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THE MEW CANADIAN
Frkkiy, Nov. 71986
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M6ther&son…
Autumn: A timer to take leave
By SAG HI SEKO .
Being a woman can hazardous to your life, Aocord-ing !0 some theorists, Women sufferexireme, depre"ion through the s evjs I;もnee of en notional ties、 bk:au" o'f divorcき, death or the departure of children. Idon'もknゃw what kind of\ypnhfen' ai^チstリcHさdlrv surveys that reinforce such s9ciologiとqidaぉ,b" the ini-巾inent deipdrture of oiir son frorViour house does not elicit tりe depression1am su|:^sed to feel*ぉ.the risk of refuting a14hdi"itotive sources, my emotions will have to be measured bv other barometers. Perhaps the predicted mental dedine wHI follow, but presently, I am too preoccupied with administering a crash course on the 'pract, c?spーs ofordi nary survival.
Wherv we earlier discussed: the )possibility of hisleaving home, my son asked, "Which painting can Ikike? What w【" I put my stereo on?"
i| suggested that rather than v^ofrying about such trivia, we should make a list of pots and pqns, djshes and utensils
$on Is educate I加d supposedly possesses o reosona"e ,n-telligence. Through d。lly, direct contact wUh the^ world, I fmaglne he rece—snew,n辟 forYna"on asはbecome"yan-Oiblei Most concepts cmtTcon-dはIons jtefid to pass me by as r engageIn poking at —eds orscqiding dogs. So his disclaimer: of the needfor pots andpcfns; shotd tremor Qif fear thr(?ughme, Wasはpossible the it some nr)lraculous 'technology had cnsplaced the need for food pr印af。tion or fdpd itself?1:ca:refuはy: compossd the sentences In my h的cT,、 hoping to avoid oipipearing a compli^fe 'idiot,. "Aren't y6u going t.o eat? Don't; people still require rVoひr】shment?"
"Ohにsure, but what's the big deal? I'm coming hortie to eat, $0 whywQuld , need pots and pdns9"
My son,scuirnary a'bintyIs linnはed to the occa&iond heating bfa boiling bdg. Years ago, he flunked the test preparing a can of 'soup, when he forgot to adcTwater. I am learning, much to my chagrin, that 1 have wholly neglected
to pひrh。se. Wはh the most in- Pひrt of my maternalrespons,
credi;lous expression on his face, he asked, "What Vvould ,c!o wはh those things?"
From his qenuine astonishment, you would have bdiev-ed Ihad suggested he stockpile rockets 。rdynamiぉ.脚
ibility. Perhaps too much dt-tentbn was directed toward books, authors, words.
Yet,lreci$oniは'はthe〗den' tied】egacy ljnherite<d from my mother.1was nursed, quite ntemlly, on the binngual
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Distant Dances:艮cha加i赠 memoir of dancer S加oOsato
interpret?"on$ . of Dostoevsky, Pushklh cjnd Tolstoy. My mo tiler was dゅl咖Russlなat theymeofmy birth. By the rime she cHecJi herdnoazin^ liーraryItinerary had taken herintp SoutにAmerican ter-rはory. This discovery made aiPter herdect^. Eqrly on, U wash&r sonぉry pllgr】巾oge,, ぉrllagg(^toofar beWncfhもr Im—tient and brilliant rnlnd. But words relTYdneci the most enduring connec"on betw柳 us, ..■ ' ■
,resnsmber !h〗s, as I t的ch my son ioやtrip sheets, t op face clean linen on his bed. When I compbin of hislade of common sense! "elin9 rぉent-ment at bein^ addressed js a dhild again,1recallmy own fury a(mymoUier. I hadruin-ed crwedd inきgift pan when 1bひmed steひksiトwasfryipg. $he didn't think 'U was p6s-sit>le。ndas!Jce<j me to r印eat exdctlywhctt1hgdぁne.rwas infuriated when she couldn't controlher laughter because 【had not greased the pan and accused (w of failure to ゃrovide specific instruct ionト "Common sense wouWhcive to1d you that," she saM
Sトe always sciklI would neverlearn to cook, mucf» Ws to enjoyは.The years have proved hらr wrong. So I know these things, the ordinary part of iifeiwill become as natural to my son as they have to me. Andにeven hove ho pes that eventudly eating at home ーni be by invはation or reservation.
* * »
The other day,1said to '下allis ago'od time for you toleave."
"l:1cnoW/' he saki "The weather: $p erfecビ'
He did not qredize卜was spkfkjng o千anothe「 cmtumrt, my "me oflife. My parents wるreIn thei^^ early autumn, being youngerかan1amnow, wherrrtiey rnistoolc tbe season ぉr winter. I remepr^ber the o6casion,ci〗cirge reception. At onepoint, , wanted toleave to 'ゅin my friends. Wh6n ! informed— ■ Parents of my intention, they reluetantly ogre德 e<i As rwalkedaway, 1 turned to wqve onelast time. U w。s tVien1saw the eゃre"ions of abqndonment andlone"-ness on theげfaces. Despising them andhating rhysetIf, , retraced my steps and never re-cHlyleft home until they died.
