Dale

Regarding the Diamond Project, Drew made some sound points too. But I'd still like to see less ballets as part of the project, so they can really be done well. As you admitted that you didn't see many of the DP recently Drew, you would have saw the tired performances of the last few, maybe the last four. The dancers looked tired, the ballets looked rushed to the stage. I think the project should rise out of the Choreographic Institute, then take the best from there and put them on stage. But, bringing this back to the some of the points in this tread, I'm not sure what stipulations Ms. Diamond has for her grant. And it also is easier to raise money from the high-end donors for a new ballet. Which is sexier, giving money so a new ballet, one that might always have note saying, "This work is possibly thanks to the generousity of Mr. Money" than giving money so that the company can spiff up La Source, with no tags of thanks. That is why I like that NYCB has different programs. I received a pamphlet outlining, for an example, how one wealthy couple has loved watching Balanchine ballets since the 50s and wants to give money only to preserve his work. And another program for preserving the companies video library so that older films of the company are kept from breaking down. About whether balle is unprofitable, I wonder if anyone will know, that if, say, ABT sold out all of its shows this past fall at City Center, will it have made money? Or any company's season, if they sold all their tickets?

With Cojocaru and possibly Vishneva guesting in its next summer season at the MET, American Ballet Theatre appears to be revisiting (a little bit) its days when it regularly featured guest stars as a company policy. Two guest stars (and a few here and there over the past few years) does not mean ABT is going back to the glittering 70s, when they always imported stars, but it brings up the question: which way do people prefer? Although I spent most of my time at NYCB during the 70s, I remember that with the company's parade of guest stars, anytime you went to ABT it felt like a gala. There was a lot of excitment in the air to have the best dancers in the world come to town. On the other hand, I remember interviews with the homegrown principals feeling they didn't get enough respect or their share of roles because of the imports. And the morale of the company through the ranks were poor because there didn't seem to be any belief they could work their way towards leading parts. The malaise showed on stage. I guess when Baryshnikov took over, having just come from a "no-stars" policy company NYCB, he sacked some older dancers and tried to breed his own ballerinas. (anybody, feel free to add and expand in his Reader's Digest account) According to critics, the company, with the possibility of upward mobility, began to look like a company. And even though the company has had stars dancers from all of the globe in the last 12 years, they are part of the company. Even Ananiashvili, listed as a "guest principal" until recently, has become a regular member of ABT. Personally, I think a guest dancer once and awhile gives a company a bit of a kick in the pants and the audience a boost of fresh blood. However, too many guest dancers creates frustration and divides the company (we've seen this a little bit at Britain's Royal Ballet). I'm also pleased that companies such as the Kirov Ballet can allow their dancers to guest a bit and not lose them. What do people think?

Thank you Mme. Hermine for the recipes. I had read about the book, but never saw it. Regarding Farrell and recipes, she contributed a few to Allegra Kent's ballet bodies book.

I have to put ditto to much of what Manhattnik wrote about the Diamond Project. And I agree that having choreography made on their bodies is an important lesson for the dancers, but for the Diamond Project, all the same dancers are learning all the same lessons. Of the 5-8 ballets made during a DP season, most of the ballets all have the same dancers in them. Saying, "Well, if we fail, we fail. Let's just do it." shows a very cavalier attitude. I think it would probably be more valuable to do less new ballets a season for NYCB and put all its energies in trying to do a quality work. Then, if it fails, at least it was a noble failure. At least the choreographer looked to use the best music for the ballet, rather than just music he/she liked - consult with the music director; learned to work with a costume designer to come up with the best costumes; learn how to work with a set designer, lightning designer etc... Get guidiance from the artistic director and have proper rehearsal time. And, importantly, if something doesn't work after the work's debut, change it. I think the plan to produce so much new work in one season needs to be balanced with the amount of rehearsal time the new ballets need and the time it takes to properly rehearse the existing rep. And I'd like to see the choreographers spend time with the company's dancers in rehearsals for the existing rep. During the last DP, the playbill ran a set of interviews - time and again the choreographers mentioned that with so little time, they used dancers they knew and styles they knew. What are they learning then?

Ina, thank you for the news on Malakhov. Are you saying that Vishneva and Malakhov will be dancing together at ABT? I had not heard that. However, I had read that they performed a very moving Giselle in Russia last year.

