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Dancers Promoting Ballet


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A lot of letters weren’t so precious. Often as not they involved routine matters and I imagine nobody misses writing or reading those. (Historians miss them, I'm sure. The invention of the telephone probably prevented more correspondence from being written than e-mail ever will.) There’s plenty of guff on the internet, but there are also quite a few people holding lively discussions and attracting many interesting comments. People look at pictures on the web, sure. I do, too. They also do quite a lot of reading and typing, maybe more than they did before.

As to what some have said about dancers being focused on one thing to the detriment of other areas – that may well be true, but perhaps such depth and intensity of concentration in an art requiring such a high level of mastery has its own rewards, of a kind that some “well-rounded” people never know.

From GWTW's original post:

I admit to having mixed feelings about some of these endeavors. On the one hand, I feel these extra-curriculars are an incredible opportunity for the audience to gain exposure to the dancers, especially the corps de ballet dancers. It is pretty amazing to read The Winger and to be able to gain some insight into a company like ABT from both a principal’s perspective and a corp dancer. It is also very generous for a company to support its dancers in this way, especially as there can’t be any immediate financial gain for the company.

It’s nice of the companies, but it’s also publicity – 'reaching out' as they say nowadays - even if not everything that’s written is complimentary or positive. But the fact that self-interest involved doesn’t mean that everyone can’t derive benefits of different kinds. “The Winger” is a great site.

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Just to clarify, I meant precious to the recipient, since they were the only means for many, many years to hear from people and get news. While I'm sure people said, oh, yeah, he's just complaining about his gout again, a letter was something tangible to hold from a loved one, regardless of content.

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As to what some have said about dancers being focused on one thing to the detriment of other areas – that may well be true, but perhaps such depth and intensity of concentration in an art requiring such a high level of mastery has its own rewards, of a kind that some “well-rounded” people never know.

Certainly.

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It was very much Mr. B's way of responding to questions.... to find something quick, slightly funny and/or ironic, if not hilarious, to say... that would quickly bring the ballet world down to earth. Eg, go, see the ballet, love it or not, don't think about it too deeply, and then go home and do something else....

Many people who worked with Mr. B spent years being amused and appreciative of his style of verbal communication. Sometimes there were wonderful stories, but most often Mr. B showed us that he was most proud of his quick quips.

So, it comes as no surprise that Suzanne (and others) would try to imitate what she learned from Mr. B. And quite possibly, that is exactly what Mr. B said about putting M & M together.

I should have provided more context: Acocella was trying to elicit from Farrell what the specific elements were of the ballets that made GB want to keep them together. Since she knows both ballets intimately and now teaches them to others (she's stopped being only a "vessel"), I think she probably could speak to the similarities and differences b/t the two in quite some detail! She certainly provides a glimpse of this kind of distinction-making when she's coaching her dancers...perhaps it's the interview situation that clams her up. And, upon reflection, perhaps Joan A. could have asked the question differently--i.e., gotten rid of the "tell me what was in his head" tone that drives most ex-NYCBers to those familiar "je ne sais quois" responses.

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