bart

I enjoyed earlier Pinter. It's almost impossible to believe that The Caretaker and The Homecoming actually got the chance to run on Broadway. In films, I liked The Servant. A favorite adjective for his work is "enigmatic" -- a little of which goes a long way. So he lost me later on. On the whole, I prefer to read his wife's work -- and various members of her large and very talented family.

I'm also revisiting Diane Solway's biography, Nureyev: His Life. It is in some ways an entirely new experience, after all I've learned from Ballet Talk and beginner ballet classes. It's astonishing to see again what a phenomenon he was, and how the guarantee of his name and presence -- dancing every night, often in multiple ballets -- made it possible for so many companies, dancers, and choreography to appear in the US.

I saw Nureyev on stage only 6 or 7 times, with the Royal, the Canadians, and once much later in Paris.

Plus the Balanchine Bourgeois Gentilhomme, which I remember hardly at all.

This was usually from far-out seats, so the thrill of being there was not always fulfilled by the actual experience of the dancing. (Except R&J.) I wish I'd seen some of his work with modern companies, especially in smaller theaters.

I remember the drama and the staging more than the steps; Nureyev knew how to tell and display a story. I will never forget the excitement so many people -- often not otherwise interested in dance -- expressed when they were "going to see Nureyev." And that was the term people used: "Are you going to see Nureyev?"

The Solway book has brought me back to an old videotape of his 1987 Cinderella. (When I saw it originally on Great Performances I didn't reealize I was watching the fledgling phenomenon that would be Sylvie Guillem. Or the relationship with Charles Jude.) I've also dusted off the Fonteyn-Nureyev Romeo and Juliet and the Canadian National Sleeping Beauty for the near future.

Sounds like pretty ambitious, varied, and interesting programming to me. And fun. I enjoyed reading about it. This year I attended my first school performances since a few at SAB long ago -- at Boca Ballet and Ballet Florida. I was really delighted about how dedicated and involved everyone was and how wonderful the experience could be.

(And my usual Old Grump, "shut up and appreciate the art" attitude about audience behavior was lifted, miraculously and without any effort on my part, for both performances.)

Maybe we should have a policy of mentioning at least the lead student dancers, since some will (we hope) go on to professional careers, and it's always nice to be able to say: "I was there when ....".

I've read that Anthony Dowell has set Frederick Ashton's "The Dream" on the Joffrey for a run beginning this week. That's pretty big new in my book, and yet the Joffrey gets very little play on Ballet Talk.

Anyone going to this production? Any comments or thoughts about the program and performances?

Here's a link to an article on Dowell's work with the company:

http://www.suntimes.com/output/weiss/wkp-news-stage14.html

Joffrey/ Ashton's Dream

I mostly read history and older novels (Balzac a favorite), but I was attracted to a book while listening to an NPR interview: "Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior." The author, Temple Grandin, a professor at Colorado State, has a PhD in animal science and is herself autistic. At one point in the introduction she comments about the pain of growing up autistic: "Animals saved me."

The insights into animal feeling, thought, and suffering are astonishing. It is also helping me to empathize with and understand more deeply two young people in my circle who have high-level autism.

Here's an example of the kind of insight that has forced me to see quite a lot of the world differently:

"Animals are like autistic savants. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that animals might actually BE autistic savants. Animals have special talents normal people don't the same way autistic people have special talents normal people don't; and at least some animals have special forms of genius normal people don't ... "

"The reason we've managed to live witih animals all these years without noticing many of their special talents is simlpe: we can't see those talents. Normal people never have the special talents animals have, sonormal people don't know what to look for. Normal people can stare straight at the sanimal doing something brilliant and have no idea what they're seeing. Animal genius is invisible to the naked eye."

As one who is often too cerebral and analytical ("abstractified," she calls it), I am learning much from this book about how essential and even beautiful the capacity for empathy can be.

P.S. I orderd the book by cllicking our sponsor Amazon at the top of Ballet Talk pages.

Thanks, jayo, for your review. It's good to get first-hand accounts of what is going on all over the country. Those of us who are not real experts need to contribute too, since our perceptions may be closer to those of the general audience which buys (or does not buy) the bulk of the tickets.