Calliope, I like the idea of a Lincoln Center subscription. There are people who are not necessarily ballet fans (or stritctly opera), but like to experience a tasting of culture. I like what the Lincoln Center Festival does with their subscription offer (which also includes a discount, which other subscriptions don't) and I've noticed that there is a younger crowd for the LCF. I sat next to four 25-30 year olds who, when they got their tickets to the latest avant garde LCF offering, decided to give the Kirov Ballet a shot too. They liked it. I hope they continue to go back to the ballet. I also agree with Alexandra's comment about bringing the ballet to the audiences. People might find going to Lincoln Center daunting. So why not bring a little ballet to the Bronx or Queens or Trenton? Philadelphia Ballet goes on tours of its own state. NYCB used to have a program called Ballet Bridges. It was held on the same day in a few of the boroughs and the company was split up. They would perform a nice mix of excerpts from the rep and then do a Q&A. Afterwards, there was a table setup with the latest season's listings and a special ticket offer for up to 4 discounted orchestra seats to Midsummer Night's Dream.

Thank you Tessa for the news. It is a shame that casting isn't listed. I've been to paballet.org and it is a most annoying site - no casting and everything needs a thousand extra plug-ins. I'm happy that Lorenzo resumed her career. PA Ballet should be a good company for her. It is smaller than NYCB and she should be able to get the roles she deserves. Plus the rep. is a nice blend of classics, Balanchine and newer items. And the Nutcracker is the Balanchine version. I remember seeing Lorenzo in Coffee...I'm sure the men in the audience were very happy!

In an example of a bigger company helping out a smaller one, Carolina Ballet began with connections to NYCB. NYCB dancers guested with CB during its opening season and there was a ticket tie-in with NYCB. And there was a Martins ballet on the schedule, along with ballets by Balanchine and Weiss. I don't know how far, in $, NYCB helped Carolina Ballet, but there appeared to be some support.

Ashley, we don't have nor provide dancers' e-mails. Contact Ringer's company.

Here's a link to the Orange County casting of ABT's Nutcracker. I hope somebody sees Veronika Part as the Sugar Plum Fairy. We saw so little of her during the company's season at City Center. http://www.ocpac.org/about/PressDetail.asp...ssReleaseID=233

You can try to contact Kent or send fan mail to her at her home company, American Ballet Theatre (abt.org). But we don't have or give out dancers' emails here.

Thank you Manhattnik for the description of Bouder's Dewdrop, I have not seen her in this role. How was Riggins as Marzipan? And of the Nutcrackers you've seen this season, who was the best Sugar Plum Fairy?

That's it, just those two ballets. Supposedly, the Balanchine Trust didn't want Agon recorded that time (that was the third ballet on the triple bill at the time), so it is not on the DVD. Also at Dance Books is, in PAL DVD only, Ananiashvili in Firebird, which, I can't remember, but had input from Isabel fokine, I think. Not sure on that one.

As Calliope pointed out, Homas is tackling tough issues. And although I have major quibbles with the articles (things such as Cargill pointed out), at least she's out there writing. Where are all the other columnists? For example, I respect Joan Acocella a lot, but she doesn't write about ballet at all these days. Other than the Tharp piece, the only article on ballet Acocella has done in the New Yorker was a review/preview of Kirov's Jewels. That was about the performances in Washington D.C. She didn't want to write on the Kirov's new La Bayadere? ABT's Ashton programs? Didn't want to trash the Diamond Festival? There wasn't one dancer or ballet or something that interested her in ballet/dance in the last year? I think she did write about something in modern dance, but it is not enough. Aloff turned up once in the Nation to write on Jewels, Tobias was booted, and Greskovic and Johnson have been fightning the good fight, but where are the other columnists? By not writing, Acocella and others are leaving the field open for Homans.

Manhattnik, I think that you're correct in that many people hired now by newspapers have journalism degrees. But a long time ago, you could work yourself up from copy boy to become an editor/staff writer etc... and most of the old timers did it that way. But with the competition now, a lot of newspapers won't even interview someone without a j-school degree, or at least a masters degree in something.

The latest Royal Ballet production was shown on TV with Les Noce (Agon was on the program but was not allowed to be taped). It is on a new DVD with Leanne Benjamin in the lead. It is available in PAL and North American formate at dancebooks.co.uk.

