Amy Reusch

I have mixed feelings. I was at SUNY Purchase when Jacques d'Amboise was Dean. At the same time, he was still dancing with NYCB and running his National Dance Institute. While his presence drew a lot of talent to the school, and he was on campus a great deal (I can't recall if he was there every day, but he must have been there several days a week), there were some communication and administrative problems that I feel wouldn't have been there if he had been able to give the school his full attention. The students ended up on strike trying to focus attention on resolving the problems but to no avail. He resigned the following year, to the disapointment of many. A one year appointment seems like it would be difficult to do much with. It's almost more like he's artist-in-residence for the students. Ideally I'd think they'd want someone who had just retired last season to take the permanent position... the box-office glow would draw talent to the school and perhaps compensate for a lack of administrative experience.

Thanks Mme. Hermine, that explains my confusion... I didn't realize the Ruth Page Company had played NY.

I thought he made his American debut in Chicago.... ?

Yes, but I suspect one of the things lost with the compression would be the difference between black and nearly black... it would all become black. In my time I shot a great deal of very dimly lit dance costumed in black tights against black floors and black cycs... it was hard enough to see the difference between the legs and the background in wide shots in the camera-originals... I can just imagine what happens with "lossy compression". I'd like to see how this MPEG2000 handles that kind of issue. Is it discussed? (will have to hunt the 'net a bit myself I guess). Interestingly enough, Wikipedia doesn't have anything on it... they seem to go up to MPEG21 but no mention of 2000... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG A little more searching seems to reveal that MPEG2000 is also known as MJPEG2000 or JPEG2000. Here's the wikipedia link on that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPEG2000 Seems it might be the same thing. I like the sound of "lossless mode"! We're talking about Masters not working copies... many masters are on formats none of us can afford to have at home, so it doesn't bother me that this new format is not widely available to standard consumers... only if it is prohibitively expensive to the professional side of the dance world.

Perhaps it is because of complex contracts involving recording rights that would have to be re-negotiated. My guess is that it is too costly to justify the expense. (Unfortunately).

Thank you Mikhail!

I wonder if it's a mistranslation of something like "vault", as in "archival vault"?

My eyes blinked at the following quoted in yesterday's news links: So there are sarcophagi under the stage? Who all is buried there? (Article from Russia Today on Bolshoi renovations: Moscow's Bolshoi renovation: preserving or ruining history?)

Thanks for the heads up about the video clip! There was a great deal of video there... much more than just the flowers. I'm sure there was also video taken of the Nichols farewell, as someone toting a Sachtler tripod practically bumped into me leaving the theater... I suppose it could have been backstage footage, but I doubt it... whether the rest of us would have access to it, though, is another story. Maybe it will be at the NYPL Dance Division. Footnote: I just can't get used to "dead" people with fully pointed feet.

I need to join the chorus about the photo... I actually came to this thread to find out what was going on that a dancer would expose that pose on stage and the NY Times would print it. I don't really think you can call that an arabesque penche. I don't know what it is, but it's certainly not an arabesque. Is this what competitions have come to?

Too bad we can't have a duel about a pair of non-retiring ballerinas....

I'd never been to a Farewell performance before, so I was quite struck by the Kyra Nichols farewell. It was so much more than just a performance... more a ritual of passage with more witnesses than most weddings (I hope!). The subject was even dressed in white. The whole house was filled with emotion that had little to do with the choreography, although that was beautifully danced. When in Der Rosenkavelier, Kyra was up there seemingly waltzing with her memories, it was as if the whole audience was up there with her. I remember the discussion on a pre-Ballet Alert board of Heather Watt's farewell, of someone who had been unaware beforehand of the ritual they were about to witness (it may even have been the first ballet they went to), and how awed they had been. At the time, reading only the discussion, I thought the reaction a little overblown. Now I understand. Are they all the same? Like weddings, no matter how different the setting, the emotions that brim up spring from the same instinct? I'm sure there are Ballet Alerters who attended both Ferri & Nichols' farewells (& Bussell & Barker?). Were they very different experiences?

