Word: baryshnikov
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...Baryshnikov's own actions match his words. He oversees virtually all stage rehearsals, coaching and encouraging. The troops respond. Says Ronald Perry, 26, who joined the company from the Dance Theater of Harlem: "Put it this way. If this were the country, Misha would be President and all the rest of us would be Cabinet members...
...first goal is better classical dancing, Baryshnikov's second is better mime and "character dances." These usually appear in full-length works like Petipa's Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. Though they are often polonaises or czardas, they are not folk dances but theatrical steps that must be performed with panache. It is a European style that Americans must learn. Explains Baryshnikov: "Classical dancing means moving through the rules and trying to extend them a little. In character dancing you don't stop until someone says, 'That's bad taste.' It's show...
Character dances are not the only thing he has revised in the classics. Baryshnikov has in effect re-edited Giselle. More controversial is his staging of Swan Lake, a project that he considers "in transition." But he has already made major changes in the romantic second act and, of course, pepped up the character dancing...
When time and money permit, Baryshnikov wants an entirely new production of Swan Lake. But that is for the future. If his first season as director has been conservative, Baryshnikov has given hints about where he will be going. Paul Taylor's Airs was a hit at the Met last week, and it seems likely that A.B.T. will try more works from this modern choreographer. Next season there will be several new one-act ballets; one or more may come from the company's Choreographic Workshop, which has commissioned ballets from six promising choreographers. Says Baryshnikov: "Sooner...
...programs continued last week, audiences seemed to be responding well to Baryshnikov's changes: the new faces, the precision of the corps, the buoyancy of Airs, the lighter, faster approach to that sentiment-drenched standby, Les Sylphides. The director himself was dancing brilliantly...