Amy Reusch

Her former school was doing a production of a well-known story ballet and had even made a big to-do over bringing in a well-known dance teacher from another country to choreograph. In the midst of rehearsing the show, we watched a videotape of the same ballet as done by a big company.

Of course, if it was a story ballet by Petipa, it would be in the public domain, wouldn't it?

In cases where the choreography isn't yet in the public domain, yes, there are intellectual property rights involved, and there are sometimes lawsuits. I seem to remember hearing a while back that the Balanchine Trust subscribes to a clipping service and sometimes catches copyright infringement situations when the productions are reviewed. Sometimes people think if they're doing the production 'out in the middle of nowhere', that no one will find out that they've stolen choreography or used a name without having obtained the right to do so. If they're never reviewed or mentioned in the press, sometimes they do escape.

Would you draw parallels to Fokine?

(By the way, I'm not saying the tapes would need to be released -- presumably that would be Markard's control -- just that they should be made while it's still possible).

If only Dance's production costs were as low as Poetry's. On a side note, where would Dance be without poets?

ummm.... this looks calculated, coming from me... but shouldn't someone be shooting Markard setting Jooss works, the way the Balanchine Foundation has been doing for his work. Speaking of which, why isn't the Tudor estate doing the same?

After Sep 11, my mother was complaining to me that none of the ballet companies were performing The Green Table, wondering if they were afraid to make such an anti-war statement.

I didn't think too much of her comments at the time, but I must say I'm glad to see that Milwaukee Ballet is presenting it. Milwaukee Ballet website

The Milwaukee Ballet will perform Kurt Joos's The Green Table this week. Tom Strini of the Journal Sentinel offers a preview..

I guess, looking at Joffrey's website that it's no longer in their repertoire?

Kurt Jooss' "The Green Table" is to dance what Picasso's "Guernica" is to painting: The most famous anti-war statement in the medium.

Do others agree?

I fund someone else's idea of a good military, principally because I have no expertise in that area

I don't know if it's still true, but I remember reading that the pentagon spent more on "art" than the NEA... at least the budget for military bands was larger than the entire NEA. (anyone have those statistics handy?)

But they haven't tapped out the arts cognoscenti! In DC, many of the arts cognoscenti (ballet subscribers from the 1970s) have moved to opera and need to be wooed back, but they won't come back to a program aimed at people who equate ballet with footbal.

With all due respect to both towns, DC & Chicago are very different cities. I haven't lived in Chicago since '96 but I can't believe the city's psyche could have gone under too great a transformation since then (although I think perhaps it's dance culture has grown). I'll always remember being at Ruth Page's (at that time Chicago's premier ballet center) the day Nureyev died. I looked mournfully across the dressing room at a fellow student and mentioned the loss. The student's response was "but what really sucks is they fired Mike Ditka!" [football coach]. Chicago was a sports-mad city, more so than any other city I've lived in. Perhaps the ad wouldn't play well in DC, but it probably hits a note in the windy city.

Would his Board have any respect for him if he demanded less?

Then again, what was Balanchine's final salary?

From February 10 to 15, 2004 at The Museum of Television & Radio in NYC

they'll be screening:

"Great Moments from Great Performances" Includes Serenade (Kistler, Nichols, Calegari, et.al) as well as Western Symphony (Roy, Soto, Saland, LaFoss, Alexopoulos, Boal, et al.) and Theme and Variations (Kirkland, Baryshnikov). [1978-90; 85 minutes)

Tuesdays - Sundays at 12:30pm

Thursdays @ 6pm

25 West 52 Street

212/621-6800

MT&R The Museum of Television & Radio

By they way, they're screening different Balanchine work every week from 12/5/03 until 3/7/04.... A nice lunch break for those of you lucky enough to be in the vicinity!

If only there was someone out there to fund the release of this into general distribution. There's a foundation I'd like to see run: one that arranges and funds making such tapes available to the general public. It's not commercially viable, so it's not done. I wonder if research has ever been done into the costs of such a project as a non-profit endeavor. I guess as long as there's the ghost of a hope of commecial profit from anything like this, a non-profit distribution would be quashed. But honestly, I think all the entities involved would fare better down the road if these videos were available, because it would inspire more live performance attendence and that's the point in the end, isn't it? Has the existence of recordings of their music ever hurt the touring of rock groups?

And is Ivan Nagy now somewhere else?

Thanks Jack, I was curious. (And Nanatchka, you promised!) I guess one can be sat too low, but it seems so rare that I thought a new theater built for dance wouldn't have that problem. Unfortunately, locally, that's exactly what I had to deal with last time I paid to see dance... Tharps' company at Jorgensen on University of Connecticut's campus. The University tends to present more interesting groups than Hartford's Bushnell (whose managers seem to see it basically as Broadway road house not much interested in "fine art" as far as I can tell), but the theater is pretty awful. If you sit anywhere in the front half of the orchestra (Jorgensen seating plan) you can't see the dancers feet below their shins! Remarkable! And I believe there is no fly space, which is a bit of a problem for some shows. Some of the touring ballet companies have not been able to use their sets. But I'm off topic.

