Oh, what a linky day it is. See how the Paris Metro covers the city so evenly, at 2 pixels to the mile.

(Thanks to kottke.org.)

posted: 1:52:11 PM  

Brad L. Graham, American, is concerned that President Bush isn't doing enough to defend the institution of marriage.

posted: 1:52:09 PM  

The first yellow crocus are peeking out of the ground, in the little wayside garden by the Washington & Old Dominion Trail near the Whole Foods.

posted: 1:52:08 PM  

The evening opens with the perennial Serenade. It's good to hear a live orchestra for this piece. City Ballet's reputation for quiet feet is belied by a lot of clippy-clop from the corps. A brunette soloist (Yvonne Borree, I believe) doesn't seem to have complete control of her turns. Darci Kistler has a great moment in the dead-girlfriend section at the end that I've never seen before: her partner turns her while she balances on pointe, and he's screened behind her, so her turn is to appearances completely effortless.

Peter Boal achieves a rangy gravity in the title role of Apollo (which is new to me), though the opening section with the lute strumming makes one wonder whether Apollo was into thrash metal. There's a lot in this dance in common with Serenade: the maypole chains of dancers, the many-limbed beings created by dancers positioned on a axis. The Stravinsky score isn't as interesting as the rest of his work.

Maria Kowroski languorously dances the adagio movement of Symphony in C like she's from another planet, as if to say, "Gravity doesn't affect me the way it does you; I'll touch my foot down now because it pleases me to do so." Pascale van Kipnis took a tumble in the fourth movement, but she makes us forget it in the ensuing romp, an accumulation of bodies that says, "Okay, everyone on stage for the Busby Berkeley number!"

Hmm. City Ballet seems to go in for opera-style calls downstage of the grand drape.

posted: 12:12:07 AM