SanderO

I don't know what their mission statement is, if they have one, but perhaps they are essentially doing the "American" approach... ie taking people from everywhere, as we do in America. putting on a range of performance themes, not focusing on a narrow genre. American baseball has players from all over who make the grade, though baseball was born here. In a sense I can see that ABT wants to be good at all things ballet and dance, a smörgåsbord, the classics, international star power, a basic repertory, some new pieces and put on a traveling "act" around the country and the world. Perhaps they are good at lots and great at nothing. I think this may be a uniquely American approach to this art form as the dance genre is both founded in classical roots and infused with newer artistic efforts. ABT sees itself as fashioning a creative approach to a ballet company. They make room for artists and perhaps less room for classical, technical historically driven performers. And they, as most American arts endeavors must market themselves to a wide audience because there is no way to fill the house is they parked themselves in one niche and excelled. They are somewhat all things ballet/dance to all people and all can find something to love about them and somethings to not love. In the end if they can inspire people, keep the entire genre alive, their approach may ultimately prove clever. If the narrow focused approaches are not economically viable, we may not have any dance/ballet companies at all in this country. Just a thought.

Welcome and please add you wisdom to the site. It's a fantastic learning lab for ballet and the arts in general.

I read the review and found the tone smug and condescending typical of Brits... Is he a Brit? The last line was so incredibly dismissive of all the wonderful artists at ABT, were I McKenzie I would ban him from the theater. He's a educated and clever wordsmith, but he I am OK not reading his swill.

We fashion our looks for ourselves, of course, and to appeal to others in a "positive" non threatening way, or perhaps in an way to attract others attention positively. We sort of make an advertisement of who we are in how we groom and look. This may be misleadin and give a completely false impression as Aurora noted about the women in the UK who had 60 pieces. But that is reality. We make assumptions when we read people. When I see a tall bunhead with a straight back and feet outturned with a big bag over her shoulders I read that as a ballet dancer/student. But I could be completely wrong. I think we all use these sorts of stereotypes, but most of us know that these are presumptions and not facts or reality. If I saw Aurora not knowing a thing about her I would think her a member of goth, punk or some other outlier culture. But reading her here, I see her as a sensitive dancer and this is at loggerheads with what I would have presumed. Stereotyping can be very dangerous. If I do see her at the ballet I will be sure to introduce myself and certainly offer her a champagne or glass of wine or brownie... whatever she wants. I have enjoyed her comments and learned from them bod mods notwithstanding.

I find body mods very distracting and most of them do not make the person who has them more attractive aesthetically, just more of an eye magnet. I found the tat on Vishneva very annoying, but perhaps that is because I was so shocked to see it that I found eyes drawn to it and trying to figure out its significance. I certainly think people have the complete right to do with and to their bodies whatever they want. I just find that most of their efforts not only don't make the person more attractive (in my eyes... which don't count of course) but less attractive. Some are neutral to my eye, but those tend to be very small and delicate. I do think that they have become commodified and as such so many of them are completely cheesey, classless and tacky looking. I do like to think of dancers' bodies as approaching perfection and I can't see these sorts of mods as part of that endeavor. I am certain that some or perhaps most ADs and so forth would try to prohibit their dancers from displaying tats and if they had them to cover them with makeup. It would crash any illusion in classical ballet I would think.

What do you like about tats in general? There are so many different ones

Self indulgence and self centeredness seems to be a common trait among those who choose careers on the stage. No? She does identify how dancers who start so young and stay so focused on their work are "out of touch" with the world... socially and work wise and how they are often unequipped for what comes after they "retire". This is obviously more applicable to the principals who receive so much attention that they barely have time to venture out beyond the world of dance. In light of that it may be a good thing for dancers to be married to non artists and have a taste of the reality that the rest of us know.

So let's say dancer A is looking to advance his or her career wouldn't they have some sort of resume which indicated the roles they have danced and perhaps the companies and number of times and so forth? Don't the artists track this sort of thing as a matter of course for themselves?

Much of communication is theater and performance arts like ballet will resort to stereotyping to convey messages "shorthand". Obviously stereotpying is hardly accurate as noted above, both in plot lines and national characters. However we somehow need them when we want to refer to "groups" and need to extract "some" common quality. We do this for cultural elements and even entire cultures the "spanish", the "arab" and so forth right down to people; the "heroine", the "soldier" and so on. When you attend ballet you have to go with the flow or else you sit there thinking it's all silly and ridiculous. And of course we must remind ourselves that most ballet was created more than 100 years ago when stereotypes were a bit different than they are today. My own take is that modern writers of plays, cinema and so forth are less bound to using the tried and true stereotypes, though obviously Hollywood hasn't caught on because they feed us a continuous stream of stereotyping and formulaic plot lines which seem to appeal mostly to children. We can't seem to not resort the the language of stereotypes in communication and ballet seems to be a victim of this same trap. For me the stories lines are really very unimportant as I attend to see what I call "the beauty of humans in motion". I am way too old to believe fairy tales like Swan Lake, but the beauty of the ballet is something I will never tire of experiencing. We discuss the "acting ability" of dancers at time and we do this because conveying emotions is part of being a character on stage in a performance. This too involves stereotyped gestures to a certain extent and is required to make the plots understandable, I suppose. Without good acting the ballet would not stand up so even though the plot lines are ridiculous, we need our dancers to have this talent as well as being geniuses of movement. I suspect some ballet dancers would make excellent actors for stage or screen. What isn't irrelevant?

