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Drew, I certainly agree. Women in tutus are supposed to be feminine, not effeminate. In fact, being female, they can’t be effeminate in a negative sense. The Trocks are funny when they impersonate women. Their comedy depends in part upon a common difference in male vs. the female mannerisms. If it’s alright for them to derive humor from that, why is it not alright for the poster to refer to it to? Effeminacy is a liability on the football field.

I didn’t say he was analyzing or thinking of specific qualities. I think he was referring to a stereotype. No, I don’t accuse them, or anyone here, of that. But I'm saying it happens a lot.

dirac and sandik, I appreciate your comments. Without denying that you make good points, I would say that while it’s true that male dancers are often considered effeminate, it’s probably not true that the football-fan poster has ever heard of the Trocks. So the comparison was probably between men in a masculine sport to women in a feminine role – between men epitomizing a particular kind of masculinity, to women epitomizing a particular kind of femininity. And neither on the football field or the ballet onstage are the two interchangeable and of equal worth. It’s also true that football is more highly valued in this culture than ballet, but I think that’s a question of taste rather than of morality or of attitudes toward women. Also, I suspect the original comment comes from what we might call a football-normative perspective, which is that players are supposed to be tough and bruising and intimidating, not light and delicate and entrancing and other such qualities which tutu-wearing dancers strive to embody on stage (as opposed to the qualities it takes to appear so). Also, while I'm sure it's hard for the marginalized not to presume offense in many cases, sensitivity can also be used as a political weapon, as a weapon not just for justice and equality, but for score-settling. It's unfair, but real justice and equality require a lot from the historically marginalized too.

Kaysta, if the Eagles played like girls in the sense which seems obvious to me but not anyone else on this thread, they would lose every time. Yes, ballet is considered feminine. And football is considered masculine. Anyone remember powder puff football? Part of the fun is that the women were stepping outside of their usual gender role. And we could all laugh together, players and spectators. At ourselves. What would offend me, so to speak, is seeing ballet when I was watching football, or football when I was watching ballet (Alma Mater excepted, of course ). It’s just possible this guy actually likes ballet, or at least has a daughter that dances, and that’s why the comparison came to mind. But this is an age in which students take offense at inauthentic sushi and banh mi, so either I’m a Neanderthal or this too will pass and the sooner the better for everyone. Then again, I’d protest too if it would get me a good banh mi sandwich! Anyhow, like I said, what I consider obvious is not a given to others here, and in light of that I apologize for the, er, wrangling tone of my initial post. And I wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Sure, but the verb was "played" not "are." Would you find it offensive to say a clunky Sugar Plum Fairy was dancing like a linebacker? I am not trying to "wrangle," but I'm trying to understand.

Perhaps if I was female I’d feel differently, but I don’t see “girlymen” as sexist in this regard, anymore than it would be sexist to criticize a Sugar Plum Fairy for dancing like a linebacker. Different activities require different qualities, that’s all. In the 21st century, people should know better than to say “He’s playing like a girl,” true. “As a football player he looks like a girl in the Nutcracker” is something else altogether. In my opinion. kbarber, no irony intended, but thanks anyhow.

I explained my thinking. If you think I’m joking, I’m sure you can explain yours.

Really now. That post is hardly evidence that the poster hates ballet or even that he doesn't respect what dancers do. We expect a dancer in a tutu to be graceful and to make what they’re doing look at least relatively easy. We don’t expect her to go banging into other dancers. In football, of course, it may be a compliment to say that a player “makes it look easy,”but in general we expect to see effort and pain. The aesthetic is entirely different. Of course. It’s 10-1 that’s all the poster meant.

She isn't scheduled for Milennium Stage during the ABT run. The only mention of her on the KC site is in the casting, where like the rest of the dancers she is identified by last name alone. To the best of my memory, the Washington Post has so far mentioned neither the production nor Copeland's appearances. The KC performances aren't even listed on Copeland's website calendar. All of which suggests to me that the Center expects balletomanes, and not more more casual fans attracted primarily by Copeland and her celebrity and historic significance, to buy those extra expensive tickets.

LOL. Are they the bachelorette swans?

Looks like a lovely production! Thanks, Jack and Helene,

Emmylou Harris. Good point of course.

She was the first cast Marie last year.

Thanks, pherank. I made an offer on one of the Orpheus and Eurydice shots, but of course it's mislabeled as for NYCB when it was in fact for the production Balanchine did for the Met.

A great quote. Thanks.

Kathleen, you make lots of good points. I'm reminded of that famous Balanchine quote - I can't remember it exactly - in which he says his ballets are not abstract, and that once you put a man and a woman on stage together, well, "how much story you want?"

That exchange between Jennings and McGregor turned pretty nasty. I don't agree with McGregor that "a body can be abstract: pure form, pure line, pure kinetic" (emphasis mine). Not a body onstage at least, where we observe the whole body, including the most personal part, the face. It's the face that impresses us most strongly that we're looking at a person, not a pure abstraction. And would we want it any other way? Not me. I go to see people dance, not forms.

The Washington Post's Anne Midgette is an outlier here: Thanks for the review. After reading Midgette, I was tempted to see this. A recent Guggenheim Works and Process evening was devoted to the opera.

LOL. Wasn't he one of Balanchine's "baby ballerinos"?

Driving home last night from a couple of wonderful Suzanne Farrell Ballet performances, my wife and I were wondering about Savannah George, an African-American girl who was both charming and exciting in a regional Nutcracker production two years ago in Williamsburg, Virginia. As it turns out, she’s now in the corps of Richmond Ballet. Gloucester teen earns spot with Richmond Ballet

In 2003 Suzanne Farrell Ballet closed an all-Tchaikovsky program with Serenade.

That reminds me of Sonya Yoncheva’s Desdemona in the Met’s current Otello, and of her wish, which she succeeded admirably at for the HD broadcast, to portray her as a strong woman. I haven’t seen FF live for quite a few years, but the role in question lends itself to that kind of characterization, and I imagine that’s how it’s being danced.

Great comments, Jack. I think it matters for how we interpret the behavior in the ballet itself. Would the audience, and more importantly a woman on the street in real life, have understood it as harassment, as we would if it actually happened today, or would they have understood it as flirtation? Is it a form of flirtation that warms the heart today? No. Is it a form of flirtation that would have existed if not for an underlying sexism then? No. But would it have been perceived and intended as harassing behavior or rather, if you will, as a form of flirtation shaped by male privilege? We don’t have to like the behavior either way, but at least for me that makes difference for how we view it now, and for whether or not it should be cleaned up (since it's supposed to be comedy).

I think Anthony's right. It's telling about the place, the gender, and the age of the characters - and most of all about gender relations of the time. The guys remind me of little boys who don't quite know another way to get the girl's attention. I haven't had any luck locating reviews of the premiere, but presumably that scene would have been harshly criticized if such behavior was censured at the time.

They only sold tickets to one, on the 29th. For those of us a couple hours away by car, t's too bad it wasn't for the 30th, when there's also a performance. But as you know, it's been a few years since they've had one at all, and I'll take what I can get!