Word: faun
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...American musical. But classical dance was his true love, and in 1969 he turned his back on the commercial theater to devote himself solely to George Balanchine's New York City Ballet, for which he made a string of masterpieces--among them The Cage, Afternoon of a Faun, The Goldberg Variations and, above all, Dances at a Gathering, an hour-long garland of sometimes sentimental, sometimes intensely romantic dances set to music of Chopin--that secured his standing as America's first great native-born ballet choreographer...
...assimilation into the culture of the Net. Sure, his head may spin a bit as he makes his initial encounters--his first E-mail exchange finds him in surprisingly casual conversation with Bill Gates; he samples the mysteries of cybersex disguised as a half-woman, half-faun named Bambi. But a little head spinning is to be expected at first, and Seabrook is never more on target than when coolly observing it in himself...
...clever musical pun on both Dvorak's Humoresque and Stephen Foster's Old Folks at Home, is equally typical of his exuberant style. Most ambitious of all was the "Girl Gershwin," Dana Suesse (pronounced Sweese), born in Kansas City, Missouri. Her complex compositions such as Afternoon of a Black Faun and Jazz Concerto in D Major for Combo and Orchestra--she certainly wore her influences on her record sleeve--deserve a place in musical history alongside such crossover classics as Gershwin's Concerto in F, Igor Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto and Aaron Copland's clarinet concerto. "Dana Suesse...
Remember when popular movies had women in them? In 1994's top films, the ladies were lucky if the guys let them even drive a bus. The typical female role was a captive or a pinup, wounded faun (Forrest Gump) or ditsy wife (True Lies). For its Best Actress prize, the New York Film Critics had to go to a TV movie (The Last Seduction's Linda Fiorentino). Affirmative action is demode these days, but Hollywood needs some spur to bring women into full partnership with the Toms and Arnolds and Simbas...
...have to be a dance scholar to get most of the jokes. There are lightning tours of the classics: the distinctive, flattened arm gestures in L'Apres-Midi d'un Faun, several quotes from Swan Lake, including the Prince's defiance as his mother points imperiously at her wedding ring -- "No, I will not marry any of these boring girls" -- and so on up to Paul Taylor's Airs. As White Oak continues to tour (Washington; Cleveland, Ohio; Atlanta; and Minneapolis, Minnesota, are among the upcoming cities), Misha will vary the jokes on whim...