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Filling Station still performed? Thanks for setting me straight, folks. I wish NYCB would essay this one. How about a Lincoln Kirstein tribute bill? "Lincoln who?"

Thanks, atm711 and Hans.

SOUSA KID, here is a page on Lew Christensen's "Filling Station," the first American ballet, now unfortunately lost.

It's just great to read all these detailed, perceptive, informed and well-written reviews that help me see better and remember what I did see. Cojacaru and then Cojacaru and Kohborg received ovations as thunderous as any I've heard at the Kennedy Center. After her appearance in "Gloria" Tuesday night at least person yelled "Alina!," but it was for Beauty that she really revved us up and sent us home talking out of our heads. We walked by the open Opera House scenery door yesterday afternoon and there was the silver-blue boat, looking smaller than it had onstage. For me it was the magical ferry it's meant to be, especially with its figure on the prow (and especially when it wasn't bumping into things). The Batmobile, Bill? I see what you mean. I guess it's the circular carvings, some of which could be taken for wheel wells. I had never cared much cared for Bluebird before. What are the beaten steps in which the dancer repeatedly turns his upper body this way and then that? For some reason, although none were high flyers, the Royal's relatively shorter dancers looked better to me in this than the tall figures I associate with the role. I understand how the sometimes low lighting and dusky sets combined with the pastel costumes could strike some people as drab. But I saw 2 performances quite close, one from the mid-orchestra, and most of a rehearsal from the first balcony, and I was able to see Aurora and Carobosse behind the scrims from each location. They could have been brighter lit, but the dimness seemed appropriate, as Aurora is only being glimpsed, and Carabosse at that point is being eclipsed, her power fading to inconsequentiality. The Garland Dance seemd fussy to me as well, and for once the stage seemed crowded instead of occupied with individuals.

The 48-page, no ads, Spring 2006 issue of DanceView is now in the hands, or soon to be in the hands, of all wise, . . . er, that is, of all subscribers. Contents: Carol Pardo reviews NYCB's winter season, and new repertory additions at Miami City Ballet; Micheal Popkin takes a long look at the Youth America Grand Prix Competition; Tom Phillips talks with Yoko Shioya, Performing Arts Director for NYC's the Japan Society, about Japanese dance in America; "Editor Etcetera" and Ballet Talk founder Alexandra Tomalonis writes about the Kennedy Center's recent "Proteges" program featuring students from several top ballet schools; and Gay Morris, Jane Simpson, and Rita Felciano offers reports from, respectively, New York, London, and San Francisco. Subscriptions to DanceView, which help fund its online sister, danceviewtimes, are available at http://balletalert.com/housekeeping/subscribe.htm

Well that's progress.

The ideal shapes dancers strive to make serve as the norm for the art form, however. And where that norm differs from what's normal elsewhere, it can take some getting used to before it looks good. Alexandra, do you find that mothers are more open to their sons studying dance and more interested in their progress than fathers are? For what it's worth, I have a couple of in-laws with no real interest in high culture. She's a music teacher for kids but scarcely listens to classical music. He's a cheerfully self-proclaimed redneck without a college degree. We've gone to regional Nutcrackers with them and their children twice, and twice he's praised the man in Arabian. So I guess it's true, as the saying goes, that you never can tell.

Of course one person's Puritanism is another's virtue of modesty. Also, given the ever increasing erotic element in a lot of upscale advertising, in the presentation of males as well as of females, I think that taboo is pretty well gone for much of society; but then not everyone reads Vanity Fair. Then again, competitive swimmers wear shorts just as revealing or more revealing that a dancer's tights, and male swimmers aren't seen as sissies. I'm guessing that it's the ballet vocabulary and ballet grace in a male dancer that present the biggest stumbling blocks to many viewers, the kind Alexandra mentions who haven't grown up with serious art. Perjoratives like "sissy" and "effeminate" are just prejudicial ways of saying "men don't move like that." Guys like Villella and Barishnikov show that the prejudice can be busted. But in fact most men don't move like that, so I don't find it surprising that a lot of people are initially taken aback.

