Ballet Cop on the Beat – Stop the jihad

According to the Itar-Tass news agency, Grigorovich’s Spartacus has just won the “Champion” title of Ballet of the 21st Century.  And it was such an underdog.  Apparently, the Russians didn’t get the memo from Jennifer Homans that Spartacus was “quite clearly a degraded form of art” – oh, my goodness.  Oh, wait, was that Spartacus on the front of the Summer 2010 Ballet Review?  How can there be a degraded form of art on the cover of this ballet scholar quarterly?  Oh, my goodness, again. 

 

Haglund wishes that the Balanchinistas would stop their jihadish effort to portray all choreographers as inferior to Balanchine.  It’s starting to look like the Elvis fans attacking the Beatles, and Balanchine didn’t even come close to what Elvis was.  It’s truly tiresome and a turn-off. 

 

Any Balanchinista’s quality-comparison of choreography she knows intimately as the result of performing it to choreography she knows only casually as a spectator doesn’t square.  The bias can’t be controlled for.   It doesn’t add up to anything but a gassy pile of digested beans.

 

Haglund remembers walking out on a Pacific Northwest Ballet performance in the early '80s, when the company was a marginal Balanchine franchise, because he was so offended by the women’s substitution of Balanchine cliches and faults for fundamental ballet technique.  Flapping wrists, practiced overbites, splayed fingers, crotch-displaying arabesques, flailing arms – that was the aesthetic presented at that time.  Thank goodness it’s dying – if all too slowly.  Thank goodness NYCB women don’t dance like they used to dance.  Thank goodness.

 

Now, for a Spartacus thrill, go here.  This clip is a splicing together of performances by Vasiliev/Maximova and Mukhamedov/Bessmertnova – sixteen years apart.  Thrilling.  Dramatic.  Passionate.

Comments

[Benita]

Spartacus is one of the only true, decent roles for male dancers. He is not pining for a woman since he already in a relationship, he is trying to save a group of people. Spartacus is far more noble than any of the tiring "Princes" that we are force fed on a regular basis and yes, that includes Balanchine's princes as well.

[Haglund]

Hi Benita! I remember the first time I saw a live performance of Spartacus. Throughout the performance I would be at the edge of my seat and then literally thrown to the back of my chair in disbelief at what I saw. The ballet is so powerful, in part, because the choreography makes you feel the music so intensely.

[Marie]

I still remember seeing the Mukhamedov/Semenyaka Spartacus in LA in the late 80s. The KGB were in the wings, watching us all. I was riveted by the performance. It makes me sad that a major dance critic does not have broader taste. There ought to be room for different "kinds" of choreography, just as one can appreciate different kinds of dancers.

On a personal and selfish note, I am glad to read more of your feelings about Homans' criticism. You've thought more about ballet than I have, and I appreciate learning what you think about her writings.

(Forgive incoherence--it's late, just home from Don Carlo)

[Benita]

I forgot to mention this: I find it unfair of the NY Times to allow Toni Bentley, a former Balanchine dancer to review fellow former Balanchine dancer, Jennifer Hormans' book. A little objectivity por favor!

[Haglund]

Thank you, Marie and Benita, for your comments. The objectivity issue isn't helped by the dance criticism written by Robert Gottlieb, who used to sit on the board of NYCB.