Mirrors and Scrims: The Life and Afterlife of Ballet

417 Pages·2010·2.36 MB·English

by  Marcia B. Siegel

Mirrors & Scrims
books by marcia b. siegel
Howling Near Heaven: Twyla Tharp and the Reinvention of Modern Dance
The Tail of the Dragon: New Dance 1976–1982
Days on Earth: The Dance of Doris Humphrey
The Shapes of Change: Images of American Dance
Watching the Dance Go By
At the Vanishing Point: A Critic Looks at Dance
MIRRORS
& SCRIMS
The Life and Afterlife of Ballet
Marcia B. Siegel
wesleyan university press Middletown, Connecticut
Published by
Wesleyan University Press,
Middletown, CT 06459
www.wesleyan.edu/wespress
∫ 2010 by Marcia B. Siegel
All rights reserved
Printed in U.S.A.
5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Siegel, Marcia B.
Mirrors and scrims : the life and afterlife of ballet /
Marcia B. Siegel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8195-6875-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-8195-6926-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Ballet—History. 2. Ballet dancers—History.
3. Ballet companies—History. I. Title.
gv1787.6.s54 2010
792.809—dc22 2009036031
Title page photograph: Les Biches (Nijinska).
∫ Jack Vartoogian/FrontRowPhotos.
Wesleyan University Press is a member
of the Green Press Initiative. The paper
used in this book meets their minimum
requirement for recycled paper.
Contents
List of Illustrations vii Classic in Retrograde 93
Preface ix Raymonda Redux 95
Introduction xi Beautification 97
Two Tales Retold 100
∞. legends
The Rose and the Scimitar 1 ≥. postlude and prelude
Le Sacre Reconstructed 4 George Balanchine, 1904–1983 104
Afternoon of a Legend 6 Edwin Denby, 1903–1983 111
Nijinsky’s Crime against Grace 15 Balanchine and Beyond 113
Nijinsky in Translation 17 The Magic of Mr. B 115
When Ballet Leaped into Today 24 Couples 118
Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Putting a Little Orange in Their
Nijinska 27 Life 124
Weddings 30 Ives and Robbins 131
Because I Must 32 Modern Dance versus Classical
Balletomaniacs 37 Ballet 134
Robert Joffrey, 1930–1988 39 Changing the Guards 136
The Hum of the Turbine, the Roar Patricia McBride’s Farewell 143
of the Crowd 41 A Ballet’s Best Friend 146
Tragic Tropes and Anti-tropes 153
≤. movable classics Apollonian Ventures 155
Farm Frolic 46 Village of Dancers 157
Bolshoi Wrap-up 47 Chris and Friends 159
Cabrioles at Dawn 50
Why We Need the Classics 53 ∂. balanchine diaspora
Shazam! 57 Mozart Violin Concerto 164
Danes at the Met 59 Cotillon 166
200 Years of Geniality 61 Fable in a Lucite Landscape 168
Kitri’s Caboodle 69 Miami City Ballet 175
Kirov on Tour 72 Ur-texts 177
Swamped 75 In Search of Repertory 179
Swans under Glass 76 Guarding the Legacy 182
Kingdom of the Sweet 78 Dances under Glass 186
Everybody’s Treat 89 Ballet, Big Time 190
Royal Ballet’s Bayadère 91 Balanchine at Harvard 191
Links to a Legacy 193 Hoop Tamer 296
Sparkle Plenty 196 Zaloomy Toons 297
Balanchinian Baubles 198 Largely Bill Irwin 299
What Bodies Are For 200 Clowns in Flight 301
Fateful Journeys 202 Warm with Showers 303
Decoding Balanchine 205 Apple Pie 305
Multicult—The Show 307
∑. ballet in transit Toes on Their Fingers and Drums
Forsythe’s Artifact 207 in Their Heart 312
De Keersmaeker’s Elena’s Aria 209 Tapstravaganza 314
Maguy Marin’s Babel Babel 210 Tap Meets Highbrow 317
Forsythe and Marin 212 Hearts on Fire, Feet on Ice 318
Tetley’s La Ronde 214
Morris’s Drink to Me 216 π. riffs and translations
Strangers in the Palace 218 Portable Traditions 323
Too Brief a Fling 223 Swan Migrations 325
Resurfacing 225 Toe Frolic 326
Survival Skills 231 Trockin’ On 329
Planet of Cool 237 Decomposing Sugar Plums and
Mind Matters 238 Robot Mice 331
Lovelyland 240 After-dinner Nuts 338
Building Blocks 242 Nureyev’s Cinderella 340
Poets Lost and Found 244 Grigorovich’s The Golden Age 341
Dancing Americanness 248 Anti-balletics 343
Evolution/Devolution 251 Yo, Jewels! 345
