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Neryssa

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Posts posted by Neryssa

  1. It is curious. Unless O'Connor interviewed dancers and friends from the period, she knows much less than most people on this forum. She is imagining the rest... O'Connor has the right to do so but it just makes me uncomfortable. I don't know how to articulate my uneasiness and resentment - the latter which is silly, I suppose.

  2. Maybe I should add that there are often other names besides LeClercq's on many of those pages, as well.

    Thank you for that. It doesn't surprise me...though I was hoping for a chapter! :beg:

    I want a biography of LeClercq too. I thought she was the most sublime, enchanting dancer (not that I ever saw her perform) but I have always been fascinated by her dancing. When I was skimming the book by D'Amboise, I didn't see many references to her in the index.

    How to post links properly? She is so beautiful dancing in La Valse: http://danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/dance/tanaquil-leclercq-nicholas-magallanes?ref=term&refcar=/genre/ballet

  3. I want to join dirac in thanking you, Neryssa, for linking to the excerpt. It confirms me in wanting to read the book.

    There are memoirs that are works of art in themselves. There are memoirs that give us insight into the complexities of the person doing the writing. And there are memoirs that tell us what it was like to live with and among people whom we, the writer and the reader, value very much.

    I suspect that d'Amboises' book is in that third category. Given the magnitude of Balanchine's work and the quality of the people he gathered around him, that is more than enough for me.

    Thank you, bart. You make some excellent points.

    What a beautiful candle, rg.

  4. I hate to take the wind from all of your balletic sails since I see how much you are looking forward to this memoir. But perhaps I can urge you to borrow this from the library. Here's what I wrote on Amazon, and if it seems a bit strongly put, please be aware that I moderated my tone as much as possible so as to reduce the pain factor to the author, yet at the same time warn the unwary reader:

    I saw your review on Amazon.com, Eileen but it would be nice to have a more descriptive review. How does D'Amboise's memoir compare to other dancers' memoirs (Allegra Kent, Maria Tallchief, Suzanne Farrell)? Does he describe the NYCB during the 1950s and the transition to the 1960s. Or does he just write about his personal and professional life with little historical perspective. I don't mind anecdotes in context, if that makes any sense.

    Excellent idea, Neryssa, I will add more detail on these points when I get home.

    Thanks very much, Eileen. I appreciate it! :thanks:

  5. I hate to take the wind from all of your balletic sails since I see how much you are looking forward to this memoir. But perhaps I can urge you to borrow this from the library. Here's what I wrote on Amazon, and if it seems a bit strongly put, please be aware that I moderated my tone as much as possible so as to reduce the pain factor to the author, yet at the same time warn the unwary reader:

    I saw your review on Amazon.com, Eileen but it would be nice to have a more descriptive review. How does D'Amboise's memoir compare to other dancers' memoirs (Allegra Kent, Maria Tallchief, Suzanne Farrell)? Does he describe the NYCB during the 1950s and the transition to the 1960s. Or does he just write about his personal and professional life with little historical perspective. I don't mind anecdotes in context, if that makes any sense.

  6. I assume (presume?) the book has a co-author. It will be interesting to see how much of the D'Amboise's irrepressible personality comes through on the page.

    I didn't see a co-author listed on Amazon.com. It is 464 pages, Maria Tallchief's was 368 pages and it wasn't long enough for me regarding information on Balanchine and NYCB.

  7. Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Neryssa. It looks like the book will be released on March 1. :yahoo:

    I am so excited too! Here is a "product description" from Amazon.com (I can only wonder what he kept to himself - he was there from the beginning, as we know.

    Product Description

    “Who am I? I’m a man; an American, a father, a teacher, but most of all, I am a person who knows how the arts can change lives, because they transformed mine. I was a dancer.”

    In this rich, expansive, spirited memoir, Jacques d’Amboise, one of America’s most celebrated classical dancers, and former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet for more than three decades, tells the extraordinary story of his life in dance, and of America’s most renowned and admired dance companies.

    He writes of his classical studies beginning at the age of eight at The School of American Ballet. At twelve he was asked to perform with Ballet Society; three years later he joined the New York City Ballet and made his European debut at London’s Covent Garden.

    As George Balanchine’s protégé, d’Amboise had more works choreographed on him by “the supreme Ballet Master” than any other dancer, among them Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux; Episodes; A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream; Jewels; Raymonda Variations.

