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Alastair Macauley has a not entirely positive but very enticing review of this new dance in the Times today. There is a photo of the first moment in the accompanying slideshow. Did anyone here see the program? I'd love to know what you thought!

Yes, I saw that performance---she also danced Terpsichore on the same program. And Serenade the previous night!

Part danced the 2nd movement of Symphony in C with the Kirov at the Met in 1999. Others here probably remember it better than I do, but, in any case, the Times was complimentary. Congratulations, Ms. Part! My reaction when I read the news was

These are clearly new official NYCB promo videos, though I don't see them up on the company's site right now, and to my mind they're a great improvement over what's come before. No incessant jump-cutting here: 1) Rebecca Krohn talks about dancing . 2) A shorter video in which excerpts of the Krohn interview are interspersed with excerpts of her dancing the ballet with Sebastian Marcovicci.

I really love reading these reminiscences. Thanks, Helene and carbro. On 1/21/88 in the Times Jennifer Dunning wrote:

I'm the culprit here, not you, Hans. Thanks for clarifying, rg.

Michael Dirda reviews the published letters today in the Washington Post.

There is no mention of this motif in the excepts of reviews in Repertory in Review, so perhaps it's a later addition. (Paging atm711!). In any case, Croce, writing in 1979, experiences it differently:

Very well put, SanderO. Thanks. The audience looks for self-expression, but self-expression achieved through the discipline that serves the art form. Anything else is a distraction.

Very interesting, Bart. Thanks.

Aurora, I wasn’t speaking only of female dancers, just trying to give an example of how we didn’t use to see (or very rarely saw) tattoos on people of both genders and all walks of life. We agree that they shouldn’t be seen in classical ballet. But to my mind the ballet vocabulary always reflects its aristocratic origins. Tattoos come out a different culture and aesthetic, and to my mind they clash.

On stevedores and sailors mostly, as way of showing pride in masculine strength and courage. Not on pretty girls.

Welcome to Ballet Talk, dancewonder, and please introduce yourself in the Welcome forum! And thanks for the recommendation. Here's what Library School Journey has to say about the book:

In Dance in America's "Virtuosity and Variety" program on ABT some years back, Susan Jaffe talks about her partnership with Jose Manuel Carreno. We then see her dabbing at his makeup in the wings and the two of them holding hands and grinning at each other as they're about to enter for the Black Swan pas de deux, and it's clear they really enjoy each other's company. I've always found Jaffe's comments interesting in that they reflect the old-fashioned gender roles reflected in 19th century ballet both in its stories and in its partnered choreography. Jaffe is obviously quite strong herself, physically and -- she carried the flag for ABT as principal dancer for many years -- as a person, but she makes no bones about how much she relies on her partner in order to be fully confident. She's married and I'm not suggesting anything untoward, but there's a refreshingly natural male-female frisson, if that's not too strong a term, apparent in her remarks that must only enhance their performance. Gomes sounds truly interested in his partners, truly attentive to them rather than just providing them support because it's his job. I'll bet his partners love him.

Do you happen to know how well performances with other casts sold, Leigh? Is it possible people were more interested in seeing Part and Herrera, whom I imagine are better known there?

1979 for two weeks, when I first saw them, and I'm pretty sure again in 1980. Thanks for the history, Jack; as a former Chicagoan, I enjoyed reading it. Was Chicago always so "provincial" a ballet town? As I remember the dance scene from '75 to '86, ABT was no stranger. And you probably remember Ruth Page's festival better than I do. She brought in the Royal Danish Ballet for at least a couple of programs one year (including a La Sylphide w/ Martins). I don't remember any other non-American companies. But this is . I can't wait to read what MCB brings to town and how gratefully and enthusiastically they're received. One can hope and dream that Tallchief will be well enough to attend, and to be honored.

It's ironic that Wiles has been faulted on this thread and in the London reviews for lack of dance personality because in the Ballet Review interview she speaks of critics finally noticing for her "presence." At various points during the interview she says that Reading all this, you just want to root for her. She's still young.

Thanks a lot, rg; this is really exciting. The book is not (yet?) available on Amazon, but RAM Publications is offering it for only $35.

I took part in a discussion of Bob Dylan's "Bringing It All Back Home" record last night, and the following lines from "Gates of Eden" reminded me of just this theme of Beckett's that he worries in the quote above (with the difference, of course, that Dylan's words suggest a reason to hope): I too much prefer the plays to the prose, and I've seen productions of Happy Days and Krapp's Last Tape that moved me as much as the play everyone knows Beckett for. The prose novels Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable were a hard slog. They need a personality to bring them alive. Fortunately I saw Barry McGovern do just that in 1988.

Thanks for the recommendations, folks. Just a reminder here to everyone else that both books can be ordered through the "Search Amazon" window at the top of every Ballet Talk page. And using that window helps keep Ballet Talk going.