And I think that ballet in general benefits from knowledge of what is going in the smaller dance centers. I hope your post will encourage others in the OBT audience to chime in. I know we have many members all over the country. Please let us know what is going on in your area!

As Helene says, ballets like operas seem to be produced in bunches, with multiple productions of a particular choreographer's work all of a sudden showing up everywhere. For instance, Ballet Florida, my own local company, did In the Night both in 2003 and 2004. It's a marvelous ballet for a smaller company and with dancers with strong individual styles or "looks".

The nocturnes are so beautiful and surprisingly varied, and each couple dances with a style and personality that SHOULD BE quite different from the others, though I guess this might not have occurred 100% with OBT. I've heard that you can think of this as three stages of a relationship: the airy, emotional passion of first love -- the calm joy and sharing of a happy, settled relationship -- and the emotional rollercoaster that may or may not lead to a break up. I love the way the three couples exist entirely in the bubble of their relationship to each other.

I agree with your comments about the lack of costume differentiation and how hard it was to tell who was who. I first experienced this when NYCB, with all those leotard ballets and a tendency to simple, whitish costuming in general, went to the huge State Theater. At the same time, with female dancers anyway, a thin, lean, long-legged style seemed to be everywhere on stage, increasing the difficulty of differentiating. I like to notice (and to get to know) individual dancers and not to have to strain to do so. So I have bitten the bullet and opted for closer-up seats in general.

According to the www.cultu.ru website, there will be repeats over 24 hours. they also do webcasts of other kinds of production.

Their notice is copied below. I've also re-copied dachnitsa's original link to the website, since I know this kind of thread might be more confusing than our ordinary threads.

Have a look at http://www.cultu.ru/english/pautina/2005/raymonda/

QUOTE:

Wired Broadband Connection.

Starting at 10 a. m. Moscow Time (GMT +3), on we will be broadcasting each production continuously for 24 hours.

Showtime schedule will be posted on our website. Regardless of the time zone you live in you'll be able to choose the most suitable time for viewing the broadcast. Throughout the day we will also be posting updated list of mirror links for viewing the broadcasting. Most of the productions will be broadcasted with English subtitles.

In order to watch internet broadcasting you will need PC with fast internet connection (i. e. cable modem, DSL, ADSL, LAN.) In most cases dial-up connection with speed of 56K and less will be insufficient for proper reception. Even if you will be able to see the stream, the quality of the broadcast will be low, and is likely to disappoint rather than to please the viewer.

Please be considerate of your expenses. Viewing video stream is traffic-savvy. The actual traffic volume, i. e. the information your PC exchanges with your internet provider, is derivative of the speed of your internet connection and the duration of your viewing session. We recommend signing up for a flat monthly fee plan with no traffic and/or time restrictions. Many internet providers worldwide are offering such plans by now.

We will broadcast in Real Video and Windows Media formats. English subtitles will be available only in Real Video format.

This option is currently available to our audience in Russia (except Kamchatka and Chukotka), in Eastern and Central Europe, Middle East and Central Asia. These territories are covered by YAMAL-200 and EXPRESS AM22 satellites. In order to receive our broadcast via one of those satellites you will need a dish and DVB receiver. You'll also need to contact customer service of the satellite operator to help you direct and tune up your dish. The procedure itself is not very complicated, but the advantage you get with satellite connection is enormous, as you will be viewing our stream in nearly TV quality. Besides in many cities in Russia there are Internet Viewing Centers properly setup to receive our programming. Please remember that we broadcast our programs in internet format, not as a TV signal. Besides, our satellite broadcast, unlike wired internet, will be repeated only 2—3 times during the day for the most populated time zones in Russia.

Two satellite networks are offering their broadcasting services for our programming: ICFED with its ever expanding network of Distant Learning Centers in more than 40 regions of Russia is broadcasting in Real Video format; ComSat Kultura with Viewing Centers in regional libraries, museums and other cultural centers is broadcasting in Windows Media format.

