SanderO

Very relaxing interface. Good work! I feel I need to wander around the grounds and get reacquainted with it. How do we get the iphone app? What does it do? Make BalletTalk available in an iphone friendly format? If so, that sounds lovely. Thanks for this lovely work!

There is a single pass available to the ABT dress rehearsal today Monday 6/14/10 for Sleeping Beauty. Sorry for the short notice. email: jsandero@gmail.com and meet me at the door.

A great lady has left us. RIP Ms Horne and thanks for everything.

The rose, of course, comes immediately to mind in the Sleeping Beauty.

There is no way to get a great audience these days as many who attend are not truly lovers of the performances they attend but are there for any number of reasons... someone gave them the tix, they were invited on a date. When I have scanned the audience near me I suspect that perhaps 1/2 those at the Met for ballet and opera are not really "into" the performance and it is likely that these are the people who "don't get" it what other people are trying to concentrate on the performance. Heck they eat popcorn at the movies, and hot dogs and Shea Stadium. I once begged the usher to remove the person in front of me who coughed non stop through to the first intermission. How selfish can some people be... completely oblivious to the fact that others are trying to take in a performance and not their fits of non stop coughing? However, there are those moments when you can hear a pin drop in the hall and everyone is completely into the performance. That's magical.

The Century of the Self is a brilliant work which explains how we are now manipulated to consume and that includes everything from politicians, to products, to cultural values to even what makes up our of self esteem. The work is largely about Edward Bernays who is considered the founder of Public Relations and he has had such a profound impact on culture that is perhaps the single most important development for people since they adapted religion. This is a must see.

Interesting. My first reaction is that what is going on here is that bellydance which I have no experience with or understand (but associate with a kind of seduction) id using some of the lines of ballet for some value added. In the most general abstract sense, I perceive ballet as a high art of exalting the human form through movement, with movement, with line and form to push the limit of the aesthetic appeal of the human form. Ballet movement and dancers are, in my opinion the ultimate aesthetic for humans. We mortals simply inhabit human bodies and move rather awkwardly about, ballet dancers performing ballet move in a perfect idealized manner. I don't except that a perfect world would be inhabited only by ballet capable people moving through life in balletic movements. Dance and especially ballet are the view to human potential and are inspirational. Anyway, I do appreciate when I see a person who has the kind of grace which ballet movement informs their presence. I think this adds to the belly dance aesthetic, but it diminishes ballet. That is, I consider ballet a purest form and set of rules which can borrow ethnic dance for story ballet, but I don't see the fusion as adding to ballet. I can envision a bit of Sabah's work incorporated to a story ballet where a belly dance scene was called for. Ballet is more of a universal movement language and belly dance is a localism. I found the video interesting to see how she borrowed from ballet. I am not sure how the bellydance people would interpret this. I suppose some would find it refreshing and new and others would find it jarring and destructive of their beloved genre. I am simply thrilled that such movement geniuses are exploring such things for us.

I am confused. I am a donor and I can't attend, why is wrong to make this available to someone who can? And why is this not a permitted post?

As an ABT member I am offered passes/tix (2) to attend selected dress rehearsals. Recently I was offered 2 passes to the Kennedy center dress rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet on 28 July at 1:30 PM at the Opera house at The Kennedy Center. As much as I would love to attend, living in NYC this is not possible. I would like to make these available to a Ballet Talker who will attend this rehearsal. If you contact me, by PM or email I will obtain the passes and mail them to you or ask ABT to mail them directly. Obviously the first persons who respond will get them. Whomever attends it would be delightful to read their comments about the dress rehearsal.

I had read the controversy about the Bondy production and finally got a peek on PBS. I couldn't listen to the entire production though I had it on. The tempi were tooooooooooooo slow for my taste and the sets and staging in the first act looked like it was taking place in a Con Ed sub station or an industrial warehouse on the waterfront. What was that "kiddie pool" in the middle of the "church"? I can't see this production surviving and it deserved all the condemnation it received. I'll welcome back the recently retired Zef production. The interior of Scarpia's office looked like something from the Wiemar republic. It was interesting, but I could not relate it to what I imagined it might have been like in Rome at the time. Did that look out of place to anyone else? My one word review: YUCK (push Mr. Gelb off the Castillo metaphorically of course)

It's wonderful to support the arts... everyone should do it, but the arts should not be in private hands. The arts belong to the society, in a sense, and society should take care of them. The arts are what we have of our history, are our culture and as such belong to and should be accessible to all people, not those who can afford to experience art. Money ruins everything it touches.