A few thoughts as I await the reviews in Dance View Times: Lauren Cuthbertson, only a soloist, was a surprisingly gracious and confident Lilac Fairy this afternoon, and Deidre Chapman impressed again as the Fairy of the Golden Vine and as one of Florestan's Sisters. I thought Ansanelli finally hit her stride today, as the Fairy of the Crystal Fountain. As the Lilac Fairy yesterday afternoon I found her disappointingly sedate and one-dimensional, especially compared to Nunez, who was warm and alive in the moment. Ansanelli did grow in authority as the ballet went on, but this afternoon she seemed a much happier, freer, more musical dancer. Lamb's Aurora was sweet and demure and I'm very glad I saw her, but where she glows, Cojocaru positively radiates. Cojocaru had a spot of balance trouble in the Rose Adagio today, but she never broke character. No doubt her characterization will mature, but already it progresses through each act, and for me her Vision scene is overwhelming, ardent and mysterious enough to entrance a prince. There are so many little details in this production that delighted me, and everyone onstage seemed fully in character. I first grew to really love ballet from watching Balanchine. After a production like this, I feel like I've seen 'how the other half lives.' Thank you, Monica Mason and the Royal Ballet!

The title of the Wolcott piece always cracks me up. I've seen Part as Terpsichore, Odette/Odile, the Sugar Plum Fairy, Zulma, Lady Capulet, and as the lead in Ballet Imperial, where she fought with her technique and the ballet and the audience won. She must be glorious in Emeralds. She's regal and womanly rather than girlish. She's altogether lovely, a dancer I'd go to see in a ballet I don't really care for. atm711, I hope you'll post after her upcoming Swan Lake!

I wish I could see Ashtons "La Valse' through British eyes. Ansanelli glowed, alright, but in Balanchine's version she glowed as a character.

Yes you do, and bravo! I really love to read these what-I-did-for-art tales. It would have touched me as well, even if that's all I'd known.

Thank you for the interesting thoughts, Patrick. Farrell was a Catholic girl, of course, and Balanchine was Orthodox, and clearly their sensibilities fed each other there. The modernist elevation of form over personality that struck many as cold actually put personality in a clear frame. I'm trying to think of a Balanchine ballet that could be characterized as pagan in sensibility (Walpurgisnacht Ballet?) and I'm coming up blank. Not Meditation, his first work for her, and not Diamonds, and not the overtly reverential Mozartiana. Balanchine loved/worshipped women, perhaps to a fault. According to Tallchief in her autobiography, they didn't even sleep together. Desire was easy to read onstage, but isolated pagan lust didn't seem to be a choreographic force. No need to worship the devil when God had all the best steps and the larger picture.

ami1436, Loots will dance Songbird tonight. She was delightful last night as Red Riding Hood. Ceeszi, my hat's off to you for all the driving you did. I've driven further primarily for ballet more than once, but not for one performance only. I don't have the advantage, or in this case perhaps disadvantage, of knowing many productions of Sleeping Beauty, but I was very happy with the sets and costumes yesterday. Everything looks much more vibrant than in certain washed-out photos I'd seen. And while the boat wasn't delicate, for me it was magical. As for the dancing, Cojocaru, Nunez and Lamb surpassed even my high expectations, and Cojocaru and Kohborg had a touching rapport. I wouldn't call his dancing virtuostic, but the character's the thing, and he was a fine actor and beautiful dancer. I agree with nysusan about the delightful mime. I wanted a more maniacal mien from Rosato's Carabosse, but I suppose I just wanted her to be Anthony Dowell. She was convincing in her own way, and I loved her entrances and exits. All in all, a joyous night! I'll be back for the matinee Sunday, and just maybe tomorrow. In yesterday's rehearsal, Nunez danced Lilac Fairy with Marquez's Aurora, not a casting combination scheduled for actual performance here. I think tonight's audience will be very pleased with Marquez.

I forgot to mention that Tanglewood's costumes, especially for the women, are reminiscent of Apollo as well. See what I mean here.

