richard53dog

"Florid" is a well chosen adjective. What can I say, when faced with the book as a Freshman in college, I was lost. Maybe a few semesters later I could have coped, but the profs were pushing it hard, it was still book du jour (1969). But later, Sophie's Choice engaged me.

Well, here's hoping his last two pieces as NYCB RC are successes!

Well, when I saw this I thought Zakharova started off pretty chilly and she never really did engage me. Too bad because I did think Bolle turned in a fine performance. I don't know this for sure but as far as the orchestra, it may be the same one that La Scala Opera uses, which for a long time was under Riccardo Muti's leadership. If this is correct , it would explain the orchestral playing. La Scala Orchestra is pretty world class. For myself, I regretted that Vishneva's Giselle wasn't filmed rather than Zakharova, but again, that just personal preference

Although I haven't followed his criticism too closely for a few years now, I used to find Ben Brantley to be a pretty fair writer, I used to like to read his reviews (and hear capsule versions on WQXR as I drove to work) So he may be calling it fairly as he sees it, as Dale pretty much puts it. But he also may be a bit burned out.

I'm thinking of seeing this also. I read an article/review in filmcomment on this but they concentrated largely on Frears political agenda. Let us know what you think.

I now WORK in a college library and process all the books that come in. So I know just what will show up on the "new books" shelves

Well it sure wasn't Peter Martins' name that sold this!

Sorry, this skeptic remains unconvinced. The photos don't do much for me. Her film career has been one where she was always coming close to fulfilling promise but never actually getting there, at least in my view ("Room With" or otherwise)

I'm reading Saving Fish From Drowning right now. I know, I know it's a book from last year, not new but I'm always lagging behind anyway. After that I have The Confession by James McGreevey. I don't know how much national interest there is in this one, but here in NJ , it's a hot book. A second bio of a NJ gov was also recently published, Governor Tom Kean. I wonder if the publish date was timed to coincide with his son's bid for one of the NJ Senate seats??

Yes, I was sad to hear this too. It's odd but earlier this week, since my mind was on ABT and it's rep (because of the CC season) I was wondering if next Spring/Summer would be Ferri's last with ABT.

My favorite of her lines was when she described the Rheinmaidens as "a kind of aquatic Andrews Sisters" in her synopsis of Wagner's Ring. Alas, not only do fewer people today know who the Rheinmaidens are but the Andrews Sisters are also fading from consciousness . She made a film of Hansel and Gretel about 50 years ago; actually she just supplied the voice for the Witch as all the characters were marionettes. The film used a very adbridged version of Humperdinck's music for the opera of the same name and was a huge favorite of mine.

Perhaps "ghosts of dead lovers" would have been less grating? Barnes must have been working on a very tight deadline. Infelicities like "ritual to" are not usually in his repertoire. Balanchine may have been giving a nod backward to his stagings of Gluck's Orfeo. The music used here is from the Elysian Fields scene, the Dance of the Blessed Spirits. So at least, dead lovers would not be out of place here in Gluck's idea of a celestial space. And yeah, I think "ghosts of lovers" or "spirits of dead lovers" would be more poetic. But as you note, Barnes may have been rushed

It's not commercially available AFAIK but a TV version with the Stuttgart Ballet was broadcast CA 1970. From the screen markings it looks like German TV. The cast is Haydee and Cragun on a TINY sound stage. It's short, maybe 90 minutes so it may be cut. I don't remember how long the stage version I saw in the early 70s was. Richard

I believe the "150" is intended to refer to the ballets Martins has introduced during his tenure, not to 150 ballets specifically choreographed by Martins. Still, it's a rather silly position to take for a company that, among other things, mounts over 40 showings of "George Balanchine's The Nutcracker" each winter. Yes, you're right, I misinterpreted the wording on the number of new pieces. The whole 150 weren't Martins' pieces but I'd think the lions' share are. And I still stay with my opinion that he doesn't have the talent to justify the number of works with his name on them that roll out with such regularity on the NYCB stage. Maybe he has some influence????????? A thought on the Nuts. Maybe we could call them the "cash flow" of the company. Being completely serious now, I think it could be fairly said that a performing arts company needs both a lifeblood and a cash flow. That still leaves open the definition of lifeblood of course. I think many people will have different ideas just what that is.

