Stone deaf
Sir: Speaking as a stone-deaf and retarded adolescent, I object strongly to Clement Crisp's patron- ising cynicism, puerile bigotry, and arrogant snobbery in his condem- nation of Hans van Manen's ballet, Twice.
I find most disquieting the prob- ability that the scorn for the con- temporary pop music movement implicit in his criticism led him to an ipso facto rejection of the ballet, as the way in which he compares it to 'those mindless Tv pro- grammes featuring pop singers ...* and describes the accompanying soul music as 'a vulgar din that is plainly unmusical and entirely soul- less', and . . . which reaches a nadir of awfulness . . . ' displays a lack of objectivity alarming for a critic in an influential publica- tion, and sadly indicative of the mental petrification induced by advancing years. One does not con- demn beans on toast because Steak Diane is better. Nor should music in the soul idiom be rejected merely because in absolute terms, of musi- cal complexity it is inferior to Tchaikovsky.
His final jibe that As an intro- duction to dancing for stone-deaf and retarded adolescents it might just do' is magnificent in its con- temptuous scope. It at once sneers at the implied low intellectual con- tent of the piece, infers that this would suit the equally low intel- lectual capacity of a physically and mentally handicapped adolescent, expresses a sense of smug superi- ority over that age group, and completes his unjust excoriation of this entertaining ballet.
Mr Crisp appealed deliberately to the narrow-minded instinct of readers and in doing so has ex- posed the extent of his own.
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