"THE DYING SWAN"
A delight for the eye, roughly like being poked with a thumb,
"The Dying Swan" is an anesthetic for the aesthetic senses
that is bound to leave you feeling completely numb.
This baleful ballet is stunning for its ham-handed,
doleful delivery of clueless cliche.
The post-modern, German-style choreography borders on
an approximation to political pornography. Ostensibly,
and not very sensibly, "The Dying Swan" attempts to create
an allegory in which the decline of the American Empire
is clumsily compared to the painfully maudlin, trite
image of a breath-taking, beautiful sunset.
Instead, the "The Dying Swan" takes a graceless
and embarrassing plunge into the night, skids across the bare,
square stage- covered with what looks like slippery
linoleum - like a squawking duck whose wings are
covered with petroleum ... hardly conducive to artistry.
In the early ballets at the court of Louis XIV, elevation was
accomplished by the use of such machinery as levers and pulleys.
Wires were used to produce the illusion of flight in early
nineteenth century ballets. In the "Dying Swan", the dancers
descend on the stage like so-many flightless dodos,
bobbing up and down awkwardly on plainly-visible bare wires,
like so many yo-yos.
Rather than making dance phrases cohere in relation
to dynamic sequences, "The Dying Swan" insults the
intelligence of the hapless audience with a relentless
assault on the senses.
In nowhere was is more evident than in the limp and lame
limb movements of the dancers. The ballet's protagonist,
the Prancing Prince of Preemptive Peace, attempts to
strut back and forth across the stage, as if preparing
to pounce, like a leopard pacing. Unfortunately, the overweight
performer seems more like a bucket of lard stuffed into leotards,
like a skin-tight sausage casing.
After being knocked out of the park like a baseball-ballerina
in a sports arena, the ballet sinks, blowing enough ballast
to dump the ballerina down a latrine.
Prejudicially eschewing anything that might be perceived as
slightly "gay", this lead-footed ballet creates an impression
not so much of fluttering butterflies as of a gooey,
peanut-butter Fluffer-Nutter served up in a high school
cafeteria that has little more sense of nutrition than
of ballet tradition.
In the third movement, "Death of Democracy", we see the
Prancing Prince, deep in denial, dancing with his
departed lover, Lady Liberty. Unable to admit the
the truth that is evident in her lifeless form,
he continues goose-stepping and pathetically schlepping
across the stage, dragging her around like a potato sack,
not seeming to realize how completely hackneyed
is this unoriginal imagery.
The pitiable lack of preparation in the repertory
is almost beyond repair. In extremely poor form,
the performers helplessly falter and flail, and
in the final analysis, fail.
For all of its inflated pretensions, "The Dying Swan"
trips on its own egregious exaggerations
and falls flat on its aspirations.
It is simply battle fatigue, when the audience, with
heavy hearts, takes out hankies, honks and starts to cry.
Regretting your mistake not simply to sneak off
during the intermission, you find yourself just waiting for
this beleaguered ballet to bite the bullet and die.
My greatest fear, for the clutzy fiasco that is
"The Dying Swan", is that it will stumble from its unmitigated
opening-night disaster in Baghdad to an even bigger
one in Iran.
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2. Young ballet dancers' leap of faith defies Baghdad's bombs and ...
Here, on one of the most dangerous roads in the Iraqi capital,
undaunted by the low-level conflict raging all around it, stands
Baghdad's Music and Ballet
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article7...
------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.slate.com/id/2093457/
The Basra trip "produced a good news story before Lord Hutton
reports later this month," the Daily Telegraph said in an
editorial. Some papers portrayed Blair's stance during the Iraq
stop as an awkward ballet
The Telegraph said that while Blair made a strong argument for
the use of military action to rout what he reportedly called the
"particular virus of Islamic terrorism," he "had to execute a
well-choreographed, highly prepared dance to sidestep the WMD
question."
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27. The Music Blog >> Anti-War Ballet Given In New York
The ballet begins with politicos grandstanding on the green
table. After they set a war in motion, the main character of the
ballet is Death, ...
themusicblog.org/anti-war-ballet-given-in-new-york...
=======================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Swan
Frances Swan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Frances Swan was certainly among the most obscure
of the classic 1950s contactees, individuals who claimed
to have established direct personal contact, or some
other form of regular communication, with
friendly extraterrestrials.