I don't like the concept of wealthy people supporting the arts. I think it is an unfortunate consequence of how this society has structured itself. Rather than have the arts supported by the "people" (the government) they are largely dependent on private wealthy people who receive a tax credit for their charitable donations. If you look back at the Guilded Age, Carnegie et all made enormous wealth on the backs of working class and then gave money for the construction of libraries, museums, theaters and so forth hardly any of which the tired, poor over worked working class had the time or the education to enjoy. They are gifts to themselves and the middle class who are their "managers". (I graduated from one of "his" universities) And so goes noblesse oblige. I suppose it's better than hoarding, but what why out these crooks on a pedestal because they give away some of their ill gotten or unearned or inherited wealth, which of course is excess money they can't find something to spend it on anyway as they've mostly bought everything they want in spades for themselves and their entire family. Bill Gates is full of so much guilt about his wealth that he is now devoted all his time to assuaging that guilt by trying to help the less fortunate. Marie Antoinette had human emotions too. hahaha

He really is a right wing conservative. You'll notice that giving money to anyone who has some sort of power or influence is the name of the game. If you have plenty of money you spread it around and blunt the attacks of those who oppose you. Wall Street, Pharma, Insurance etc all do it to congress critters. it works!

Everything has a political component. This one is appears to be toxic. I would urge those who would consider attending any performance at this theater to consider the resume of the David Koch and his extreme right wing political views. I find it very troubling that Martins and the owners of the Building would accept money from someone who has aligned himself with some of the following: "In 1984, Koch founded Citizens for a Sound Economy. Koch also funds Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group that has recently used new media technologies and other efforts to create opposition to President Barack Obama's proposed health care reforms." "Americans for Prosperity is led by Tim Phillips, who was a former partner with Ralph Reed's Century Strategies. That organization became well-known when it was revealed in a US Senate investigation that convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff was laundering money through Century Strategies and Americans for Tax Reform to oppose legislation that his Indian tribe clients wanted to defeat.[8][9] From 2003 to 2007 AFP was led by Nancy Pfotenhauer (Koch Industries' chief lobbyist from 1996 to 2001), who left to become an adviser for the 2008 John McCain presidential campaign." "Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation (CSEF). According to internal documents leaked to the Washington Post, 85 percent of CSE's 1998 revenues of CSE's $16.2 million came not from its 250,000 members, but from contributions of $250,000 and more from large corporations. Between 1985 and 2001, CSE received $15,993,712 in 104 separate grants from twelve foundations: * Castle Rock Foundation[citation needed] * Earhart Foundation[citation needed] * JM Foundation[citation needed][2] * Koch Family Foundations (David H. Koch Foundation, Charles G. Koch Foundation, Claude R. Lambe Foundation)[citation needed] * John M. Olin Foundation[citation needed] * Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation[citation needed] * Philip M. McKenna Foundation, Inc.[citation needed] * Scaife Foundations (Scaife Family, Sarah Mellon Scaife, Carthage)[citation needed] Other CSE funders (not included in above funding total) have included: * Archer Daniels Midland[citation needed] * DaimlerChrysler[citation needed] * Enron[citation needed] * General Electric[citation needed] * F.M. Kirby Foundation[citation needed] * Philip Morris[citation needed] * US West[citation needed] * $380,250 from ExxonMobil (1998 - 2001)[1]

The idea was to have this as an iPhone app that you could view at anytime or place... handy right in your pocket. Of course, this is available in diverse places, books, web sites and so forth. Consolidating it all into an iPhone would make it the mother of all ballet references with stills, videos etc.

I am a non dancer so this sort of information can be very handy in understanding what I see at the ballet. Movement is a language - steps and positions are the words and phrases and sentence. Or perhaps the notes, chords and so forth in a piece of music. What would be on MY wish list for this resource would be: Alphabetical list of the steps/positions/movements (along with their pronunciation - phonetic spelling) A rehearsal setting video of the movement or a still of the position - front and side views (and back might be nice too) A performance video example of the same movement (with information about the performance) I would like: just piano for the rehearsal examples and full music for the performance examples. Some comparisons or various dancers doing the same movements in performance. A fella can dream can't he?

Fageddaboutit with recording ballet. It just is not the same experience at all. YUCK I was not thrilled with the idea of recorded opera but finally dragged my butt to see a MET HD broadcast of Lucia and found it quite enjoyable. It was like being in the house, but it seemed to be an advancement in recording opera and I don't think this was all attributable to the HD aspect. Since Met Opera tix are very expensive unless you go nose bleed or wait for all day for rush tix, you can use the HD showings to preview an opera / production you might want to fork over the cash for. If that were possible timing wise I might use this approach. I am not terribly thrilled by the live radio broadcasts from the Met, because I am usually only able to have them on in the background as I go about my biz, with all sorts of interruptions. Not only does this not do justice to the performers, but it turns this effort into almost elevator music in the background. I like to focus my listening with little distractions and that hard to do on a weekend afternoon except on my boat.

