Jump to content
This Site Uses Cookies. If You Want to Disable Cookies, Please See Your Browser Documentation. ×

fendrock

Senior Member
  • Posts

    124
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by fendrock

  1. So, Watermill, you are quite good at this... What about Twyla Tharp? Or Peter Martins? Or, in the opposite direction... who is the Woody Allen of ballet???
  2. I was reading a book by Barbara Aria, where she referred to Balanchine as "the Picasso of ballet." I'm not sure Picasso is an apt choice....
  3. I believe, also, that of all of his wives, Balanchine was married to Le Clerq for the greatest length of time (15 years?).
  4. I believe, also, that of all of his wives, Balanchine was married to Le Clerq for the greatest length of time (15 years?).
  5. It seems to me that, if people were staying away due to chaotic management, last year would have been the year to do it, as the season ran without even a full-time artistic director.
  6. fendrock

    Onegin?

    Did anyone see Onegin? How was it?
  7. So I'm still curious as to how the "look and style" of Tallchief would be described in contrast to that of Farrell.
  8. So I'm still curious as to how the "look and style" of Tallchief would be described in contrast to that of Farrell.
  9. I also like the exchange where she tells a fellow dancer that George has proposed to her. The friend's response: "George who?"
  10. I also like the exchange where she tells a fellow dancer that George has proposed to her. The friend's response: "George who?"
  11. Given that Farrell and Tallchief were not contemporaries, is it possible to compare the two in the sense of the "type" of muse they were? How did Farrell and Tallchief differ in the way in which each inspired Balanchine?
  12. Given that Farrell and Tallchief were not contemporaries, is it possible to compare the two in the sense of the "type" of muse they were? How did Farrell and Tallchief differ in the way in which each inspired Balanchine?
  13. I'm reading Maria Tallchief's autobiography. For the first time, I'm learning about a Balanchine muse other than Suzanne Farrell. According to this book, Balanchine made many important ballets on Tallchief (she lists Firebird, Swan Lake, Symphony in C, Scotch Symphony and The Nutcracker). He continued to do so even after they were no longer married. In addition, she seems to have had unprecedented training as a Balanchine dancer. Balanchine spent one summer giving class to just Tallchief and her partner at the time (Nicky ??? -- can't remember the last name). Why does Suzanne Farrell get so much more recognition as Balanchine's muse and interpreter?
  14. I'm reading Maria Tallchief's autobiography. For the first time, I'm learning about a Balanchine muse other than Suzanne Farrell. According to this book, Balanchine made many important ballets on Tallchief (she lists Firebird, Swan Lake, Symphony in C, Scotch Symphony and The Nutcracker). He continued to do so even after they were no longer married. In addition, she seems to have had unprecedented training as a Balanchine dancer. Balanchine spent one summer giving class to just Tallchief and her partner at the time (Nicky ??? -- can't remember the last name). Why does Suzanne Farrell get so much more recognition as Balanchine's muse and interpreter?
  15. I just want to say that, here in the Boston area, Brunswick Sardines are getting quite a bit of radio commercial air time, and I think ballet is an easier sell than sardines.
  16. I paid full price for the four temperaments book, and I regretted it. The story line is weak and the ballet stuff does not ring at all true (for example, the main character has bloody toes in the first week after she goes on pointe).
  17. Yes, Boston still has First Night. I've only been once, and it was a bit of a zoo. I agree with Bijoux that potential audience members need to be educated. I envision smaller programs in a more intimate venue. (The Wang is very large, and the cheaper seats are high enough to leave one gasping for air.) The pieces should be short and easy on the eyes, so that they can appeal to those who may have a shorter attention span. The key thing is to make it easy to enjoy attending -- this should help draw them in. Personally, I think it would be fine to use Boston Ballet II dancers (it's all in the marketing....).
  18. Maybe I didn't express myself very well... story ballets sell the most tickets (at least in Boston), but it dance companies want to do other things as well. How best to sell more tickets to other types of ballets? A recent Boston Globe writer did emphaize that the Boston Ballet would not be opening with the usual story ballet -- suggesting that that was a good thing.
  19. In terms of dancers "linking it to something they know viscerally..." Both my [10-year-old] daughter and I imagined the dance taking place in a dance class -- and I'm sure dancers showing off in class is something dancers know viscerally....
