hbl

Went to the 8pm Saturday Night performance. The program consisted of Scenes de Ballet, Square Dance and Bourree Fantasque. Scenes de Ballet would seem to me to be a difficult one to put on by students, but the did a wonderful job. Lots of dancers of all shapes and sizes mirroring each other precisely. I am not sure I could figure out who the dancers were in that ballet - but everyone did a very credible job. In Square Dance, Brittany Pollack and David Prottas were outstanding. They danced beautifully together. He reminded me a little bit of Peter Boal (oh how he is missed) in his fine classical line. Brittany was all sauce and vinegar. She was fantatstic. I expect great things from her if this performance was any indication. The corps was also wonderful. A real tribute to Suki Shorer who must have spent many many hours rehearsing them. The final piece, Bourree Fantasque was an old Balenchine. It looked a bit dated - which I rarely feel about any Balanchine Ballet. I don't remember having seen it before... It called for a large number of dancers. Three main couples and many many corps roles. This was staged by Richard Tanner and Susan Pilarre. My hats of to them for attempting this revival with so many young dancers. The corps in particular seemed well rehearsed and did a wonderful job backing up the three main couples. One pair, Tabitha Rinko-Gay and Russell Janzen were especially outstanding. They had the look of consumate professionals and danced just beautifully. So, it was a wonderful night at the ballet. I always feel that there are a huge number of excellent dancers in the pipeline after seeing these performances. This was certainly no exception. And it bodes well for not only the NYCB but for all the other companies that draw there dancers from the school. In the program, they list the names, ages and home towns of the senior students. They are quite an national and international group with dancers from: NY, NJ, CT, IA, MD, VA, FL, AL, OH, PA, NM, CA, MA, UT, SC, TX, GA, Japan, England, France, Australia and Israel. Wow! 17 states and 6 countries.

I felt the opposite. I thought Megan was just so full of life and exhubarence that she was exceptional in the role. We saw this last week with Borre and Hubbe who while precise were far less exciting. At first I was very angry when we got to the theater as I was looking forward to Fearful Symetries - and to have something I just saw in its place.... But I become completely engrossed in Fairchilds performance. It was just so exciting. Most of those around us felt similarly. And while being a short male dancer these days may not be a major drawback with all of the wonderful short girls in the company (Borre, Stafford, Taylor, Fairchild to name a few) I thought De Luz would not be a great partner under any circumstance - he seems too full of himself. As for the rest of the program, it left me rather cold. I never warmed up to In the Night.... it seem too long and too depressing. That being said, Whelan was, as always outstanding as was Orza and Askegard. Firebird is another ballet I can live without. I thought Sylvie did a credible job but this is another ballet with great costumes and settings - to0 much story - not enough (interesting/esciting) dance. So I thought the evening went downhill after the very exciting Donezetti.

I think if that happened Balanchine would be spinning in his grave. He was very clear in that he never wanted NYCB to become a museum. I think the reason he passed the mantle on to Martins was because Martins was starting to choreograph. And Martins does have talent. It was IMHO evidence from his first effort - Calcium Light Night. I really enjoyed that ballet and wish that he would bring it back. It was supposed to be on the program I think last year but whomever was doing it became ill or injured. And while many Martins ballets leave me cold, others are wonderful - Barber Violin Concerto for example. I also give credit to Martins for binging in all of these new choreographers. It is a wonderful experience for everyone - the dancers, the musicians, the costum people, and certainly and most importantly the audience. And he risks being overshadowed by these new works. It takes a lot of guts to go out of his way to do this. Same with the Choreographic Institute. A wonderful idea. And in making Wheldon the "official" company choreographer I think he has show that he is not as self centered as one might have thought. Martins is not Balanchine. But neither is anyone else. Probably no one in the lifetime of our youngest member is likely to see anyone of that genius. I haven't seen works by Farrell or Villela that make me yearn to have them do extensive choreographing for NYCB. I think Wheeldon is best suited now to be Robbins to Martins Balanchine. In 5, 10, 20, 30 years who knows what will happen. When Martins is no loging willing or able to run the company Wheeldon may take the reigns capably. But I think that may not be for a very long time. And all of this non-sense about Martins not bringing in Blanchine trained people is just that - non-sense. The only one that he has really distanced himself from apears to be Suzanne Farrell, and that is a shame and very unfortunate. But if you look in your program you will see many Balanchine trained dancers who are now serving as Ballet Masters with the company including: Rosemary Dunleavy, Karin von Aroldingen, JeanPierre Frohlich, Susan Hendl, Lisa Jackson, Russell Kaiser, Sara Leland, Christine Redpath, Richard Tanner and Martin's assistan - Sean Lavery. And he is in contact with others I am sure - Bonefeuox is a perfect example. I know he has also used Violette Verdy, Merrill Ashley and others as well. And lets not forget the staff at SAB which includes Kay Mazzo, Darci Kistelr, Susan Pilarre, Suki Shorer, Sheryl Ware and many others - all Balanchine trained. So as for myself, thinking about what is possible - keeping a significant reperatory of Balanchine and Robbins while experimenting and producing new works is as much as I could ever want. And Martins is delivering that. Yes, maybe a few less Martins works and a few more Wheeldons or more of the Balanchine/Robbins rep might be nice if I was programming it. But on the whole over the last 24 years I think my hat goes off to Martins for all that he does right. The company is certainly in better financial shape than it has been in its history. Not a small task when you look at what is going on in the arts community these days. I may not like much of Martins choreography, nor the fact that he has distanced himself from Farrell - my all time favorite dancer - but he has done so much else right that I am a huge fan of his.

