Well, perhaps "top-down cleansing" is a bit too much, especially since the AD of the school, Mavis Staines, graduated from the the school and was Associate to previous AD Betty Oliphant for a few years.<P>However, the school has brought into the faculty modern choreographers and dancers, such as Peggy Baker, Irene Dowd and others. In fact, Baker designed a new modern dance curriculum at the school.<P>As for the company itself, the NBoC now performs works by John Neumeier, Kudelka, Rudi van Danzig, Jiri Kylian, Dominique Dumais, etc., all modern or contemporary choreographer.<P>Also, NBoC, in my opinion, has the most uniformly thin and angular bodies I have seen in any ballet company. They all look like models.

In all fairness, the move has been to inject more contgemporary BALLET chor. into the rep. There still is a ton of classics in the rep and simply seem to be attempting to bring works to this continent that are regular fair elsewhere.<P>In other words, Grace, Australia could do much worse as the trend in America is refried Balanchine formula with some "new" neo-classic type pieces which are little more than warmed over sameness. Usually "pretty" but little depth, IMHO.<P>

actualy, shag, i don't take the Australia thing seriously at all, as i don't think anyone here would touch him with a barge pole after the recent debacle.<P>australians are pretty big on fairness and equity and good labour relations & the like - not saying otherwise about THIS person - but the publicity has been so extraordinarily bad, that his reputation would precede him, and well, you know - who needs THAT amount of trouble when there are plenty of other talented people (and some of them australians, stuart!) out there?<P>i'm more interested in NB of C, here. <P>from azlan and shag's comments, it now sounds much LESS of a revolution than the impression i first got. after all, every ballet school needs and must have 'a modern dance curriculum', for example, these days. and the choreographers named are NOT groundbreaking or adventurous any more, even for a major ballet company. neumeier, van dantzig, kylian were the innovators of the 1960's/70's.<P>and shag - your description of the 'neoclassic' stuff: we've had that trend here, but i think its pretty dead now...keeps popping up, but is now generally recognised for what it is (as you so well describe!): boring. <P><p>[This message has been edited by grace (edited May 13, 2000).]

my god! how many tawdry dimensions can this thing have?!<BR> <A HREF="http://www.infoculture.cbc.ca/archives/dance/dance_05132000_glascoad.phtml" TARGET=_blank>http://www.infoculture.cbc.ca/archives/<BR>dance/dance_05132000_glascoad.phtml</A> <P>someone unidentified has placed an ad in NOW magazine in support of glasco, likening her dismissal to the purge of jewish artists in Nazy germany. not unreasonably, the local jewish community organisation has taken offence and asked glasco to distance herself from the ad, if she had nothing to do with it. her support network say they don't know who it comes from and glasco has made no response.<P>this next comment may have no meaning to non-australians, but it seems to me like the currently newsworthy gosper affair (olympics/his 11 year old daughter getting to carry the torch 'first' in greece/ dad can't see it as nepotism/ everyone gets mad) - an indication of how people can lose perspective so easily when in the thick of an emotional battle, especially a prolonged one.<p>[This message has been edited by grace (edited May 14, 2000).]

Some details of the first day of the latest hearing in the Glasco case and it looks as though it's getting nastier.<P>'Kimberley Glasco's boss believed she was washed up as a ballerina at age 39.'<P>'Lawyers for the ballet will also argue that being forced to reinstate Glasco contravenes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms' guarantee of freedom of expression....'<P> <A HREF="http://205.200.191.20/cgi-bin/LiveIQue.acgi$rec=17514?entertainment" TARGET=_blank>http://205.200.191.20/cgi-bin/LiveIQue.acgi$<BR>rec=17514?entertainment</A> <P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited May 20, 2000).]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>What is it about the Kimberly Glasco mess that brings out the stupid in everyone?.....I'd like to invite everyone to grab a brain and get a handle on their paranoia, and to put this ridiculous controversy out of its misery. It's<BR>starting to get a little embarrassing to admit I work in the arts. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> AND <P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>the dancers were threatened with the loss of their jobs if they didn't sign (the letter of support for kudelka). <BR>Mr. O'Connor, who attended yesterday's proceedings, broke with courtroom protocol by yelling out that he did not tell the dancers to sign or else.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>"read ALL about it!":-<P>sorry these are thru the globe and mail, so you have to go to <A HREF="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/" TARGET=_blank>http://www.theglobeandmail.com/</A> <BR>& type ballet in the 7-Day Search Box and you'll get a list of these articles (it's EASY!). <P>there are also 2 reviews there of recent NBofC perfs: one "a sheer delight" and the other (a different program!) "an enjoyable family outing and a critical nightmare..... in both choreography and production values, (Stevenson's) Cinderella is an artistic crime committed upon the stage that deserves maximum punishment."<P><p>[This message has been edited by grace (edited May 14, 2000).]

