Ballet Talk > Wolcott Meets Macauley

Haglund's

Oct 5 2007, 06:09 AM

In his October 4 blog Wolcott relives his meeting with Macauley at a Nureyev biography book party:

QUOTE

Although sometimes my stoic mask fits so snug that I retreat into the castle of myself, as I did last night, only to emerge from a cloud of ill-timed introspection to find myself shaking hands with Alastair Macaulay, the chief dance critic of The New York Times! Yes, the same Alastair Macaulay with whom I've been tempestuously embroiled in a one-sided feud that has caused a massive rift in the dance community the size of a paper cut! And yet here we were, shaking hands and saying hello like civilized people and defying all those naysayers who doubted a peace accord was possible in this crazy, mixed-up world of strife. If the members of Ballet Talk had witnessed this historic Camp David moment they would have fainted into their Cup-a-Soups.

pmeja

Oct 5 2007, 07:14 AM

Helene

Oct 5 2007, 09:57 AM

It's a good thing there was someone around to keep me from drowning.

bart

Oct 5 2007, 11:57 AM

One of the remarkable things about blogs is the way that you often end up learning about the blogger's root canals and such. You disbelieve? Scroll down to the end of the third paragraph.

dirac

Oct 10 2007, 08:05 PM

I had to get what was my first and I hope last crown recently, but my dentist offers DVDs instead of television. His DVD playlist tends toward things like The Lion King and Stepmom, but luckily he also offered Godfathers I & II, so I was able to watch Luca Brasi and Sonny Corleone get theirs to the sound of the drill and that thing that vacuums up your blood and drool. This helped, because it allowed me to reflect on how much worse it could be; instead of being garroted while my hand was pinned to a bar by a knife, or plugged full of holes at a toll booth, I was merely sitting in a dentist’s chair benumbed to the ears while various implements were plunged into my gums.

I’m sorry, bart, what were you saying..............?

Hans

Oct 10 2007, 08:15 PM

I thought everyone on here ate smoked salmon on blinis.

dirac

Aug 13 2009, 02:23 PM

The latest from Wolcott:

QUOTE

For those familiar with the NY dance scene, there are lotsa laffs in the Heel's brief sketches of the reviewers involved in running over innocent bystanders with the Welcome Wagon and the composition of the BalletTalk chatboard--"a NYCB-centric forum that celebrates all things Balanchine and counts no fewer than 1,000 experts on Balanchine’s every choreographic intent during his life and from his grave." How twue, how twue. Though there are a constellation of Veronika Part fans there, so much can be forgiven.

Ahem.

Dale

Aug 13 2009, 02:42 PM

It's like that old saying, we like a critic when he agrees with us. Wolcott has linked to Ballet Talk before, with no hesitation. The original barb came from a BT member who has chosen to post their own blog. I say to both: Best wishes and see you at the ballet.

Editing to add: I do defend this board's attitude to smaller companies. Most people agree with the view that MCB is dancing Balanchine with excellent results, just read the board's reviews when the company visited NYCB. Same as SFB, PNB, PA Ballet etc... susanger reported enthusiastically after attending Tulsa Ballet earlier this week.

Ray

Aug 13 2009, 02:47 PM

QUOTE (dirac @ Aug 13 2009, 03:23 PM)

The latest from Wolcott:

QUOTE

For those familiar with the NY dance scene, there are lotsa laffs in the Heel's brief sketches of the reviewers involved in running over innocent bystanders with the Welcome Wagon and the composition of the BalletTalk chatboard--"a NYCB-centric forum that celebrates all things Balanchine and counts no fewer than 1,000 experts on Balanchine’s every choreographic intent during his life and from his grave." How twue, how twue. Though there are a constellation of Veronika Part fans there, so much can be forgiven.

Ahem.

Skipping to a particularly mean-spirited passage from the blog Haglund's Heel that Wolcott refers to, I fail to see the critical analysis practiced by Kourlas and Witchel in their respective publications as equivalent to "a lack of hospitality displayed when visitors from Less-than-liberal-land come to our city to present the art form that we love." The passages Haglund quotes are not at all vituperous! It's criticism, and a lot of it was actually very positive. As Haglund himself goes on to say (attacking Witchel's interrogating of some very questionable-sounding stereotypes)--virtually contradicting the tone of anti-elitism that that blog post strove to establish, btw--"Get over it. This is New York."

dirac

Aug 13 2009, 02:52 PM

QUOTE (Dale @ Aug 13 2009, 08:42 PM)

It's like that old saying, we like a critic when he agrees with us. Wolcott has linked to Ballet Talk before, with no hesitation. The original barb came from a BT member who has chosen to post their own blog. I say to both: Best wishes and see you at the ballet.

Wolcott linked to the original 'barb' with an enthusiastic endorsement and elected to use that quote, however. It is worth asking if the occasional link makes up for the occasional sneer, but I suppose it is best to return good for evil.

GWTW

Aug 13 2009, 03:51 PM

As an interested but-oh-so-faraway bystander to the "NY dance scene", I doubt that Wolcott or Haglund have taken the time to really read BT for a while. BT is far from NYCB-centric.
I know that blogs are like baby dragons that demand to be fed ever more frequently, but isn't it parochial and kind of provincial to imply that there's anything wrong with a US based ballet board that "celebrates all things Balanchine".