It is outrageous. I have been planning to call them and offer to f ix the damn thing for them but I have been busy lately. The fact is that a scrolling region is a very simple thing to do that would be compatible in all browsers (or all that follow the w3c spec). I have used it on some sites that I have developed and test it for functionality in IE, Firefox, Opera and Netscape. There are many other lesser issues with the site but the failure of the scrolling region to work on any but IE is a disgrace. If my time frees up in the next few months I will offer to fix it for them.... but a) I might not get freed up enough and b) they may not want an outsider messing with their site. So don't hold your breadth. The url for how to do it is at http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/visufx.html Checking their site they are using special complex coding to do this that is specific to IE. With much older browsers that was necessary but all modern browsers to my knowledge support the scrolling region and it is trivial to set up in HTML. For an example of the correct way to do it check out: http://www.marklamster.com/Praise.html

I believe Melissa Hayden danced into her 50's.

One of my favorites is the final waltz in Vienna Waltzes after the lights come on and there are all of those spinning white gowns with the reflcection in the back mirrored curtain. The pricipals are also dancing so I am not sure if this really counts. I would also include Robbins the Cage. All those female insects just puts shivers down my spine.

I keep complaining to them about it - but I have been ignored. Some more voices of ccomplaint would possibly be useful. If I have some time this fall I plan on offering to volunteer to help clean it up. And it does work better with IE than Firefox. Ugh. I keep IE around to view it as well as for testing.

I was at SPAC Friday night for the first time. I would certainly go again. The place was not packed, but far from empty. Considering there are 5200 seats PLUS the lawn, I did not feel that it was a sparse crowd. Prossibly 3000 people. More than would attend a performance at State Theater. The evening was dreadfully hot and humid. I wondered how the dancers got through Union Jack with all that big headgear and wraps. Maybe the kilts helped. Saratoga has a lot going for it as the summer home for NYCB. I believe that many of the principal and soloists have homes in the area. The corps dancers are housed at Skidmore College. So my guess is that the cost of performing there is far less than it would be to tour. Not only would there be the cost of transportation, but huge hotel expenses as well. And I believe that NYCB does not travel without its orchestra. So we are talking about probably 300 people that need to be moved, fed and housed. At Saratoga a lot of the housing is already accounted for and the transportation is trivial. I would even guess that most folks make it up there on their own. Also, the racing season is a huge draw of people for the 6 weeks it operates. The rest of the time (especially when NYCB is there), the town is a lot quiter and facitilities are available. I would hope that NYCB could possibly add another week there someday. The even had an intimate pre-performance talk by Wendy Whelan that we went to. She was very articulate, gracious, charming, and told stories about the ballet we were about to see her in (Agon) as well her reaction to Jock Soto's retirement. She was thrilled for him. A bit of other news - she is getting married shortly, Jock is the caterer. (this is not gossip - came straight from Wendy). Also, she just looked great close up. Even better that when she is on stage. She really is quite beautiful and doesn't appear as gaunt as she sometimes does on stage. It always amazes me that the pre-performance talks are always so relatively sparsely attended, even in NYC. While the rooms are usually full, they are generally very small and intimate. They provide some insight into the dancers. I highly recommend them. The people the usually choose tend to be quite articulate.

