Romney wants war with Iran. Authoritatively confirming what we already know is ex-Mossod chief Efraim Halevy, whose interview with Al-Monitor is a must read.
Ballet goers and dancers, ask yourself what the consequence to the arts in this country will be of a protracted war with Iran and the resultant massive spike in oil prices globally?
Balanchine’s political views may have been a little, er, inconsistent, but he certainly understood human folly, venality and blindness. He had, after all, survived the apocalypses of WWI, the Russian Revolution and WWII.
This was brought back to me earlier this month when I watched at the Library for the Performing Arts a film made of New York City Ballet performing La Valse a few months after its 1951 premiere.
The great Patricia Wilde was in town to attend Dancers Over 40’s Balanchine: Broadway and Beyond event. We worked on our ongoing interview series, as well as going to the library together to watch some tapes she hadn’t seen. Wilde and Frank Hobi originated the third waltz duet, and performed it as bachically, as Balanchine insisted.
Talk about dancing on the edge of a volcano: performed the way it was then La Valse looks like a towering work of great profundity. You should see, you must see the way that Le Clercq responds to Moncion’s deathly summons in part 2 with an enormous, eerie backbend, telling us exactly the spell she has fallen under. Go and be inspired!
Wilde and her colleagues, many of whom had grown up in the Ballet Russe, weren’t afraid to be expressive, theatrical.
Just the way Part and Bolle weren’t afraid on Saturday night.