Paquita Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 (press releases are on the NBoC website) This summer, Jennifer Fournier (principal) and Je-An Salas (2nd soloist) are retiring. They'll both be missed. Fournier gave a touching farewell performance in Five Brahms Waltzes (and also appears in The Second Detail). Salas has always been a strong and consistent member in the corps and will be remembered for some of her roles (e.g. woman in A Delicate Battle and canary fairy in Sleeping Beauty). Piotr Stancyzk has been promoted to principal dancer and Kevin Bowles has been promoted from 2nd soloist to principal character artist. I'm not totally convinced that Stancyzk is versatile enough to appear as a leading man in a wide repertoire. However, when I saw him in Etudes this weekend, he did seem to dance with a new confidence and attack. Bowles is still quite young, but has always seemed to lean towards dramatic roles, most notably in Balanchine's Don Quixote so the change in role does not come as a total surprise. Congratulations to them both. Sort of surprising that there were no female dancers promoted, given the new vacancies. Link to comment
Helene Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 Many thanks, Paquita! A few years ago, I remember sitting in Bojangles in Vancouver reading an article in I think Globe and Mail about the up-and-coming young men at National Ballet of Canada. Cote was one, and Stanczyk was another. It's nice to see that he is realizing his potential. Congratulations to him and Bowles. Link to comment
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