I have it full screen, but both picture and sound break up periodically especially when there is rapid movement. Raymonda and Jean are dressed in what appears to be white, shot against a very dark background, so that the slightly smudgey images of the dancers stand out. During the Act One pas de deux, with corps and two soloists, the impression is of white (or very pale color possibly) dancers almost in silhouette against blackness, which enhances the impression of plastique and real presence (eg, lights and shadow on the white-tighted legs). The stage empties when there is solo work going on to reduce distraction. Is this in the current Bolshoi production or a revision for the internet broadcast?

Act One ends. Lights come up in the house and there are shots of the auditorium and audience members leaving. Then video clips of Swan Lake. No commentary. I have to leave, but this has been fascinating. Not quite up to the level of the first telecast to the moon, but quite similar in emotional effect to the fuzzy black and white imagery of Hopalong Cassidy galloping on a white horse against a arroyo seco background, the very first image that showed up when we got our first television (huge box, miniscule screen) many many years ago.

Thanks, dachnitsa, for the link.

Once the technology is better, won't this be a wonderful way to connect the world of ballet audiences, not to mention other cultural events.

If you delete some of the words in Gia Koulas quotation, but leave the rest, it sounds remarkably like some of those wonderful evenings at City Center in the 50s and early 60s, when energy and risk-taking occasionally had to make up for deficiences in consistency and attention to rehearsal/coaching. Here's the part that is not ENTIRELY new to Martins' regime, IMO.

[revised quote=Oct 14 2005]"The most extreme landscape for the art form is found at City Ballet, where dozens of works, [add "sometimes"] frustratingly underrrehearsed, are performed each season. Yet by the very nature of the company's George Balanchine-heavy repertory, there is often ample opportunity for individual dancers to shine.. . [delete] ... Performances are jittery, raw, unpredictable and, at times, [delete].  [A]t both its [delete]worst and unnervingly beautiful best, programs at the [delete] are alive.

This revised critique sounds pretty good to me, at least compared to some of the competition.

Of course, words like "horrific" and "unprofessional" do change the tone a bit.

I really appreciate your insight, lampwick, especially this point ...

I can see a subtle difference in the way the dancers motivate thier movement. There's less kinetic quality or something...it's hard to quantify. It's almost like the dancers now ARE so technically "good", that something gets lost. It looks more comfortable. Can it be something as simple as the fact that the dancers are just more capable now, it *appears* like there's less daring or something? The technique becomes more transparent?

Balanchine clearly encouraged individuality and risk-taking. Perhaps one difference today is, as lampwick suggests, partly due to the fact that the impression of ease of performance is simply less interesting than the impression of difficulty that has been overcome.

P.S. Lampwick, more posting please!

Very interesting posts. On the whole, I agree with elements of just about everything posted so far.

To me, it is definitely true that that (a) Balanchine ballets are for the most part not danced as they were when Balanchine was alive, or as they can be when coached by dances trained in the original performance style, and that this is sad,

But I also think that this is quite compatible with the opinion that (b) NYCB is a wonderful company, pleasing large audiences (in a huge hall) in a difficult (not surface crowd-pleasing) repertoire, and fostering stunning dancing.

Believing (a) does NOT mean that you disagree with (b). Differences do not equate to opposites.

Re: Ballet Pacifica's possible expansion northward --

Stiefel said, “My hope is we have a performing presence in L.A. I see it as a necessity to achieve what is our goal—to be Southern California’s resident company.”

Sounds like what Villella's Miami City Ballet has done for South Florida, with regular subscription seasons in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Naples, in addition to the Miami performances. In fact, I'm told more tickets are sold in West Palm than in Miami itself for the 4-program regular season.

It's great for audiences -- but a bit hard on smaller, already established local companies.

His removal is reported in today's LINKS thead.

FREDMANN OUT AT COLORADO BALLET

For those who could not access the jillana interview, here's another attempt at the link to the same article:

Jillana interview, 2002

The interview raises a number of issues that have also been raised in this thread.

QUOTE: “I was in the Company during its golden years, definitely. I think it's a little tarnished now. It can't be the same without Mr. Balanchine. He was a genius and no one will ever take his place. Ever, ever, ever. Peter Martins is doing what needs to be done, but it is a different Company.