Recordings made in front of live audiences seem to have a different quality than mastered studio ones. It's not the same as "being there" when it was performed, but it seems to be have a more personal feel than one made in a studio setting.

Congratulations to Sterling Baca and Chauncie Parchment. We'll be looking for you on the Met stage in the not too distant future. Excellent work! There's a lot more ahead of you!

I believe the Met owns or rents some large (obviously) warehouses where they store their sets and bring them in on huge tractor trailers. I suppose when then feel a production is never going to be used again- they sell of trash it. I would bet that the Zefferellli productions are in storage.

I also heard most of the interview. I was struck by how much Gelb sees his role as a remaker of opera to attract young audiences. He seemed to put down and disparage the role of a opera company such as the Met to preserve, protect and defend the classic productions. It's rather to make opera modern. Of course opera was created as a libretto with a score and then the company would stage the production, select the cast and so on. The same production with different casts, orchestras, conductors, tempi and so forth can present very differently and is precisely why the same "production" can be seen again and again, such as ballet lovers return to see Giselle, or Swan Lake year after year. In fact it seems that what balletomanes savor is the cast not the production per se. They want to see different artists interpret the roles. So it with opera. Gelb's people are not changing the score, the libretto, but rather changing how the opera looks, the scenery, costumes, period of history portrayed etc. Obviously some librettos are more flexible to this decorating than others. Going to experience an opera is more than the musical experience, though this might be the primary reason to attend. It is a visual one... or rather an integrated one of the music and the visual. If there was no need for the visual, the signer could stand on stage and sing their parts, no different than listening to it on a stereo. Conceptually I am all for trying new approaches for operas. But that does not mean that a great classic production which has been a workhorse for years, well loved needs to retired forever and replaced with something new. Just the idea implies that the new production will be tossed aside in X years to replaced by another one and so and so on. What remains constant? The the libretto and the music.

This is one of those nutty threads which is fun but impossible to answer and reminds me of the threads about the most beautiful ballerina or handsome dansuer. As I stated in one of those threads there are too many extremely beautiful dancers. Their beauty is not only their form, face, musculature and so forth, but how they move on stage. The top ballerinas are all beautiful, though admittedly some have qualities which appeal to some and not others. At the ballet I am almost always in awe of how stunning the dansers are. In opera, there are also many gorgeous moments and I am not sure if this question refers to performances or recordings. However, not all opera moments are beautiful such as the mad scenes. I won't answer this question but suffice it to say that Maria Callas never ceases to amaze me as I listen to her many recordings. I only wish I could have seen her perform. She's given me many beautiful hours!

He said he didn't feel he deserved it, was accepting it on behalf of the USA and would give the money to charity. I hope that having accepted the prize he feels more pressure to act as a man of peace and not the CIC of the world's largest military.

My sense is that, like the Met the ABT feels pressure to keep at the leading edge of their art. They want to be both a museum of masterpieces and a workshop for new ideas in dance. For one, I am thrilled that they do both, preferring the masterpieces but enjoying the new choreographers for contrast and to see how many ways dance can be a vehicle for beauty and ideas. The new works are not always successful from my point of view and they won't appeal to everyone (what does?), but I suspect that ABT feels a need to be a company with broad appeal, like a university not a college. With their standing in classical dance, they are able to bring new thinking to audiences which might otherwise not be exposed to the new. The recent bruhaha over the Met Opera's Bondy production of Tosca raises the issue of modernizing classics which is yet another approach to take to introduce new ideas to the genre. This is treacherous territory however and some works lend themselves better to interpretation than others, perhaps related to the libretto. Once you mix it up, you bring in all sorts of cultural messages established for centuries into play opening up all sorts of room for interpretation and response in the audience. Like everything, this will appeal to some and not to others and in the end it may come down to economics. If it helps ticket sales and prestige, it has legs. As far as dance is concerned, I would imagine new choreography is both fun and challenging for the company and they probably welcome it and makes them better at their classical work too.

I would think that any person nominated should be notified by the committee that there name is up for consideration with respect to any public award. I don't see the point of not notifying them. Has the committee offered an explanation for this practice? But even if they get lots of suggestions perhaps they don't have to notify all of them, but surely at some point in the process there is a weeding out and there are a few contenders. At that point, at least these people should be notified I would think. I agree to refuse such an honor is a non starter. If one feels that they don't deserve it, accepting it graciously and donating the prize to a worthy cause and using the opportunity to speak about peace works for me. I think that's more or less what Mr Obama did and he handled this well. Obviously, someone in his position had a lot of influence on issues of war and peace in the world, perhaps more than any other person alive. Accepting the award by the POTUS will hopefully inform some of his decision making process going forward. That can't be a bad thing. A world turns it's lonely eyes to you Mr President. Please give us all the peace you can. We need it.