My only experience is with NYCB dancers. This afternoon I was waiting out front and Albert Evens was talking to some what I am sure where young dancers. As I walked by I complimented him on a wonderful performance and thanked him. He thanked me back and was most gracious. I have often run into dancers in O'Neils after a performance and usually don't bother them. The one time I did was right after Heather Watts retired and she was sitting with a large group of dancers including Soto and Woetzel. I thanked her and told her she would be missed. Everyone was gracious to me and I did not wear out my welcome. My general feeling is that ballet dancers - except possibly for Barish and Nureyev are not very well known to the general public and are mostly ignored. Even the ones that we know so well and that expect everyone else does (i.e. even Farrell, Ashley, P.Martins, etc.) So when a fan is complimentary and stays within reasonable bounds of respect, I believe your attention will be appreciated. Just my 2 cents. Any dancers here who would like to set me straight, please do so.

Thank you Peter Boal. What a joy. What a pleasure to watch. He is the most nobel and most elegant dancer that I have ever seen. His line, his body, his movement. He just exudes elegancy, charm and nobility. He is perfection. He never seemed to me to be the bravura show stopping type of dancer. But no one is as elegant and nobel as Boal. No one. The afternoon was fantastic. What could be better. My favorite ballet (Agon) with my favorite ballerina (Kowroski) with Boal doing what he does best. Who could ask for anything better? And West Side Story Suite - a little lighteness seemed to make Opus 19 even more interesting. And I set in the very back of the orchestra and must admit that seats in the first two rows of the 4th ring are no worse. Sat there for a few gala's. But I do prefer or regular seats in the center of the front of the orchestra. They have been in the family since City Center days. I think there was a program note tha Krone danced instead of Tinsley in Agon. I think that is correct although sitting where we were with my deteriorating eyesight I wouldn't bet on it. But Kowroski, Evans and Reichlin were all amazing.

Are you sure it was Newsweek. The recent Gottlieb book on Balanchine has a reprint of an interview that I think appeared in Time during the late 50's or early 60's. Can't find my copy - strange since I read it just a few months ago.... But that might put you on the right track. I do remember a Time story about the 20 hot new ballerinas in the early 70's that included Heather Watts. Thinking about it made me feel very old when she retired.

Well at the rate that Artificial Intelligence has been moving over the past 20 years, not to worry. It is unlikely that any such facility will be available in 50 years. They can't even do reasonably competent language translation yet. Face recognitiion is still very basic at best. So I would not worry about anything like that in the next 50 years. My guess not even in 100 and probably not in 200. Certainly not anything members of this list need worry about. As for the more interesting point raised by the quote from KFW I think the role of the editor in society has largely diminished because of the Internet. We can readily get unfiltered information as well as all sorts of distored informaion within seconds of requesting it. The role of the editor (be it the TV producer, or the major newspaper and newsmagazines editorial staff) has seriously diminished. I think though that this will change over time. I think the value and need for good editorial (and critical) analysis will re-emerge - possibly in a different and less formal form. For example on this newsgroup, we get to appreciate some reviewers (Leigh for example) and discount others (like me). The criticism while generally unedited is balanced by multiple view points. Over time the better reviewers and critics will be heard. The same is true in the blogosphere. Over time the ones that merit attention will likely be heard. Or lets hope so. As far as the mass media go, it is unclear to me how they will evolve over the next 50 years. Of course I wont be around 50 years from now so it is not a major concern.

