Amy Reusch

GWTW, that's exactly what I would have predicted for a child. I'm not sure that young children "get" adagio, although I suppose if it involved hyper flexibility that might connect in some sort of circus freak show way.... Flying through the air, on the other hand seems universal for kids ! Is it their love of swings?

No, GTWT, "sumptuous" merely referred to fond memories of Sundstrom & Kaiser dancing (rather than concern about your post) and hope that the current dancers might provide as satisfying an interpretation. I would love to have seen the production through your 4-year-old's eyes... I hadn't thought of it as a children's ballet, but I think he must have enjoyed the swim fins section?

If you have a broadband connection, there's some footage of the 15 year old Fernando Bujones in rehearsing Don Q here in William Richert's "A Dancers Life" ... it's a little before halfway through this segment A Dancer's Life excerpt

I had the pleasurable responsibility of shooting the premiere of this piece... With all due respect, "shadows" does not quite give the concept clearly. In Bifocals, there are two couples, while one couple minimally almost marks the movement, the other couple magnifies the movement dancing full out... it's a rather clever interpretation of the invention and fascinating to watch. In Swim Fins, a ballerina floats and cavorts among waves of men... again, it's playing with an invention of Franklin's... not much related to dolphins really.... (It's also my favorite choreography of the evening). I hope Riomlama Lorenzo/James Ady and Julie Diana/James Ihde are as sumptuous as Lisa Sundstrom & Roy Kaiser were in Spark and Electricity. I also hope they have someone as petite and spritely as Roseanne Germer was being tossed about by men as tall as the premiere cast were. Tell me, did they still open with the glass armonica player in a procenium box? Did the ghost house descend? (The last time the piece was revived, the flying mechanism had to be abandoned last minute before opening night.... the choreography held up beautifully but for those of us who knew the set, the climaxing moment at the end was bittersweet).

Have they switched from John Butler's to Glen Tetley's? When did that happen?

It seems to me that none of the dance world was interviewed on the DVD, but to tell the truth, I watched it very late at night by chance (my husband had noticed it and brought it home from the library). No... I'm sure I would have watched any dance interview. It was nice that they decided to put the dance footage all together as an extra, but I believe it was the footage from the film, not outtakes. There was a nice bit of Neve Campbell rehearsing, and some shots that had other cameras in the frame, but not much more. I think we should have a poll "what part in Blue Snake would you like to have danced?" I think the sea anemones (or whatever they were) looked boffo... though the augmented leg costumes (zebras?) in the beginning would have assuaged any dancers who might be having a "feeling fat" day. Treefrog, the comments he shouted that seemed unlikely were things like "get back stage and find out what's going on!" (or something like, I can't quote from memory).... shouting approval on the other hand is entirely believable.

OK, so my response is really late... I've only just now seen The Company on DVD. I thought The Blue Snake very much like "Springtime For Hitler"... so "beyond" that it was fun... though not more than once. I felt for the most part that the dancers (and choreography) were shot as if they were high fashion models... perhaps the-boyfriend's-point-of-view, not particularly aware of the movement involved... nor of the music involved.... On the other hand, the swing sequence was interesting for it's own sake. I was fascinated by the Charthel Arther character but didn't know that was who it was until reading this forum! (and I had studied under her some 25+ years ago) Neve Cambell's dancing was remarkably respectable, considering. I was sorry not to see a portrait of the current Joffrey as I'm curious to see how that company has been faring. As portrayed here, the repertoire looked kind of stuck in the 1970s. I don't think Arpino's work was well served by the movie... I think I'll stick with the Dance In America memories. The dancers looked like they had some exquisite facility. I wish the camera had looked at their dancing instead of at their physiques. And I'm wondering about that Giordano tee-shirt one lead was sporting.... (there's a story there, I'm sure... the reference club lives on)... What was with the studios? Are those the actual Joffrey studios? With those lousy mirrors? (I kept expecting some sort of dancer descending the staircase scene but it never happened). I also found the dancers sleeping on the floor scene curious... was that character supposed to be the company manager? I hope Barbara Turner's notes from when she was hanging out with the company to prepare for writing the script go into some dance archive somewhere. (I'd love to know the real stories the vignettes were drawn from). MacDowell's shouting "Bravo" didn't seem unlikely to me... however his shouting other comments during the performance did seem very strange. I'm glad the Nikolais piece was shown on screen and recorded but I found the staging somehow annoying.... I'm not sure if it was the music or the way the dancers rendered it, but I don't remember having that feeling watching the Nikolais company in the old Dance In America series... though I remember similar "environmental" sort of scores... if it were the music, it was if the dancers were trying to embody the music instead of just exist in it... but it might just have been the transposing the work onto ballet dancers instead of modern dancers... And where have the out-takes been stored? There might be some really beautiful footage. I wish the dance scenes had been edited as well as the trailer was.

It does seem a challenge, choreographing without ever being able to demonstrate what one wants.... a study in itself.

