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Bruce

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  1. Well said, Ismene. Eric did have a wonderful eye for detail, but I also think he occasionally (privately) videoed shows, and did for many years. I only became aware of this when I saw him in New York around 2006 and visited his flat (and cats!) and he pointed at a pile of hard disks containing his video footage. Not legal, I think he hoped that at some point in time, it would be seen as useful material (shades of Edmée Wood?). But I didn't get the feeling that that was the driver - I think he liked being able to see intriguing performances and works again. It was a great sadness to me that he lost his dance writing mojo, and no amount of cajoling and support could really bring it back.
  2. It's with a huge mix of emotions I hear of the death of Eric Taub on 20th January. Eric very occasionally posted here but much more frequently on the earlier incarnation of the forum (www.ballet.co.uk) and where he regularly contributed to Ballet.co Magazine from New York. His reviews of New York City Ballet (NYCB) and American Ballet Theatre (ABT) were always gloriously informed reads and often of great length. He was the only critic I know who could write at such length and yet absolutely hold you to every word - I never felt like skipping ahead or speed reading when Eric's pieces came in. Here are a couple of pieces that Eric penned from about 20 years back... New York City Ballet's American Festival in May 2004 (4000 Words!) https://web.archive.org/web/20051201115509/http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_04/jul04/et_rev_nycb_0504.htm Jock Soto's New York City Ballet farewell performance, from June 2005 https://web.archive.org/web/20060214181306/http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_05/jul05/et_rev_nycb3_0605.htm I loved Eric's honesty - if he liked something, then you knew it and if he didn't, then you knew that too - he did not pull his punches. I don't think that always made for an easy life with companies or some dancers and choreographers. But it was his way and I admired its less-than-politely-correct, chatty and matter-of-fact style - he wore his in-depth knowledge easily. It should have been that Eric kept writing and writing, but he slowed right down, and while he wanted to write, it increasingly became the case that the words on a show would not come to him. He wrote a few pieces for DanceTabs over the years (https://dancetabs.com/author/eric-taub/) but they were a small proportion of what he saw, and sadly, they are but a fraction of what he thought he would write about. I, and others, were always encouraging him to get thoughts down, but it also became clear he was preoccupied by other things in life, not least his parents and the minutiae of recording his life on various social media. In a busy world, we lost touch a few years ago, and that was a shame. But I prefer to remember Eric in his heyday, where it was like having an indiscreet and very knowledge old friend tell you in no uncertain and exciting terms what exactly happened at the New York State Theater last night. Bravo Eric and I look forward to hearing your candid and witty thoughts on the afterlife in due course!
  3. Thank you Jane, and Alexandra's death came as sad news indeed. In the early days of Balletco, back in the 1990s, I had regular contact with Alexandra and she was always thoughtful and supportive. We came from very different backgrounds - I was the fan looking to give the audience/fans a place to strut their stuff about what they were seeing and she an established, pukka, critic wanting to widen the love of ballet. But we faced common problems in trying to run forums and publish things in a world where so much is free (no change there!) and privately swapped ideas and war stories. We met once, when I was in Washington DC on other business - she suggested a local restaurant and, both of us being physically large, I thought we must have appeared a very odd couple, talking animatedly about ballet and its sylph-like world. Certainly nobody would have asked us if we were former dancers... Alexandra was not big on PR for herself or her endeavours - social media was notably shunned. All her effort went into getting good words out there and she had a wonderful roster of dance writers over the years at danceviewtimes (https://danceviewtimes.typepad.com). The need to get good criticism out there was a view I came to understand and share and her loss is a loss of quietly important leadership and emphasis on thoughtful coverage of the art we all love. She will be missed, but wherever she is now I'm sure she will be making it a better place for all
  4. For the record and to put more clothes on Alison's words, I registered the name of the forum, selected the forum technology supplier, set it all up and paid all the bills for several months. I think I said I would pay the bills for 3 months but in the end paid for 5. It was set up in broadly the same way as the old forum and I moderated (alone) at first. I appointed/cajoled a group of users, which you kindly chaired Lee, to see if the community could take things forward from this point on and in the end the group, who now for the most part constitute the moderators, decided they could - it's a great thing they do. And gradually there was handover of running the forum, in a day to day sense, to John Mallinson (RIP). People indeed have great reason to thank the moderators for providing an essentially free way to exchange views and thoughts - running a forum is not at all the easy thing it may seem to some, or as easy as you think it will be when you start! Lee/The committee also sorted out a firm legal basis for the forum and a bank account etc so money could be gathered at times and bills paid on more than the generosity of one person. And the mods went on to refine the Acceptable Use Policy and rise to new challenges of which there will have been many I'm sure. Having more than done my bit in running the old forum and initially founding things here, I'm very, very, happy that others steer things forward and keep the plates spinning, year in year out, to the joy of many. I say again, it's a great thing they do.
