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Barry Lyndon is visually beautiful -- but much better viewed if you could tune out the dialogue and keep in the 18th century music.

Talking about visual beauty on film, the recent attention to Suzanne Farrell's revival of Don Quixote made met think of a Russian film that showed in NYC about that time and which may possibly have been a stylistic influence on the 1965 NYCB production. Grigory Kozintsev's 1957 version has much of the pace, pageantry and sentiment of Balanchine's version -- though there's less about the pursuit of Dulcinea and more about the callousness of the ruling class.

And how about the abortive Terry Gilliam Don Q? Lost in La Mancha ((2002), which chronicles the various problems and fiascos surrounding that production, is itself a wonderful film. And Jean Rochefort would have been transcendent as the Don.

Both films are listed for sale on various internet sites.

I know we've had this discussion (about the near unavailability of Balanchine/NYCB performances on film) before. But can anyone rationally explain why THIS one, which -- one would think -- would have a larger than normal potential audience (including schools) has been allowed to drop out of sight?

Given the recent flurry of videos from Paris Opera -- and the Royals' new equipment to film live performance at Covent Garden -- you'd think NYCB would also move in this direction.

Quite fetching -- and patriotic, too.

Caniparoli's ballet uses a score that interweaves J.S. Bach and traditional African songs. It was first performed by the San Francisco Ballet in 1995 and has had productons by other companies since its premiere. There's an interesting "Study Guide" by Evelyn Cisneros for the SFB Center for Dance Education (2005) with lots of photos, text, etc. Here's the link:

Lambarena/San Francisco Ballet Study Guide

Past honorees in ballet include:

1978 George Balanchine (first group)

1980 Agnes de Mille

1986 Antony Tudor

1989 Alexandra Danilova

1993 Arthur Mitchell

1995 Jacques d'Amboise

1996 Maria Tallchief

1997 Edward Villella

2000 Mikail Baryshnikov

It's interesting that 6 of the 9 had long associations -- and Barykshnikov a brief association -- with New York City Ballet. All were primarily New York based. Kind of like that famous Saul Steinberg New Yorker cover showing us the U.S. as a great, big Manhattan, with the rest of the country clinging to the margins.

Great idea. I hope it encourages interest from all (not just locals) in these often interesting, often excellent companies, all of which contribute to the survival of the art. Thanks.

I voted for the Royal, but also like the Kirov (of 10 years ago), and would go to any of them with pleasure, except the Martins. Like Farrell Fan, I really venerate the Balanchine Act II as a stand-alone, and the way it used to be performed at NYCB in (here we go again) the old days by virtually every cast.

Agnes DeMille appeared in a documentary, teaching one of her ballet's (I don't remember which) to young ABT dancers. It's amazing what she could convey, seated in a chair, using (a) her arms, head and upper torso, and (b) a shared ballet vocabulary.

There've been numerous posts about the touring Anna Karenina of the Eifman Company. Recently I saw a snippet of what was described as the Ball Scene from Act I of "Anna Karenina" by Maya Plisetskya. This was a 1974 filming, with Plissentskya, Alexander Gudunov (as Vronsky), and "Artists of the Bolshoi."

While not very original -- or demanding on the dancers (lots of beautifuly arabesques in attitude, and LOTS of graceful port de bras) it was quite a lovely depiction about how the two meet and fall in love. (The less said the better about the cross-cutting to Anna's sad face, heavily pancaked, staring out the frost-covered window of a railraod car, presumably after Vronsky has left her.)

I know that the aging Plisetskaya worked with Bejart during the 1970s but had never heard of this, which appears to have been (I think) her own choreography.

Has anyone seen this or have any thoughts or information about it or this stage of Plisetskaya's career generally?

Melissa Hayden, at 82, teaches year-round and is presently teaching at NCSA's SI. An unhappy mother on an unmoderated ballet board slammed her pretty badly because of her daughter's frustration with Hayden's classes. The mother thought that teachers who can't demonstrate should be "put out to pasture" and suggested that no one over 62 should be allowed to teach.

I'd trade 10 spunky, energetic, able-to-demonstrate-everything younger teachers for one who has the wisdom of the ballet ages to impart to my child.

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Are smilies the "mime" of internet ballet talk?

Thanks, carbro, for that 2003 link. The discussion is detailed, fascinating, long, and very worth reading.

I joined the board long after that thread. Those "old" (to me) threads contain so much, and I learn so much from them.

Thanks, chauffeur, for your full and interesting review of the Graeme Murphy Swan Lake -- and thanks, carbro, for materializing it as a link.

It helps me to understand and appreciate people's feelings about an artist or performance when they take the time to describe what they've actually seen. That's my own "attention span of a five year old boy" for ballet criticism.

In my occasional observation of teen ballet classes, I've noticed that the teacher usually demonstrates, corrects, or outright says: "This is how you do it. Leaving the young to internatlize just one style of step or gesture as the "correct" way of doing things.