When Mrs. Swan came to the attention of flying saucer
researchers in 1954 she was a housewife living in
Eliot, Maine, reportedly not too far from later
contactee/abductee Betty Hill. Mrs. Swan, like a number
of other 1950s contactees, used somewhat esoteric methods
in her communications with space aliens. While others
used the Ouija board or channelling, Mrs. Swan used the
spirit-medium's old standby, automatic writing.
In April 1954 Mrs. Swan began to receive messages
from Affa of Uranus, who was in command of spaceship M-4
currently orbiting the earth, and later from Ponnar,
commander of another orbiting ship, L-11.
(The names of Mrs. Swan's extraterrestrial contacts
suggest that she had just finished reading
The Saucers Speak (1954), by George Hunt Williamson
and Alfred J. Bailey, which reports Ouija-board contacts
with many space aliens, including Affa and Ponnar.)
Mrs. Swan's Affa had the usual Space-Brotherly messages
from his "Universal Association of Planets," such as
that earthmen needed to be sternly warned against
further experimentation with nuclear weapons.
======================================================
1. pacific swan, nuclear ship, plutonium,
barco nuclear, plutonio ...
The Swan is carrying 192 blocks of vitrified
highly radioactive nuclear waste.
... PACIFIC SWAN Nuclear Ship transporting plutonium
on Argentine Sea ...
www.ompersonal.com.ar/sos/pacificswannuclearship.h...
========================================================
2. Amazon.com: Swan Song: Books: Robert McCammon
"Swan Song" starts out on a bleak note, and quickly
goes down hill from there. The world is in turmoil as
terrorists use nuclear bombs with impunity, ...
www.amazon.com/Swan-Song-Robert-McCammon/dp/067174...
========================================================
6. Swan Song (novel) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Swan Song (ISBN 0-671-74103-9) is a 1987 science fiction
... The President of the United States, who rode out
the nuclear war in an airborne command post ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Song_(novel)
==========================================================
7. 'SWAN': a robot for nuclear disaster prevention support
safely and precisely, a nuclear disaster prevention
support robot called SWAN. (Smart Working robot for
Anti-Nuclear disaster) was developed. The robot can ...
www.springerlink.com/index/D5TG3RN5CX6RAJ9D.pdf
================================================================
8. Fission Reactor Analysis | Nuclear Engineering, UC, Berkeley
Our unique nuclear design optimization code SWAN is used for the
latter task. Nuclear Design Optimization Methods Development
and Application ...
www.nuc.berkeley.edu/research/fission/fission.htm
================================================================
12. DOE Document - The SWAN-SCALE code for the optimization
of critical systems
The SWAN optimization code was recently developed
to identify the maximum value ... the US Department of Energy
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program, the authors ...
www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?os...
================================================================
18. Swantech
Comanche Peak is a two-unit nuclear-fueled power plant
with an operating ... diagnostic capability of SWAN technology
in the nuclear power industry on ...
www.swantech.com/pr_2002-0807-txu.html
================================================================
32. Swan Analytische Instrumente AG - Company -
Systems Engineering ...
Krsko. Nuklearna Elektrarna Krsko is a nuclear power plant ,
established in 1975 to the east of Ljubliana, in Slovenia.
It operates one generator and it is fitted with 2 major
cooling circu...
www.swan.ch/company/systems/references?brechen=0,2...
=================================================================
40. SWan Hill
Waste handled: all hazardous waste except nuclear and explosives
Current Proposal: a 40,000 tpy incinerator expansion.
If approved Swan Hills would incinerate more than 54,000 tpy
adamsmine.f2o.org/glossary/swan.htm
=================================================================
Blog Archive >> The Gay Parenting ...
On a lighter note, today's show looks at gay swans in
Massachusetts, conservative protests over ? get this ?
pro-gay coffee cups, and my anxiety as my son ...
gayparenting.thepodcastnetwork.com/2005/08/15/the-...
=================================================================
2. Deroy Murdock on Ronald Reagan & AIDS on National Review Online
December 03, 2003, 9:13 a.m. Anti-Gay Gipper A lie about Reagan.
... Bible-thumper who loudly insisted that his son wasn't gay
when Ron took up ballet, ...
www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock200312030913...