  5. Thank you, Alison - getting this thing initially setup was a lot of effort.
  6. That's what struck me as well! Different times and different moderation - it was still relatively early times for forums, and I was pretty liberal on free expression and wanted to encourage the broadest participation. Some moderation was in private, typically writing to people beseeching them to be civil etc, and ditto in public, but I didn't feel the need to jump in on this occasion. That said, the posts and jousting are interesting, I think. The names bring back memories. At least one person in the thread was later banned - they threatened to murder Eric Taub for a review they didn't like...!
  7. The sad death prompted me to go and find the Clement Crisp interview I ran on Balletco back in 2001. Ismene Brown, then the Telegraph dance critic, did the interview based on questions posed by Balletco readers. It's rather gobsmacking reading and the exchanges with Brown delicious as she pushes him to elaborate etc. Of course, some will find his approach beyond arrogant. Note the presentation is the way it was 20 years ago: https://web.archive.org/web/20050720082435/http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_01/dec01/ismene_b_int_clement_c.htm The piece prompted a thread on the Ballet.co Postings Pages, as the Balletco forum was known at the time: https://web.archive.org/web/20060513020850/http://www.danze.co.uk/dcforum/happening/2393.html Some quotes to whet your appetite: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IB: Jim asks: “What are your feelings about the future of the Royal Ballet?” CC: My feelings are of despair. I really think the Royal Ballet has been denatured... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Darcey Bussell and Miyako Yoshida... "They are no more than First Soloists, essentially, if we look at performances of ‘Swan Lake’, ‘Beauty’, ‘Giselle’, ‘Coppélia’, with the eye of time and by the absolute standard of the world." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In an exchange about choreographers, IB says "I also think William Forsythe is extremely important." CC: If you switch off the machine, we will talk about Forsythe. [He then lays into him with energy.] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CC on reviewing: "Kiss ’em or kill ’em. There is no point in half-measures. People who write half-measures, like a lot of critics nowadays, are just boring. And not only boring, but lying." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At some point this and other Balletco pieces and sections should hopefully return.
  8. Yes - one of life's givers and he took forward the BA site, which was rather lacklustre at the start, in a wonderful way.
  9. The news comes as a huge shock and a reminder of the frailty of life and how quickly things can change as we all get older. I will miss him greatly. I spoke to John only a short while ago and we planned to meet up, but events have overtaken us all. John was quietly authoritative with a deliciously dry sense of humour and not one to gush. Super intelligent he was one of life's givers and somebody who always seemed to do the right thing. Wherever he is now, we can be assured he will be quietly contributing to making it better for all then it would ever otherwise be.
  10. Foteini Christofilopoulou was at the photocall for the Bolshoi Ballet Swan Lake... Olga Smirnova and Semyon Chudin in Swan Lake © Foteini Christofilopoulou/ROH. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr Ksenia Zhiganshina and Jacopo Tissi in Swan Lake © Foteini Christofilopoulou/ROH. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr See more... Foteini Christofilopoulou: Bolshoi Ballet in Swan Lake Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr
  11. That was a point made to me only recently by an NB dancer! I suspect any change will only come when David Nixon decides to retire. I actually hope that does not come too soon - of all the English companies NB now seem to be doing the best job on commissioning new narrative work.
  12. It was a little tongue in check. Even if you did all the new work I mentioned, year in, year out, (which would never happen) there would still be lots of slots and bills which would be filled by the great things of the past. There are many threads on the forum about favourite ballets and what should be in next season etc. and hardly anybody talks about new work. I feel that's a great shame - it's what a vibrant art should be concerned about. Yes, it's right to do 'Ye Olde British Ballet' justice, but not to forget the future - which threads like this tend to. For what is worth I have many past favs, but am content to see them come around every now and then. Every ballet you repeated each year would really condemn some good works to the scrapheap for lack of performance slots.
  13. New work by Ratmansky and Crystal Pite - year in, year out, but sadly not going to happen. Festival of new works - like San Francisco Ballet did last year - 12 new works from a wide variety of choreographers arranged as 4 bills of 3 ballets delivered in rapid succession. Festival of young choreographers work - where they can do exactly what they want without all the stuff about having to commission a score and whatever. The past will take care of itself I'm sure!
  14. Perhaps everybody in NB could become a soloist... Premier Soloists Principal Soloist Leading Soloist First Soloist Soloist Junior Soloist Minor Soloist Trainee Soloist Possible Future Soloist...
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