Gloria was intriguing, with its raked set and its WWI and (I guess) flapper costumes. I take it that the soldiers are supposed to be remembering. I want to hear the Poulenc again, but the ballet didn't touch me to the degree it's obviously supposed to. The dancers were another story. Acosta's smooth power made for the most exciting male dancing of the evening, and while MacMillan's choreography didn't show off Cojocaru nearly as much as I'd hoped, she was, as Alexandra said, soft and seamless. Enigma Variations came alive for me as I expected it would, and as it had not on the recording. I could still do without some of the lighter material, for example the children's games, but the poignant parts were affecting, especially the brief walking duet in the Nimrod variation for the Elgar character and his close friend, and the suspense and then joy as the momentous telegram is received. Strange that Elgar is the last to hear the news, and walks in on the celebration. The bicycle and tricycle drew laughs. Was it Giacomo Ciraci who took a bad spill near the end of his allegro solo? It didn't matter dramatically, and the audience gave him a big hand at the curtain call. I suspect the characters in this ballet would grow on me with further live viewings. I didn't understand La Valse. Where was the dramatic momentum and the sense of 'dancing on the edge of a volcano'? Grinning on the edge of the volcano was more like it. I guess that was intended irony, but for me it didn't add up, and the work didn't build. Perhaps this would grow on me as well, although I did see the afternoon rehearsal. As the first among three ballerina equals, I thought Ansanelli was fine but not outstanding. She did have a lovely pliable back, but my eye was often drawn to Deidre Chapman in yellow. Tanglewood, with its step vocabulary reminscent of Apollo at times, did move me, starting with Rorem's violin concerto, at least while Benjamin and Harvey held the stage. I thought the material for the second principal, Nunez, dragged after awhile, but Benjamin was fleet and authoritative and I wish she was danciing in Sleeping Beauty. Thank you, Royal Ballet!

I guess I'm just lucky, but I've never understood the intimidation factor. I had no classical arts education whatsoever growing up, nothing till my senior year in high school. But after I first saw ballet at 18 I began reading dance critics, and these writers made attending performances an intellectual as well as aesthetic adventure. And I never thought class. In his book "The Culture We Deserve," Jacques Barzun defines culture as A bit further he writes that Some people are born with a desire to exercise their minds, he says, but many others can be encouraged to cultivate the same desire. After years of ballet-going I still feel like a relative beginner in some ways, but when I hear people who look moneyed talking about mundane matters before the curtain goes up and after it goes down . . . they’re not in any elite that I recognize.

I'm all for new and varied programming, and I certainly don't mean to second guess Michael Kaiser, but I would think that the Kirov has plenty to offer besides Forsythe and the classics.

This sweet little website, part of a larger site maintained by UK's National Museum of the Performing Arts, offers a capsule history of ballet with lovely photos, not to mention an audio introduction by, ahem, Marie Taglioni.

The season is always clumpy alright, and perhaps one troupe has followed another the very next week and I just don't remember it because I haven't gone. But I'd think that this would keep some casual fans away. Also, if memory serves, weekday tickets for Forsythe's own company were discounted the last time it was here. And if that's so, it's a little surprising the Kirov were scheduled with his ballets.

It will be interesting to see how well the Royal Ballet's mixed bill sells next week. Isn't it a bit unusual to have two companies back to back like this? I'm sorry to have to miss "Giselle" this weekend, but I'll be driving in three times next week for three or four performances. The Kirov comes to town every year, it seems. Not the Royal.

This reminds me of something Helene noted in the PNB Jewels thread: I get the impression that Balanchine's wishes weren't contradictory, but rather evolved with the technique of his dancers, and the possibilities that evolving technique presented him.

Michael, it's true that most of the article concerns Martins and Wheeldon, but Jacob's criticisms, especially of Wheeldon, are the standard ones. So pulled out what I think are more interesting (and beautifully written) comments. And as for the magazine itself, I'd pay full price for half of it -- the arts coverage.

Jacobs also says that she respects Whelan's dancing, and that it is honest and unstinting. Those three compliments contextualize her assesment that her dancing is "quotidian," which I take to mean giving the steps full value without adding much on top. You may disagree and find much more in her dancing. (In the relatively few -- 20? -- times I've seen her, I have too). But the fact that you value Whelan's dancing more than Jacobs does not mean that Jacobs means to insult her, any more than your valuing X dancer lower than Jacobs does means that that you intend to insult X dancer. I think most of us can agree that Whelan isn't likely to be mistaken for anyone else on stage these days, and I can't wait till I see her again.

No, "quotidian" is hardly an insult when it follows a declaration of respect. Jacobs goes on to wonder if Whelan is limited by her anatomy or by her contemporary choreographers.