Perhaps we'll know after their contracts expire. Like others here I feel for the dancers and wish that instead of insinuating that they no longer meet Cunningham's standards, Carlson had praised them for their talent and long service. If the difference between the salary levels of junior and senior dancers is so slight, that suggests that Merce really was motivated by artistic considerations, and that he probably has his eye on new dancers he wants to make room for. Carlson could have stated or implied as much. On the other hand, people who really care about dance, including directors of other companies who might be hiring, won't be misled by the press release, and will know how good these dancers are. The dancers' reputations won't be damaged. It is cruelly ironic that Farmer is being let go after being featured in Mondays with Merce. But the dancers knew they were entering a field where there is little job security. Would we call it autocratic for the founder and director and chief artistic force of an artistic enterprise to fire an employee who he'd hired, say, only 2 years ago? Sentiment suggests that because these senior dancers have dedicated long careers to his work, they deserve to be kept on, to be taken care of financially. That seems only decent. But for how long? And what if (through no fault of their own) they really don't any longer stimulate the choreographer's imagination when he's making new work? Isn't that part of what they were hired for? I feel bad for the dancers and I'll miss seeing Farmer, but I don't know how to answer those questions.

That poll and thread are now closed, but you can read them here.

Well, it wasn't the most exciting afternoon ever at New York City Ballet, but I'll happily take what I can get. The company is probably dreaming of vacation after a long home season, but they looked to be in very fine form. Sarah Mearns' injury (and Janie Taylor's absence from the cast list) were major disappointments, but I was prepared for them, and the dreaded program insert was just a confirmation to sigh at, not a major letdown to gasp at, after the long drive into town. But this is the second time in three years Mearns has been replaced in D.C. Makes a man want to move to New York. As the lead in "Chaconne," Maria Kowroski did not entirely transport me as she had the last time I saw her, in "Diamonds," but she made me very glad I'd come. "Sculptural" is the word that kept coming to mind, and it may have come as much from the choreography as from the performance, but Kowroski's ease did help me fix certain moments in memory. And then there is that moment in the first pas de deux where the woman is, as it were, swung around three times before she pirouettes and falls towards her partner. In the Dance in America recording Farrell looks to me as if she just about loses control there. I don't know if anyone else reads it that same way, but I do know that risk was Farrell's trademark, and I wanted some of that from Kowroski today. But at least the fall looked graceful. The whole cast was a joy. I don't know who it was that fell in the pas de cinque, but she carried on with aplomb, spurred on, I hope, by the knowledge that Balanchine would have been pleased by her effort. Beskow, Muller and la Cour were fresh and strong in the pas de trois, and Erica Pereira was lovely and radiant and just looked ready and able to dance rest of the program by herself if the need arose. I'm not sure I would have minded. I hadn't seen "Brahms/Handel" since 1988, and it didn't thrill me then. Today too my pleasure was mostly in the confident and spirited dancing, especially that of Veyette and Garcia, both strong masculine personalities I'd like to see in meatier roles. The choreography itself rarely engaged me. "Vienna Waltzes" too was very much alive for the most part, and while it's not my favorite Balanchine, it's a ballet that's enhanced by the appreciative murmurs of the audience members seeing its sets and costumes and its humorous middle movement for the first time. Jenifer Ringer and Nilas Martins always delight me together, and perhaps in the Merry Widow segment most of all. They always seem to enjoy their partnership, and to enjoy flirting in character; they look like they really do have a relationship. Not to mention how beautiful Ringer is in black. I don't think I've seen anyone besides Kistler and Nichols in the lead of the Der Rosenkavalier segment since 1992, and while I remember fans and critics complaining as far back as 10-12 years ago that Kistler trivialized the role, she has never failed to move me in it. Until today. I didn't notice any of the frou-frou stuff (if I have that correctly) that she's said to bring to this role, and I knew to expect her back to appear stiff, but I never expected her whole performance to be so careful and so lifeless. Studied doesn't even do it justice. What she looked like at times was an extraordinarily flexible old lady. Her face too looked much older than when I'd last seen her, but that shouldn't be a handicap in this role. It could even be an aid -- this woman has a history. But this face told no story, this face said nothing at all, except maybe "I don't feel good." Perhaps she really was sick. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. The people around me seemed enraptured anyhow, so I was half enraptured for them. I hope Kistler has a long and satisfying teaching career. And I hope Sarah Mearns is healthy next March.

I'd think that in watching nude dancers the eye would be torn between the moving parts of the body -- the ones the dancers have worked so hard to train and with which they express their artistry -- and the, shall we say, inadvertently moving parts. So that, to turn around the Robert Johnson quote Helene posted above, the downside of nudity for the audience might be that it would make it harder to see the dance.

I'll be at the performance Saturday afternoon. Washington Post critic Sarah Kaufman's generally enthusiastic review of the same program contains the very disappointing news that Sara Mearns did not dance in "Brahms/Handel" due to injury.