"Winter would be a lousy time for moving," my son said.
"はwould t>e the worst t;me,'' , agreed. And he did, not krtow we were thinking of different winters. '
By Sono Osato 、
30, ppi New York:繁
A|rfredA.KnopV$15.00
By STEPHANIE WA'DA
•'Distant Dances"Is an 。uto-b、io『ophy by the dancer Sono 6sato, a VeteraIV of —Bdlet Russes^^ de Monte Ga〖Jo/ぉHet Theatre, and, Broadway as Nydl,は7 commences vyはらthe
qリthor,sfir多i:chHdhopd glimpse oft ihe ballet (the D さ hUev Bdlet,はhappens) an^ ends with hさr par"ciipation:(n Am-ertcari Bdlet Theatre's 35th Ann—sary (5a la in1975 when$he was 55. :' •、
TWs is a charming, graceful ly vWはteh and uひpreteniidリs menmoir, nk;minoting qsはdoeis both the bcj。Icstdさe and 、on-stage world rigs of the;; Ballet Russes of ijie1930's:, the fcimous troひpedrawnf「om thさ rqnks; ofDi ag'hilev's former cprrvpany — whkh AAiss Osato 松in 6cI as'a corps <;k«rxerNvf|en she was15 years old.
Much of AAisさOsdto's story is also devoted to the "birth$ of twひgreatAmer ice in ballet companies, Lucia Chase'sAnv eri ca rv Ballet Theatre and George Balanchine'scmd Lincoln Kirstein's New Yo"k City Ballet."
She alきo writes of herlife outside the theatre, of her relationship wはh family and friends, her h叩py marriage and children.
To the devotee of the ballet, or of donee in general,"Dist-cmtDiances" is th(?roughlyre-warcHng. Uvdyanecdotes abound, as well as f。mous nqmes of dancers,'choreographers, COnfYposers such as banHova, Massine, Toumano-va, Zorina {a future Mrs, Bala, nchine), de Miller Tudor, Rob* bins,ぶravin?;ky and Bernstein. (There is, suipfi singly Httle nnenUon ofぉcilanchine.
iMiss Oscito's boひk is not self-glorifYingにshe indicates clearly thaす,wHUe shゃherself \Vas gifぉd cmd ddyancedfi"Qm the cdripsdebaHet. t:o solo ro, les with the Ballet R"sses, c?lso dan off!总leading roles for Ballet Theatre qnd on Broadway, she does notrartk herself among the pripna balle.rinas, Russian and Americarv whose talents qod personalties she des-
In addはion to being cm en-grossing occount oflぽe among so me of the most r eh owed artists of our time, "Distant Dances" also te"s s'ome化,ng of whot it^ waslike to be an As km American (actually, Eura-
slaniAmericanlin the1930's, '4Q'sand'50's.
Sono C?sat6was born to a Japanese father and an IrUh-American m6ther, who were m a med secretly in Iowa be-c:ause the br(cie's home state Nebraska) forbade marricige betweenみmさricaos cjndJ6pa-nese. The old est- of j I^ee children, Sono bec:ame a \a if are quite early of the cultural 。nd ipeho nalはy differerrces between, her parents. Her early schooT yedflwere多pent ir> Francei vyhere she aりd her sister were regqrdedcts "different" bytheレclassmates.
へI As a member of the Bqllet Russes* Sono found acceptance and compdmionship, and at age15 had alove affair wゅ a polish dctncer in the comp-cmy. After the on set of World V\A3r llihowe\/er, she was forbidden ta trav,e! outside the country and vv^as 6bligさd to ad印t her nnother,smaJden name, Fitzpatridv in odrer t6 continue to ,perfom with Bdlet Theatre.
Her father wqs interned for therehnciincler of the war. Miss Osato describes these painful incidents honestly, but with-out bittemeさs. She was also bladk"sted during the1950's.
Of her success on Bめadwciy as Ivy Snnはh in Leonard Bゅ-"ein's "On theTown,', choreographed byぉomeRobbins, she writes, ;
,'はwas dmazing to me that, 。t the height of a wo rid war 化ughtover the mQ$t vital )polト ticaしmo rot and racialissues, a Broa^ay musicalshciLjld feat-Urもand have audiences uncjue"ki):ningly accept, 'q half-Japanese 。S 。nAli American Girl.This. isゃrolDably the most indelib!e impression1 hcid of the magic of the theatre, lcotj!d never have been accepted aslvySmはhノm filrns or later, Qntelevi由h, Only the power of illusion cfea|;ed between perf6rmers and audiences across the footlights can transcend poHtical preference, ?^ord 。Uはudもs, and racialpre-
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