Fall Season

[nanushka]

8 minutes ago, BLalo said:

Yes. I didn’t think it was unknown. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-barrelled_name

Maybe just by me! (And Adrian, it would seem.) Thanks for the link.

I guess in my experience such names are common enough that I just wouldn't ever think to comment on them in the way Macaulay has, then.

Edited October 17, 2019 by nanushka

[BLalo]

27 minutes ago, nanushka said:

Maybe just by me! (And Adrian, it would seem.) Thanks for the link.

I guess in my experience such names are common enough that I just wouldn't ever think to comment on them in the way Macaulay has, then.

I don’t think he was making any kind of comment. He finds AD-W’s name difficult to pronounce so instead he calls him Double-Barreled, probably because he thinks it’s witty because his surname is literally a double-barreled surname. 

[nanushka]

15 minutes ago, BLalo said:

I don’t think he was making any kind of comment. He finds AD-W’s name difficult to pronounce so instead he calls him Double-Barreled, probably because he thinks it’s witty because his surname is literally a double-barreled surname. 

Right. I think that in itself is a type of (implicit) comment, of a sort.

Edited October 17, 2019 by nanushka

[miliosr]

14 hours ago, fondoffouettes said:

After hearing for years that Balanchine established the aesthetic for thin, willowy dancers, I was amazed when I first started watching old videos of NYCB and saw such a diversity of body types represented, and far fewer women who were stick thin than we might see today. 

Even Suzanne Farrell has said that there's been too much sameness in body type since Balanchine died, which implies that there was more variety before he died.

12 hours ago, BLalo said:

Honestly I don’t think “double-barreled” was meant as any kind of description for AD-W at all, I think “double-barreled” is just a term for that type of surname.

For example Jackson-Barrett is double-barreled surname. 

When I read Danchig-Waring's reference to "double-barreled," I immediately though of "barrel-chested":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrel_chest

 

[Kathleen O'Connell]

16 hours ago, fondoffouettes said:

To be fair, we truly don't know what Macaulay meant by "Double-Barrelled" and Danchig-Waring himself says he's not sure if it's intended as a comment about his physique. It could be a compliment, an insult or just plain dumb. But it obviously triggered what I think is a perfectly valid response.

Honestly, it doesn't matter what Macaulay meant. It's rude for anyone to refuse to refer to someone by their name, and worse than rude for a person of Macaulay's public prominence to do so. He's a journalist: part of his job is learning how to pronounce the names of the artists he writes about. He's also a human being and part of that job is according every other human being the dignity that is their right, rather than treating them as vessels for his wit. 

Edited October 17, 2019 by Kathleen O'Connell

[fondoffouettes]

25 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

Honestly, it doesn't matter what Macaulay meant. It's rude for anyone to refuse to refer to someone by their name, and worse than rude for a person of Macaulay's public prominence to do so. He's a journalist: part of his job is learning how to pronounce the names of the artists he writes about. He's also a human being and part of that job is according every other human being the dignity that is their right, rather than treating them as vessels for his wit. 

I don’t disagree; it’s rude and self-indulgent. Also, he’s referring to his last name IN PRINT, so pronunciation is truly irrelevant. I wonder if Macaulay feels freer to make these sorts of comments now that he’s a freelancer.

What’s odd is that I remember multiple instances of Macaulay indicating phonetic spellings of artists’ names in his social media posts to inform his readers of their pronunciation. And I could be misremembering, but hasn’t he commented on the way ballet titles like Serenade and Allegro Brillante are pronounced?

[dirac]

On 10/16/2019 at 5:08 PM, BLalo said:

Honestly I don’t think “double-barreled” was meant as any kind of description for AD-W at all, I think “double-barreled” is just a term for that type of surname.

For example Jackson-Barrett is double-barreled surname. 

Yes. That's what I assumed when I read what Macaulay wrote. I'm sure he meant no harm, and it's just a social media post, but it's not as cute as he thinks it is.

[Marta]

8 hours ago, dirac said:

Yes. That's what I assumed when I read what Macaulay wrote. I'm sure he meant no harm, and it's just a social media post, but it's not as cute as he thinks it is.

I didn't think it was cute at all.  It was being rude in the guise of  a "joke", although unfunny, at D-W's expense.

[BalanchineFan]

7 hours ago, dirac said:

Yes. That's what I assumed when I read what Macaulay wrote. I'm sure he meant no harm, and it's just a social media post, but it's not as cute as he thinks it is.

