BW

What images you've each given us - the mirrored hallway with candles...incredible! Merci beaucoup! Someday I, too, hope to attend. Reading this topic makes me think of the effect that the atmosphere and/or architecture of a venue has upon the performance being seen. Ultimately, if one is watching a ballet, one should, in my opinion, be transported and become completely unaware of one's real surroundings (barring, of course, the unpredictable interference from one's audience members).... And yet, having a setting as you all have described here must have a huge impact on the audience, as well as the ballet dancers themselves. That image of the smallest, young dancer...and the ensuing Defile takes my breath away.

OK, agreed - I wouldn't want to see someone so debilitated that they weren't able to perform. In the case that you describe, Lillian, of Heather Watts - if, she were in that bad shape before the performance, then she should never have gone on. This kind of story...along with Pavarotti situation. But there are some things that you all might take note of, that I wouldn't even see! And, Leigh, your last post brings up an interesting juxtaposition - if someone is a technical virtuoso and not a "personality":) capable of bringing really good acting abilities to the fore, then this maybe the sticking point.

OK, agreed - I wouldn't want to see someone so debilitated that they weren't able to perform. In the case that you describe, Lillian, of Heather Watts - if, she were in that bad shape before the performance, then she should never have gone on. This kind of story...along with Pavarotti situation. But there are some things that you all might take note of, that I wouldn't even see! And, Leigh, your last post brings up an interesting juxtaposition - if someone is a technical virtuoso and not a "personality":) capable of bringing really good acting abilities to the fore, then this maybe the sticking point.

Ed, I think you've picked up on the duality of it all - who's life is it anyway? Is it the star wanting to perform and hold back time - or is it our collective desire to see them "one last time"? I'm with you and Lillian on this - I definitely want to be there to see the brilliance and am more than willing to overlook just about anything. I guess that is star power at its zenith.

Ed, I think you've picked up on the duality of it all - who's life is it anyway? Is it the star wanting to perform and hold back time - or is it our collective desire to see them "one last time"? I'm with you and Lillian on this - I definitely want to be there to see the brilliance and am more than willing to overlook just about anything. I guess that is star power at its zenith.

Sorry, balletmama, I didn't hear him:( - I did hear he said something "good" however, I would have liked to know exactly what it was that he did say! He is a very interesting man, and I really like him...but I don't know when he is on the air. Maybe WQXR has a website?!

Just wondering, if anyone heard Francis Mason's remarks on WQXR? Oh, Vagansmom, I wish I had been given a program when I was there - didn't see anything in writing - I've heard so many great things about Barry Hughson - and not just from you, either. It would have made that particular piece even more interesting... because there were no programs handed out at the door for the finals, I had to rely on my seat mates to keep me informed! The good news is as Victoria wrote: So let's hope next year will be better in the logistics department!

Thought some of you might have missed this in yesterday's (May 13th) paper: "Promising Young Talent on Display, With or Without Music" by Jack Anderson Dance Students shared the stage with experienced professionals when Youth America Grand Prix held its 2002 gala and awards ceremony last Monday night at Alice Tully Hall. The competition, for classical and contemporary ballet students 8 to 19 was founded in 1999 by Larissa and Gennadi Saveliev... for more read on - and it's worth reading! http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/13/arts/dan...nce/13COMP.html

:eek: Now this is thin ice upon which we're treading! I believe I attempted to ask q question along these lines over on the Discovering Ballet section...maybe it will get more play here. I hope so. Stopping the pursuit of something one loves more than anything else, must be one of the hardest things in the world to do. I know of ballet dancers who've asked each other to promise to stop dancing before they reached a certain age...and some don't always seem to listen. But don't you think it all depends on the individual and what kind of ballet they are dancing? I feel that contemporary ballet can offer much more flexibility when it comes to age. I also think that there are ballet dancers who "retire" from well known, prestigious companies and yet, still continue to perform for a number of years...but when to stop completely, unless injured, must be a hard decision to make if the dancer feels they are still capable. I imagine bad reviews have an impact. I think we'd all like to think we'd quit while we were ahead and go down in a blaze of glory, rather than to sink slowly. It's especially easy for those of us who are not dancers - professionally or otherwise. ;)