Homans pieces really do get people talking, and that is something assignment editors look for. I'll get to Homans later, first on the book. I agree with Homans that Joseph does a bit better on the music portions of the book than the ballet. Not that he doesn't have any knowledge of ballet, he does, but he doesn't have the skill that other writers, such as Greskovic or McDonagh have in their books, or Croce has in her essays, to let you see the ballets. However, Joseph's book is an excellent edition to the canon explorng Stravinsky and Balanchine. I read his book "Stravinsky; Inside and Out" that sets out, in his words, to debunk the myths about Stravinsky, many started by the maestro himself. In that book, he has an entire chapter on Stravinsky's work on TV, especially his collaboration with Balanchine on "The Flood." Balanchine figured heavily in that book and, perhaps, how the second book came to being (although Joseph wrote the chapter on Agon that was used in the companion book for the NY Historical Society's show on NYCB. Naturally, as a musician, Joseph is better at explaining the music than the dance and rightly points to Leigh's article in Ballet Review for a more extensive dance-related look at Agon. But there are many things "discussion-worthy" in the Stravinsky-Balanchine book. On Homans, I think Dirac had a very good point. When a little-known writer (I don't mean that in a bad way) suddenly appears in some very well-known, prestigeous journals, magazines and newspapers, there is going to be talk. Some of it not nice. I don't think it is because she was a former dancer, or she's young (although by my calculations she's probably nearing 40, not a prodigy). Is it because she hasn't appeared to have to work her way up? I guess it might be different if she was nurtured from the pages of Ballet Review, Dance View or Dance Now, or a smaller press. But there she was, taking over Aloff's column in TNR, writing commentary for the New York Times, and reviewing for the NYBR. She and others should expect a few arrows. And I understand the eyebrows raised when you take into account her husband, But.. I'll only quote Chris Rock - Who in this room didn't get a job because a friend recommended them? However, I had the same feeling about Homans' review of the Joseph book that I had in her other writing. She's done her research, and actually tries to come up with a theory, but it doesn't hold. It doesn't hang together, doesn't sit right. It is not surprising she just got her phd, she still writes for her professors. If she wants to raise her writing from that of a clever student to something else, she's got to write for us. I also don't get the impression that she's seen a lot. It is nice to know history, but when I read Homans, I don't get that she can put a performance in perspective that others can. She's not the only one. For example, I saw Roland John Wiley's lecture on Petipa at the NYCB Choreographic Institue (His books are very valuable and interesting) this summer. During the Q&A, Wiley was asked about something to do with the Kirov's reconstructed Sleeping Beauty. He couldn't answer because, he confessed, he had not seen it. I couldn't believe that a man who devoted his life's work to Tchiakovsky's ballets and Petipas etc... couldn't make it out of Michigan to either New York or Washington D.C. to see that ballet. I think you need to meld the history of ballet with the performance of it.

Tessa thanks for the tip off. Is it the November or December issue?

New York Theatre Ballet does an Alice in Wonderland and will be performed in 2003. http://www.nytb.org/aliceframeset.html

There are several videos with Bussell. And you can check the review links on www.ballet.co.uk to see what the critics say about her dancing.

Agnes de Mille did the choreography for the 1945 stage productions. The 1956 film version was choreographed by Charles G. Clarke, but the de Mille's work for "Louise's Ballet" was used in the film. A connection to NYCB and the film ballet was that Jacque D'Amboise danced the lead in "Louise's Ballet." It's lovely and pops up on AMC or TMC every once and a while.

Ok, I was trying to think positively last night. I'd agree with Cargill (described in the recent performance section) about the unflatering cut of some of the dresses, although I thought Kowroski's was pretty nice. Maybe it was because I was sitting far away, but the fabric didn't look to cheap to me On the other hand, the costumes did not look as if they should have cost $80,000. Films have done the jazz era better justice. I suggest the designer go and watch the movie The Cotton Club, some Merchant-Ivory, or at least an Agatha Christie episode of Mystery.

Before I go to sleep, the costumes for the Martins ballet are lovely and the opera coats were stunning. The shoes were brilliant and were only worn during the entrance. Considering their short appearance, thank god they were for free. I'm sure someone will add to this before I get the chance Wednesday.

I've heard and read those stories too, regarding permission or releases from unions and musicians etc... Yet those problems don't seem to stop opera from releasing videos all the time. Many of the Live from Lincoln Center opera performances are out on video. In fact, the Met put out a whole series of them. Other times I've heard that the problem stems from the dancers, who don't like the way the performances have turned out and won't give their release.

VAI has now listed the video/dvd on its web site: http://www.vaimusic.com/VIDEO/69721_Bruhn.shtml And happily it does include the Coppelia with Arova.