Saturday Matinee’s Second Anniversary June 17, 2009
It was my blog’s second birthday yesterday! I wanted to take this chance to send out a big THANK YOU to everyone who’s been reading and engaging in fascinating discussion. I’m so grateful that my blog has survived strong for two years with people continuing to read regularly. I know my blog hasn’t gotten that much love lately (grad school’s not been so fun these days) but there are more exciting things coming up. So go out there and enjoy an evening at the theater and talk about it!
My last night at the theater was Mark Morris’ L’Allegro in Berkeley a few weekends ago with the Mark Morris Dance Group. Morris combines the rarely seen combination of classy Handel music with irreverent, earthy yet ethereal modern dance. Still peppered with Morris’ irreverent genius and wit, I didn’t find it to be my favorite Morris masterpiece. There were sections taken literally from the lyrics and one too many stagnant moments to hold my attention throughout. But that movement where the men vacillate between violent face slapping and dainty hand holding and quirky tooshie-slapping, ingeniously set to the music, was one of the liveliest things I’d ever seen on stage. It was a movement that encapsulated Morris’ humor, intelligence, outside-the-box thinking, and pitch-perfect musicality, all in one, and it was a much needed shot of adrenaline to the concert viewing experience. And as much as I hate to admit it, that’s the one movement that will stay with me the longest about this piece.
What’s the last concert you saw?
Congratulations, Jolene…I know how good it feels to reach important milestones as a blogger!
Thanks Philip! You’re right – I’m so grateful blogging is still fun. Here’s to many more years of blogging for both of us! *clink*
Hi Jolene,
Congrats to your second anniversary. I wish you well.
Here is something for you and perhaps..your readers. I just read a dance review of NYCB “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” written by Eric Taub. Mr. Taub wrote about Darci Kistler, one of the last remaining Balanchine’s ballerinas, it broke my heart to read his comments. I have not seen Ms. Kistler dance for a very long time, but as the last time I saw her on stage, she inspired me greatly. My wish is, if one day you do become a dance critic as well-known as Mr. Taub, and if you witnessed a bad performance because some of us dancers were perhaps having a bad day, you would kindly spare us the embarrassment on the Newspaper. Such comments that Mr. Taub wrote, I can’t help but feeling sad for Ms. Darci Kistler.
So, here it is: “It’s been awhile since Darci Kistler debuted as Titania, and she’s a fine fairy queen: girlish, impetuous, and imperious. Fine, that is, when she’s acting. Dancing, it’s another story. She relied heavily on her cavalier, Charles Askegard, to carry her through their adagio, but there was only so much the veteran Askegard, who’s made a career out of partnering problematic NYCB ballerinas, could accomplish without actually dancing her steps for her. Even Askegard’s best efforts at turning Kistler’s tiny jumps into breathtaking flights eventually came up short. I have never seen a veteran ballerina work more assiduously to destroy her audience’s positive memories of her career than Kistler who really should have retired at least five years ago. Here, her charm couldn’t offset her inability to do more than sketch Titania’s solos, or her odd deportment when she seems to think nobody’s watching her. So limited as she’s become, she so stressed the slapstick humor of Titania’s duet with the enchanted Bottom that she cheapened and obscured Balanchine’s subtler text on the ennobling nature of even the most ridiculous-seeming love. It was a duet between a donkey and a dead horse walking.”
Link to the article: http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_09/jul09/et_rev_nycb_0609.htm
Thanks JAD! I would love to be a critic one day, and I’m flattered that you think I could be!
This reminds me of another article I read, probably one of the most jaw-dropping articles I’d read in a long time. I envy Macaulay’s honesty (I like that his opinion is like having a brutally honest friend give you his thoughts as you’re watching a ballet, including inside jokes and the like), but I’d be interested in knowing what you think about the article. He mentions Kistler as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/arts/dance/01maca.html
Two of my favorite quotes about critics:
“Critics always feel they are cleverer than the artists.” – Vaslav Nijinsky.
“Critics are like eunuchs in a harem. They are there every night. They see it done every night. They know how it should be done. But they cannot do it themselves.” – Kenneth Williams