Is double-barrelled a more common expression in the British vernacular? I've never heard hyphenated names described that way before and I think perhaps it's because I'm American.  I have the impression hyphenated names are more common in England, too, whereas in American the hypen is most often used by women who want to retain their maiden names in combination with their husband's name.

[Kathleen O'Connell]

19 hours ago, dirac said:

Yes. That's what I assumed when I read what Macaulay wrote. I'm sure he meant no harm, and it's just a social media post, but it's not as cute as he thinks it is.

I'm going to hazard a guess that Macaulay's social media posts have more reach than his reviews, which may well have been locked behind a paywall for much of his presumed audience, and will likely remain there. But IG's algorithm, in its relentless quest for user engagement, will happily give his careless attempt at cuteness more prominence than it deserves. 

[nanushka]

46 minutes ago, BalanchineFan said:

Is double-barrelled a more common expression in the British vernacular? I've never heard hyphenated names described that way before and I think perhaps it's because I'm American.  I have the impression hyphenated names are more common in England, too, whereas in American the hypen is most often used by women who want to retain their maiden names in combination with their husband's name.

In my experience, hyphenated names are not uncommon among American millennials (especially those with upper-middle class, coastal, urban/surburban backgrounds), whose mothers have more often retained their "maiden" names (awful term) than those of earlier generations, and whose parents presumably wish their children to have both family names. In other words, I've known a lot of younger people who have had hyphenated names since birth.

20 hours ago, dirac said:

I'm sure [Macaulay] meant no harm, and it's just a social media post, but it's not as cute as he thinks it is.

Intent vs. impact, ya know? Pretty clearly, Danchig-Waring was impacted, and in an apparently not wholly positive way:

Quote

The same friend simultaneously sent me a facebook post by a critic (who served as chief of that same dance department for 10 years) in which he writes that he has a difficult time pronouncing my hyphenated last name (Danchig-Waring) and instead prefers to call me “Double-Barreled.” He does it a lot— to the point I start to wonder whether this actually makes me less or more of a mouthful for a critic. I’m now trying to figure out if this nickname is a not-so-subtle reference to my body. And I’m searching this photo for clues. 

As for "just a social media post" — this is a repeated ("He does it a lot") bit of "cuteness" by the recent chief dance critic of the New York Times, and social media is no longer on the peripheries of the cultural conversation, so I'm in agreement with others who see this as self-indulgent, tiresome and discourteous.

Edited November 15, 2019 by nanushka

[Quiggin]

Quote

In the 19th century, the practice of hyphenation spread among the bourgeoisie. Upwardly mobile Brits may have thought that double-barreled surnames—so called to evoke the gentlemanly pastime of hunting—would win them respect.

Came across that from Slate's Explainer along with a short history of hyphenation in England – how it was originally used to preserve estates when there was no male heir or to preserve illustrious names. In France apparently (:Wikipedia) there were double hyphenated (--) names to distinguish ancient compound names from the newly minted names of the rising upper middle class in the 19c.

So the use of "double barrel" is not original with Macaulay it seems, and pretty well worn by now. In this case, Danchig-Waring, it is rather annoying after the second time, like a form of hectoring. But maybe in England hyphenated names signal some sort of class differences they don't in the US – though I don't think Macaulay reads ballet with a Marxist slant (which might be interesting).

[dirac]

6 hours ago, BalanchineFan said:

Is double-barrelled a more common expression in the British vernacular? I've never heard hyphenated names described that way before and I think perhaps it's because I'm American.  I have the impression hyphenated names are more common in England, too, whereas in American the hypen is most often used by women who want to retain their maiden names in combination with their husband's name.

I don't know, BalanchineFan. I'm American too, and all I can say is that when I see "double-barrelled" in reference to surnames I know what it means. I agree, in the U.S. I've only ever seen it in use by married women or in rarer cases the husband will take  the, ahem, double-barrelled surname as well.  I used to wonder what would happen to family names if their children persisted in the practice - names could get quite unwieldy after a generation or two.

Quote

Came across that from Slate's Explainer along with a short history of hyphenation in England – how it was originally used to preserve estates when there was no male heir or to preserve illustrious names.

