Recently, Nilas Martins, principal dancer at the New York City Ballet, was stopped in Washington, DC, by gun-wielding policemen. They checked him out and let him go, but the incident prompted National Public Radio to seek the advice of Letitia Baldrige, the Kennedy-era doyenne of protocol, to see if there might be an appropriate way to comport oneself while enduring martial law. Crisis etiquette, purred Ms. Baldrige, "goes back to basic character.... You just look past the assault rifles." With all due respect, suspect profiles of the new millennium--to whose ranks we welcome tall, Danish-born ballet dancers--would be best advised to turn to Ms. Baldrige's long-lost half-sister, LaTeesha, for tips about comportment under lockdown.

"Keep your eyes on the assault rifles and your hands in plain view," Ms. LaTeesha prayed me to relay to Mr. Martins.

She and I were sitting in her tastefully appointed salon located in the exclusive enclave of Southeast Estates, a grated community in Washington, DC.

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