Do teachers at School of American Ballet or the other very top schools ever say: This is how I do it, but this is how X does it? Or, this is how it's done in Balanchine but this is how it's done in Bourneville and this is how it's done in (fill in the blank)?

In other words, to what extend does top-level ballet teaching reflect the rich variation in ballet style over time and geography?

Just listened to Gershwin's Piano COncerto in F, and thought it'd be an excellent ballet.  Did some research to see if it had been done - and Jerome Robbins has done a ballet to it, for New York City Ballet.  But I don't recall seeing it on the rep list in the recent few years, nor has it been brought up very much in discussion...what is this ballet like?  Is it considered a "non-major" work?

You're right, Art,  it is rarely performed.

Just got around to reading these posts. And I thought: hey, I've seen that, remembering Darci Kistler (my heroine at the time) and Christopher d'Amboise.

I loved the ballet, but thought the very familiar music overpowered it.

Then I turned to the relevant pages in Deborah Jowett's biography of Robbins. There she mentions:

a) "The public loved "Gershwin."

b) but Arlene Croce did no, and

c) Robbins himself was ambivalent. (Kind of like Wheeldon's apologies for American in Paris???)

What explains the disappearance (or infrequent appearance) of this ballet if the public loved it, it provides great dancing opportunities, and if two of its creators -- Gershwin and Robbins -- are still as powerful cultural icons as ever?

I had been to a few Ballet performances before 2003, but the purchase of a camera and the curiosity to photograph a performance started it for me.  But little did I know about the aesthetics!  I shot a tech rehearsal of a Ballet and being more familiar with Indian dance forms, focused a little too much on the upper part of the body (assuming mime was very very important).  Well the Marketing Director educated me on that mistake - " You cut off their legs".  Hmm, it was a very valuable lesson - something that I forgotten.  Every art form has its own framework of aesthetics that a viewer should be come familiar with, to truly appreciate the subtleties.

Great story, great point. Thanks, amitava. I hope you'll keep us up to date on Ballet Austin, and other ballet in your area. There's been a give-and-take between Austin and our own local ballet company, Ballet Florida. Eric Midgely and Gina Patterson have moved in your direction. Charla Metzger, now retired, made the journey twice.

Thanks, jimmatttimore, for the info re Repertory in Review.

I understand that this style is probably gone forever from the commercial stage. But do you think it is something that can be kept alive -- or at least revived -- in smaller doses by more academically oriented dance ensembles like those that specialize in baroque or 18th century dance styles?

Sounds like an interesting and ambitious competition, and I hope you'll report on how it develops.

I can "hear" only some of the musical selections -- the more familiar pieces. All, however, certainly seem to have an established track record of serving choreography well in the past. (Which part of Faust?)

The paraphrase of what he said was:  corporations who donate to the arts are trying to clean up their image.  If you don't like the idea of taking money from oil companies and tobacco companies, this is not the career for you.

Imagine the swan corps, each white tutu bearing a single, large, bright letter. The choreographer can move the dancers around to spell "Big Mac," "Marlboro Llite," "Want a Bud?" or whatever he/she needs.

RE: "clean up their image." Can you think of major corporations who support ballet significantly but do NOT need to "clean up their image" in the way tobacco, fast food, and (one presumes) nuclear power companies need to do? I have the impression that many corporate sponsors are locally-based and truly do this as a matter of creating good will (perhaps less now than in the past), but am blanking out as to examples.

Clicking Amazon(above) will bring you to search engines that can help for both dancers. The Sylve Sleeping Beauty (Dutch National Ballet) is super.

New listings keep popping up (always associated, for me, with music-woven choreography).

Mark Morris/ Handel/ "L'Allegro, il pensoroso ed il moderato"

Add two scores that often flow through my mind and make me visualize the dancing.

Adagio from Spartacus brings instant moving pictures of the pas de deux.

Short Balanchine version of Firebird. (I first heard this with Melissa Hayden as Firebird at City Center, got a recording, and was totally hooked.)

You see, I KNEW that there was no reason to be worried about the decline of ballet on public tv. Market forces are going to fill the void.

Tchaikovsky, of course, especially Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and Nutcracker.

Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. Classical Symphony.

Delibes, Coppelia.

Music given great life by Balanchine's choreography:

Stravinsky Violin Concerto -- Balanchine. Uncanny, perfect marriage of steps and music. Don't know what I'd think of it without the choreography.

Verdi's ballet music from Don Carlo, in Ballo della Regina.

Barber Violin Concerto (whoops, that's Martins -- but Martins doing Balanchine).

Bach, in choreography, usually doesn't work for me -- usually too literally translaatead into steps.

I disagree.  Putting the Scottish girls on pointe is, IMO, roughly equivalent to putting Desire's hunting companions on pointe.

Quite an intriguing idea. I'm thinking of submitting it to the Trocks. What did Matthew Bourne do in Highland Fling?