At least, Jack, there is another space now for dance in Chicago. There seemed to be so few when I was working there in the mid 90s. Columbia hadn't built it's new theater yet. Is the Dance Chicago festival at all threatened by this new space? I always want to believe that the only competition to be afraid of is when people do bad work, inspiring audiences to stay home rather than go out.

I don't understand.

Why can't Bennett who was a dancer with the Australian Ballet and Stuttgart Ballet be expected to direct a ballet company just because she is an assistant to Forsythe? Does working with a contemporary choreographer make it impossible to understand older work? Was there more of a statement? I'm sure you're not saying the Australian Ballet and Stuttgart Ballet can't do Swan Lake... Is it impossible to have a mixed repetoire and have the classics survive?

Please enlighten me. I probably sound imflammatory, but I don't mean to... just asking pointed to get more information... (and I'm too tired to figure out a diplomatic way to ask).

Did they really give 3 hour long classes? Or did they do sort of "abridged" versions of each school, varying from week to week on what was kept in? I guess I've read somewhere about incredibly long classes Taglioni gave Marie... they were sort of contemporary with Bournonville, right? Was that the norm back then? Do we have records of how long ballet classes were in Petipa's day?

They stopped teaching the Bournonville Schools in the company in 1931 and in the school in 1949.

So Erik Bruhn, born in 1928 would have been trained in the schools? And that famous NYCB/SAB teacher, Stanley Williams, how about him? Is there anything in print from Bruhn about his training? I'm always curious about Bournonville because there is so little of it in the training in the United States... we have something I've heard called a Bournonville grand jete with Bournonville armes, but other than that, I rarely hear anything about it. I tried to get Nikolaj Hubbe to open up about it during a master class here in Hartford, but he said the class he gave was more reflective of Balanchine technique than Bournonville. He did tell us a little about the culture of the school, but didn't elaborate at all on differences in technique or style. Now I wonder if that is because he wasn't truly trained in Bournonville if the Royal Danish ballet school wasn't giving the "schools" for so many decades before his birth.

So.... just to understand the term... Monday is a "school", Tuesday is a "school" and so on until Saturday?

Mel, when you say "unusually long", what do you mean? Two hours instead of 90 minute? 3?

They stopped teaching the Bournonville Schools in the company in 1931 and in the school in 1949. Since 1951 (when Volkova came) the teachers incorporated Bournonville steps in their classes, but did not teach the set schools which, I believe, Beck had codified to be used in times when there wasn't a teacher of the caliber of Volkova -- and later Brenaa and Kronstam.

You use the word "schools". What are those? Set classes? Or were there different "schools" of training for men vs. women? I'm curious.

Tangent Alert...

I'm afraid I'm going to harp back to the height of the extensions tangent

And again yes, when an older work like Giselle comes along, the use of high extensions OUGHT to be forbidden...

One of my pet peeves has been the current seeming preference for men with high, almost feminine extensions as opposed to high elevation in their jumps. I must confess my bias, that I think the masculine line is beautiful on it's own and needn't ape female flexibility... but I've gotten to thinking lately that these high extensions aren't just at the expense of elevation, they're actually masking the elevation... in that someone with less flexibility will show the arc of the leap in a grand jete, for instance, whereas a flexible dancer's legs flashing out into a perfect split obscures the arc. Am I crazy? Is it possible that the elevation actually looks lower because of the legs reaching out?

Queen of the Malaprop

Well, it was a pleasure to see Boston Ballet's Nutcracker. There were many fun touches, and I'll be very sorry to see the "Sugarplum Theater" disappear. I'm fried with rushed holiday preparations, and I don't have my program handy now, but I wanted to jot down some quick comments all the same.

My daughter announced with much confidence when the lovely Larissa Ponomarenko appeared as Snow Queen: "Now these are the teenagers".

She was, however, disappointed in that she wondered "whatever happened to all the little sugarplums? There weren't any little sugarplums"... (I'm still perplexed at this question, but perhaps she's felt all those children in little bubblegum pink tutus that populate children's storybooks are "little sugarplums"?) This time, she seemed to be almost more interested in the instruments playing in the orchestra than in what was happening on stage, but she was very very attentive.. such a difference a year makes.

We sat in the Mezzanine, Row C, and paid what is for me a pretty penny for our tickets. I was sorry to see that most of the dancers directed their presence to the orchestra rather than to the balcony. I remember when teachers were always hounding their students to keep their chins up. I guess this has become an obsolete concern, but I wish it were still done. It makes such a difference when the performers play "up". We weren't in nosebleed seats, after all. Some of the principals played "up", but mostly the corps and children didn't. The children can be forgiven, but the corps should be directed. Actually, usually, corps choreography looks stronger from the first balcony... it's easier to see the patterns... so it would almost seem more in their best interest to project up.

