Amy Reusch

It seems I wasn't using the correct browser. At first there was no change but apparently at some point in my myriad experiments in clicking options (that would seem to help but didn't) I managed to click something that did. Unfortunately I don't know which choice did it. It takes some scrolling down to see any posts so I may have had success before I realized it. Perhaps the new format isn't as well laid out for the iPad, i have to try it on my laptop, but I've been having trouble logging in the laptop. I don't know if it is my aol email address causing trouble. I understand on the sister site New members with aol or gmail addresses aren't accepted. I must be somehow grandfathered in there. Perhaps it is making for complications.

Um... Last upgrade seems to have done me in again... I keep getting " sorry, no new content". .... Hmmmmmm....

Well, the gallery is a wonderful thing... I'm glad that is to continue! Looking forward to the reviews.

Well.... I've only seen the film and thought she used *a lot* of repetition... but whether this added depth as it might have in the theater... I don't know. Repetition plays on our sense of time and theater time is very very different from film time. I think we are more impatient when it comes to film, the pace having been set by 15 second blipverts...excuse me, "television commercials". It takes a while to break past that, and 3D helps change the precepts, but cuts are cuts, 3D or not, and they don't happen in the theater. There was plenty of repetition. Whether it had Pina's moment to it is less clear. Because this film worked so well, it is more interesting to dissect than a film that was just lame. I do imagine it caught Pina's ability to surprise.....

I was wondering a little about how the editing decisions changed our concept of the dance beyond the usual "point of view" filters... I never had the pleasure of seeing Bausch's work in the theater... If Wenders is excerpting the bits he found most interesting... What sense do we have of the piece's overall structure... Without the context of the piece run through in it's entirety, how distorted is our experience of it?

Isn't it wonderful when the camera helps you see the dance rather than distracting you from it? Nothing is worse than wondering why the cameraman or director was so clueless when you would rather be thinking about the dancing. I hope they win one of those Oscars it's up for.

Flattering, I'm sure, but living on the wrong coast, the idea doesn't rise.

An artistic director is responsible for casting, this is a big part of his/her vision. It can't be expected that he/she would keep someone rarely cast over a dancer often cast. There could be a lottery, with everyone's chance equal, but to what point? The company has excellence as it's goal. It's just a shame they didn't find some other way to cut the budget... Shortened weeks or one less production or an equal percentage pay cut for everyone...

"Dennis was absolutely in shock. It was absolutely painful to watch," says Loewenstern. "He had just been shoved out of his life's work - out of everything he built and ever cared about." This is a company he used 40 years of his life to build and they're pushing him out this way? Is he guilty of some heinous crime? I think we should give some sort award for hitting all the bases. Makes me rather worried about how ABT is actually run that they aren't staying as far away from this as possible? Every time someone pokes this story another ugly detail crawls out.

Isn't it odd that they replaced him with a woman? Wait, a 76 year old woman? http://themoscownews.com/arts/20120113/189366405.html

And now.. He's been fired. How can the head of the union also be part of administration. Shouldn't there be a new shop steward when the old shop steward moves to the administration side of the equation? http://rt.com/art-and-culture/news/tsiskaridze-bolshoi-ballet-renovation-505/

Thats what comes from my seeing it in several places at once... Apologies. I'm going out to buy a blonde wig now.

I laughed too, but I was suspicious about the repeated Gaynor theme and wondered if this were a common worry or a competitor hoping the video would go viral... Do companies ever force brands on their dancers? (not that bunhead worries are always rational...)

Wow! Just wow! What are the flowers the groom seems to be holding?

I wonder what Acosta's fee was.... (Not that I'd object! It must have been nice for the dancers to meet him.) Also, strange that all this is happening in the midst of a budget surplus. Your emoticons are more than eloquent here!

Another NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/arts/dance/ballet-san-jose-in-agreement-with-american-ballet-theater.html?ref=dance "The organizations are not merging; Ms. Ziesel said that her ballet would not become a triple-A farm team for the American Ballet Theater but would have access to the bigger group’s “toolbox and Rolodex.” What on earth does that mean? I can't imagine they mean the development director's roladex... And the artists and craftspeople most likely do not hide their involvement with ABT. What contact info could she mean? And what toolbox?? And no mention of the training program relationship. I find this situation to be stranger and stranger. “I’ve never experienced anything like this, except at the movies,” said Nora Heiber, national dance representative for the American Guild of Musical Artists, which represents the company’s 34 dancers. “It’s a better script than ‘Black Swan.’ ”

Thanks, Ray... Ships passing in the night.....

Oddly, the link takes me to some sort of Microsoft sign in page... Maybe it is just an iPad issue at my end. Will search on Youtube for Steven Caras... That worked! Not sure, but others experiencing same problem might try this link

Well why should scalpers be able to take advantage of resale values and not NYCB themselves?

Can't wait!!!

After the poorly edited and projected Giselle with Sarafanov & Osipova, I haven't been encouraging students to go... I hope quality has much improved and the series survives... I must give them another chance as It would be awful these opportunities to see world class bsllet in the hinterlands vanish.

Isn't he back at the Bolshoi? Somehow with his works featured in the Bolshoi re-opening gala, I thought he was re-ensconced... ? ?

At least they are being more straight forward about the ABT relationship... I really didn't care for the shared repertoire spin... Seemed dishonest. They aren't planning on hiring an Artistic Director, and yet that doesn't make those tasks go away. Who will audition new dancers? Who will decide the season? Sounds like it's turning into a pre-professional venture rather than remaining a real company. Offer less and you get less... becomes a situation of dwindling returns until no one cares enough for the organization to continue to exist. That is one thing a good artistic director will always do... fight for for the survival of the company. If I were a professional dancer, I would surely hesitate to relocate to San Jose with the company direction so vague.

Am I the only one who finds this suspicious : http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_19605515. BEGIN QUOTE The "artistic and training partnership" will allow Ballet San Jose to implement ABT's renowned curriculum at its ballet school and will provide a range of other opportunities for Ballet San Jose dancers and staff, Executive Director Stephanie Ziesel said. She added that the agreement included everything from the possibility of staging ballets from ABT's deep repertoire, to getting advice and training from specialized coaches. But the announcement stopped short of revealing which ballets will be performed in the coming year; that news will be delivered Jan. 3, Ziesel said. That's nearly five months after the company announced it would not stage any autumn performances for the first time in decades. END QUOTE ... Suspicious because there has been no parallel announcement from ABT... Is this just repackaging for public relations consumption that they are considering affiliating with ABT's training program? At Hartford Ballet's partially-board-generated demise, it almost seemed there was a promulgated view of the company as a proving ground for local wealthy families' daughters... and no will to see ballet or the company as more than that... (The Board practically implied at the penultimate annual gala that the dancers were children as they announced they were presenting them with lollipops as a thank you present). Is this the same path Ballet San Jose is headed down? Why is there no announcement on ABT's site?

"A taste for the preposterous"... That certainly hits the mark for some of his most successful moments! I wonder if that is what has evolved beyond post-modern era... Enjoying the preposterous rather than cynically positing collaged clichés.