    He writes of his boyhood—born Joseph Ahearn—in Dedham, Massachusetts; his mother (“the Boss”) moving the family to New York City’s Washington Heights; dragging her son and daughter to ballet class (paying the teacher $7.50 from hats she made and sold on street corners, and with chickens she cooked stuffed with chestnuts); his mother changing the family name from Ahearn to her maiden name, d’Amboise (“It’s aristocratic. It has the ‘d’ apostrophe. It sounds better for the ballet, and it’s a better name”).

    We see him. a neighborhood tough, in Catholic schools being taught by the nuns; on the streets, fighting with neighborhood gangs, and taking ten classes a week at the School of American Ballet . . . being taught professional class by Balanchine (he was “small, unassuming, he radiated energy and total command”) and by other teachers of great legend: Anatole Oboukhoff, premier danseur of the Maryinsky Theatre (“Such a big star,” said Balanchine, “people followed him, like a prince with servants”); and Pierre Vladimiroff, Pavlova’s partner (“So light on feather feet”). Vladimiroff drilled into his students, “You must practice, practice, practice. Onstage, forget everything! Just listen to the music and dance.”

    D’Amboise writes about Balanchine’s succession of ballerina muses who inspired him to near-obsessive passion and led him to create extraordinary ballets, dancers with whom d’Amboise partnered—Maria Tallchief; Tanaquil LeClercq, a stick-skinny teenager who blossomed into an exquisite, witty, sophisticated “angel” with her “long limbs and dramatic, mysterious elegance . . .”; the iridescent Allegra Kent; Melissa Hayden; Suzanne Farrell, who Balanchine called his “alabaster princess,” her every fiber, every movement imbued with passion and energy; Kay Mazzo; Kyra Nichols (“She’s perfect,” Balanchine said. “Uncomplicated—like fresh water”); and Karin von Aroldingen, to whom Balanchine left most of his ballets.

    D’Amboise writes about dancing with and courting one of the company’s members, who became his wife for fifty-three years, and the four children they had . . . On going to Hollywood to make Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and being offered a long-term contract at MGM (“If you’re not careful,” Balanchine warned, “you will have sold your soul for seven years”) . . . On Jerome Robbins (“Jerry could be charming and complimentary, and then, five minutes later, attack, and crush your spirit—all to see how it would influence the dance movements”).

    D’Amboise writes of the moment when he realizes his dancing career is over and he begins a new life and new dream teaching children all over the world about the arts through the magic of dance.

    A riveting, magical book, as transformative as dancing itself.

  8. Thanks for reviewing this production, Helene. I'm going to see both As You Like It and The Tempest next month. How was Juliet Rylance's performance as Rosalind? She's gotten stellar reviews for her Desdemona, and I am an unabashed fan of her stepfather, Mark Rylance.

    Same here, DanceActress. I would like to hear more about Juliet Rylance who I saw in Othello and Stephen Dillane who was excellent in his reading of Four Quartets and Beckett in One Evening. I have tickets to As You Like It but not The Tempest (yet)

    Nessa

  9. It also says this:

    Music: By George Frederick Handel (from the Royal Fireworks Music, 1749, and Water Music, ca. 1717). Book by George Lewis; underlying ideas in the organization of the sequence of scenes suggested by Dr. Arthur Upham Pope.

    Choreography: By George Balanchine.

    Production: Scenery, costumes, and lighting by Esteban Francés. Scenery executed by Nolan Brothers; costumes executed by Karinska.

    Premiere: April 13, 1960, New York City Ballet, City Center of Music and Drama, New York. Conductor: Robert Irving.

    Devised in the style of an eighteenth-century court ballet, based on Dr. Pope's relation of Handel's musical counterpoint to Persian carpet weaving of the period. The title is from a tale by Henry James.

    Why couldn't I do this?! I love you Mme. Hermine! :thumbsup: I just checked iTunes and I finally found the 1:27 minute piece from Water Music Suite: Gigue

    Thank you very much ~ Neryssa

  10. :thumbsup:

    If anybody can help me with the following question, I would be so grateful. I've been stuck on this piece of music since I saw the PBS American Masters' documentary on Balanchine. The late ballerina, Diana Adams (dressed in Scottish uniform with a regiment), dances to this music in "The Figure in the Carpet" (1961/2) in the documentary. It is a British or Scottish sounding piece. Balanchine liked it so much that he put it in "Union Jack" (1976) many years later - I think... Does anyone know what I am talking about? Then, a few weeks ago, I heard the same piece of music in the film, "The Duchess."

    Thanks for any information.