I was at the Wednesday performance and thought it was very even and well danced all around. Julie Kent is such "smooth" dancer and I love the way she carves out space, especially with her amazing arms and hands. Amazingly expressive. I have never seen (or noticed) Yuriko Kajyia before and I certainly did last night. I thought she was brilliant and precise in her dancing. The stature difference between Julie and was a bit jarring and has Haglund noted she therefore came off more as teenage princess and Julie as the older fem fetale. But the dynamic seemed to work. I found Ethan;s performance to be technically there, but I found him emotionally a bit flat and distant for the role. I suspect Marcelo Gomes would create a different feeling. perhaps it's Ethan's blond tutonic looks which crashed the illusion. The same might be said for Julie, but for some reason her dancing seemed to overcome the fact that she too looked like an anglo and not a temple dancer. The Shades were brilliant last night. The corps really nailed it with very precise work which was a joy to behold. And Aaron Scott as the bronze idol did a beautiful job, almost up there with performances of the same role I've seen Herman Cornejo turn in. Bravo Aaron. This was my fav ABT performance this season and the ballet, itself, is lots of fun, especially in the second and third act. Charles Barker needs to be complimented as well as he got a beautful performance from the orchestra. Overall, everything worked as it should and it was a glorious night at the ballet for me and the audience seemed to have felt the same.

Geez, I'm not a dancer nor an ex one but I do think that as far as being an artist or performance artist one needs to have as broad and as deep an understanding of culture and history as possible. This knowledge informs you in your work. Ballet, especially which is a classical form of art is steep in history, both in the "stories" that make up many ballets and the history associated with the movements themselves. It seems inconceivable to me that a great artists could lack a deep understanding of culture aside from their creating something "great" by accident. Even the most modernist art cannot escape the cultural context of what came before. Performance artists, dancers, actors and musicians acheive their expression as an artist in interpretation of the piece, role etc. To acheive this they need to understand the context, the history and so forth. Absent that they are being robotic. And as wonderful as robots may be, I don't expect them to be artists. hahahaha

Is it safe to say that most ballet has been passed along by demonstration/teaching as opposed to some form or written or graphic presentation?

But they seem to dance very differently... is that not from training?

I think Angelica is on to something about the emphasis of the training here and in Russia. The Russians all seem to have a lot more happening above the waist so to speak, especially in the arms and hands while American trained seem to be more statue like. This is really subtle but Michelle Wiles is an example of American style and Diana Vishneva the Russian. You don't act with your legs so the upper body becomes very important for story ballet.

We attend Tuesday's performance with Julie Kent but left after the first intermission as my wife was not feeling well. The production seemed to be less Disney like, but there were still some very bright costumes. Michelle Wiles was lovely as Lilac but we both felt Julie Kent's Aurora was not at her best and couldn't seem to effortlessly balance and I believe fell off point at one point. OUCH. Julie Kent is one of my favorite dancers and this was very disturbing. Perhaps she came back in the later acts which we didn't see. My wife thought she might be heading for retirement. I thought the corps looked very good in what we saw.

They seem to partner well and are usually paired up. My only suggestion is have opera glasses because the MetOpera House is large and even the front seats of all the upper sections is quite far and it's hard to see detail, facial expressions and so on. Of course you can lose the big picture with glasses so you'll be going back and forth and then want to see the whole thing again. Enjoy.

Where is the proper place for the arms when doing fouette? higher or lower?

It's a different deal with principals which is more like pitchers, they don't work every game. For those who have limitations, financial, time, distance or any combination it is almost impossible to "plan ahead" as when an injury occurs, it's hard to know when the artist will be well enough to work again, and the substitutions cascade through the schedule since they involve partnering etc. It's a lose lose situation for everyone. What could the ABT do to make this less dicey, less frustrating and disappointing? While we all are concerned for the artists (and the company) we do want to feel that the audience and especially devoted fans needs are met by the company. Instead they put on a show (that was Kevin McKenzie's word last night) for us and we should not complain or feel disappointed. By the way, I walked up to the ticket window and exchanged tixs with no hassle, but I was there to see a performance so it was not a special trip. So if you DO want to exchange it seems like the BO at the Met will accommodate you.

