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Patrick, I've enjoyed reading your thoughts and you've given me a few good laughs. I'll just respond to this below: No, nowadays they're texting or tweeting all their friends. I don't remember anyone saying she did anything wrong. We've been discussing what does and doesn't help the art form. I've said I wish dancers wouldn't tweet between acts of a performance. Also that I doubt information of the kind she dispenses does much to bring new fans, though I could of course be wrong. Also that I think the old model of the not-so-familiar star is still valid.

I too am shocked by the venom leveled at Bouder. And for those who don't regularly attend NYCB performances, I'd just like to say: Bouder onstage is really special. She's a technical dynamo, a ballerina who wasn't born with either the best face or the best body but who nevertheless is a star because of her dancing. She takes huge chances onstage, which can result in her falling flat on her butt, but her spontaneity and spunk onstage are just part of her appeal. Now if you're going to think less of her and not attend her performances because she twitters between the Rose Adagio and Vision Scene, and because she had the temerity to express her annoyance at a cab driver (not to HIM, but in a tweet), then I'd just say it's your loss that you're missing out on one of the most exciting ballerinas of our generation. No one here has expressed, ire, outrage, or venom, or anything like it, or suggested they think less of her for tweeting. And I have said a couple of times that she seems like a very nice person.

Yes, and that's their loss, in my opinion, at least in regards to the sacred, and to ceremony and sense of occasion . I belong to an Episcopal church and we have an evening service geared towards university students that my wife and I sometimes attend, and I'm struck by how casual almost everyone dresses for it. The rectors too dress down -- no robes -- lest they scare someone off, I guess. I'm not putting anyone down for this, but I do think the kids are missing a dimension, one they may grow to find. Meanwhile, if you ask me, which you sort of did, they're casualties of the code of the casual . Special occasions deserve special clothes -- or at least some kind of shoes! -- and special behavior. And the same goes for performances, fancy restaurants, weddings, etc. I'm not surprised Bouder tweets between acts. I just think it's too bad she wants to. Whether tweeting or going off on a lousy cab driver is the better response is neither here nor there, not to mention that they aren't the only two options. She does seem like a very nice person, but to address your point, it's not that we should hold them to a higher standard, or have the right to. It's that they themselves -- many of them, at least -- used to have a different conception of their relationship to their art and their fans. I think of Tallchief saying something like "you carry yourself [as a representative of the art]."

Patrick, I don't think dancers need to hide the business aspect, or the personal aspect entirely, but there is a time and a place for everything. And I too love to learn everything I can about the art form, the artists as artists, and their creative process. That Verdy is coaching La Source is interesting news; that Bouder didn't like her cab driver . . . not so much. Perhaps you're correct that the latter tidbit will help young fans relate to her more, and in so doing will entice them to buy more tickets. I just find that a little hard to believe; how interesting is the information really? But again, I don't wish she wouldn't tweet altogether; I wish she wouldn't tweet between acts of Sleeping Beauty, and beyond that I'm just not convinced the personal stuff has much dollar value. I agree that "Farrell is very 'girl next door' in parts of 'The Elusive Muse', in old home movies, etc., she's not a bigger-than-life personality offstage," and as I said, there is a place for the girl next door in ballet. There are places for all sorts of personalities in ballet. I haven't said everyone needs to be glamorous (although I loved, after a recent Kennedy Center performance, seeing a ballerina in a coffee shop tightly wrapped in coat, stocking cap, and huge sunglasses, but still instantly recognizable). But Farrell is no longer dancing, and the film focused not on trivialities, but on her career and her relationship with the man who gave her her greatest career opportunities. That's a far cry from tweeting "putting my pants on one leg at a time just like you do" (OK, I made that one up). Too much of the latter, I suspect, is a diminishment. I recognize that this is how young people communicate nowadays, but frankly, it comes across to me as a little self-absorbed -- you're reading this post for my opinion on this matter, but let me take a moment to tell you what I had for breakfast -- in a way that we all naturally are, but that finally has little value, and that we can grow out of with time. Art can enoble, and celebrity can trivialize; I think that's pretty well accepted. Sure, this has been much discussed (and lamented), and Farrell has noted it herself. Something has been gained perhaps, but something wonderful has been lost too, wouldn't you agree? Again, not everyone should be or can be forced into the same mold. But I reject the idea that "we don't need [the old models] any more . . . because that's been done." I mean, we don't need old-fashioned French cuisine now that we have nouvelle either (I'm probably hopelessly ignorant of cooking fads here, but you can see my point), but that's no reason to say it "just can't compete with . . . . something new," especially since the new will also get old. I'm not saying dancers should be nuns married to their art, although that seemed to be Balanchine's ideal. I loved seeing Veronika Part on the Letterman show. But I wonder if we're losing a healthy balance. Well, don't give up the good fight.