I don't have such a problem with the "new repertory" statement. New works do enrich a ballet company. Of course some new works are successes and others are not. What bothers me is the statement that Martins is today's Balanchine. Yes , Balanchine had plenty of duds, but he had many towering successes. In my book, at best, Martins has a TINY voice as a choreographer that no way justifies 150 works for the NYCB. Some certainly, but not a flooding of the repertory with an endless parade of "new Martins work"s

No,it's not really silly at all. You hit the nail on the head; the audience needs to be taken by the dancers THROUGH the surface elements of the plot to the ones that matter. Then instead of "silly" you have a plot that is very moving. Really, an experience that is both beautiful and moving. Some ballets plots, though, ARE silly and there no way around that. Any favorite silly ballet plots? Like Le Corsair or Sylvia?

I ALWAYS make spelling errors. Even if I proof the post before adding it, there are always some there. BUT....thank god for the "edit" button. Often I can fix them before anyone sees them!

He said Christopher Wheeldon is the "most known in the world" classical choreographer of his generation. He feels the Tharp work requires "simultaneously virtuosity and enormous internal freedom." He also spoke about his experiences with New York City Ballet: To me it is important to check myself as choreographer, my habits, skill to find common language with different dancers. Yes even to look at how other companies work, [especially] the famous company of Balanchine.... During November at the opening of the season New York City Ballet will dance my Middle Duet. I have read some other interviews with Ratmansky and he impresses me as a man of great open minded-ness and curiosity. In addition he seems he be very willing to take on the role of turbo-charged new broom , clearly away any cobwebs he finds, regarlyless of hurt egos. Lucky Bolshoi, I can see it heading for a period of great accomplishment. Richard

What would the purpose of such a board be? The governing boards in sports set rules,policies and standards. Also they act as courts where disputes and possible infractions are investigated. I'm not sure how this would relate to ballet. And how would it be funded?

I see not only dancers but performers in other media doing this. I think it's because they have been coached/taught to be "dramatic" but it's externalized only. I don't think they have bought into the feelings internally. (They may not understand how to). There's none of themselves used as part of the expression. So you have something that looks overdone because it has no core and the "outside" part is pushed to overcompensate. It's a difficult situation, you need very good coaches to teach a performer to perform in an expressive way that will project and also have the validity of the performers own self but not cross the line into empty caricature .

Oh, I hardly think ABT is above this sort of discussion. What do you suppose "Born to Be Wild" was all about? Those shots of José Carreño among his progeny and Ethen Stiefel riding his Harley were certainly intended to counter certain stereotypes. True, but it was indirect . And it was more like look at the different lifestyles and backgrounds of these 4 dancers. Some taste and sensitivity was maintained.

There are now two threads on this (more than) sort of depressing show. Being a gay man I find the whole theme distasteful. Maybe 20/20 can do a show on female dancers and sort them by sexual orientation too. But lesbians tend to be invisible to the population as a whole. Gee, how do they count people that are bisexual????? Half points? Perhaps this thread and the other similar one should be combined. Richard

All I can say is to give credit to NYCB and ABT for giving this a wide berth. And thumbs down on PA ballet for participating. Richard

I liked the Carabosse in the Royal Ballet production which I saw last June. Actually the two performances I saw had Carabosse and the Queen alternating roles. On video, I like the POB Carabosse and Peter Wright's Carabosse for the Netherlands troop. These all had remnants of glamour, and aren't too much over the top. Since Wright's and Nureyev's versions have a non dancing Lilac, you do get a feeling that Carabosse and Lilac are both similar and different. (And both are more important than the other 5 fairies) I really don't like the idea of a male Carabosse, it's generally like a bad drag show. Richard

Maybe two that I see , not only in the NYCB dancers mentioned, but in other dancers that hava had long careers, are technique and choice of rep. And often the choice of repertory changes (as much as the "powers that be" allow) to adapt to the changing abilities of the dancer as time rolls on. This is not to say though that all dancers that have had unusually long careers have weeded out the roles they found difficult, but certainly many did. Don't get me wrong, I'm not making this a criticism, I give credit for creative adaptability, particularly if the dancer stills has that burning desire to perform. On the other hand, I greatly dislike performers in general that are just pushing buttons because they can't envision a life away from the stage. Richard