right... mental lapse... sorry

The ABT really seemed to have fun with Don Q - every last one on stage and it was indeed a pleasure to watch. Angel is simply an amazing man at his craft. As I came to work sitting on the train I was thinking about his amazing turns and can't for the life of me understand how he imparts so much rotational energy t get his body to spin so quickly! And Paloma did a few too - but Angel was whirl. Both Angel and Paloma seemed very relaxed last night and seemed to float through their parts absent any stress. Both of them smiled and the audience could feel their confidence. Both were brilliant. Marcelo never fails to deliver and he proved it again last night. Maria Ricetto turned in a wonderful performance, but I felt that she needs more stage when she dances. She's not at all "compact". IRRC Viktoria Part appeared but I didn't see her at the curtain? Ha? The ballet itself made me think back to the Twyla piece and how classical ballet can be playful and athletic without being and looking "goofy". Don Q had lots of laughs too. It's pretty hard to improve on something as well conceived as this one. I had the feeling that the Noche Latina seemed to have a magical effect on Paloma and Angel and that may be part of what contributed to their stunning perfomanaces. I sat next to a man from OK who has come for a week of ballet. This was his first live ABT and at the end he was thrilled and almost speechless. He took pages of notes during intermission but told me that their local OK ballet pales compared to ABT. He remarked how lucky we are to have such a great company so accessible. He's right. I agree with Haglund's comments but would add that the corps ladies were super as well. Didn't I see Viktoria Part? Was she not on stage at the curtain? A big storm blew through during the ballet, but we didn't have a clue, we were all enjoying the energy on the stage.

Should costumes have meaning if there are characters representing "personalities" as in a story ballet? Or are they just meant to clothe the dancer's bodies? The classical tutu etc is rather generic and only when adorned does it acquire more significance for the character/dancer who wears it. I think, despite ms tharp's brilliance this piece is at once simplistic and silly and overly done. Certainly not the "less is more" approach.

I am late to this discussion and I haven't read all the comments (aside from the first port) but my sense is the meaning is as follows. Classicism is a vocabulary of aesthetic components, and rules for joining them. It's very much like the concept of constructing meaningful sentences from words and rules of grammar. I suspect this is true for architecture, art, ballet and music for example. Other "isms" have different "rules" and components or elements of style. You can recognise whether a work of art neatly fits in the that particular "ism" by how faithfully it follows the rules. Classical ballet's rules are the steps, movements, positions, costumes and even body types. It has nothing to do with the personality of the dancers, much the way the paint is not what painting is about as much as it is the forms, shapes etc. (until some modernists decided any rule worth breaking is up for grabs). Were classicism or any "ism" to be "personal" it would mean that the individual and their interpretation were more important than the rules. If personality becomes so powerful it crushes the rules, over comes them and it becomes about the person and not the "ism" What I find so interesting about ballet is that the incredibly artistry of dancers is restrained inside of ballet rules and classicism and conceptually, at least, there is very little leeway for them to bust out. Yes there is plenty of room for excellence, perfection, virtuosity, but there seems to be hardly any room for "self expression" and improvisation. You can't change the notes to Beethoven but you can "do things" which give it some level of individualism and personality or make it non impersonal. The Balanchine statement, I believe, was meant to recognize how rule bounded classicism is and rules are impersonal (rigid and constant), aren't they?

Reply to Bayadere: I don't know of any casting changes for the 10th. I assume they will have to keep all the latinos in that night. To everyone: So now I have a pair of tix for 10 and 11th and I know my wife will only go to one, probably the Latin Night. If anyone is interested a single seat in the 11th please let me know JSanderO at gmail dot com. The seats IRRC are the front of th Grand Tier.

I was thrilled to see the Kirov at City Center... a definite high and high point. And of course taking my twin nieces to the Nut at NYCB was a thrill for all. If memory serves me correctly didn't Gergiev do the Firebird with Ashley Bouder last year? That performance was electric. Was it last year that the wonderful Ms Ferris performed her farewell perfomances? The one I attended was unforgettable as was a talk she gave about Shakespeare and ballet. I so miss her on stage. ABT's Beauty was a let down, as was Vishneva's Beauty (in Motion). But even seeing less than perfect ballet is wonderful and preferable to almost anything else I could be doing.

This is something I placed a bet with some of the ABT "people" weeks ago... the ones who observe the audience at ticket entrance. Even last night they would not admit that Diana was not performing and said she was still working with her trainers. Of course, they also said we could not exchange tickets either if they were not subscription purchases. For the record, every performance I have been to thus far and thru 6.11 has had cast changes. I bought a pair for the 10th thinking that they HAD to keep their Hispanic dancers on stage for Latin Nights. Angel was ill and missed last night's performance. The women who sat next to me was a former NYCB dancer and noted that NYCB doesn't make promises on casting so you never know and it's always a surprise. Is that true? If it's Nina, I am thrilled to see her, but saddened that again, Diana is not performing. This is sounding like a serious injury and I hope she recovers. Diana, get well. We miss you!