Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Alastair Macaulay. July 20 and 23, 2012

Author

Macaulay, Alastair

Publication

2012

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Seibert, Brian

Description

4 sound discs (approximately four hours): digital; 4 3/4 in. +

Summary

• Sound disc 1 (approximately one hour), July 20, 2012. Alastair Macaulay speaks with Brian Seibert about his health problems during his childhood and adolescence, and the relationship of his recovery to his developing interest in ballet; family life as a child and exposure to other art forms; the trajectory of his interest in music; attending Clare College at Cambridge University; his interest and experience in theater including his portrayal of Garry Essendine in Present laughter; becoming particularly taken with dance after seeing Margot Fonteyn perform in (Kenneth MacMillan's) Romeo and Juliet; subsequent performances and ballets which had a great impact on him, including Lynn Seymour in (Frederick Ashton's ) A month in the country; the development of his interest in the more formal aspects of ballet, including both choreography and technique; the evolution of his skills as a writer through letter writing and his start as a professional writer, including the help of Mary Clarke; his outspoken point of view at the time; his subsequent exploration of the nature of his own intentions in his critical writing.
• Sound disc 2 (approximately one hour), July 20, 2012. Alastair Macaulay speaks with Brian Seibert about reading and learning from other critics during this period (his early 20s), including Clement Crisp, Marcia Siegel, Edwin Denby and Arlene Croce; his first trip to New York City, seeing New York City Ballet and conducting research at the Dance Division (then Dance Collection) of The New York Public Library, including the impact of these experiences; the revelation he felt upon observing a variety of different classical styles; comments on some of the leading dancers during this period, including Suzanne Farrell; other company styles during this period, including that of the Royal Danish Ballet; other influences during this period, particularly in 1979, including the impact on him of seeing the Royal Shakespeare Company perform Love's labour lost; the support he received from Arlene Croce, including her efforts to bring him to The New Yorker; his admiration for Robert Gottlieb's editing; his continuing desire to grow as a writer and major influences from his reading; writing about music and musicality; his admiration for Stephanie Jordan; the events leading to his teaching at the Laban Centre for Music and Dance [following a 2005 merger with Trinity College of Music, the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance]; the value of his teaching experiences and how it led to the development of Dance Theatre Journal as well as his column at the New Yorker; more on his experiences at The New Yorker; writing about theater and becoming the chief theatre critic at the Financial Times (London).
• Sound disc 3 (approximately one hour and three minutes), July 23, 2012. Alastair Macaulay speaks with Brian Seibert about the deepening of his writing on dance and his interest in writing about the tenor Adolphe Nourrit and the ballerina Hester Santlow; thinking and writing about dance in a more historical context; his appreciation of longer forms of writing such as the essay, including how this differs from writing reviews for newspapers; the place of historical research in dance writing; the significant career choice presented when he was offered a position at The Evening Standard while writing for the Financial Times; his continuing involvement with dance during his time as a theater critic at the Financial Times including assisting Julie Kavanaugh with her biography of Frederick Ashton; his research on Margot Fonteyn and on Frederick Ashton's Les patineurs; some of the major pieces that he wrote for the Times Literary Supplement; other projects during this period; his student and friend, Matthew Bourne including Bourne's Swan lake; some anecdotes about Bourne; the circumstances leading to his becoming the chief dance critic at The New York Times including the personal turmoil he experienced during the process; discussing his style of review with Sam Sifton before accepting the position.
• Sound disc 4 (approximately 57 minutes), July 23, 2012. Alastair Macaulay speaks with Brian Seibert about the influence of arts criticism in the New York Times with respect to putative audiences; general remarks about being a critic in Britain, including what he describes as bullying among critics; the greater focus on acting and costume at the Royal Ballet compared with New York City Ballet; his deep interest in the use of voice in the performing arts; his homosexuality in the context of his role as a dance observer and critic; the potentially erotic nature of the writer's relationship to his subject, in particular that of a dance critic to a dancer; the role of the critic; his admiration for the writing of Edwin Denby; the particular challenges of writing about dance; the use of music by various choreographers, including Paul Taylor, Liam Scarlett, and George Balanchine; his memory and habits of mind; his deep knowledge of the ballet The sleeping beauty; watching dance at different points in history; his reaction to seeing certain dancers from the past on film; particular areas of dance that interest him as he looks toward the future; books he hopes to write.

Alternative Title

• Dance Oral History Project
• Dance Audio Archive

Subjects

• Sound recordings
• Interviews
• Gottlieb, Robert, 1931-2023
• New Yorker (New York, N.Y. : 1925)
• Denby, Edwin, 1903-1983
• Dance critics
• Dance criticism
• Santlow, Hester
• New York Public Library for the Performing Arts > Dance Collection
• New York City Ballet
• Bourne, Matthew, 1960-
• Croce, Arlene
• Fonteyn, Margot, 1919-1991
• Macaulay, Alastair > Interviews
• Seymour, Lynn, 1939-
• Nourrit, Adolphe, 1802-1839
• Patineurs (Choreographic work : Ashton)
• Oral histories

Genre/Form

• Oral histories.
• Interviews.
• Sound recordings.

Note

• Interview with Alastair Macaulay conducted by Brian Seibert on July 20 and 23, 2012, in New York City for The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins Dance Division Oral History Project.
• Title supplied by cataloger.
• For transcript see: *MGZMT 3-2993. The transcript has been annotated with footnotes supplied by the oral author in order to clarify and expand on the oral interview. Otherwise, the transcript has been edited only for errors in transcription.

Access (note)

• Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Funding (note)

• The creation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.

Call Number

*MGZMT 3-2993

OCLC

1004427317

Author

Macaulay, Alastair, interviewee.

Title

Interview with Alastair Macaulay. July 20 and 23, 2012

Imprint

2012

Type of Content

spoken word

text

Type of Medium

audio

unmediated

Type of Carrier

audio disc

volume

Digital File Characteristics

audio file

Restricted Access

Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Event

Recorded by Brian Seibert for The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts July 20 and 23, 2012 New York (N.Y.)

Funding

The creation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.

Added Author

Seibert, Brian, interviewer.

Research Call Number

*MGZMT 3-2993

*MGZTL 3-2993