Oh gawd, Cassandra.

The views of those reviewers almost made me seriously nauseous. I've never seen such totally condescending, elitist views. Now I know why I take their reviews with a big block of salt.

I used to own a book called The First Book of "They" (as in, "They say that....") which examined that very issue and decided that "they" are the New Haven Railroad.

I agree with Sacto. The views expressed were elitist and exemplary of why I don't believe a thing a critic on a newspaper says, with a few exceptions for critics I have met personally and whose opinions I respect because of that.

And Salzberg...I know your book, it's a classic.

I honestly think they are on the run now. I know of at least two young AD's of leading companies who will turn to the Internet to find out what people think before reading the 'professionals'.

Cassandra, I think you are right. They are on the run. That might be why Mr. Crisp is so very snarky in his comments. I think he is a little threatened.

I know San Francisco Ballet keeps very close tabs on the internet discussions about their company. I'm sure the other major American companies do as well.

Let me gloat in our power for a second...ok...I'm done now.

Last night I went to see the new version of Romeo & Juliet by Mark Morris, the one with the happy ending. Mark Morris is a London favourite who pulls in a wider audience than most modern dance companies and the huge Barbican Theatre was packed with a wildly enthusiastic crowd who applauded Mr Morris and his company extravagantly.

According to the Evening Standard's Sarah Frater, the production was a flop.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/s ... wReview.do

But note that readers are encouraged to leave their own star ratings for the performance and that for a show that Ms Frater grudgingly awards a mere one; the readers are far more generous.

I saw this in Berkeley and thought it was decidedly NOT a flop. But you need to have an open mind to see its beauty.

Please see other reviews under the Mark Morris Dance Group 2008 thread in Modern/Contemporary Dance:

http://www.ballet-dance.com/forum/viewt ... 626#195626

An interesting article on this perennial subject turned up in today’s Guardian and although not specifically about dance it does refer to ballet at one point.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... -criticism

The subject is travel reviews and in particular the public’s reviews posted on Trip Advisor. The point is made that travel journalists enjoy highly privileged travel arrangements, usually flying first or business class and then a stay in a five star hotel: not likely to be the travel experience of the masses, making reading their articles a pointless exercise. Of course this is remarkably similar to the experience of the professional ballet critic who gets a free ticket (and very often one for a friend too) for the evening and then gets paid into the bargain. Are they worth the money? Not if you consider the howling error made by one of the Telegraph’s critics earlier this week, which I pointed out on another thread:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=35524

As a keen traveller I use Trip Advisor a lot and have contributed around forty reviews, mainly of hotels, in the past five years, many being hotels I’ve stayed at when travelling to watch ballet. Since using that site I have ceased ending up in the kind of dives where you wake up in the morning covered in flea bites or indeed booking into rooms so awful you walk straight out of them. Trip Advisor reviews are for real people with a love of travel as opposed to the travel journalist’s elitist milieu.

Similarly ballet critics must up their game and produce writing of quality if they don’t want to become relics of the past.

Yet another review where the critic needs to be named and shamed:

http://www.theartsdesk.com/dance/lauren ... coliseum-0

Putting aside the ludicrous comparison of Laurencia with Giselle (comparisons with Don Q. would have been more apt), there is a reference to four rapes taking place. Four? No, no, no. Laurencia and her friend Jacintha are both raped, though mercifully off stage, and in my reckoning that is actually two. Perhaps the writer for some reason was seeing double, personally I always visit the pub after a performance, never before.

Just a side comment as I happened on this (old but good) thread by chance.

About the comparison with Giselle with all ludicrousness aside -- the writer's claim is false. We have no proof from the libretto that Albrecht intends to "bed Giselle and run". Part of what makes interpretations of that role interesting is that the male dancer can play it many ways. Ivan Vasiliev said to me that in his mind Albrecht truly loves Giselle -- that is his approach to the role (see my interview with him in March's issue of Dance Europe magazine). Others approach him as a cad. The range is wide. To presume Albrecht is a rapist based on the libretto, which is (intentionally?) vague is a huge overstep in my view.

Exactly Catherine, the cads are at worse potential seducers - not rapists. There is a subtle difference.