NY Times' Jennifer Dunning's obituary for Barry Martin Barry Martin, Dancer and Choreographer, Dies at 44

I am trying to find an obituary somewhere for choreographer Barry Martin who died over the weekend. Apparently for unexplained reasons he was left without an attendent. If someone comes across an obituary anywhere, please post a link here. Mr. Martin choreographed for the Ailey Company as well as his own Deja Vu Dance Theater. Here's a review of Deja Vu from 1988 Reviews/Dance; Diversity of Styles In Deja Vu Program Below is a synopsis of what happened to Barry in South Africa Article on Barry Martin I had known Barry during his dancing years at SUNY Purchase. We were all horrified to learn of his accident and the cause of his paralysis. It was wonderful to read over the years of his managing still to be productive. Despite the heading, Barry, I hope you are not resting in peace but rather dancing with exhuberance...

I confess, I always read Apollinaire's reviews whenever I see them... even when I have my doubts, I just enjoy her way of turning a phrase. I couldn't say whether Stars and Stripes was intended as a Cold War propaganda piece, I wouldn't presume... but I do think it's pretty referential to 1950s American patriotic displays and the 1950s were surely the heart of the cold war.

The width of the Merriam stage is about 45 feet, I think the Academy of Music is about 44 feet wide... I could be off by a foot or so, but the stage size is comparable between the two houses... there is, however, a difference in the number of seats in the audience.

I'm afraid I don't have a clear understanding of "demi-character". Can you point me to a definition?

Is it so that presenters can bring back the same company years in a row while seeming to bring in different companies? Is it only a marketing ploy?

Out in the street? I always thought the bell was inside the stock exchange? My only regret is that they didn't try for something more photographic (or glamorous? remembering the Ballets Russes movie)... perhaps involving a danseur & a lift so that we could see a little more of her.

I just wish there were underwriting for US company tours... so many do such good work that it's a shame they aren't seen on the college circuit. I'm sure it's mostly a funding problem, though perhaps the prestige of Russian ballet still carries weight. Does anyone here know? Is it much cheaper to tour the Russian National Ballet in the US than say Boston Ballet or Pennsylvania Ballet? What stands in the way?

Here's a link to information on the film. When it's available for home video, no doubt they will post information at this site: Backstage at the Nutcracker

www.danceviewtimes.com/dvw/reviews/2004/spring/pnbschool.htm

Bart, another of my techniques was to hunt out the sound engineer during intermission... it wouldn't work in every house, but at Jorgensen the sound board sits in the back of the house. I go with my pen and program in hand and not speaking a word of Russian, smile and ask for example "Natalya? Tatiyana?" (attempting the first names of the principal ballerinas), and the engineer marks up my program with who is dancing. Of course, he could be marking it all wrong just to reward me for annoying him, but...

When I saw them a couple of years ago, they were about the equivalent of one of our top 30 regional ballet companies... not as good as say the top 15. Of course, since our local Hartford company died an untimely death 7 years ago, they were better than anything available locally. The audience loved them and the house was well sold, but I thought the audience was more appreciative than the dancing was good. I suspect they do better in the big cities than on the university tours, where it seems they're doing a long series of one-night-stands. I'm not sure if any company could hold up quality to the kind of tours they seemed subjected to. And the brochure from the theater usually has some mis-labelled photo... I seem to remember the Shades scene from Bayadere being labelled as Swan Lake... don't know if the problem is with the agent or the presenter. One thing for sure: figuring out who is dancing is very difficult... they list several casts and it's anybody's guess who's dancing what. Bring a pen, and be ready... just as the lights go out, if you're lucky, they'll quickly read off who is dancing what. Write quickly, those multi-syllabic names are easy to get lost in.

The nose doesn't look as pointed, does it? On the other hand, how could one tell the way photos were often retouched...

I suspect they are at the mercy of the Walter Reade in terms of hours. I'm sure they'd love to do more showings. I remember the old days when they used to show at the Museum of Natural History and the auditorium was mostly empty. Happily, though, they do arrange college tours for the festival, so there may be additional screenings near you. And if you know of an institution that might host some screenings, perhaps you might encourage that institution to look into the possibilities. Here's a link to the touring program (it seems to be quite reasonable): http://www.dancefilmsassn.org/NewPages/tourtitles.html

Mme. Hermine, I don't suppose Ann Barzell shot that performance? I suppose there would have been no sound. I keep wondering what steps she did to "And let’s lynch Lucy!" (in my case one of my ginch-backed arabesques would probably have sufficed )

Thanks, Estelle, I thought it was at the other end of the spectrum from Washington Ballet, but I was wondering whether job security could have a negative effect. It certainly doesn't seem to have at the Paris Opera, at any rate, certainly not in recent years.

So at the Paris Opera, how are dancers who cease to be desirable eliminated from the line-up? Or are they allowed to remain? Or is this why there is the mandatory retirement age there?