=================================================================
http://www.yourish.com/2006/04/12/1057
Ballet for nuclear shahids?
Dancers performing as they hold capsules of uranium hexafluoride
during a ceremony in Mashhad, Iran on Tuesday. (AP)
It looks like Iran is developing not only its military capabilities,
but a new art form as well: ballet for nuclear shahids.
Balletomanes of the world are holding their breath in expectation
of the unveiling. Indeed, the first glimpses of this unique spectacle
are very promising:
* The lyrical Polonaise of nuclear scientists with the
Corps de ballet of German and Russian engineers following
their slow and erratic movement
* Divertissement of the moment of truth:
the senior scientist performs a unique mix of rumba
and belly dance, triumphantly waiving his thick glasses
in the air, showing off his shins
* Divertissement of the nuclear technician with his tame centrifuge,
producing the first sample of enriched uranium
* Pas de deux of Ahmadinejad with the red button
=================================================================
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/filmmore/reference/
interview/holloway05.html
In 1946 Soviet leader Joseph Stalin makes his famous Bolshoi speech,
which very much alarms the West. What does he say?
imperialism hadn't vanished, so one could expect wars
in the future. And that was linked with a domestic policy
focusing again on investment in heavy industry and indeed
investment in science and technology, including you know,
the atomic bomb
=================================================================
2. ArtandCulture Artist: Rudolph Nureyev
Despite being ill with AIDS during his entire tenure
with the Paris Opera Company, ... [Movements].
Soviet Ballet: The Bolshoi and The Kirov. [Keywords] ...
www.artandculture.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/ACLive.wo...
=================================================================
. dance.net - What makes people think ballet is gay
(5005625) - Read ...
no its because we are stereotyped as being gay.
ballet is one of the most ... Whenever I'm accused of
being gay when guys find out im a dancer, ...
www.dance.net/topic/5005625/2/Guys-Only-PG-13/What...
================================================================
9. NTI: Securing the Bomb: Demand for Black Market Fissile Material
... radiological weapons than to actual nuclear bombs as
suggested by the videotapes ... Lobov had arranged across from the
Bolshoi Ballet and only minutes from the ...
www.nti.org/e_research/cnwm/threat/demand.asp
==================================================================
7. Am I Gay - Is It Normal? - http://isitnormal.com
It has been shown that gay swans make better parents
that straight swans. And let me ask all those
straight people out there. Did you CHOOSE to be STRAIGHT? ...
isitnormal.com/story/3343/
==================================================================
18. Male "Swan" Flap Turns Into Kudos --
Queer Lesbian Gay News -- Gay.com
Actually, a gay "Swan Lake" would be perfectly reasonable,
since its composer, Tschaikovsky, was himself a gay man,
albeit deeply troubled by his ...
www.gay.com/news/article.html?1996/10/14/1
==================================================================
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tchaikovskys-Swan-Lake-Adam-Cooper
/dp/B00004CWO8
This Swan Lake was the unexpected popular hit of 1996,
when radical choreographer Matthew Bourne took Tchaikovsky's
traditional ballet by the scruff of the neck and reworked
it with a myriad of modern influences and themes to
astonishing effect. Seldom have the dark psychological
riptides at the heart of so many classical ballets been
so brilliantly exposed.
Bourne has stressed the universality of his interpretation,
which proved such a success for his Adventures in
Motion Pictures dance company. And indeed this is never
an overtly "gay" Swan Lake, although the electricity of the
pas de deux at the height of Act 2 delivers a palpably
homoerotic charge.
==================================================================
19. Faceparty > Boys > Bisexual > NUCLEAR_SWAN
Faceparty: the Biggest Party on Earth?. ... ...
uclear_swan Very Openminded, reserved, quite unique, nerdy boy.
www.faceparty.com/nuclear_swan
=================================================================
http://www.sodomylaws.org/usa/dc/dchistory02.htm
43. Rosse, p. 805. The two classic French Lesbian novels Rosse
mentions were first published in English translation, in the U.S.,
in the 1890s: Theophile Gautier, Mademoiselle de Maupin;
A Romance of Love and Passion;
================================================================
http://www.pitzer.edu/academics/faculty/masilela/nam/general/
essays/denby3.htm
The dance criticism of Edwin Denby is characterised by what
could be called "the easy flow of his sentences", which are the
very words with which he appended to the ballet reviews of the
French Romantic poet, Theophile Gautier, whom he considered to
have been the greatest of all ballet critics, surpassing Noverre
(the founder of ballet aesthetics in the eighteenth-century) and
proving unsurpassable to Levinson (the great critic of dance in
the early part of our century). It is within this pleaid of
critics, this lineage, that Edwin Denby should be placed. For
Edwin Denby, not only should dance criticism be lively, coherent
and lucid, it should first and foremost be lyrical and poetical.
