Tuesdays 10-12 Noon
January 13 through February 17, 2004
Location TBD
Each of our six sessions will include the viewing of a ballet in performance. The choices will vary from a simple folk tale to a more abstract encounter. Balanchine said that his works were not abstract: “Any time a man faces a woman on stage, it is no longer abstract.”
Our second interest will be the lives of the artists themselves. It seems obligatory that when artists stop performing they are required to write an autobiography, either to explain the hardships conquered in reaching great heights, or simply to apologize. Biographies from Plisetskya to Balanchine's wives and muses. A shelf in itself.
Finally, there is a phenomenon of the “second generation.” The first generation were the creators, such as Balanchine and Graham, et al. To find the medium for their own expression, they had to create a company of artists. To do that they had to create a school in their own image. To do that, they had to find supporters and create an audience. Today there are ballet companies in every town, headed in the best cases by former dancers who were hired. They inherit a company, a board of supporters and a union to insure their pay check. We have moved from a first generation of creators to a generation of Revivors. There are wonderful dance reviewers such as Arlene Croce of the New Yorker, who grew up with the first generation and are having difficulty seeing the past “reheated.” Sergei Diaghilev said, “The memory is brighter than the original.”
I look forward to lively sessions with those who share our enthusiasms. Toe shoes (even orthopedic ones) are not required. We live on anecdotes, diversions and strong opinions.
Class is limited to 20 members.
Herb Kummel After 4 years in the Navy during WW-II, he completed a college degree in Advertising and Journalism. At 25 he was accepted by Balanchine as a beginning ballet student. In time he performed with American Ballet Theatre, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, the NYC Ballet, the Israel Ballet Theatre and with Ted Shawn, Anna Sokolow and John Butler. For 10 years he served as Director of the Dance Notation Bureau. Representing the professional dancer, he testified at the Congressional Hearings which led to the establishment of the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities.