You just hit the spot, Simon. I believe in, love, WORSHIP the grandeur and seriousness of ballet-(and visual arts, and literature and so on...). Because of that, I've came to "feel" for the likes of Nureyev, Kirkland or Alonso, and their surreal approach, willing to go beyond and above the good and the bad in their unconditional devotion to the art-(kind of Faust's children in their own different, distinctive way, aren't they?). Silliness is not welcome in this circle. And Cristian, my faithful Indian companion, that's the tragedy of modern life, you can't go back, you can only go forward. The whole landscape of entertainment has changed precisely because of the internet, and if ballet can't or won't reflect that and try and engage with the world as it is, it's going to be left even further behind than ever. I'm not opposed, like Christian, to dancers tweeting, but I very much appreciate his sensibility here. I wonder if the now-I'm-doing-this,-now-I'm-doing-that info stream, however well-intended, by describing the artist's life as one banal thing after another, doesn't tend to take the art form itself off its pedestal and reduce it to mere entertainment. And the pedestal is there for a reason. There is a realm beyond mere entertainment, and our souls parch without it. As much as I enjoy all the backstage and behind the scenes videos most companies make available now, I also reject the notion that ballet has to ape other cultural forms and employ every new technology that comes along or lose its audience. Old fashioned mystery and glamour still have their appeal, and they depend of course on the artists withholding something of themselves from the public. The art has a place for girl-next-door personalities, but it needs Farrells and Alonsos as well.

Possibly a little unrealistic, especially in the theater. Performers do all kinds of things backstage on their breaks and the occasional tweet or e-mail are among the more harmless, I expect. Yes, and usually they are just ready to go back to a more informal 'real-person' version of themselves. I would think that concentration would only improve a performance. Earlier I drew a distinction between art and athletic activity, but do athletes tweet in the locker room? Do coaches really stand for that? OK, so maybe a performer needs a mental health break between acts. And they hardly need to remain in character during offstage breaks. But they might relax privately, not publicly, and wait till after the performance to break the spell.

Yeah, I don't object to it in any way, I just don't find it interesting. Perhaps if I was in my 20's, I would. I had hoped for a bit of a view into the dancing and rehearsing side of a dancer's life, but the 140 character limit would make that tough anyhow. Bouder does sound like a charming young woman. Perhaps I romanticize too much because ballet is not my daily work, but I feel the same way about it as I did when, during the Met Opera HD broadcast of Der Rosenkavalier, Susan Graham joked about Renee Fleming spending her long break after Act 1 emailing. I hope that was only a joke. When the activity is an art and not just an athletic activity, I'd like to think that the artist is doing the Baba Ram Dass thing and "be(ing) here now.' I was the same way in my twenties, running around Chicago.

I've certainly made my own mistakes. But it's one thing to make them in haste under deadline pressure writing for a daily or even a weekly, and another for neither writer nor editor to take time to print out and proofread when the publication is a quarterly.

You may not have read the tweets in question, but you've gone right to the point here, Patrick. Aura? How's this for enticing newcomers to ballet? great massage! and my new tv was delivered today! this apartment is slowly but surely getting decorated and finished:)

Or LACK of editors, which is increasingly the case. Granted, but you would think someone would read a piece before it's published, and you would think that particular someone would have some knowledge of grammar, and could at least catch obvious mistakes the writer missed in haste. Ballet Review is a treasure, and I'll be grateful to whoever carries on in Francis Mason's stead. But I've just read a wonderfully informative piece by Joseph Houseal in the Winter 2010 issue of Ballet Review that cries out for a copy editor.

The ironic thing about Bouder's comments is that she doesn't actually dish dirt when she Twitters. But then neither is she, at least for me, an artist with mystique. Exciting, yes. Mysterious, no.