Unfortunately I bought the souvenir book. What a gyp! I don't mind the cost, I consider it a donation... but it's full of huge head shots instead of dance shots. What on earth were they thinking of? I don't go to the ballet to see the dancers' faces (in spite of my earlier comment). And I can't imagine that, at auditions they select company members for their faces... Do dance shots cost more than head shots? Did they feel they needed to have only "current" photos for the souvenir book and head shots were the cheapest way to get them? I'd much rather have pix from years ago than head shots.

I believe one of the reviews said that Nissinen had pared the production down to the dancing. I'm curious how much the choreography might have changed? I would expect the choreography to shine in the long Waltz of the Flowers... but I thought it was actually more cogent in the Finale.

It's hard after seeing so many different productions of Nutcracker not to want to pick and choose sections from different ones. Boston's toy soldiers were the best I've ever seen, and I enjoyed Drosselmeyer's magic tricks... but so far, no one beat's Balanchine's Waltz of the Flowers... it's such a long long part of the ballet, it really needs special attention... costuming alone won't get anyone through the Waltz... Although I liked many aspects of Boston's Mother Ginger, I still love NJ Ballet's Ginger the best (if they still do what they did in the 70s)... but I'm not going to start that thread...

Whenever there are changes, it is as if various sections that seemed "written into the music" get lost... I seem to remember that Tchaikovsky had extremely specific directions from Petipa governing Sleeping Beauty, but are there things "written into" the music in Nutcracker, or is it just tradition that makes it seem so to me?

Clara's throwing of the slipper didn't seem to make much sense here... most productions, she throws the slipper and it distracts the Mouse King just as he was about to slay the Nut... he usually looks back to see what hit him and at that point the Nut springs up from the floor and slays him... in Boston's, the blocking is such that Clara is standing behind the Nut when she throws the slipper... I can't think why she would need to be there instead of on the other side.

Anyway, a pleasure. I wonder what it will look like next year?

I dance simply because I love to dance.

I actually enjoy it more now than when I was young and more competent. When I was a young serious student, I cared desperately whether I was improving, whether it was right, whether I had a chance, how I measured up, etc. Now I don't have the anxiety and can just enjoy the music. Who cares if I look like an idiot at times? Who cares if the pirouettes didn't come off well? Admittedly, I don't get the pleasure of seeing beautiful line realized in the mirror very often. Arabesque is generally not something to dwell on. One must have a sense of humor and not take oneself too seriously, be willing to laugh, and the class can still be exhilirating. And when I pull something off well, it's such a surprise pleasure. Somehow I managed to go directly from being a wannabe to a has been. It amuses me no end when people ask me what company I danced with. If you can't laugh or at least smile, you're going to have a hell of a time getting through class as an adult.

I do, however, prefer to take a class with lots of adults. One can get that kind of self conscious "she must be from Mars!" feeling when mixed in with mostly serious teenagers.... or "what, does she really think she has a chance of being a dancer at her age?" But, honestly, I find many of the youngsters are so ignorant of the dynamic possibilties of the steps, that I figure I'm giving them a good example of the rhythms involved even if no one would want to imitate my technique. I do love to have some good ambitious young dancers in class though, they're inspiring to watch... reminds us of what we're reaching for... if it's just us oldsters, we sometimes miss out on that contageous energy that sometimes makes turns and jumps work just out of mass hypnosis.

Also, I think, when it's not making you limp like an invalid, that dance keeps you young. Truly, I think there might be some hormones activated just from the effort of dancing... I don't think it's the exercise alone... probably there's something involved in competitive exercise as well, but those are probably different hormones than dance hormones. When I think of how young many the dance teachers in their sixties look and move... even though I now think they were probably extroadinary specimens in their 20s, I still think the dancing has kept them young...

Come to think of it, there's also that Alzheimers connection... perhaps you've read of that study last year? Dance was the only exercise that had a positive correlation with Alzheimers.

Do I ever improve? Sometimes, depending on how often I get to class... I generally can't maintain a level because I can't get to class regularly and often enough... but sometimes things do improve for a time or so. Of course I never reach that level I was at when I was 16... besides the youth issue, I never can put anywhere near that much time into it.

Is it a downer to see younger students advance? No. I enjoy it. We kind of feel like distant relatives when we see them improve... we're proud of them. Of course, they don't leave our class for another... they're generally only in our class to supplement their age-appropriate training... the more advanced class that they would go to isn't open to adults. Perhaps if I were stuck in a smaller school, it would be different... or if I hadn't reached a certain level myself. But no, it's not like the feeling of being left out such as I felt when my friends were getting into companies and having professional careers. It only bothers me if it's my own generation. Regarding Citibob's observation about neurotically driven students succeeding... I'm not sure that's 100 percent the case... I think I was neurotic enough to increase my risk of injury, and ultimately that plus height issues made the major difference.