Does it perhaps have something to do with Nichols being older and retiring from a longer career while Ferri is only retiring from ABT and hasn't ruled out dancing for other companies? Does it have something to do with Nichols having been chosen by Balanchine himself? It's funny, but before the Farewell reviews, it almost seemed that Nichols was the one getting less attention... perhaps it was to even things out?

Will his name be better box office when he returns to ballet as a result of the television exposure?

The world will never be the same ! Much love to you and your precious bundle. All smiles, Amy.

I agree... it is interesting... why is repetition a gimmick in some pieces and a meditation in others? Is it just a matter of overall structure of the piece? When does the fascination stale? Is it a mental resting point when it occurs as a motif? I have to confess I've never liked the little swans, perhaps more because of the head movements than anything else... and the fouettes, well.... if you like to count, I guess... but after the first 10 viewings, it's hard to stay hypnotized. Could someone suggest an individual repitition that holds up? (Aside from legitimate whirling dervishes... who actually are meditating).

As if there were a "y" in it, yes? "Sm-you-in", then... not "Sm-ew-in"?

What is the proper pronunciation of "Smuin"? (embarassed by my lack of aural recollection)

Prior to Joffrey's arrival, Hubbard Street was unquestionably Chicago's biggest dance company. I believe founding director Lou Conte had Joffrey roots. Did the two companies jockey for support, or have they moved in different directions enough that there is no overlap?

Timing.

My initial gut reaction was "This is going to be good for Dance!"

I remember that master class... and his comment about them not turning on the heat for the children's classes! I do remember him talking about his childhood in the Danish system, but interestingly, he didn't talk much about the Bournonville technique, and I think I remember he didn't teach the class in the Bournonville style... I think I remember asking him what in the class would have represented Bournonville, and I think he responded that there was nothing... so... does that mean he's a convert to Balanchine? Is he in the wonderful position of being able to look back into the Bournonville technique and forward to dancers' contemporary technique? How might this affect the new repertoire the company may commission or acquire? Anyone remember that short film about Hubbe where he hears he didn't get the AD job a couple of years ago?

Bell Labs engineers? I grew up in a town that was so full of Bell Labs engineers that AT&T used to sponsor block parties... My parents folkdanced with several retired engineers who claimed that there used to be weekly folkdancing in the Bell Labs cafeteria. The Bell Labs engineers I met were all educated cultured people... however, all the same, I wouldn't say dance was much supported locally in my corner of NJ while I was growing up... Perhaps it was as much because of the proximity to NYC (spend your arts dollars on the world class NYC rather than local start-up) as much as the conservatism. Don't forget, engineers are industry's creative types... and many were drawn here from other countries. Does the book touch at all on Carolyn Brown's brief stint as Dean of Dance at Purchase?

Nuturing a young choreographer like Matthew Neenan is leadership. If that means some of his pieces don't end up as good as his best work... well that could have been said of Balanchine too. Bringing in some world class rep is also leadership, even if ideally it's better to see that world class rep on the companies it originated on... it's still doing a service to the dancers [who grow by dancing it], the audience [who learn to see by watching it] and also the choreographer [whose ouevre becomes more familiar and ensconced] to mount the works in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is not NYC, London, Paris, St. Petersburg and shouldn't be measured on the same scale. It is, however, Philadelphia, a major US city with merit of it's own, not to be totally disregarded for not being NYC. I haven't seen a Dracula ballet yet... it seems the biggest opportunity for camp imaginable, and yet it's plot doesn't seem so outside the form of 19th century ballet.... perhaps it's the dancing dead idea... but of course we have that in Giselle, don't we?... maybe it's the Hollywood echo. I don't know. Does it really fill houses? I think if Edward Gorey had designed it, I'd go. And I still wish someone would explain the wide stance pique turns....

Some Roland Petit? Are we talking known works or commissions?