The poeticism that Edwin Denby demanded, or more appropriately
requested of dance criticism should not surprise us, for he was
passionately immersed in the Romantic poetry of Shelley and
Keats. The poeticism informing Denby's work contrasts markedly
with the cumbersomeness and excitability of Arlene Croce's
reflections on dance and the stoicism of Marcia B. Siegel's
scholarly texts.
=================================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Denby_%28poet%29
Edwin Denby (1903-1983) was an American poet and dance critic.
He is the author of Looking at the Dance and Dancers, Buildings,
and People in the Street.
Mr. Denby was a beloved figure to many, even if a somewhat
distant one to most, in the New York poetry and dance scene.
A long-time resident of Manhattan's Chelsea district,
where he had a loft in a five-story walkup on West Twenty-first
Street, one that he shared with the darkroom of filmmaker,
photographer, and painter, Rudy Burckhardt,
Edwin was quite fond of cold coffee in a paper cup,
that he would often purchase on his way home from a
performance of his beloved New York City Ballet.
=================================================================
http://www.mrbellersneighborhood.com/story.php?storyid=1466
THE COFFEE INCIDENT
by Katherine Sharpe
The Midtown Report: Heightened Security Leads to Homoerotic
Fondling/Rescue by Dick & Jane
by J Paul Ghetto
No therapist alone could have gotten me to live in the present,
but this was also a general recipe among poets I admired,
such as Reznikoff, Frank O'Hara and Edwin Denby,
and I wanted at the time to be a poet, like them,
of proudly urban verse. In the meantime I kept diaries,
telling myself: You need not seek, the streets will deliver
all in due time.
In front of Carnegie Hall near the Russian Tea Room, there was
a crazy man screaming his lungs out, something about "Man is an animal!"
--in any case, not very interesting from the viewpoint of language
or ideas. People were swerving away from him, but he was tyrannizing
the whole street with his insane yelling.
I started making the motion with my hand of patting the waves,
the now-wait-a-minute-buddy-calm-down gesture.
"You want me on your back?" he yelled with satisfaction.
"Huh? You want ME ON YOUR BACK, Mister?!"
I had to admit he had a point.
=================================================================
http://econ.ucsc.edu/~nuclear/econ137/hotnews/dancemademodern.htm
A Modest Proposal for Waking Up Dance Classics
True, the viewer had been tumbled into something akin to
Alice's rabbit hole only to discover on landing that one
was back in the world of 19th-century ballet conceits that
too often look deadeningly hollow today. Time, space and
the sense of familiar place had been fractured and nearly
abolished.
=================================================================
http://www.ballet.co.uk/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=
how_thread&om=32&forum=DCForumID12&omm=5&viewmode=
Perhaps Donnellan's next venture will be in architecture
or nuclear physics perhaps - some other technical discipline
where you can't possibly make things up as you go along.
Or so they thought. The history of ballet has many fine
collaborations where different disciplines have worked together
created great works - but not where the least qualified of them
all has been the dictator.
Forget MacMillan - it's Bernstein who will be turning in his grave.
=================================================================
http://www.csulb.edu/~jvancamp/article6.html
Dance criticism is often enjoyed by the reader who never has and
never will personally experience the work as an audience member.
This interest in criticism of a work, sans an experience of the
work itself, is the subject of outrage and controversy in
literary circles, yet in dance it is an obvious necessity.
By 1945, his review of the work added detail of the scenario and
the performances. By then, the literary insights that
distinguish his criticism had emerged more clearly, as when he
says the work
. . . is about poetry, poetry in the sense of a brilliant,
sensuous, daring, and powerful activity of our nature.
------------------------------------------------------------------
"Dancing is the poetry of the foot." -John Dryden
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