That's interesting, Quiggin, thanks. We have an example in the current royal family of hyphenation - the family name became Mountbatten-Windsor when Philip married into the family, as a sort of consolation prize for his wife not taking his name. Of course, had his wife's family kept their own name, it would have become a quadruple-barrelled name, e.g. Mountbatten-Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (or Battenberg-Saxe-Coburg-Gotha). But I digress.

There may be something intrinsically comic about hyphenated names that encourages joke-making. I think of Monty Python's Gervaise Brooke-Hampster and Vivian Smith-Smythe-Smith. More recently I think it was Jesse Green who called Harry Hadden-Paton Harry Ham 'n' Bacon.

[lmspear]

And let's raise a glass to Audrey Forbes-Hamilton.

[Helene]

On 9/24/2019 at 10:05 AM, FPF said:

She also says that she's joining PNB starting with Nutcracker.

Villwock is now on the PNB roster (in corps) and, unless there were changes from the printed program, was Grandmother in last night's Nutcracker (Fri, Dec 7).

[canbelto]

oops wrong thread

Edited December 10, 2019 by canbelto

[Royal Blue]

A year ago I attended no less than ten NYCB Nutcracker performances, more than any previous season. One especially satisfying and beautifully performed section was "Marzipan," with Sarah Villwock as a shepherdess in eight of them—three as the lead.

Two of her assignments during the fall were particularly notable. First, it was a lovely gesture to cast her as one of the demi-soloists in the supernal second movement of Symphony in C, including at the final performance of the season. Additionally, in a work which includes a segment titled "To Live in the Hearts We Leave Behind," Villwock's presence and exact positioning during a few poignant moments near its conclusion heightened memorably the impact of Everywhere We Go.

For her part, Lydia Wellington performed in some capacity at virtually all the "Nutcrackers" mentioned. And, of course, she was in the cast of both Symphony in C and Everywhere We Go as well. Ultimately, it hardly matters that the audience was uninformed of her imminent departure from NYCB. Despite being just a member of the corps, she was one of the most prominent individuals in the roster on account of her glamorous looks and marvelous dancing—in innumerable performances. Difficult either not to miss or to forget her!

[cubanmiamiboy]

On 10/9/2019 at 8:50 AM, Kathleen O'Connell said:

Stripping off the wigs and the kimonos might not be enough to take away the taint of, for lack of a better term, the Western gaze. 

Stripping the ballet off the wigs and kimonos would be equal to erase it. I really don't think anyone who loves it would settle for such. And of course, the Trust would never agree to it.

I might be in the minority here, but I see it as one of the most beautiful, stylized, non traditional Balanchine ballets. 

I really hope it survives in non American revivals. Actually I REALLY would hope it could find a caring nest in an Asian company.

[Royal Blue]

On 9/30/2019 at 10:39 AM, cobweb said:

macnellie, this was my experience exactly the first time I saw Union Jack. At the time I was new to NYCB and had no idea about the rep, and was just buying tickets at random, not knowing what to expect. I was dumbfounded as the tattoo unfolded. It's an experience I'll never forget. And thanks for using the word "gravity" to describe it. I was going with "fierce," but "gravity" feels more right. The solemnity of the final procession, as they exit the stage and the spell comes to an end, leaves me forlorn. They march off into eternity, they will march on forever, out of my sight and grasp, while I am left here in the flawed, distracting real world. 

 

 

On 10/4/2019 at 11:57 PM, cobweb said:

Union Jack can be appreciated as a spectacle, and I do appreciate it that way. But for me it also exists on a spiritual plane. They are otherworldly creatures, stopped in their solemn march to do some sweet Scottish dancing. They never acknowledge the audience, they only acknowledge each other - sweetly, gently. Then the relentless drumbeat starts up and they resume their journey, beyond our grasp. They have a perfection that they take with them, leaving us behind in a flawed and mortal world. The formality and nobility of their posture is contrasted with the down-low real-world bickering couple of the Costermonger pdd; and the tension and constraint of their march contrasts beautifully with the good humor and warm generous spirits of Royal Navy. As I've often said: Thanks Mr. B. 

 

Interesting thoughts to keep in mind next time they offer Union Jack!

 

On 10/5/2019 at 11:03 AM, Royal Blue said:

Even though I do not feel as keenly about Union Jack as you do, cobweb, I admire your enthusiasm.

For those who love the art form and have seen many performances, it is interesting to reflect about which ballets and which moments in a particular ballet mean to us the most.

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