Adam

And some really stunning photos! (You're too modest.) Thanks, Marc!

"Philistine" isn't obsolete. I use it all the time. Actually, I think Phil Stein is Ben's brother (sorry, I couldn't resist).

You can see the series (it ran for a few days) here (it actually started on September 17, a day before any of us noticed it - and the September 17 cartoon explains the mystery we've been debating here. We now know why Jon was getting laughed at by Garfield and Odie).

http://www.garfield.com/comics/comics_arch...l?2007-ga070917

http://www.garfield.com/comics/comics_arch...l?2007-ga070918

http://www.garfield.com/comics/comics_arch...l?2007-ga070919

http://www.garfield.com/comics/comics_arch...l?2007-ga070920

France? Uh . . . Oh, wait a minute. Now I remember. It's where the Paris Opera Ballet is, right?

Young people today - even young executives - aren't literate, even in their chosen fields. Ben Stein tells the story of his pitching a screenplay to a young film studio executive as being similar to "My Fair Lady". She had never heard of "My Fair Lady".

That sounds like this investment banker I know. Every argument ends with him asking "how much do you make?" If it's less than he makes, and it generally is, or he wouldn't ask the question, he says, "Then, what the ___ do YOU know? Wall Street, baby!" I'm sure if you mentioned Shakespeare to him, you'd get an answer like "Shakespeare - I made more money on one trade this morning than Shakespeare made in his entire life. So how good could his plays be?"

He has no respect anymore for Lew Ranieri. Imagine being the guy in "Liar's Poker" - a real-life Gordon Gekko - and throwing your money away on the ballet.

Gee, I like ballet. That's why I don't go to NYCB. (Oh, I'm going to hear it now . . .)

I mentioned to my friend's girlfriend (remember, I'm relatively new to ballet) that I don't care for Balanchine, and she (a former dancer), said, "No, you don't care for NYCB. You haven't seen Balanchine."

Actually, the Nutcracker Woman raises a good point, although she didn't intend to. I mean, I know someone who told me she likes opera. What opera has she seen? "Rent".

"Swan Lake"? I saw that a coupla years ago. She still throw herself in the lake at the end? So, then, I don't need to see it again, right?

Reminds me of the old Jimmy Durante song, "The Day I Read a Book".

At the risk of turning what's supposed to be a discussion of anti-ballet prejudice into a discussion of anti-gay prejudice, I can tell you that there is a similar assumption about ballroom dancers. I've had several women tell me that, although they love to go dancing, if a man asked them to go dancing, they would assume he's gay. They thus do not want the invitation to come from a man whom they date.

I don't get that attitude about Argentine tango, which I also dance. The general perception is that ballroom, ballet and Broadway are gay, and Argentine tango, swing and salsa are not. Must have something to do with starting with a "b".

Oh, and "I'm a Little Teapot"? If you're over 21, VERY gay.

Well, he got that right - sure looks like the Center Parterre at the Met to me!

Actually, I just noticed that he's not yelling "Go Swans!" because he thinks that's what you do at the ballet. He's yelling "Go Swans!" because the girl kissed him for taking him to the ballet. In real life, when I take women I've been seeing to the ballet, they invariably end up telling me "I had no idea you were gay."

Although I certainly agree that there's a prejudice against ballet and dance in general, my friends and I think the point of the Garfield cartoon may be either (1) fat chance that they're going to behave while he's at the ballet, or (2) he looks silly in the tuxedo.

I've added mine, too. It's just what I posted above in #8.

I'm an entertainment lawyer/producer. I'm the former Regional Vice President of USA Dance (formerly USABDA), which is the IDSF and IOC-recognized governing body for competitive amateur DanceSport in the U.S. I'm a Standard and Argentine Tango dancer.

I had no interest in ballet until two years ago (May 2005). I was an opera fan. and I'd only seen ballet on television (and once when Eddie Villella came to my school when I was a kid, but we didn't really pay attention). Well, it didn't look that difficult to me. Holding the girl's hand while she stands on tiptoe. Or those four swans skipping around. It looked like something I could do. I have a simple rule: anything I can do isn't worth going to see, because I have no talent.

I went to the Met to get opera tickets. It was the last night of the season (Tosca). They already had the ABT posters up. And there was a poster that said that some guy named Bocca was dancing his last Don Q. I didn't have any interest, but I figured, what the heck, I'll go. I'll be able to say I was there. After I bought the tickets, I realized what it said, and I thought, "It didn't say he's retiring. It just said it's his last Don Quixote. This guy Bocca could be milking the retirement thing for years!" Anyway, I went, I was hooked (Xiomara and the fan did it for me). I went about 35 more times just that season.

And I still think it looks better in person than it does on television.

