LiLing

A lot of things can delay promotion, including no room at the top. I hope these promotions don't mean anyone is planning to retire. The roster of women principals is an embarrassment of riches right now. I'd hate to see anyone leave. That being said, congratulations to the Misses Scheller and Krohn, may they have long and fulfilling careers!

I vowed not to buy this book, but was able to get it from the library. To my surprise, I actually enjoyed it. I did cringe at a couple of things, and then had to remind myself, wait a minute, this is fiction. My one objection to the book is the very negative portrayal of Susanne Farrell, which I found mean spirited and unfair, even stooping to quoting petty gossip, such as other dancers referring to her family as the Joads of NYCB. As Miss Farrell is still very much alive and active in the ballet world, this made me very sad. I hope she doesn't read it.

Student performances, and junior cos. are meant to give the young dancers experience, and casting is often done with an eye to stretching them. Tarantella is a challenging show piece normally danced by principal dancers in major companies. Catherine Hurlin is not even in the junior co. yet, but still a student in the school. I think that should be kept in mind when judging her performance.

Pamela, I don't know if Taglioni qualifies for the hard to work with list, but Pavlova had a well known temper. I knew Molly Lake, one of Pavlova's "little English girls" when she was in her 80s. She told some funny stories about touring with Madame. Once while throwing a tantrum in Venice she flung the ring of wardrobe trunk keys out the window. They landed at the bottom of the canal!

Sandik, That's funny, I think a great many of the most influential choreographers and dancers have been notorious for being hard to work with on some level. I would start the list with Robbins and Graham, Nureyev and Kirkland, and work backwards in history to Noverre.:^ ) But that should be a different thread, so thanks to UNESCO for World Dance Day!

I am so eager to see this. I sent an e-mail to my station. For those in the NYC area the address is programming@thirteen.org If they get enough requests, hopefully they will schedule it!

Oh man, I totally believed this as I read it, having forgotten it was April fools, and nearly went into cardiac arrest. That is a cruel joke!

I first saw Graham's Diversion of Angels with Ethel Winter as the woman in red, the passionate one. She was glorious, so feminine and sensual. May she rest in peace.

Tudor's Echoing of Trumpets. There ws talk of ABT doing it this year. What happened?

There have been a number of roman a clef novels set in the ballet world. Those in the know can recognize the dancers and companies these are based on. By changing the names however, the author makes it clear that this is fiction albeit based on real people. Why didn't Ms 0'Connor take this approach? Putting thoughts into HER head, "marketing a book about Tanaquil Le Clercq will create buzz and sales".

I agree that a promotion is overdue for Georgina Pazcoguin. She is vivid in character parts and the co. should value that gift. There are only five women soloists, so there is certainly room for promotions. It is fun to speculate. In the corps, the Laurens, King and Lovette have both attracted a lot of attention this season. I would expect to see them promoted in the next couple of years. There are several soloists who have principal potential. Certainly Katherine Morgan, despite being out injured this season would be an obvious choice. The principal ranks are top heavy right now however, so I don't think we will see any promotions next season.

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What I love about this picture is that it captures the passionate abandon so characteristic of Mearns' dancing. Just gorgeous!

Sat. Matt. Feb.11. Concerto Barocco with Rebecca Krohn, Abi Stafford and Ask La Cour. In all fairness, when you have seen the likes of Reichlen, Kowroski, Farrell in this, you miss the elegant line of the looong legs. I did think the more compact women gave the third movement good speed and attack. Tarantella with Sterling Hyltin and Adam Hendrickson. I loved Hyltin in this, and I didn't expect to as I think of her as a lyric dancer. She doesn't do it with the physical power of some others but makes it look so easy and fun. Her charm and femininity were lost on Hendrickson, however. He didn't relate to her at all, I don't think he cracked a smile the whole performance. It looked like he couldn't wait to get off stage. I have avoided Seven Deadly Sins until now because it has been panned to the skies. I didn't think it was that horrible. It has some good theatrical effects, although the actual choreography is thin. I saw Balanchine's but it was so long ago all I remember is Allegra Kent being carried in on a platter for Gluttony. I was in a version by Glen Tetley. Lotte Lenya came to a rehearsal, as her protégée Bettena Janeke was singing Anna. She told Glen she liked Balanchine's Better! Anyway,Glen's ended with the family rejecting Anna in the end for selling her um...soul to earn the money she sent to built their house. Taylor-Corbett's ends with Anna coming home in triumph in a fur coat, and her sinful side is swept away. What the H kind of moral is that? Ah,Vienna Waltzes! Antonio Carmena was terrific with a sparkling Janie Taylor in Fruhlingsstimmen (the 2nd section). His elevation was spectacular. I'd love to see him do Tarantella. I think the co. looks very good this season with many of the younger principals and soloists really coming into their own this year.

