Robert Bettmann – Page 34

Snow Monkeys

I do like to talk. Still, when I lived in New York, after I stopped dancing, I worked as an editorial assistant for Science Textbooks at W.W. Norton & Co. It was a very depressing time for me. I had moved to New York to dance, and with my relationship from college, and had ended up working in an office, alone. My bosses were great, but the isolation and reality of New York were difficult.

The job was entirely administrative. As a large independent press Norton had editors (my bosses) to do the editing, and dedicated copy editors to do the copy editing. My job was keeping all of the pieces moving in the right direction, which was not a trick for me. Part of my work – in keeping things flowing – was handling the photo calls. Authors might note in a manuscript that they want a picture of such and such at a particular place in the text, and I/we would send out a photo call for such and such, select options from what was received, scan the slides (this was ’99), and email them to the author for selection. Days doing this, in my little internal office with no window. I remember vividly when one of the slides was an image of the Snow Monkeys in Japan.

Here are images similar to the one I remember:

I have since learned that “macaques invent and pass on new behaviours. Scientists have observed macaques learning how to wash potatoes and make snowballs and these skills have spread throughout Japan.” They believe that this band of monkeys went into the water to recover floating soy beans, and realized that hot springs are just lovely.

The Instant Ballerina

I spend some of my free time researching in dance history, and wrote this piece for myself/Bourgeon a few years ago. It’s about a single transformative year in the life of Marie Taglioni. It’s now reprinted on Dance Enthusiast, which you can see here, and here’s an excerpt.

“Despite the advantage of possibly the best training in the world, at the age of sixteen Marie’s ability remained hidden. Coulon, as reported in the Paris Opera Director Louis Veron’s Memoirs years later, evaluated Marie in 1820 as “la petite bossue” (the little hunchback), in full remarking, “When will that little hunchback ever learn to dance!” And yet just two years later, in 1822, Marie debuted successfully in Vienna. Considering the Taglioni phenomenon is illuminating in part for the understanding she provides of what one has to give – and be given – to transform oneself from hunchback to Sylphide.

The instant creation of a ballerina occurred over the course of the year 1821. During this year Filippo trained Marie privately, in Vienna, guiding her through three classes a day. Sophie Taglioni is critically responsible for her daughter’s accomplishment, as it was her actions that necessitated her husband’s extreme, and hands on, training of their daughter.

Filippo did not live with the family in Paris. The couple exchanged regular letters, in which Sophie detailed the progress of their progeny in Coulon’s classes (her younger brother Paul, who would become her partner for much of her performing career, was also a ballet student at the Opera school.) For years Sophie sent letters to her husband greatly exaggerating Coulon’s assessment of Marie. Filippo was finally so motivated by the lies that he arranged for his daughter to debut, in January of 1822 in Vienna. Sophie was grief-stricken upon receipt of her husband’s ‘debut’ letter, knowing full well that her child would be ridiculed, and her husband rebuked. Following receipt of the letter Sophie ran to Coulon for advice and received back: ‘You wish for my advice? You have it madame: You should make your daughter an embroidress, for she will never be a dancer!’

Filippo must have suspected that the reports of Marie’s progress were artificial, as he arranged for his daughter to travel to Vienna a full year prior to her performance. Upon arrival her father gave her a private class, so that he could assess what needed to be worked on in the months prior to the debut. According to Marie’s memoir, after sitting silently for a few moments he informed her that she must be prepared to work harder than anyone had ever worked. All evidence points toward the fact that Monsieur Taglioni was not speaking hyperbolically. With full understanding of the many strengths required of a ballerina, it seems clear that in one year Filippo forced Marie to transform herself from Bossue to Ballerina. Sequestered in apartments at a distance from the theater, Filippo hid Marie – and her dancing – prior to the debut. Somewhat miraculously, the reviews were positive, though not glowing…. ”

Again, read the whole thing on Dance Enthusiast, here.

Education Reform Debate on PBS

Found out about this from over on Eduwonk. Interesting debate on pbs about whether or not it’s appropriate to fire teachers if – year after year – students are failing… Is it better to give them new tools/new focus, and how should you get them to accept new tools/new focus/new testing. Not surprisingly, DC Mayor Fenty and DCPS Chancellor Rhee are considered in the reporting on this issue.