"People have to realize that it's a different Company now. And, they shouldn't try to compare it to the way it was. It will not ever be the same ever again. But I wonder why the people who are still around like me and Suzanne Farrell and Allegra Kent, who remember and who know how it should be danced; why aren't we being used to coach? Maybe Martins doesn't want it to be danced that way and that's ok, it's his Company.”

---------

In addition to her comments about the use of dancers to transmit the "original" intent of the choreography, Jillana is critical of some of what is now being taught at the School of American Ballet.:

QUOTE:

"We discussed the School of American Ballet and Jillana said that “it's not good.” She explained, “I don't think that the people who are teaching there remember what Mr. Balanchine taught. They think they do, but they are teaching now with such exaggerations. I know that he NEVER said don't put your heels down in demi-plié after a jump. NEVER. I went up to him myself and asked him 'what's this about not putting your heels down in plié?' And he told me we do put them down.” She then elaborated on her thoughts about what is being taught at SAB. “In addition, I don't ever remember not putting my heels down in grand plié in second position either. Now they are teaching not to put the heels down in second position grand plié.

“And,” she went on, “all this tendu stuff where they do a tendu into a demi-plié and then put their heels down. Never, never did we do that. We brought our heels down as soon as possible.” To be sure I understood her correctly I asked her again, “Now it is being taught to bring the foot into fifth position and then put the heel down?” She repeated, “Yes, that's what they are teaching now. Everything is very exaggerated. Almost like a caricature.”

I just came across a quote of John Taras, dancer and one of Balanchine's (and post-Balanchine) most important ballet masters: "So often in Balanchine's ballets, I find that the dancer the work was made on is what the ballet is about. When the cast changes, the work survives, but it's not the same; it becomes diluted."

It's from Allegra Kent's autobiography, and the context is her first experience of "helping" a dancer to prepare the revival of a role that had been set on Kent. She was working with Heather Watts on Bugaku.

The idea that "the dancer the work was made on is what the ballet is about" needs qualification but seems very a propos to a lot of Balanchine.

Kent notes that " ... the ballet mistress was upset. Even though the part was created for me, she felt that my presence was unnecessary. Heather Watts sensed this and never asked me to help her again."

But that presupposes good will on everyone's part.

Precisely.

Well, that is what I thought - about Robbins and Balanchine.    Nice to be reminded that it has been done, and that it worked quite well.

Perhaps the success of shared titles was partly dependent on this, from Bernard Taper's book: "In actuality, Balanchine bore the title of a artistic director for only a few years. The adjective offended him, and the time came when he demoted himself, in title, to 'ballet master.' On the program, he was therafter listed as one of three ballet masters, along with Jerome Robbins and John Taras. Only through alphabetical precedence, presumably, did his name get listed first. It didn't matter. In his domain his power was absolute. He needed no grand title any more than Stalin needed to be anything but party secretary."

Deborah Jowett's biography of Robbins devotes several pages to the matter of the two "Ballet Masters in Chief" after Balanchine's death. "In the end, he [Robbins] accepted the title of ballet master in chief, as did Martins -- their names on the same line in the programs -- and got on with the business of making ballets people loved and making Peter's life difficult."

"Martins says that his first priority was to ensure that the company would survive without Balanchine and, next, 'to make sure that we didn't also lose Jerry ... I could never let Jerry feel that he had a boss ... It wasn't so difficult, because I admired and respected him. I had to find the way not to defer to him, because we were equal, and yet also not make him feel that he had to defer to me. It was very, very tricky."

"Especially in th early years after Balanchine's death, he [Robbins] seemed, as Robert Gottlieb put it, to be 'always looking to be offended or marginalized,' which meant he was hell on wheels in business meetings.'"

Perhaps that's the sort of thing Martins has tried to avoid ever since Robbins' death. Once burnt ... etc.

There, as here, it's obvious at the outset that, unless you continue to have an identifiable academic, classical or traditional version, there is nothing to revolt against, nothing to update or to make contemporary.  Only in the context of a strong and indentifiable Swan Lake being immediately familiar, could something like Wheeldon's Swan Lake make sense.