    Neryssa

  11. Thank you for posting, Figurante. In what way was Balanchine misrepresented, BTW?

    You know what bothers me is the lack of research. Tanaquil Le Clercq died in 2000 and already there are inaccuracies being printed about her life. For example, the following online article.

    http://www.moviecitynews.com/voices/2009/0..._daisymuse.html

    **Contains spoilers about "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

    - Mark Wheaton

    January 2, 2008

    Mark Wheaton is a screenwriter. His most recent credit can be found on the forthcoming Friday the 13th.

    Tanaquil Le Clercq was born in Paris in October of 1929 to a French father and American mother, who moved with their daughter to New York three years later. Though her mother wanted her to become a musician, Tanny had an early affinity for the ballet, and began her training at seven with a former partner to the great Anna Pavlova, going on to audition for the School of American Ballet when she was twelve . Though she was very small -- described by Balanchine -- as if you were looking at her through the wrong end of a telescope” –

    Balanchine did not mean it that way.

    "[blanchett] reminded me so much of pictures I'd seen of LeClercq," West says. "The body language, the mannerisms and the internal conflict."

    HOW?

    Robbins, too, was devastated back in New York and immediately began sending telegrams and letters to Tanny's bedside in Copenhagen (as well as a large stuffed dog Tanny dubbed "Morgan"). Tanny, however, did not want to be seen after her accident and became increasingly reclusive. Balanchine moved her to their cottage in Weston, Connecticut full-time and helped her adjust to her new life, but soon got busy again with the NYCB in New York -- coming home only on weekends. Tanny stayed put in her wheelchair with only her cat, Mourka, by her side.

    What?

    With Tanny unable to dance, Balanchine began to seek a new muse, leading to him neglecting Tanny. This all led up to an evening in 1969, when Balanchine announced -- via a telegram sent from Mexico - that he was in the process of securing a divorce (the one to win the hand of Farrell). Tanny was devastated. Balanchine was the first and only love of her life.

    Wasn't the relationship really over in 1965/66?

    In the case of Tanaquil Le Clercq, Robbins had always been a part of Tanny’s life, but after the divorce from Balanchine, his presence increased. It was through Robbins that a former dance partner of Tanny's -- Arthur Mitchell -- approached Le Clercq about coming to the dance school he had started, the Dance Theater of Harlem, to teach. Tanny agreed and soon returned to New York where her love of dance was reinvigorated

    She never left NY.

    She ended up teaching at the school for many years, all from her wheelchair. Ironically, a number of her students later went on to dance for Balanchine at NYCB. Attendant to her return to New York, Balanchine and Tanny became friendly again at the end of his life, so much so that Balanchine left her the stewardship of the rights to much of his choreography when he died.

    They reconciled long before that time] (he died in 1983).

    ----

    I am pleased to see Le Clercq receive some overdue press but not in relation to this film.

  12. Has anybody read the following article about "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?" I only want to see this film because I cannot believe that Cate Blanchett could resemble Tanaquil Le Clercq - although I like Blanchett as an actress. Tilda Swinton strikes me as a would be dancer.

    http://www.wildaboutmovies.com/behind_the_...NDTHESCENES.php

    By contrast, Daisy would always be dressed in the upcoming fashions and form-fitting ballerina clothes of the era. For Daisy, West referenced pioneering dance choreographer George Balanchine and his wife and muse, Tanaquil LeClercq - an inspiration Blanchett herself had explored. "I looked at dance movements that were influential in Daisy's youth," Blanchett explains. "George Balanchine and Tanaquil LeClercq were of particular interest to me."

    Blanchett, says West, "became a ballerina in the fittings. She reminded me so much of pictures I'd seen of LeClercq - the body language, the mannerisms and the internal conflict."

    LeClercq favored the designs of Claire McCardell, one of America's top designers in the 1940s and 1950s, who is credited as the originator of "The American Look." West turned to McCardell for one of Daisy's most memorable costumes - the flowing red dress she wears on her date with Benjamin. "Jackie was definitely my partner in crime," says Blanchett. "I adored every stitch, every button. She introduced me to Claire McCardell and the costume fittings were a revelation. How blessed was I."

  13. I was not aware that John Adams was such a hard working farmer and did not own slaves.

    Well, Abigail was really the hard working farmer. :FIREdevil:

    Fine point that I neglected to make, dirac. I was thinking about Adams the farmer vs. Jefferson, the great philosopher and slave owner whose first memory was of being carried on a pillow by a slave. Jefferson, man of the people who avoided people and conflict as much as possible. And as much as he loved Monticello, it and his entire household was run by his slaves (no revelation here). Jefferson seemed to have conservative views about women, too. I didn't know that.

