Dance critic Judith Mackrell of The Guardian has written a post that credits “the Artsjournal dance blog” for “chatter” and “wishful thinking” in our hopes for an ambassador for dance on the model of Pavarotti.
So does Mackrell go on to prove how stupid this whole topic is? No! She borrows it whole hog for her own column, after making it properly British. (She doesn’t want an ambassador for dance worldwide, but a missionary for British dance.)
In case you’re curious, our chatter starts here, then goes here
and here
and here
and here and here.
And of course it’s all over the place–it’s a conversation. A lot of you contributed. Thank you for that!
UPDATE:
Tonya Plank (a.k.a. Swan Lake Samba Girl), who’s been contributing all along (thank you, Tonya!), writes in this morning:
Yay, we started a trend! I think Carlos Acosta is a great ambassador for the Brits. I’m dying to read his memoir. I think the person who nominated Nureyev was right on the mark, too. If only he were still alive… Baryshnikov isn’t as interested in being in the public eye anymore; somehow I think Rudi would be.
Apollinaire Scherr talks about dance
Bad netiquette! I’ve had people copy and paste some of my blog posts to their own sites and not credit or link it back to me. I can understand it happening in random blogs on the net… but the Guardian? Shame!
Apollinaire responds: Oh, she linked it back–laxly. You know, to the general site, not the discussion. The problem was she was snooty about it. If you’re going to borrow other people’s ideas, you’re really in no position to dis them, I think.
Apollinaire…relax! First of all I didn’t discern any snootiness in Mackrell’s tone. If anything she is a champion of blogging – the only reviewer I know from a mainstream newspaper who does. And she does link to the discussion in the sentence “has inspired much wishful thinking about what an equivalent mass-market celebrity might do for dance.” The link to the main site is from “Arts Journal” – a common practice in link etiquette.
I don’t condone swiping material from other people’s blogs (and I hate snootiness), but aren’t you being just a bit oversensitive about this?
Apollinaire responds: Well, I understand standards of politeness in the blogosphere are very low, so, according to them, yep, I’m oversensitive. But would you borrow someone’s scarf, say, with, “Hey, can I borrow your ratty scarf?” Replace “ratty” with “chatter,” and you’ve got Mackrell. Not a big deal, but annoying.
Plus, having a blog isn’t the same as championing blogging. I don’t see much championing going on there (or here, for that matter).