aside and let fellow preacher Jerry Falwell take over
until things cooled off. When Falwell discovered
that the Bakkers were in bad financial shape, he
tried to prevent their return.
The Bakkers also found themselves under investi-
gation by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) for using money raised for specific overseas
ministry programs to pay for Heritage USA and their
personal expenses. In 1989, Bakker was convicted of
fraud and conspiracy for stealing donations from
the PTL ministry and sent to prison.
Impact The PTL scandals and the Bakker’s exces-
sive lifestyles eventually affected the reputation of
other televangelists. The 1987 scandal happened to
coincide with one involving televangelist Oral Rob-
erts, who had shocked followers when he implied
that if they did not donate $4.5 million to his minis-
try, God would kill him. Thus, televangelism became
associated with corruption and greed during the
late 1980’s. The Bakkers’ greed also victimized many
unsuspecting, faithful viewers, causing them collec-
tively to lose millions of dollars.
Further Reading
Albert, James A.Jim Bakker: Miscarriage of Justice?
Peru, Ill.: Carus, 1988.
Hunter, James.Smile Pretty and Say Jesus: The Last
Great Days of the PTL. Athens: University of Geor-
gia Press, 1993.
Martz, Larry.Ministr y of Greed: The Inside Stor y of the
Televangelists and Their Holy Wars. New York: Wei-
denfeld & Nicolson, 1988.
Mar yanne Barsotti
See also Falwell, Jerry; Heritage USA; Religion
and spirituality in the United States; Robertson, Pat;
Swaggart, Jimmy; Televangelism.
Ballet
Definition A classical, theatrical, narrative form of
dance
The 1980’s were characterized by a departure from classi-
cism by ballet choreographers who redefined the dance
form’s language and took it beyond its established bound-
aries.
After Mikhail Baryshnikov finished working with
George Balanchine inThe Prodigal Son(pr. 1929)
andThe Steadfast Tin Soldier(pr. 1975) in 1980, he re-
turned to the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) as ar-
tistic director. He staged elaborate productions of
the classics, includingGiselle(pr. 1841) andSwan
Lake(pr. 1877, rev. 1951), featuring the virtuoso
Gelsey Kirkland, who had reached stardom at New
York City Ballet. Her performance of the role of Kitri
inDon Quixote(pr. 1869), in which she touched the
back of her head with her foot in an amazing jeté
kick, won for her celebrity and acclaim. Aside from
his embrace of the classics, Baryshnikov’s greatest
contribution was to add eight Balanchine ballets and
other works by avant-garde choreographers to the
company’s repertoire, expanding it in style and vi-
sion.Death of a Master A child extinguishing a candle as
the music died in Balanchine’s memorableAdagio
Lamentosofrom thePathétiqueSymphony (1981) an-
ticipated the mourning of the brilliant choreogra-
pher’s end. With his death in 1983, New York City
Ballet faced the arduous task of replacing the genius
who had served as the company’s ballet master, men-
tor, and voice. The task of keeping the company to-
gether and redirecting its future fell on partners Pe-
ter Martins and Jerome Robbins. Robbins assumed
the responsibility of creating new ballets, while the
company’s management and direction fell to Mar-
tins. Robbins was considered the most gifted Ameri-
can-born choreographer and had contributed to the
company’s repertoire for more than twenty years.
During the 1980’s, his creative versatility was recog-
nized again in works inspired by jazz (Gershwin Con-
certo, 1982), by modern composers like Claude De-
bussy (Antique Epigraphs, 1984) and Aaron Copland
(Quiet City, 1986), and by the minimalist music of
Philip Glass (Glass Pieces, 1983) and Steve Reich
(Eight Lines, 1985).
Martins spent the larger portion of the 1980’s
maintaining and promoting Balanchine’s reper-
toire. At the end of the decade, however, his own cre-
ative works showed a clear departure from his mas-
ter’s style in such pieces asEcstatic Orange(pr. 1987)
andEcho(pr. 1989), both set to the music of Michael
Torke. If Balanchine’s specialty had been the explo-
ration of movement in the anonymity of dancers,
Robbins’s movement invention lent itself for com-
munication among dancers, and Martins, withEc-
static Orange, achieved equality between male and
female dancers.88 Ballet The Eighties in America