Excellent point. In an ideal world, a company seeking to be contemporary would have two productions -- the traditional, designed for the long haul, and the updated, which would possibly lose its impact and pass out of rep fairly quickly, to be replaced by yet another update. Costly, of course. But each could possibly encourage audiences to see the other.

Does anyone have examples of companies who actually use (or have used) this two-production approach to a classic?

I'm not sure what "associate" means. Its very ambuiguity, especially in this highly charged setting, seems almost to guarantee bad feelings, confused lines of responsibility, and (probably sooner than later) disaster.

Regardless of what one thinks about the relative merits of Martins and Farrell as carriers of the Balanchine torch (and of the NYCB company torch, which is not quite the same thing), I cannot believe that Martins or any AD ought to have accepted such an offer -- or that it would have worked.

Your post, GeorgeB fan, strikes me as fair and balanced.

I've been reading (carefully, and with great interest) all the Ballet Talk NYCB posts for a year. I'm struck by the the way that the biggest NYCB fans seem to focus primarily on individual dancers and their performances, rather than on the ballets and the entire artistic experience.

Each poster has his or her favorite dancer, but almost no one seems to feel that the quality of the best dancers is a problem. Those who focus on dancer technique have every reason to be pleased.

Those, however, who express the wish for a larger and comprehensive artistic experience -- and especially those with powerful memories of the past -- seem less satisfied. , or even

So many charming, intelligent, technically brilliant dancers. Wouldn't it be wonderful to give them all the resources they might require to expand their ability to produce truly great art?

Georges Delerue was a composer of film music, who scored over 300 movies, including some directed by Renais, Truffault, Malle, and Godard. He won an Academy Award in 1980.

I also found that Ballet San Jose performed The Lesson last spring. And that Monica Mason did not permit it to be peformed at Royal Ballet matinees. I was surprised, after reading some of the shocked responses at the first performances, to find quite respectful reviews as well.

Today's LINKS contains an article from the Telegraph (UK) discussing "Le Parc", a new sexually charged ballet by Angelin Preljocaj, to be performed in London by Paris Opera Ballet. At the end of the article is a list of 5 ballets that, in the writer's opinion, qualify for the label "erotic."

QUOTE: "Sex on legs: five erotic ballets

Mayerling

Kenneth Macmillan was the master of sleazy bodice-ripping melodrama. In 1978, he produced this sensational treatment of the doomed relationship between the morphine-addicted Crown Prince Rudolf of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the sex-crazed teenager Mary Vetsera. For sheer graphic X-rated intensity, their obsessive pas de deux have never been surpassed.

The Lesson

Originally made for television in 1963, Flemming Flindt's subtle adaptation of Ionesco's play shows a psychotic ballet teacher becoming so aroused by his innocent pupil's classroom performance that he ends up murdering her. The twist is a suggestion that he's a serial killer, and that the strait-laced rehearsal pianist is complicit in his perversity. Currently in the repertory of the Royal Ballet.

Afternoon of a Faun

Set to Debussy's languorous tone poem, this short but enthrallingly erotic ballet by Jerome Robbins was choreographed for New York City Ballet in 1953 and has since become a classic. In an empty studio, two dancers practise in front of the mirror, narcissistically absorbed in their own physical perfection until a final fleeting kiss breaks the spell.

One Charming Night

This haunting duet by Mark Morris, first seen in 1985, shows a girl waiting alone until a suited man appears and shows off his best ballet steps to her. The girl is fascinated, the man hesitates. Then he passionately bites her neck and forces her to suck blood from his wrist. She becomes hysterical, but it is too late. Elegant music by Purcell makes a striking counterpoint to this chilling parable of vampirism.

Agon

The Ancient Greek word for struggle or contest. To Stravinsky's courtly and astringent score, 12 dancers in practice clothes compete for sexual supremacy in Balanchine's supremely formal yet insidiously vicious ballet, dating from 1957 but still shockingly modern. The climax is a mesmerisingly erotic pas de deux in which the ballerina perches like a potent bird of prey, supported by the hand of her watchful partner, who lies prostrate on the floor." UNQUOTE.