:eek: Now this is thin ice upon which we're treading! I believe I attempted to ask q question along these lines over on the Discovering Ballet section...maybe it will get more play here. I hope so. Stopping the pursuit of something one loves more than anything else, must be one of the hardest things in the world to do. I know of ballet dancers who've asked each other to promise to stop dancing before they reached a certain age...and some don't always seem to listen. But don't you think it all depends on the individual and what kind of ballet they are dancing? I feel that contemporary ballet can offer much more flexibility when it comes to age. I also think that there are ballet dancers who "retire" from well known, prestigious companies and yet, still continue to perform for a number of years...but when to stop completely, unless injured, must be a hard decision to make if the dancer feels they are still capable. I imagine bad reviews have an impact. I think we'd all like to think we'd quit while we were ahead and go down in a blaze of glory, rather than to sink slowly. It's especially easy for those of us who are not dancers - professionally or otherwise. ;)

No swan confusion here: Since the NY Times doesn't put their regional news on line:( - I thought I'd post this here, plus I do admit that I have a vested interest, i.e., a dancer in it. This was in Sunday's Westchester section of the NYT in the "Footlights" section: 'Swan Lake' for Westchester Valentina Kozlova, a master teacher at the Scarsdale Ballet Studio, has long wanted to stage 'Swan Lake' in Westchester for the studio's International Ballet Project. Ms. Kozlova, who defected from Russia in 1979, danced the lead in the ballet for both the Bolshoi and the New York City Ballet. Now she has her wish. She will again dance the dual roles of Odette and Odile next Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3p.m., in a full-length production at Purchase College Dance Conservatory's Dance Theater Lab....Advanced students and graduates of the Scarsdale Ballet Studio will join her...Prince Siegfried will be danced by Andrei Jouravlev of the New Jersey Ballet..." If any of you Westchesterites or Connecticut posters are interested it's 5/18 at 8pm abd 5/19 at 3pm. If so, you can call (914) 725-8754 for more info., and just think - you could even post your impressions right here on our safe haven of Discovering Ballet! Are there other posters out there in cyberland who might like to let us know about performances that they think might be of interest? I believe Nutmeg Ballet has one coming up soon, too.

I really wish that one of the founders or top officials from the YAGP would read these posts and respond. Hope springs eternal!

Marga, I find this shocking! That there were students who This certainly does not seem "kosher" to me. A competition is a competition...otherwise, why not change the whole program into a "by invitation" only event? I am serious. In my opinion, it is unbelievable that there were judges judging their own students at the competition - let alone, being allowed to just bring their own students (even one student!) to a "competition" without having to go through the same trials at the regional that everyone else had to go through....even sending a video is better than this. This is beginning to remind me of the Canadian skaters vs. the Russian skaters at the Olympics!;) But seriously, a "competition" is just that, if it is run fairly and well. I have no doubt that the intentions of the people that started the YAGP were totally above board...and very good. I think it has a great deal of potential but obviously needs some serious organizational work. Lack of organization is one thing, but this double standard of allowing students to "enter" is entirely on another level. If what you are saying is really true, I am really amazed. Aubri's post back in the beginning of this thread were bad enough - this is worse, because, if true it is so obviously wrong. Balletmama, I have no doubt that there have been many good things that have come out of YAGP, and that many participants have benefited in all sorts of different ways...but the accounts that have been posted on this thread are not to be taken lightly. New events like this take time and fine tuning. If YAGP is to continue, it is my hope that the originators and organizers will be made aware of these disparities and complaints...otherwise it does not bode well. I urge the participants and their schools and parents to write directly to YAGP to let them know of their concerns - questions, complaints and concerns don't do much good {except for "venting":)} unless they are known by the people who can effect change.

