“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

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

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