    Yes, Abigail was one of the heroes of the Revolution, too.

  14. Neryssa, I agree with you completely about the way that these dramatizations can lead the audience into further exploration. Public tv and cable networks like HBO continue to serve the public remarkably well in the area of U.S. history.

    Dirac, my reference to not watching was not meant to be a criticism of this or other similar film projects. Far from it. I was merely expressing a personal -- and no doubt eccentric -- preference as to this particular story. There is, as you say, time to do both. I apologize if I gave the impression that I thought otherwise. :FIREdevil:

    I have to admit that reading the interesting posts on this thread has made me look forward to catching the series when it's rerun. :cool:

    P.S. I should add, in the interest of full disclosure, that I worked as a junior editor at the Massachusetts Historical Society for a year when I was taking a leave from grad school. Although I wasn't involved with the Adams Papers, I had the chance to observe closely how they were being edited as well as the early stages of publication. I also had the privilege of reading some of these letters in manuscript. To hold an Adams letter, or a Jefferson or Washington letter, in your hand is an awe-inspiring experience. Forty years later, I can still visualize their handwriting, feel the touch of the pale butter-cream paper, and remember what it felt to read the words as they had actually written them. Maybe it was feeling physically so near to them, and to the time in which they lived, that makes it difficult for me now to watch contemporary actors portraying them on the screen.

    Thank you for this post, bart. That must have been quite an experience for you. I am an editor and please don't misunderstand me, I llke my computer but I miss the tactile experience of handling manuscripts and photographs. Now we do everything online...which we should in our case but I miss what you describe - the feel of certain types of paper - even the smell of it. Most of us are missing too much of the "tactile" in our lives - which is another topic but it was apparent in the John Adams series how much our domestic and work lives have changed. I was not aware that John Adams was such a hard working farmer and did not own slaves. We always see him in the mud, planting crops, walking through them, admiring a tiny flower... And writing letters on that wonderful paper with quilt pens. There's a great scene where Abigail and John Adams move into the still unfinished, drab and muddy White House, which is still being built by slaves. I hope you watch the series when it returns to HBO.

    dirac - I read that Thomas Jefferson did not like giving speeches and press conferences perhaps because he had a lisp - not apparent in the series, of course!

  15. I skipped the tv series and don't really know why. Perhaps, now that I'm older, I prefer my history in print.

    For those who want to pursue the personal and human side of John, the wonderful Massachusetts Historical Society (home of The Adams Papers) has an edition of the letters of John and Abigail (My Dearest Friend) which are touching and very real. Publisher is Harvard University Press.

    You might also like to look at the correspondence exchanged between Adams and Jefferson late in their lives. Their emnity had been great and deeply personalized. They did not communicate for over a decade after Jefferson beat Adams for the presidency. However, once they were old and both in retirement, they reconnected. Each was conscious of being participants (and survivors) of events of huge importance to Americans and peoples all over the world. The letters are elegant, philosophical, often humorous and occasionally acerbic. Quite worth dipping into. (A complete Adams-Jefferson correspondence, including Abigail, is published by the University of North Carolina.)

    Thank you for the information, bart. Some of the correspondence between John and Abigail Adams was incorporated into the series which was not difficult to do since the couple was often separated during the first decade-plus of their marriage. I understand your affinity for print as I am a bookaholic and I prefer my history untouched by Hollywood. But I first heard excerpts of the correspondence between Adams and Jefferson on one of the American Experience Presidential series documentaries on either Adams or Jefferson. It was narrated by David McCullough who did such a fine job on the Truman documentary as well. True, McCullough has become a popular, homespun historian and I am usually suspicious of such writers, but his reading of the Adams-Jefferson correspondence was deeply moving. The John Adams series did not quite live up to my expectations when they portrayed Adams and Jefferson corresponding towards the end of their lives. It is depicted in the last episode of the series, part 7, I think...

    What the series has done is revived interest in early American history and there is a good scene in one of the last episodes where an elderly Adams is viewing (with his son, now President John Quincy Adams) the famous painting of John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence. Adams hated it and the series portrayed it well; he despised the misrepresentation of events and complained bitterly to the painter that no one could ever write the real history of the American revolution. I think the series is worth a second look and viewing. As I wrote earlier, it was difficult at first, quite a test of endurance (not as difficult as visiting Philly during a heatwave), but it has some very worthwhile scenes.

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