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I think we want to discourage littering in general, on the street and in the theater.

Yes, it seems so.

Except for the breaking of the spell -- beautiful is as beautiful does. And on that note, while I understand season ticket holders of years standing discussing whatever mundane subject comes to mind in the minutes before the lights go down and the curtain goes up, as someone for whom every performance is a special occasion, I'm always glad when the people around me honor it as the same once they get to their seat. Blab about your lousy boss later. Yack on your cellphone, check your messages, and text later. Start suspending disbelief and opening yourself to transcendence now. We're not here to hear about you.

The phrse -- or rather, word -- that's been getting on my nerves lately when I hear it on cable television news shows is "optics," as in, "What matters here are the optics." What's wrong with "stagecraft" or "photo op" or "appearance"? I wouldn't mind so much if the offenders weren't plenty well-educated enough to know the meaning of the word they're misusing.

The Dance Theatre of Harlem, in whatever shape or form Arthur Mitchell can assemble it. Thanks, Bart, for the cheering thought.

Wow, that should be interesting! Am I wrong, or is this unlikely casting?

Is that the Jofffrey Ballet School, Hans? I know that Robert Joffrey wanted his dancers to know the history of the art.

Wonder of wonders then that we're getting it here in central Virginia in prime time as scheduled.

Anne, we had a thread earlier this year on the dearth of Villella performances on disc and video. Here it is, and good luck finding "Man Who Dances."

Thanks, carbro. As a way-out-of-towner, I especially enjoyed clicking on your photostream link and finding the head-spinning shots of the renovation of plaza.

Good news! I hope opera fans here are also enjoying tonight's Independent Lens feature on the making of this opera.

papeetepatrick, do you get Ballet Review? The Fall 2008 issue has a 2-page cover story about a previous Dia Event, plus photos.

This is technically but I think it's pertinent. The New York Times reports today that the Metropolitan Opera's board will Presumably if the Met feels the need to take an extraordinary measure to boost ticket sales, its fellow Lincoln Center constituent at the State Theater is suffering some too, although maybe not yet since it's Nutcracker season.

GoCoyote! thank you very much for alerting us that this is up on YouTube. I wish I could disagree with you, but instead I just admire your description. Writing in the New York Times, Roslyn Sulcas sees a "panoply of human life and physical possibilities." I see the second but it doesn't show me the first. Anxiety, agitation, cooperation without communication -- that's pretty narrow for a panoply. Sometimes the dance seems a metaphor for the extension of human abilities made possible by technology, or perhaps the speed and stress of modern life, and as such, I'm impressed. But that doesn't give it the high view of humanity I love in ballet. And I don't like it that the women are manipulated but never manipulate. Tenderness isn't entirely lacking, but often I don't see partnering, I see an agon, and an unequal, pre-feminist one. I also dislike the costumes, which show the body in a frank but unidealized state that I find reductive, suitable to the choreography but ill-serving the beauty of human soul, which is what the choreographer seems to be trying to show us. . To my mind, much of the frenetic movement is impressive as athleticism but otherwise too busy to appreciate as presented. Image succeeds image so quickly that there is no time to savor them individually. This is history (narrative) as "one damn thing after another," and less powerful for it. Pausing the video and isolating short passages is more rewarding for me than watching straight through. Viewers with eyes better than mine and sensibilities accustomed to Forsythe and MacGregor may accordingly feel differently and know better. Having said all this, I find the dance moving at times, in part because of the limpid score, in part because I sense that the choreographer was moved by what he was doing, and in part by the juxtaposition of the dancers as individuals with the literally faceless and largely indistinguishable electronic crowd. But the whole thing goes on and on, way past the point, for me, of developing the vocabulary or developing the characters. As I write this I'm well aware that there are other ways to think of this ballet. I could argue with myself about almost everything I've said. I'm a little surprised no one else has posted since the dance has been available online. But maybe everyone is . . . thinking. Thanks again, GoCoyote!

One linguistic fad I find especially ugly is the use of the present tense when it's the past that's being spoken of. For example, "So now he buys . . . " instead of "so then he bought . . ." Sportscasters do this a lot, but I hear talking heads on political shows doing it too.

Oh, I agree. Just a wee joke on my part.

Perhaps if we start a petition and deputize rg to bring her the signatures . . .

Ooh, I love the idea of spending money on preservation, Farrell Fan, except I'd divide the money up in order to also help preserve the work of Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor. I have never seen Taylor's work in the theater; I mostly depend upon the consensus view of critics that he, like Cunningham, is a genius. Cunningham lost the financial wherewithal to document his work on film some years ago.

In today's Washingon Post opera critic Anne Midgette reflects on this "Faust," the differences between experiencing it live and experiencing it on screen, and the strengths and weaknesses of opera on screen: "Faust" Sells Its Soul Short at the Multiplex.

You're right.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm thankful that Koch's contribution has made possible the renovation of a theater built and, thanks to Lincoln Kirstein, in large part designed, for George Balanchine. Beyond that, for Peter Martins to place Koch's contribution on the same plane as Balanchine and Kirstein's . . . granted that this sort of easy flattery must tempt anyone charged with courting donors . . . is as superficial and noxious an understanding of history as his choreography sometimes seems to be of human nature. How much did it cost to attach Koch's name to the building, and what fraction of that sum would it have cost to buy vodka shots for last night's audience, to celebrate with and thank the loyal people who keep NYCB viable by purchasing tickets throughout the season and/or buying over-priced gala seats? In the large scheme of things, Koch is to be thanked. But self-aggrandizement has erased a little bit of history, and that makes me a little sad.

"ˈstāt," I hope.

I'm reading Daniel Bell's "The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism" and Sasha Anawalt's "Joffrey Ballet: Robert Joffrey and the Making of an American Dance Company." My wife and I are reading together Richard John Neuhaus' "Death on a Friday Afternoon: Meditations on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross" and Studs Terkel's memoir "Talking to Myself." I recently read K. Robert Schwart's "Minimalists," Julia Hartwig's "In Praise of the Unfinished: Selected Poems," and Barrack Obama's "The Audacity of Hope."

After rewatching a portion of the Ballet Russe documentary yesterday afternoon I went searching online for photos of Nathalie Krassovaska -- once so beautiful and in that film so adorable in another way -- and found the following site with oodles of autographed photos of and signed letters by Moira Shearer, Lincoln Kirstein, Mary Ellen Moylan, Maria and Marjorie Tallchief, Bery Grey, Tanaquil LeClerq and many other dancers, musicians and actors. I laughed to read Maria Tallchief in 1964: "As you know the casting around New York City Ballet is rather bizarre" -- a reference, I suppose, to Farrell's predominance.

I sure don't want to change it, but I do disagree with you that one has to be knowledgeable about ballet, or about any art, to experience it as art and not merely entertainment. The more one knows, the richer the experience is, of course. But I think even novices can experience that uplift. I did.