Dreaming and Remembrance 254 A Dream Awakes 347
A Century in Brief 258 See It Live 349
Enigma in the Middle 267 Waking Somewhere Else 351
Wayward Dancing 354
∏. on with the show Private Domain 357
No Biz Like It 275 Mysterious Histories 360
Post-ballet Performance 277 Plain Folks’ Tales 363
Jerome Robbins’s Broadway 278 Reclaiming the Ordinary 366
What They Did for Michael 280 Pomo Retro Rite 370
Razzle 285
Center Stage 287 Notes 379
Billy Elliot 288 Index 383
House on Hold 289
Crash Dancing 290
Braving the Elements 292
Illustrations
Le Sacre du Printemps (Nijinsky/Hodson), Joffrey Ballet 5
L’Après-midi d’un Faune (Nijinsky), Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes 12
Les Biches (Nijinska), Dance Theater of Harlem 29
Giselle, Bolshoi Ballet 48
Swan Lake, American Ballet Theater 58
La Bayadère, American Ballet Theater 92
Sleeping Beauty, Kirov Ballet 99
Ecstatic Orange (Martins), New York City Ballet 125
Ives, Songs (Robbins), New York City Ballet 132
Barber Violin Concerto (Martins), New York City Ballet 135
Behind the China Dogs (Forsythe), New York City Ballet 141
Russian Seasons (Ratmansky), New York City Ballet 158
There Where She Loved (Wheeldon), Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company 162
La Chatte (Balanchine), Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes 170
Serenade (Balanchine), Boston Ballet 178
Rubies (Balanchine), Miami City Ballet 184
Tzigane (Balanchine), Suzanne Farrell Company 194
Emeralds (Balanchine), New York City Ballet 197
Four Temperaments (Balanchine), Boston Ballet 203
Dark Elegies (Tudor), Boston Conservatory Dance Company 257
Afternoon of a Faun (Robbins), New York City Ballet 264
A Chorus Line (Bennett) 282
Corteo, Cirque du Soleil 302
Classical Savion, Savion Glover 315
Swan Lake, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo 327
The Hard Nut (Morris), Mark Morris Dance Group 335
RoS Indexical (Rainer) 371
This page intentionally left blank
Preface
Over the years covered by this collection, I contributed on a regular basis to
several publications and wrote occasionally for others. The tone of the
writing changes slightly according to the type of publication. In some arti-
cles, my extra-performance research is thoroughly documented; other pub-
lications discourage footnoting. But as a consistent practice, I try, at least
informally, to identify the source of quoted material.
In 1996 I moved from New York City to Massachusetts and began writ-
ing regularly for the Boston Phoenix. Rather than append a dateline to every
entry in this volume, I’m trusting the reader will understand that the per-
formances reviewed for the Phoenix were Boston-based and those prior to
1996 took place in New York, except when I traveled to other locations
noted in the respective pieces.
I’m indebted to the publicists who made it possible for me to attend
performances and supplied additional information, pictures, and record-
ings when requested.
I’m very grateful for the generous cooperation of the photographers
whose fine work illustrates this book.
All writers tremble for the fate of their work once it leaves their com-
puters. I’ve been fortunate to have understanding editors who not only
made space for dance coverage but respected my writing by handling it
lightly. In particular I want to thank Bruce Manuel, my editor for five years
when I covered New York dance for the Christian Science Monitor; Jeffrey
Gantz, arts editor at the Phoenix, who’s kept the paper a principal site for
dance coverage in Boston; and Paula Deitz and the late Fred Morgan,
whose unflagging enthusiasm has brought my essays into the Hudson Re-
view for nearly four decades.
I would also like to thank Suzanna Tamminen, editor-in-chief of Wes-
leyan University Press, for inviting me to propose this collection and send-
ing it on its way into print.
As always, I thank the dancers, for making dance live.
—Marcia B. Siegel