Do I ever get bored?

No. There's just too much to work on. I think the more you know, the more there is to work on. If a combination is too simple, I sometimes find it difficult to remember, but there's always so much to feel and work on in the steps themselves. The only time I get frustrated is when a teacher seems to have designed the class way beyond the facility of the students... any of the students. You need to pull something off at some point in the class, or it's too depressing.

It takes so much work why do they do it?

Well, if the class is totally focused on technique and never on choreography, then it's not much fun. I guess I don't notice how much work it is. I don't have the discipline I had when I was young and ambitious, to stretch every night, etc... so I don't go to that level of work... but the class itself? I don't know... I was taught to "work hard" in class at such an early age, that I can't imagine not approaching it that way. The "work" part of it is transparent.

This is probably illegal in many varied ways, but I have found that a chupa-chup (thick spanish lollipop now widely available), carefully unwrapped PRIOR to the dimming of the house lights will buy one about 20 minutes of calm focused silence (less than one act). However, candy wrappers of all kinds should be stiffly punished. I think the only thing acceptable is those Ricola cough drops that seem to be easily silently unwrapped (probably the real reason they're favored by opera stars). However, BEWARE, anyone offering candy to a child during a performance will most likely find the child's attention far more focused on the candy than the performance...

Keith, I applaud your aplomb!

You might want to try Voice of Dance

or Answers 4 Dancers.

They're not Ballet Alert, but they do cover other forms of dance. If you asked the same question there, perhaps there will be an avid tapper/jazz dancer with links for you.

I'm told that when I was 3 and at my first ballet performance, Nutcracker, of course, I jumped up and down and called out something along the lines of "go away, we've already seen you!" when the finale began...

I was, however, hooked for life. I kind of think, in the long run, it was worth it.

And so, I'm afraid, I took my own daughter at 3 to Nutcracker, waiting to see if she had the same reaction. It did not. Her gaffe was different... she thought the Sugarplum's variation was the funniest thing she'd ever seen and let out these deep belly laughs. I winced and cringed looking around for escape when I noticed cast members standing behind us watching the show... and saw they thought my child's reaction was hysterical. Maybe I've been missing something all these years. [she settled down and we stayed for the rest of the show... no one glared at me, so I guess my own horror was the worst reaction]

I tried again the next year, but still no interest in dancing. She did, however, understand advertising and status symbols. In her analysis, the thing to want was not dance classes but the darn Nutcracker doll.

This year, she's been making me read her awful dance picture books (I assume I need only say "bubblegum pink" and you'll all know what I mean" and the less than awful "Ballet Bug" chapter book. She started taking class last week, and we're off for our third try on Thursday.

Do you know what's worse than not having your child share your enthusiasm for dance? Having them begin to take interest in it and refuse to take any advice from you.

I'd love to see a poll of how many ballet alerters' interest was first piqued by Nutcracker and at what age... and if not Nutcracker, was there another particular performance?

Might help us all have patience with the wee ones.

My most "obnoxious audience member" experience was at a flamenco show when someone in the front row thought he was entitled to stand up and take flash photos at will!! And when the usher asked him to cease, not only continued to stand up, but started shouting loudly in an indignant argumentative voice that this was what he ALWAYS DID at performances. If he'd been any closer to me, my glare would have burned a hole in the back of his head. Finally he was angry enough to deny us the privelege of his attendence, thank heavens! I suppose the only thing would have been to stop the show, but that kind of initiative is easier with hindsight.

Wow! Thank you for all the great advice! You guys are the Best!

Well, the day is approaching when I'll finally get to check out Boston Ballet and the Wang.. this Thursday... and of course they're predicting snow!

Any parking advice?

Any dining suggestions? I would want to park and be able to walk to both food and the Wang. Personally, I'd prefer to eat after the performance, but in consideration to my 5-year-old companion, we'd better dine before. She's well behaved in restaurants, but tends not to eat... so one with a children's menu is preferable.

What do parents usually do? (we'll have been in the car for close to two hours by the time we arrive).

Well, Gordon's got more references in the index than King's, and Judson talked about quite a bit in Chapter Eleven, "Beyond the Boundries".... I'm afraid I made it sound as if King was singled out, or perhaps Gottlieb did. I still have to read this book, my apologies. Frankly, with it's size and scope, it would encourage an entire semester of study... perhaps that's why when I bought it the "also shopped for" listing at Amazon for it only suggested "Elements of Style" (or was it "The Chicago Manual of Style"...) Someone must be requiring it as a text book (no surprise there!)