I am really glad this has engendered some lively and thoughtful responses. I hope you all will email them to the address that britomart gave us at the beginning because, maybe, just maybe it will sink in. Your reactions are all slightly different which is great. I think you can guess what I wrote so I'm not sure if it's necessary that I post it...maybe I should just for the sake of accuracy in the media ;): My first email.:It has come to my attention that NYCB has a new policy regarding "student" tickets and that there is now an age limit of 29. Since most dancers do not start their college education until their mid 30, or even later, it seems very short sighted to limit the age group in this way. Let's face it, unless they were very fortunate they are now living on limited funds and thus cannot easily foot the higher ticket prices that the general audience pays. It would seem to me that in order to keep the audience from going completely gray, one might want to encourage students, of just about any age, to come to the ballet by keeping at least their ticket prices reasonable. Plus, students with any luck "grow up" to be a more moneyed class eventually...and will become your greatest supporters. My response to NYCB's email. I'm sorry to say that I wimped out a bit here! I appreciate your quick, personal response to my email. And, you do make a good point about the Fourth Ring Society - I'd forgotten about that one! Just so you know, I am a supporter of NYCB and I am not a former dancer - although my young daughter hopes to be a professional one day. I realize there is much we do not know about the financial workings of an organization such as NYCB and that maintaining NYCB and helping it to continue to move forward must be a daunting task. I realize now, that my initial email might have been a bit presumptuous and I apologize for that, if that is how you perceived it. I just know that many ballet companies find that they are not reaching as broad an audience as they would like - broad in the sense of socioeconomic terms and that it is important to keep in mind the long-term view of audience growth and financial participation. As you say, financial choices are made at different times in one's life. Perhaps you are right that a certain group should not be given special treatment but I hadn't really envisioned giving a discount to a student in their 50s! Where does one draw the line? I take your point - that defining line of demarcation is a tough one. Many places my 7th grade daughter is not considered a student and thus I pay full price for her....and I may be just as strapped as the ex-dancer. I appreciate your writing back to me and have now adjusted my thinking a bit...although I am still sympathetic to some of our "starving artists". The last response I got was much more polite Thanks for your note. Understanding all round always helps. As I said, I wimped out. I hope that others will send their own emails and/or real letters to others besides this particular person, for as I think it was Leigh who said - often the people who answer these sorts of emails are not skilled in the arts of diplomacy or longterm fundraising!

I just thought I would share the response I received to my email to from Director of Research and Online Media : Thank you for your interest in New York City Ballet. I would think that dancers as a class of consumers would care deeply about maintaining the financial viability of dance companies. NYCB must raise over $19 million this year alone, in part, to keep prices as reasonable as they are (less than Broadway, far less than the Metropolitan Opera House). In a post-9/11 world that is harder than ever before. Dancers, like everyone else, do earn a living. Most begin before the rest of us. Income distribution begins earlier in the case of most dancers and ends earlier. Most, if wise, have savings. What they choose to do with them, as is the case for everyone, is a matter of personal choice. The argument that enabling Student Rush attendance for any "student" regardless of age--in their 30's, 40's 50's, or 60's--will somehow prevent "graying" of the audience is clearly without merit. What you are asking is that former dancers, as a class of consumers, be given a price advantage. There are other low-price alternatives for attending New York City Ballet in addition to Student Rush. The Company makes available the Fourth Ring Society where tickets can be secured for $12 each with a $15 annual membership. Sincerely, I have to admit that I'd forgotten about the Fourth Ring Society.

Your last sentence says it all. It does not make any sense at all. Thank you for telling us. My email is on its way.

Treefrog - I thought Cats was a very expensive way to be bored for way too long too! I feel better just for saying that. As for the pyrotechnics that can sometimes be seen - I often enjoy them myself, if they're in good taste. But, as we all know, there is no accounting for taste. ;) Today I was at the YAGP finals in NYC, and I saw a bit of both the "whiz bang" and the artistry that can be seen in ballet. I prefer the artistry. But as Leigh wrote, you can have both in ballet...but sometimes you don't always want both. I think one of the hardest parts for me, as a relative novice, is knowing what I should be seeing when I see a particular variation, or even a whole ballet. In other words, unless I know the dance very, very, well - I may not be aware that a "whiz bang" step has been added that wasn't there in the original...thus, changing the choreography so radically that the original intent of the dance has been altered. Does this make sense? For example, today while I was watching a young man perform a variation from Le Corsair...he was doing a fine job and then suddenly through in this strange move that I guess was supposed to "wow" the judges...but my companion, who is very well versed in all things ballet, commented that she had enjoyed his dance up until that very moment and that there was absolutely no reason to throw in that gymnastic trick at the end. I think that in general our culture today is very narrow minded and has not got a clue as to what it means to be a ballet dancer. I am guessing that in Europe things are quite different owing to their long cultural history of ballet. In this country it is still very rare to find many young people who have even been exposed to it. MTV just doesn't do ballet. Boy do I sound like a curmudgeon! :eek: One way to encourage more of the public to try ballet might be to have several performances through out a season for which the ticket prices are lowered substantially. Paying high prices for something one really isn't too sure one even wants to see is a tough one for most to swallow. Another plus would be to have more well done programs on television...and not at 8 o'clock in the morning like the one this past Sunday! How many people are going to turn on their TVs at that hour and look for dance? It would also help if the interviewer had some knowledge of the art so he could ask intelligent questions of his guest! Oy! Poor Albert Evans had to suffer some pretty dumb questions...but he did it with grace.

