Scene4 Magazine | the readers blog

Lorena feijoo is simply the greatest ballerina around and her extreme decency as a person coupled with her superior cuban training is unmatched on the world stage...well, ok, her sister lorna feijoo is on the same level. I guess that is why they are the only dynasty in ballet history. This comes around only once in a lifetime! The review is wonderful, insightful, truthful, and most of all, honest!

Danny Burchik

This is the jewel that makes San Francisco the crown of jewels that it is. And Helgi Tomasson is the bright and glorious jeweler that makes it all shine. Thank you for a wonderfully written view of the glory that is to come. It should pack the house and deservedly so.
Alan Rudolph
read Catherine Conway Honig's article

A very revealing and deep review of this very revealing and deep dance artist. There is no one else like Sylvie Guillem. I especially enjoy the way you layer your commentary and perceptions - this is one of the best dance reviews I've read in a long time. It ought to be reprinted in the New Yorker instead of the "old cow" prattle-prattle that passes for writing about dance in that premier journal. When are you going to do a one-on-one interview with Sylvie? You're just the writer to do that and finally capture her in words, which you just about did in this review. Thank you very much.
Phillip Goldsmith
read Renate Stendhal's article

Just to wanted to let you know - Vilanoba didn't almost drop Feijoo, she actually had a mis-step and he caught her to keep her from completely falling and taking him down with her.
M. White
read Catherine Honig's article

Once again you capture a choreographer and her dance in words the way few reviewers can. Wonderful. Wunderbar. Thank you. Here is more praise that Pina will live forever.

Peter Meyer

read Renate Stendhal's article

Your portrait of the ballet world in Brazil is very revealing and inspirational. I appreciate the personal up-close portraits of these young dancers and how they look at themselves and the world at large. Ballet is still an international art form of beauty and meaning and these young women represent that.
Madeline Amos
read Andrea Carvalho Stark's article

Parabéns pela matéria com as alunas brasileiras, realmente são uns talentos, todas as três. E participo que essa linda foto da Christiane Pegado é de minha autoria, sou fotógrafo e trabalho diretamente com o ballet classic. Adorei a matéria. Parabéns!
Carlos Veras
Leia o artigo da Andrea Carvalho Stark

She's a wonderful Giselle, different from Feijoo but as commanding. Yes she's tiny but on stage she's colossal. I hope SF Ballet can keep her for a long time. Your interview is fine, thank you.
Martin Vistiz
read Catherine Conway Honig's article

Welcome to the world of heritage dancing. Why Irish dance, is this part of your heritage?
Mac
read Michael Bettencourt's article

As a writer, I have always found that parallel art activity provides a stimulating expansion to my work and offers much comfort and respect to what you call, "muses." I am especially fond of dance and even at my age (which I shall not reveal if only to say that it is advanced), I continue to explore ballet. I hope you will too.
Anee S. Waterson
read Michael Bettencourt's article

Michael Bettancourt's comments on his aches and pains learning to dance the Irish jig and reel, kicked off a wonderful memory for me. A few years ago at Trinity University in Dublin, Ireland, where my partner, Daystar, was the keynote speaker for the 23rd annual American Indian Workshop and Conference, we took a break from the conference to witness Irish dancing; the real thing not the Broadway pizzazz version. When I asked a security guard where we could find Irish dancing at its best, he pointed across the river to a pub. There, he said, we'd experience unadulterated Irish dancing - "come hell or high water". He was right on target. We experienced first class, full-fledged Irish dancing in a pub setting; turned upside down by an exhibition of splendid, young female dancers from the Irish School of Dancing, ranging in age from about 8 years old into their teens. Their unexpected arrival at the pub, along with their guardians and parents, turned the joint around. The transformation was immediate and complete. Beer drinkers slapped down their mugs. Hitting the tables was a signal to shut up and be quiet. Everyone's faces suddenly lifted with pride and joy. Even the rock band on stage sat silent and respectful, their hands on their laps, like choir boys on their best behavior - ready to break into the jig and reel. For they were about to turn their instruments into the great cause of Irish independence, at least that was the way I saw it; and they achieved their goal with inevitable discipline and dignity. Seated as we were, close to the stage, we were in the thick of it, amazed. The cultural dynamic of transcending the site of a beer hall into a highly respectful display of traditional Irish dancing was loaded with inherent drama. The young dancers were the real McCoy. When they arrived dressed in splendid green taffeta, lavish curls spilling and bouncing around their faces with abandon, they brought on the guardian spirits of lo and behold. The girls danced their hearts out, and, as the poet said, captured our hearts in their hands. Their youth, discipline, maturity of purpose, and, above all else, their joy in dancing, captivated the crowd. I asked a neighbor at our table why, in Irish dancing, the girl's hands are held so stiff at their sides, while their feet continuously move with incredible rhythm and bounce. He said that when the British occupied Ireland, they shut down Irish dancing, Bar maids behind the counter learned to keep their hands stiff at their sides, while their feet moved silently to the rhythm of the Irish jig and reel. Now that particular protest sounds like a tall story, but I'm willing to believe it. Here, in the great democracy of shared low down repressed experiences, the diehard representatives of the American government in the 19th and 20th centuries shut down Indian dancing. In their eyes, and with their weapons first hand, these iron hard defenders of cultural dominance thought of Indian dancing as a display of barbarism decisively to be dealt with. Well, the British failed, and so did the fistful of Americans. To everyone's surprise, what resulted from these viciously repressed indigenous dances turned out to be a blessing for all us - without disguise. Moral: If you are willing to dance under the table for a shared sense of humanity, do it with everything you've got. There may be no second chances.
Ned Bobkoff
read Michael Bettencourt's article