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LMCtech

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Everything posted by LMCtech

  1. Yes, exactly. And that is why she was so revolutionary. She refused to wear a corset, she thought that ballet steps were too confining and unnatural (she had a point there), and she reveled in nature. All ideas that were shocking in a woman. I have seen restagings of her works by one of the groups in San Francisco. I can't speak on how accurate they were, but they were very beautiful, contemplative even, and very moving, espcially when you consider the time they were made. I have always admired her as a brave free-thinker and, yese, as the Mother of Modern Dance. Interestingly enough, my college dance history class included a semester of study of non-Western dance and one starting with the French kings and the creation of ballet through the post-modern movement of the 1980's.
  2. Thanks for the info! Keep us posted!
  3. Have there been any reports of dancers or staff being let go? I have heard blessed little from Houston and was hoping that heralded a smooth transition.
  4. I heard through the grapevine today the the dancers at Houston Ballet are not happy with their new leader. Has there been any comments on this in the Houston/ Texas press?
  5. OK, fine, pull me out of my hole. I agree with most of what was said above. I saw approximately the same cast, but my opinions differ on two points. I did not like Maffre as the green girl. She did not to my taste flirt enough, show enough joy. She was too serene. I also didn't like Yuan Yuan. Especially in her solo. I think she is not understanding the music or the atmosphere, or something...She seems too much of a "creature" to pull off a role that is very human and feminine. Everyone else was great.
  6. Check out www.balletconnections.com That pianist is on staff at San Francisco Ballet School and made the CD in conjunction with the teachers there.
  7. I wonder though wether that is a "must" or a "can" situation. I think in a big company an AD can delegate what s/he wants to while having time for the things they like to do the best whether that is teaching, choreographing, etc.
  8. I have often mused about how world history would have been changed if Hitler had gotten into art school and Castro had gotten into professional baseball. Fascinating.
  9. citibob, I agree with you. It seems to me that the AD's participation in fundraising in usually simply face time (meet the board, shake their friends hands, thank them nicely for their contributions). I don't think they do most of the "leg work" and phone calls or grant writing. However, in a small company that doesn't have a General Director or a Development Department, the AD is probably doing all of that and more.
  10. I would like to clarify my above post to explain that I also agree that an AD shouldn't be ONLY in the studio, but shoudl have a major presence there either physically or in the spirit of the people s/he puts there as proxy. I also think that fundraising is a big part of an AD's job, but the artistic functions should be foremost. I think it does a company a disservice to hire an AD that is only a good business man because what is seen on stage (the part that really matters after all) starts to suffer. On the other hand, if the AD can't manage or fundraise, there is no money to put anything on stage. There must be a balance. Of course, easier said than done.
  11. But some of the Trocks have mastered pointe work. They are really amazing. As well a really hilarious.
  12. For the record I loathe Pina Bausch. I also loathe "Giselle". But for different reasons. And before anyone jumps down my throat I don't hate all classical ballet, just "Giselle". In the same line of thought, I love opera, but loathe "Madame Butterfly". But that is another discussion to be had. I am not going to try to alter your poinion Katherine as much as I would like to, because it would be pointless. You obviously don't like anything remotely modern and that is fine because it is your opinion. But I don't think it serves the art form to insist that new works never be done (whether it be good, bad or neither). It is also probably worthless to point out to you that those modern works you hate so much take a separate set of skills to perform well, that not all dancers posess, because you won't think of them as skills. I think that all dancers should be forced to work on pieces like you describe because it makes them move in an entirely different way, broadens their kinesthetic awareness and their artistic minds. After doing these modern pieces, their Auroras may actually be more three-dimensionsal and exciting. I think it unwise and defeating to condemn an entire genre of art simply because you don't like it or understand it or want to understand it or want to like it. I don't like baseball, but I don't go around saying it should never be played. I just don't ever play it myself.
  13. Links to articles expire eventually, that might be why it isn't there anymore. What do you Texan's think? Someone here in San Fran said he thought Mr. Welch is awfully young, but I heard Mr. Stevenson was too when he started in Houston. Any historians out there with an opinion? I don't know enough about either the company or the choreographer to make any educated comments, except that I think it's good news for all parties involved. Those ADs have all got to start somewhere. I wonder if there will be major purges of personnel.