A better search word in the Globe and Mail page is "Kudelka".

Hmm, good question, dirk. I followed this story way back when but lost track of it and then forgot most of the details. Perhaps one of the lurkers can chime in here.<P>And, shag, what do you mean by Glasco being a "cancer?" Do you mean in terms of her effect on the performances or on the dancers? Isn't this too harsh a term to use on an individual?<p>[This message has been edited by Azlan (edited May 17, 2000).]

it's pretty strong wording, isn't it? <P>i kind of recoiled when i read it, but then i decided that he must mean that everyone's impressions and perceptions and opinions about this current situation would be uppermost in people's minds (i.e. audience people) whenever they see her dance, and would get in the way of appreciation of the actual performance.<P>of course, i, personally, would be inclined to WANT to blacklist anything KUDELKA ever does again, on the same basis - that's if i ever got the chance to see his work - BUT in reality, i would be eager to see who he is, what he creates, whether he has a choreographic genius sufficient to tolerate such extremely bad behaviour as we seem to be seeing...BUT notice i DO say 'seem' - because i have a big mistrust of the media/press...<P>and i'd be FAR keener to see glasco than i ever would have before - because judging from the photos at her supporters site, she looks like a fine ballerina, who i'm sorry i didn't know about before.<P>i do think, though, that now BOTH of their future careers are tarnished by all the brouhaha. it will take a long time to live down, and a ballerina near 40 doesn't HAVE a lot of time...

The cancer term relates to everything that Grace mentioned plus the effect of the dancers. Her presence can be nothing other than disruptive and her trying to walk in and go back to the way it is is, IMHO, selfish. This whole situation has a life of its own and will pervade every interaction that includes Glasco from here on out as well as growing and mutating into different problems. The fallout is long from over.<P>This is what I meant by cancer and I stand by it.

i understand your point, shaq, but i think you have to give a minute to look at it from another point of view. you're right, even in the best of circumstances, it's likely that any future performance she might give with the company will have that aura or memory about it in people's minds. but consider the alternative. if, as it seems, she has been treated unfairly and in direct contravention of whatever labor law(s) apply to dance or to any other type of labor on a contract basis, what is the use of regulations if the person supposedly protected by them is not expected to avail themselves of the protection and just expected to slink away? i'm not talking about kudelka's right as a director to renew or not renew a contract, but just saying that he should have done it differently, and not (as it seems) figuratively thrown the regulations out with the baby *and* the bathwater, even if it was to achieve the same result. if i were on the company's board i would be very angry with him for being so cavalier about it, because those things govern his behavior too. <P>oh, and i see i've given you a basketball name! my apologies!! <BR><p>[This message has been edited by pmeja (edited May 17, 2000).]

without anyone claiming responsibility for it, NOW magazine have apologised for the glasco ad which offended people. see<BR> <A HREF="http://www.infoculture.cbc.ca/archives/dance/dance_05182000_glascoadapology.phtml" TARGET=_blank>http://www.infoculture.cbc.ca/archives/<BR>dance/dance_05182000_glascoadapology.phtml</A> <P>nice to see a 'new' contributor to this discussion, pmeja i like your view.<P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited May 21, 2000).]

Check today's Globe & Mail for excerpts from Kudelka's April 17 hearing testimony. Truly mind-boggling. Also, a smaller piece on NBoC's lawsuit against NOW regarding the ad placement discussed earlier.

Thanks for pointing us in the right direction, Francis. <P>Boy, did Kudelka do a lot for the Glasco camp with his testimony. You can almost see the NBoC Board putting their heads in their hands. Perhaps the most revealing sequence is when he said: "I have been discovering through this whole process my responsibility, my greatest responsibility, is to myself and my own career." and then, 'And if I am having an effect on them, it's almost more power to me that I've made it clear who is in <u>my</u> [my underlining] company."<P>And then having established himself as an ego-maniac par excellence, he actually says, "the creation of art has become so secondary to what I feel is an absolutely appalling display of ego on Ms. Glasco's part."<P>I wonder if NBoC do annual assessments? I'd like to know what Mr Kudelka got last time for 'Judgement'.<P><BR>

Kudelka said "I don't like being made into a martyr over the situation, but it seems that<BR>that is the direction this is going" - how does he feel about being made into a complete idiot, by himself? <P>He also said that "I have been discovering through this whole process my responsibility, my greatest responsibility, is to myself and my own career" and that "he is prepared to see the National Ballet of Canada suffer through low morale and continued controversy rather than ever work with her again." "I'd rather kill myself" (than ever cast her).<P>"He could never work with her again, he continued, because "the creation of art has become so secondary to what I feel is an absolutely appalling display of ego on Ms. Glasco's part." <P>EXCUSE me?...an 'absolutely appalling display of ego' on WHOSE part? to WHOM has 'the creation of art become secondary'?<P>