I just wanted to let you all know how interesting this topic is - especially for someone like myself who is a relative neophyte - it's a great mini history lesson. Dale, I would have to think you're right about the reasons for NYCB losing "that loving feeling" for the very reasons you state. Your description of Lesley Stahl's interview is really shocking to me. I just cannot fathom anyone's not reading their guest's autobiographies! A very telling anecdote.

Perhaps I should have posted this on a different section? Did anyone else get up nice and early today to watch this program, besides me?;) I had never had the opportunity to see The Nederland Sans Theater before - I enjoyed what I saw, but missed some of it. The first piece which I believe was called Symphony in D was a parody and seemed a bit long to me...kind of like a joke that just goes on too long. I found the interview with Albert Evans interesting but way too short. He seems like a really nice guy - very humble and down to earth. They only showed a brief shot from the rehearsal of his piece, which was really too bad - because I think that would have been really interesting to see....You know, up close and personal to the creative moment and all. The interviewer was not the best... He kept asking him about why he didn't have a title to his new piece - and even though I found Albert Evan's response to make a great deal of sense, I don't think the interviewer got it at all. Evans said he couldn't possibly give it a title until he'd seen the whole piece performed! I really was disappointed that we weren't allowed to see more of their rehearsals because I think it would have really helped to understand the process. Although this is the 10th anniversary, from what I believe I read in the NY Times today, the Diamond Project has not been seen every one of these past ten years at all, which seemed quite surprising to me. And I am still wondering why this project has gotten so much play this time around. Is it just the way it is?

Tomorrow, May 5th, on A & E at 8am on "Breakfast With the Arts" they will be interviewing Albert Evans on the new piece he is choreographing for NYCB's current Diamond Project ... then tomorrow's Sunday, NY Times has a big article about The Diamond Project in general and finally (?) on May 30th at 8pm on PBS is Live from Lincoln Center - more of The Diamond Project! Interesting don't you think? Most of the time there's practically nothing on TV about ballet. Is all this coverage solely because it is the 10th anniversary?

One place you will find Cornel Crabtree is at Symphony Space starting on June 25th. Oddly, that newspaper article didn't mention his very current and ongoing involvement with Dance Galaxy: http://dancegalaxy.org/ If you haven't seen this company of really excellent dancers, you are really missing a wonderful opportunity. I had the pleasure of seeing them last year at The Joyce. This year they're bringing the company uptown. I highly recommend seeing this company perform - last year they performed several pieces and, as good luck would have it, they are going to perform Stanton Welch's "Orange" again. Don't miss it!! The energy is amazing.

Oh, Rick, you should do whatever you want! Somehow, I think you already knew that. The worst thing in the world, to me, would be to have someone feel stifled by cultural norms. ;) As for what form of appreciation is typically American, I'm sure there will be others who will respond later... I, too, have be known to whistle at performances...but only those in which my offspring is dancing. I also do stand up and clap very loudly with a big smile on my face if I really love something - I wonder if the "standing ovation" is considered universal?

Oh, Rick, you should do whatever you want! Somehow, I think you already knew that. The worst thing in the world, to me, would be to have someone feel stifled by cultural norms. ;) As for what form of appreciation is typically American, I'm sure there will be others who will respond later... I, too, have be known to whistle at performances...but only those in which my offspring is dancing. I also do stand up and clap very loudly with a big smile on my face if I really love something - I wonder if the "standing ovation" is considered universal?

Many thanks for telling me who everyone is! I applaud Mr. Arpino for his enthusiasm! I think it's too bad that Mr. Kirstein held back so....at least, I hope he was holding back!

Many thanks for telling me who everyone is! I applaud Mr. Arpino for his enthusiasm! I think it's too bad that Mr. Kirstein held back so....at least, I hope he was holding back!