kirstein's birthday; he would have been 110. What wouldn't I give to read his thoughts on today's hot choreographers, the current condition of the Balanchine rep at City Ballet, and the way social media has transformed ballet public relations.  

Last week in New York, while walking from E. 49th to E. 16th, I made a point of going by his home, and was pleased to see the plaque there in his honor. I had completely forgotten this thread!

Wow, and a hundred thanks!

9 hours ago, ABT Fan said:

I wish they'd bring back Robbin's Antique Epigraphs. I feel like I'm the only person who likes that ballet.

I've seen it only on videotape and would love to see it in the theater. Here's a clip of New York Theatre Ballet rehearsing it in a staging by the much missed Kyra Nichols. 

Thumbs up to Les Noces. Thumbs down to Dybbuk. 

6 hours ago, Drew said:

Acocella also writes on other topics, so why might she not share dance writing duties with someone else interested in things she does not want to write about? That's a rhetorical question ... and I agree Remnick is probably on the same page with her as far as what he wants as editor. I remember his piece on the Bolshoi, but I don't really see it as evidence of substantive interest in dance as an art form calling for critique, discussion, and debate.

Remnick's a former Moscow correspondent for the Washington Post and wrote a book entitled Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire, so the Bolshoi scandal was bound to interest him regardless of his degree of interest in or taste in dance.

As for Acocella, in an ironic was she is being a critic by not writing about what she finds uninteresting. But I agree that she's going about it in the wrong way. 

8 hours ago, dirac said:

I thought the PBS broadcast does better justice to the second movement of Symphony in C than the Kent-Ludlow film shown in Six Balanchine Ballerinas. I'm sure Kent was magical in it, but I didn't really see it in that clip.

I've read that Kent was not at her best in that clip. Can't remember where it was.

Salon has a piece on changes in music coverage at the Times and what it means for jazz that sheds some light on the paper's thinking about arts coverage in general.

Quote

Though the Times had not been making many editorial decisions based on analytics prior to last summer, it had been actively collecting data for about five years, according to Ratliff. One of the conclusions the Times drew from the data it collected was that reviews did not perform well.

Yes, the email checkers should be unceremoniously ejected during intermission. But suddenly leaning over can block the view of the person behind you, and all but the faintest whispers can be heard if not understood. Any movement or noise is bound to be distracting, especially at a climactic moment.