Well since oberon brought up the sets, I would like to express my contrary opinion. I hate the emerald set - reminds me of Vienna Waltzs set. It is sort of in a forest - not a clean set like the original one. I love the rubies set. I think that is the real winner. It goes perfectly with the ballet. The bright costume and black background work. I also disliked the diamond set - it does look cheesy compared to the original. Ok, enough said about that. On to the dance. Does size matter? I thought that Ashley was just too small for this role. Not that her dancing wasn't outstanding, but it seemed like a taller, more long legged dancer is called for. On the other hand, I never did like this ballet and still don't, so take my comments with a very small grain of salt. I find the music just boring. Rubies is possibly one of my favorite masterpieces. Last week I thought Ansanelli did a fantastic job in Polyphinia, surpassing her wonderful role the week before that in Harlequenade. Now Rubies. Even better. Is there no end to how good a dancer she is becoming? She seems to be dancing so well. And I think that she gets the role. I think it is full of fun. And she and Ben seem to throughly enjoy themselves out there. Just a delight to watch. And I was one of those screeming bravos and asking for more curtain calls. Lowery was lovely if not angular enough to my taste in this role. I recall Karen Von Aroldingen doing it with much more angularity. As for "getting it". A couple of years ago we saw POB (sorry dont recall the dancers) do Jewels. The Emeralds section was well done, but they just didn't get Rubies. All seriousnes and little energy. I also generally enjoy Diamonds. Whelan was very graceful and artistic. She is my kind of dancer - slim (ok, skinny) and long legged with wonderful extension. I doubt if anyone will ever be Farrell in this role - but that is now ancient history of course. And as I recall Farrell was waif like before she left for Brussles.

This is getting monotonous..... I completely agree with the previous posts. AA was just unbelievable. Last week in Harlequenade she was just magnificent. The best I had ever seen her dance. Just about the only redeeming quality of that silly ballet. Then last night she just blew me away. I always thought of her a very professional and talented dancer. But she never inspired me or blew me away like she has these past few weeks.

I think Oberon hit the nail on the head and I heartliy agree with his remarks. Where else can you see a company that is choreography based and inspired yet has the most amazing dancers. Is there anyone anywhere more exciting to watch than Kowroski or Bouder these days? And the number and scope of new works is amazing. The fact that there is a Choreographic Institute and that many dancers who wish to choroegraph get their training and a shot at it while using the most amazing dancers. And all this while trying to keep the Balanchine and Robbins repertory in the forefront. It just boggles the mind. I know that there is, was, and will always be Martins bashers. How can it be otherwise? He took over the company of a genius who was additionally a remarkable craftsman and an inspiration to everyone. But I think he has done a remarkable job in keeping the NYCB focused on moving forward while honoring the past. I applaud him for this and don't know if anyone else could have done as good a job. And I think he has been pretty unselfish. Allowing so many new choreographers to present works with the company. He could easily have just kept reproducing the Balanchine/Robbins repertory and added whatever he wanted to do himself. Instead he has gone out of his way to promote new choreography and new choreographers. As a lover of abstract ballet, the minimal performance of story ballets is a big plus for me. I prefer just seeing movement to music. I don't want to try to figure out what it all means and try to follow a story. It just gets in the way as far as I am concerned. So the lack of story ballets is a very big reason I adore NYCB. I must admit that I am a fan as in fanatic for NYCB. I have little interest in seeing other classical ballet companies. They mostly leave me cold, with some few exceptions. I do see some modern dance, but enjoy that as a different experience.

What is all of the talk of Edward Liang getting away? Or is there an Edward Liang different from the Edwaard Liang now dancing with the company? He is back. He even spoke at the Ballet Insights on 2/10.

There are actually already 4 levels at NYCB - the apprentices as described in the most recent program. The thought of adding a fifth level is mind bogling - another level of stratification in a company that tries not to do that at all. As has been already said, the company often has corps members dancing principal roles to say nothing of the soloists who regularly dance principal roles. Adding another layer seems so un NYCB like - I can't imagine it. Part of the joy of going to NYCB is seeing young dancers being given leading roles. Sometimes what they lack in polish they give back in energy and are a joy to watch.

Thursday 2/17 I pretty much agree with Oberon's assessment of Thursday night - except for Emeralds. I know many on this board (and elsewhere) think it is one of Balanchines masterpieces. I just find it BOOOOOring (in the Jo Anne Worley voice from Laugh In). The music is boring. I thought sylvie was boring. The only good thing about it is that you are only an intermission away from Rubies. I thought Weese, Millipied and Reichlan were outstanding. I very much enjoyed their performances. Weese was witty and joyful and full of sass. Perfect. Reichlan, with those incredible legs makes the second role just wow. And speaking of legs..... watching Kowroski was almost - not quite - but almost like watching Farrell. I just kept remembering Farrell as I watched her dance, she so reminded me of her while at the same time making the role her own. Disclaimer - I am maddly in love with MK. If I were only 35 years younger ...... and a lot better looking .....