Barnett Serchuk - Page 2

I always enjoy mingling with the crowd during ballet intermissions to hear their views and to see if mine corresponds with theirs.

October 31, Halloween. I was walking to City Center for the opening of 'Balanchine: The City Center Years.' But then I began thinking of Stephen Sondheim's 'Follies.' You must all know the musical. Everyone returns for a reunion, only to be met with ghosts and remembrances of their past lives. After all, City Center is where New York City Ballet began in 1948. I wondered who I would encounter? I saw Allegra Kent. I think I saw two other members of the company who danced on New York City Ballet's opening night 70 years ago? But perhaps I'd encounter some of the other principal dancers of that time: Maria Tallchief on the stairs? Or Tanaquil Le Clercq at the bar? Or Frank Hobi? Francisco Moncion? Nicholas Magallenes? Yvonne Mounsey? Diana Adams?

An admission. I didn't go to the New York City Ballet fashion gala. Why? Because I didn't care. The New York City Ballet is probably the only company in the world that never had to pander to an audience seeking couture thrills, at least when Balanchine was alive. I know that's changed and the company has to bring in the bucks, but when the draw seems to be clothes and not choreography, it gets me thinking. What's in store for us?

Before the curtain even went up on the Sarasota Ballet on August 16, 2018, at the Joyce Theater, I was wondering if all the disruptions in the auditorium were a harbinger of things to come.