Ah, comes the dawn. I thought you meant letting site management know about the problems in introducing ourselves. If you mean let City Center management know about it, I don't think they'd care, as long as someone bought the seats. They're sold out. They don't care who got the seats. They already know that their ticketing system (box office, internet and telephone) is woefully inadequate for any hot tickets, and they've chosen not to upgrade.

When they solicit donations, I'll tell them that that's the reason I'm not renewing my contribution, but I doubt that the volunteer to whom I'm venting will care, either, unless the complaints reach critical mass. Volunteer to City Center management: "They're all telling me to get lost because they got cheated out of their Fall for Dance seats"? Not likely to happen.

Certainly, I'll mention the way this was handled to my friends and classmates who are now on the boards of some of the foundations and corporations which are sponsoring events and companies appearing at City Center. But as long as they get their halo effect, I don't think they'll care, either. Probably, they'll just say to me (as one just did), "Adam, if you wanted seats, why didn't you just call me? Now, what can I do?"

I'm sure Dean Shtee-fell (pronounced "Stiefel") will be fine. I doubt that he's being appointed actually to do the day-to-day administration. He's being appointed so that there's a high-profile name (with the attendant contacts and ability to attract faculty, students, and funding) at the top of the letterhead. It's like Columbia University's appointment of General Eisenhower to be its president. It's flashier and more news-making than just putting Ethan on the Board of Trustees. And perhaps he's already looking toward the next phase of his career. If Damian Woetzel can go to Harvard, Ethan can become a dean. It's either that, or he can start "Stiefeltango".

To whom are you referring as "management"? I thought the administrators had access to the site operator.

I hope that some of you who experienced those problems will let management know about it, and not just vent to us, sympathetic tho we may be!

Thanks for your comments. A few quick thoughts:

You think you lost good seats? I had pit seats right in the center (Rows AA on the 27th and CC on the 29th) for two performances, and lost them. (Yes, I know, those aren't considered good, because you can't see the patterns, but, since I'm an amateur dancer, I prefer to sit as close as possible, so I can observe the technique.)

As for "maybe next year", I should think that City Center already has had enough instances of this to know that their servers are inadequate. I hold established venues to a higher standard than I do smaller and/or newer venues.

As to contributions, I rarely respond to the "impulse donation" screens. When I start contributing to an organization (any organization - not necessarily a dance organization, or even an arts one), I always make a token contribution first, until I see how well it's run. No matter how much research one does, the view as a member (even at the lowest levels) can be quite different. Then I'll increase the amount, level by level. Sometimes, I'll move all the way up in one season, if the organization is especially well-run and deserving, but I still take it one step at a time.

By the way, I haven't been able to say "hello" on the Welcome Page. Can somebody explain the secret? It won't let me start a new topic. Obviously, I know how to log in and add a new topic (here I am), but that doesn't appear to work on the Welcome Page. In the meantime, here's the short version: I'm an entertainment lawyer/producer. I'm the former Regional Vice President of USA Dance (formerly USABDA), which is the IDSF and IOC-recognized governing body for competitive amateur DanceSport in the U.S. I'm a Standard and Argentine Tango dancer.

I had no interest in ballet until two years ago (May 2005). I was an opera fan. and I'd only seen ballet on television (and once when Eddie Villella came to my school when I was a kid, but we didn't really pay attention). Well, it didn't look that difficult to me. Holding the girl's hand while she stands on tiptoe. Or those four swans skipping around. It looked like something I could do. I have a simple rule: anything I can do isn't worth going to see, because I have no talent.

I went to the Met to get opera tickets. It was the last night of the season (Tosca). They already had the ABT posters up. And there was a poster that said that some guy named Bocca was dancing his last Don Q. I didn't have any interest, but I figured, what the heck, I'll go. I'll be able to say I was there. After I bought the tickets, I realized what it said, and I thought, "It didn't say he's retiring. It just said it's his last Don Quixote. This guy Bocca could be milking the retirement thing for years!" Anyway, I went, I was hooked (Xiomara and the fan did it for me). I went about 35 more times just that season.

And I still think it looks better in person than it does on television.

I assume that others had the same problem I had. The City Center line was blocks long (along 55th, up Seventh and around onto 56th), so I decided to bite the bullet and pay the $6 per ticket (60%!) surcharge to order online. The server was so slow that my order timed out again and again, with my great seats being released. Each time, I was assigned progressively worse seats. What to do? There's more to being an arts presenter than just booking the artists, and this is being woefully mishandled.

I won't be renewing my contribution to City Center, and I'll be sure to let their administration, as well as the participating artists, know why, but they won't care, as long as the seats are filled. And I wouldn't deny the individual companies my support because of City Center's mismanagement.