The gap between the erotic component of Faun and Mayerling is quite vast, it seems to me. Not least is the question of music: the gentlest of Ravel versus the blowsiest of Lizst. It's interesting that Preljocaj seems to be following Robbins' musical intuition, setting his dance to lyrical bits of Mozart, just as Morris chose Purcell, and -- in an entirely different use of contrast -- Balanchine chose Stravinsky.

The list has gotten me thinking about the nature of "erotic" -- especially as it can be expressed by dancers on a legitimate ballet stage.

What do you think of this list or the idea of erotic ballet in general? Which ballets would you add or delete?

Like opera fans who long for the days of Callas and Corelli, what I think people really want is for Farrell, D'Amboise, Patty McBride and Diana Adams to be dancing again. "

I don't know anyone who wishes this, actually. It does seem to be a cherished myth, though -- at least on this board I've never understood why.

I understand it. I also long occasionally for the chance to see a brand new episode of I Love Lucy. Perhaps you have to be a bit older to experience this particular kind of regret.

Here's a topic that deserves a second chance -- especially since there's been so much heated discussion going on right now on Ballet Talk about the the merits of the reconstructed and revived Kirov Sleeping Beauties.

Consider just two of the stories that recently turned up on Ballet Talk: the success of Christopher Wheeldon's much altered Swan Lake for Pennsylvania Ballet; Christopher Stowell's plans for a full-length SL for Oregon Ballet, taking what sounds like a much more traditional approach. Similar tales can be told about just about every classic. Who do you program for -- the audience that rarely sees a classic and wants to see the "real thing"? or an audience that's slightly bored with what's traditionally done and craves the stimulation of a new approach?

Then, Hans raises issues of styles. Do you keep raising the extensions? cutting down on mime? filling "dead" time with ever more thrilling jumps and turns? and if you keep or re-introduce mime, how much can you get away with given the expectations and values of modern audiences? can mime possibly deaden the action, break the dramatic line?

Or, how about choreographers who impose their own interpretation -- and often their name -- on a classic sometimes overwhelming it, sometimes giving it fresh life? Nureyev's Romeo and Juliet, et al.? Ashton's alterations (choreographic and musical) to Swan Lake?

The variations on this topic are endless. Anyone have any stories or opinions to relate? or to vent?

While I often fantasize about having either Peter Martins’ or Glenn Lowry’s job, I’m not sure either man is really to be envied given that some significant portion of their respective communities will despise whatever they do.

It’s not at easy problem to solve for either institution.

Brava.

When tangible works of art (paintings, sculpture, etc.) fall out of fashion, usually the worse that happens -- and it's pretty bad -- is that they are exiled to the cellar or sold or traded to collections where they will no longer be accessible. But happier fates are possible -- including sales or trades to specialist museums or more local museums which would kill to have a Fragonard or almost anything referred to in an art history textbook. The object survives intact. It just moves on to another context.

In classical dance, the ballet and the company that cares for it are not so easily separated. The original ballet no longer exists if iit does not receive the honor, attention and nurturing of the entire institution: artistic director, ballet master, teacher, and especially dancers trained and encouraged to value the work. Ballets given poor or uneven performances, or reinterpreted in a way that destroys the original effect, change into quite different works of art. And these are not always worthy of prominent display.

Maybe NYCB should do something like ABT, which devotes separate "seasons" to classics and to more contemporary work. This would permit bringing in the Balanchine experts for half the year who could keep his ballets and his style truly alive.

As someone who has only seen the Soviet era version (among Russian productions), and who is not often moved by extensive mime or complex stage action outside the dancing, it's been quite fascinating to follow this discussion and those on previous threads. On the whole, I Cygnet's comment seems quite commonsensical:

IMO If you want pure classical dancing for the sake of dancing, its the Sergeyev.  If you want "Lord of the Rings" pomp & circumstance, 99% of the music, and all the blanks filled in, then the 1890 is your show.  Both productions are beautiful.  The difference is the emphasis.