I also saw the all Wheeldon matt. Saturday. I didn't care for Les Carillons. For me the main problem was the music (Bizet's L'Arlesienne Suites 1 & 2). The short sections provide a lot of variation in tempo and dynamics, which probably seemed to offer possibilities for choreographic variety. The results however consisted of ideas that didn't have time to be developed before the music dictated a change to something else. Relationships and events were implied but never went anywhere. Polyphonia was as always stunning, and what a cast: Whelan, J. Angle, T. Peck, Garcia, Hyltin, Danchig-Waring, Mearns, Hall. They were all terrific. Now for DGV: Danse a Grande Vitesse--- I loved it! I don't agree with some of the critics complaints. I found it exciting, and inventive. Wheeldon's facility with counterpoint and contrasting groups was on display at it's best. The structure was too complex to take it all in one viewing. To the critic who found it too busy, I think you need to see more Cunningham. This is a 21st Century ballet. I loved the (much maligned) set. It didn't look to me like a wrecked train as described in a review, but a very abstract suggestion of a train. I especially liked the way Wheeldon used the space behind it, with lifts showing dancers flying above it, and entering from it. And there were lights inside it! I also thought the score by Michael Nyman served the work well. The whole cast deserves kudos, but I especially remember Reichlen, Bouder, Kowroski and T. Angle. The only glitch of the afternoon was a spotlight that was hung too low to be masked and was shining straight into the audience. It had a blue gel and I thought it was a suggestion of a headlight, but then it flew, and came back down, again too low, and without the gel. At least I hope it was a mistake!

I remember some years ago a critic commenting that it seemed to take about two years for new members of MCDC to look fully at home in the work. ( This was before the establishment of the repertoire understudy group but new members would have come from the advanced class at the studio which was primarily taught by Merce himself at the time.) I think the chances of rep. companies doing justice to the work are slim to none. I am dreaming thata couple of MC veterans will form a co. with dancers they train to do their own work and also some of Merce's.

I don't see the issue here as whether or not new works should be put up. The issue is the choreographers who have been chosen in the last few seasons. There is always a risk with a new work, no artist creates at the same level every time. How often is Beethoven's eighth symphony played? But it had to come before the ninth That being said, Weeldon and Ratmansky have done valuable work. If they do occasionally produce something less successful than their norm, that was a risk worth taking. Remember, all the masterpieces we love were once new works. I don't want to mention names, but some of the recent flops were no suprise, based on their previous work. I don't understand why less established choreographers are being commissioned to do works on the main stage of a world class co. when they have the Choreographic Institute, and the SAB spring concerts to try things out. Isn't that why the Choreographic Institute was created?

I was also at the Robbins Award evening. (Janet Reed was included in the group honored posthumously). I found it so moving to see these wonderful artists acknowledged, especially those who have been off the stage for many many years. To know they are remembered by fans and their contributions appreciated. They each wrote a paragraph about their experiences and memories of working with Robbins which were in an insert in the program. Allegra Kent's contribution was especially fey and witty, just like her dancing! Kudos and thank you to the Jerome Robbins Foundation, NYCB, and all who contributed to making this such an exciting and memorable event.

The ads on WQXR for Ocean's Kingdom with Mr. McCartney disparaging piano lessons really tick me off!

The film of Sarah's Key has opened. If you plan to see it, I recommend reading the book first.

Johnno, I can't think of any. Could you name the ones that weren't that you are referring to?

Devastating news indeed. Susan was a beautiful dancer, and a beautiful person. She left us much too soon.

Wonderful news. She is one critic I greatly respect, and I have missed her writing.

I just finished Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. Written by a physician and set in a Mission hospital in Ethiopia, it is full of complex relationships and you are drawn into a world of characters who are passionate about the practice of medicine. The descriptions of medical procedures aren't for the squeamish, but I found them fascinating.

A certain organization marked an anniversary by presenting a program of revivals of works they had presented in the past. Most were by well known "downtown" choreographers. I found it mind numbingly dull, and in some cases insufferably self indulgent. My companion and I slunk out at the intermission. Whom should we run into at the bus stop? The head critic of the New York Times. The next Sunday New York Times Arts and Leisure section contained her extensive article on the concert, with quotes from the original reviews by other critics for all the pieces in the second half she had not seen. The order was artfully scrambled so it would not be obvious that she hadn't suffered through the whole program!