  20. I was at an introductory talk with Mikko Nissenen. Nissenen said that he hoped that Boston would come to follow and root for the Boston Ballet almost as if it were a sports team. The idea was that people would come to see the Ballet because they loved it and supported it, and not simply because they knew it was easy to watch and be entertained by [fill in the blank -- The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, etc.]. Thus, untraditional ballet opened the season, and, sadly, Boston audiences were true to form in that they stayed away in droves. My question -- how would you advise Mr. Nissenen on how to make his vision of Boston Ballet and its audience a reality? Here's a first suggestion -- season subscribers get tickets at low or no cost to a second viewing of less popular ballets. This increases attendance, and enables those interested to further educate themselves (by seeing the same ballet twice) OR by enabling them to pass the tickets along to people who otherwise wouldn't go because of the cost.
  21. I attended the first Saturday matinee of this season opener. My impressions, which are those of a non-dancer/newcomer to ballet viewing -- Morris was fine, the World Premiere mostly didn't work for me, and "In the Middle" was fantastic. One thing interesting to compare among the three dances was the use of walking entries. Morris' were very "balletic" and graceful. In the World Premiere, the entrances were quite "pedestrian," and, coupled with the space age costumes, made one feel as if it might be an opening scene from Star Trek. The dancers in Middle entered with "attitude", which contributed to the overall sense and mood of the piece. I did not like the dancing without music in the World Premiere, as it resulted in dance without context. Perhaps musicless dancing would work with a piece based on atonal or electronic music, but I don't think it works with Bach. The World Premiere included some dance vocabulary that didn't make sense to me, such as touching heads and frog-like squatting. There was also a sequence where the dancers raised a platform on its side, and the female danced behind it as a kind of screen. Dancing behind a screen worked in "Madame Butterfly," but here you just felt like you couldn't see what she was doing. I didn't expect to like "In the Middle," in part because of the electronic score (which was indeed quite repetitive). I loved it though. The energy of the dancers, the use of classical technique, combined with gestures to create Attitude -- it was great. I read somewhere that "In the Middle" provides for the dancers to improvise some movements, and I'd love to know what was improvised in the performance I saw -- perhaps the movement of tying pointe shoe ribbons, or the mimed measuring of string? Finally, the performances I saw included dancers from Boston Ballet II, so the new Artistic Director seems to be encouraging those coming up the ranks.
  22. Don't think for a minute I was suggesting that non-Western dancers are not of the same calibre as Western dancers. I am pondering the process as much as the product, I guess. If a culture has a long tradition in any specific art, that should mean that more people in the general population participate, and, by force of sheer numbers, the result should be a high competency rate in that art. Thus, the odds are highly against an American child gaining exposure to Kabuki theater, finding the proper training, and succeeding in the field. And, even if he did, he would probably have to leave the country to find employment opportunities. I was also thinking that one probably needs to differentiate the ability of an individual to succeed in an art form (even our hypothetical American Kabuki actor), and the popularity and quality of an art form in a given society. The latter can enrich the individual artist and give him/her greater opportunity to perform, but is not a prerequisite to creating a gifted artist in the first place.
  23. Hmmm, not sure if this is the right place to reply, but.... For me, the question is related to what it means to develop an art form. Somewhere, some how, it seems to me that an art form should in some way reflect the general culture. Thus, for example, it is curious that Japan produces serious ballet dancers, yet (according to your thread reference) Japan did not have a ballet company until 1997. It is somewhat like Jamaica providing a bobsledding team -- is the development of good ballet something that can be done anywhere with the right physique and good training? Or does "good ballet" require an environment that includes enthusiastic and educated audiences, choreography founded in a local tradition, and schools with a significant history?
  24. I was interested to see remarks on the IBC pertaining to the strong Chinese contingent on the competitive ballet scene. I was curious about strong dancers coming from a country with a generally hostile attitude toward the West. Does it seem strange to produce strong dancers in an environment lacking the ballet tradition found in other countries?
×
×
  • Create New...