  14. I like to see diversity in the caorps but do want to see unity of STYLE and FORM and CHOROEGRAPHY. When I saw ABT last year there were girls in the corps who were doing completely different choreography from everyone else. But it sounds like they got it together by the time you saw them, balletmama. I want to see all the legs the same height. I want to see all the heads at the same angle and the arms in the same shape, but I don't need to see everyone the same height or weight or color.
  15. Grace, I agree. The ARTISTIC director needs to be in the studio with the dancers and the choreographers making sure the ARTISTIC sdie of things are handled. Budgetary and business concerns should be left mostly to the business/executive director with the AD consulting. The ED should not be in the studio making decisions.
  16. I disagree that all contemporary ballet is just "jazz on pointe". I will give you that most of it is and therefore most of it is dismal, but not ALL of it is, and the stuff that isn't can be really very good. I think it is important to have a balance, though I do think that some companies really should just do classical repertory or contemporary because their dancers are skewed in one direction or another. So maybe I should amend my first statement to: Companies should have a balance of classical and contemporary ballets, if they have the dancers and rehearsal staff to support that. I've said before and I'll say again that I think having a ballet made on you is an essential experience in the full and total development of a dancer as an artist, but I do agree that there has been some really bleak work made in the last few decades by mediocre choreographers who really had no business working with major ballet companies. I wish today's Artistic Directors could better assess a choreographer's abilities before they actually invest in them.
  17. Weren't a lot of the same questions raised when White Oak started? I think this proposal is commendable. Even masters need to expand their horizons to stay relevant. I think this could be very exciting. As for his adondonment of the classics, I think that is his perogative. He has made it very clear he isn't terribly excited by it anymore. I would very surprised if he ever went back to it. I think he likes to stay on the cutting edge of art (probably why he mentioned the puppetry, which is starting to grab hold i.e. Lion King) and he probably thinks a devotion to the classics won't allow him to be on the edge.
  18. I totally agree. I don't think there could be better training.
  19. Bruce Sansom is a wonderful, intelligent, resourceful guy who is getting himself the best possible training to become an AD somewhere. I would be very happy to hear he had been apponted assistant.
  20. What I meant is, if the English can set up a decent boarding program, can the French? Or are the cultures and school systems too different? I'm not trying to be funny either. I legitimately have no idea whether an english model could be effectively be used in France.
  21. Yes that is interesting. If I were to go to NY to specifically see NYCB, I would choose a Balanchine/Robbins program. But when I see SFB, the company I see the most, I prefer new works, because I've already seen all the old ones and I want to see dancers familiar to me in new roles. Dale, I think you make a very good suggestion. I was amazed at the number of ballets presented in the Diamond project and heard from a NYCB source that scheduling during that time is nightmarish. Less ballets would probably solve A LOT of the problems you all have been talking about, without eliminating the program all together, which I could never support.
  22. Okay, so if the English can do does that mean that the French Can?
  23. G, thank you for all those technical accounting examples, but in practice a company moves surplus funds in one account to an account with negative funds to make everything come out to...zero. Have you ever seen the detailed audit of a major ballet company? All the totals add to nothing at the end of the reports. It is actually quite fascinating. I'm not going to say that I understand exactly how this all works. Or that I know anything about accounting or tax law. I just know what I have seen in these things that get passed around. I also know that at the end of the fiscal year at every not-for-profit organization I have worked for, there is a glut of buying as everyone tries to spend the money that is left in the account, partially because if we don't the board will think we don't need it all and take some away, and also because the finance department advises us to. As for those 377 "lost" Balanchine ballets... I had a former Balanchine dancer say to me when I asked her about that very subject that not all 450 ballets were worth keeping in the repertory. She said that Balanchine admitted himself that he sometimes made real stinkers. So can it be asked that the 70+ that survive are the ones that if they were made today in the Diamond Porject are the ones that would stay in the repertory and the other 377 would be the Diamond Porject ballets that we are all complaining about right now?
  24. Manhattnik, a smart dancer can also learn what NOT to do by working on a "bad" ballet. Learning by bad example is sometimes more effective than learning by positive experiences. I think in this day and age arts organizations are being put in difficult situations by donations such as the Reynolds scandal. More and more donors seem to want more for their money and interestingly enough from the experience of many of my colleagues it is the donors in the middle and low levels who want the most. The highest donors tend to sit back anonymously watching what they've helped build without any need for perks and special recognition.
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