When I look at that photo, I always wish I'd been that matron.

The mini-documentary is in the PBS showing as well, and it was great to see footage of the ballet on the Ed Sullivan Show and shots of the Ballets U.S.A. on tour. As much as I admire the new production, I wish it didn't have so many long shots. The backgrounds alone make the choreography a little hard to see sometimes.

Thanks, emilienne. That was well worth waiting for.

Thanks for the perspective, Sandik. Perhaps the writer was Eastern European.

Pardon the digression, but I received a mailer today for a Moscow Festival Ballet performance of Coppelia. "A choreography"? I suppose a student wrote that, but it still amazes me. The word "choreography" is used correctly on the mailer in reference to Giselle.

I recently read "Her Infinite Variety" (2000), about a very bright and headstrong but rather cold woman who makes a career for herself in publishing in the early and mid-20th century. It was a fun read, as I knew it would be, and Clara, who I found sympathetic at first, regained my sympathy for a moment of generosity at the very end.

Yes! And I always love watching the Muses come onstage in Apollo.

Good man, that's the spirit! I look forward to seeing what you think when you do. bart and carbro and atm711, thanks for your comments on the clips. They helped me see more by watching more closely.

Christian, I don't know if watching You Tube clips before seeing a work onstage is always the best policy, but here, if you like, are two clips of the first variation, by Manuel Legris and by .

Thanks for the excerpts, Jack. I love the ones below. Now wouldn't that be a marvelous tour to tag along on. Note to the National Gallery: I'd buy the audio download. This makes me laugh. Crazy like a fox . . . crazy like a Balanchine muse! "but I feel so alive, it's visceral" watching her own company -- that's just wonderful, and so well deserved. As much as his dancers usually loved him, we don't often hear that he was a caring man. And how much is known about that floor and his role in its invention?

Great topic, Ray. Some day we need a BT Bad Reviews thread. No, not mine -- a humorous thread with everyone reviewing an imaginary performance as poorly as possible.

That would be just wonderful. Thank you for trying.

Thanks for your faithful reporting, Jack. It's always a treat to read your thoughts day by day as the run continues and the ballets are plumbed more deeply. I'm surprised that Macaulay found Apollo "the finest achievement" of the season and Agon the weakest, because I experienced it as just the opposite. Both ballets are great favorites of mine but most of the performances I've seen of Agon in full have left me wanting. This one was vivid all the way through. Magnicaballi and Mladenov have been splendid in the pas de deux before, but naturally they had even more impact this time in context. When I see Robbins ballets these days I always wonder what Robbins would think of the staging. Magnicaballi danced Afternoon of a Faun with Ben Huys here 2001, and she and Mladenov did it in 2003, but as with Agon, I don't remember seeing a more riveting performance. I loved the way she first appeared in the doorway fastening her sash -- a detail not rendered in the Farrell-Mofid performance on You Tube. I loved the way he cut his eyes towards her as they stood apart on either side of the stage; they stood there long enough before they stretched towards each other that it really registered. And earlier, when he was doing his warmup stretches, he briefly stretched his head in a way that Mofid doesn't that was beautifully reminiscent of Nureyev's faun in L'Après-midi d'un Faune, giving an extra visual linking to those two ballets that of course are linked historically. In Apollo I found Cook more convincing as a young god than a mature one -- more fierce than noble in the end, although of course the qualities aren't mutually exclusive. I especially loved how ardent the muses were -- Magnicaballi even seemed to have tears in her eyes by the end -- making clear that they too were moved by Apollo's journey to manhood. Magnicaballi was marvelously intense in Agon and so in character in Faun, but here I wanted more personality to distinguish her as Terpsichore, and I thought her lack of height worked against her as well. There are three Apollo photos on the company blog. I wish NYCB had kept this in repertory, but given that lack of perfume and characterization in that production, perhaps it isn't surprising they didn't. Henning and Holowchuk were real characters, and Holowchuk has a wry and winsome but still mysterious air about her that fit it very well. I loved this ballet and its score from start to finish, and it had a number of striking moments that I, at least, didn't recognize from other Balanchine ballets. I missed the presence of Ashley Hubbard and Matthew Prescott this season, but I hope to see Violeta Angelova and Kendra Mitchell for years to come.

The company's blog has a photo of three corps dancers in costume for Divertimento.