52 replies to this topic

[sandik]

The company has circulated this press release

Pacific Northwest Ballet TOURS TO NEW YORK AS PART OF THE JOYCE THEATER’S FALL/wINTER SEASON

January 5 – 10, 2010
Tue–Wed 7:30pm
Thu–Sat 8pm
Sat–Sun 2pm

SEATTLE, WA — The Joyce Theater has announced that Pacific Northwest Ballet will be coming to New York City with seven performances January 5 – 10, 2010, as part of The Joyce Theater’s fall/winter season. PNB will present the East Coast premieres of two works recently choreographed for the company by Twyla Tharp and Benjamin Millepied; The program will also include works by Marco Goecke and Edwaard Liang. These performances mark Pacific Northwest Ballet’s debut at The Joyce Theatre.


The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization, has served the dance community and its audiences since 1982. One of the only theaters built by dancers for dance, The Joyce Theater has provided an intimate and elegant New York home for more than 300 domestic and international companies. The Joyce has also commissioned more than 130 new dances since 1992. In 1996, The Joyce created Joyce SoHo, a dance center providing highly subsidized rehearsal and performance space to hundreds of dance artists. The Joyce Theater now features an annual season of approximately 48 weeks with over 340 performances for audiences in excess of 135,000.

PNB’s program line-up at The Joyce will include:


Opus 111
Choreography: Twyla Tharp
Music: Johannes Brahms
Premiere: September 25, 2008; Pacific Northwest Ballet

3 Movements
Choreography: Benjamin Millepied
Music: Steven Reich
Premiere: November 6, 2008; Pacific Northwest Ballet

Mopey
Choreography: Marco Goecke
Music: C.P.E. Bach and The Cramps
Premiere: March 16, 2004; Peter Boal and Company (New York)
PNB Premiere: November 3, 2005

Für Alina
Choreography: Edwaard Liang
Music: Arvo Pärt
Premiere: September 16, 2006; New Ballet Choreographers (New York)
PNB Premiere: March 13, 2008

For more information, visit the < http://www.pnb.org/P...9Joyce_tour.pdf >Joyce Theatre press release.

[Helene]

Bumping -- PNB will perform at the Joyce from January 5-10.  

There's a short video on the Joyce Theater site which highlights the Tharp with the Liang sandwiched in between:

http://www.joyce.org...c...5&theater=1

[bart]

What do you all think of the program, considering that this may define them for the New Yorker ballet audience for quite a while?

[Helene]

The program couldn't be more NY-based unless "Mopey" was replaced by "State of Darkness", which was performed last year at the Joyce and is significantly longer.  Tharp, Millepied, and Liang are all known entities to NYC audiences, and getting an original Tharp was a coup.  (I preferred her "Afternoon Ball", another commission, but that's me.)    The works are the right size for the Joyce, they should appeal to both the type of younger audience that Boal is trying to develop in Seattle as well as the NYCB audience, and they fit well into the Joyce season programming.  I would guess that the former NYCB contingent will perform if healthy:  Carla Korbes was original cast in the Tharp and William Lin-Yee in the Millepied.  (I don't remember how the Orzas were cast, and Miranda Weese retired last season.)  This was very intelligent programming for the venue.  Were the company performing at City Center, I'd expect the company's stellar Balanchine.

This is not the misstep of bringing "Jardi Tancat" to last year's Ballet Across America series at the Kennedy Center.  The pieces are highly representative of the type of work that Boal is bringing to PNB; the Duato piece was brought in by Russell and Stowell.  PNB will perform Millepied's "3 Movements" again at the 2010 Ballet Across America (along with a yet-to-be-announced work from Ballet Arizona and Morphoses in "Fool's Paradise").  "Mopey" is not a great piece of dance, but it's a fine vehicle for seeing (once) wonderful PNB men (and it's thankfully short), especially for the first time.  I've never seen the Liang.

[papeetepatrick]

Thanks for the info, Helene.  I was going to ask you Seattle people for something about these pieces if I went, and I will be going.  Just bought ticket a half hour ago.

[Helene]

Here is Alastair Macaulay's preview in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.c...look-dance.html

In the video, the first section features Carrie Imler and Jonathan Porretta in Opus 111 (Tharp), the second features Jeffrey Stanton and, I think, Louise Nadeau in Liang's Fur Alina -- Imler and Bold had the premiere and were in the reviews -- and the third, back to the Tharp with Ariana Lallone and Stanko Milov, both of whom are in the photo in the Macaulay preview.

[abatt]

I have not been able to find any casting info on the Joyce PNB season.  If anyone has such info, please share.

[Helene]

If the casting is posted to the PNB website, it likely will be on this page:

http://www.pnb.org/Season/Touring/

There may be a press release as well with the casting, but no guarantees.

[SandyMcKean]

Helene said:

......and getting an original Tharp was a coup. (I preferred her "Afternoon Ball", another commission, but that's me.)

That's how I feel about the 2 pieces too.

[E Johnson]

Helene, on Dec 31 2009, 03:20 PM, said:

The program couldn't be more NY-based unless "Mopey" was replaced by "State of Darkness", which was performed last year at the Joyce and is significantly longer.

"Mopey" was on the program for Peter Boal and Dancers at the Joyce when Boal was still at NYCB in 2004 -- see this thread:  http://ballettalk.in...p...c=16424&hl=

So it is sort of NY based as well.

[sandik]

E Johnson, on Jan 4 2010, 04:19 AM, said:

"Mopey" was on the program for Peter Boal and Dancers at the Joyce when Boal was still at NYCB in 2004 -- see this thread:  http://ballettalk.in...p...c=16424&hl=

On Sean Suozzi in Mopey -- "I thought he looked like Joey Ramone if he had had a lot of dance training."

Bingo!  I'd forgotten that description, and am so glad to be reminded!

[Leigh Witchel]

I talked to Peter for a preview in today's Post - it didn't make it in for space reasons, but he did specifically bring choreographers he felt the NYC audience was interested in.

[Helene]

Leigh's piece was published in today's edition, at least on the website:

http://www.nypost.co...LZ1KG43A76rSusL

Quote

Little wonder, then, that Boal's on everyone's short list for taking over New York City Ballet if and when Peter Martins retires. (Martins is 62.)

Whether that's his goal or not, Boal won't say.

"I love New York, and I love Seattle," he tells The Post. "I've been pleased with the opportunities I've had here, and right now I'm savoring those."

Check out his work this week at the Joyce. It may just be a sneak preview of New York's dance future.

Gia Kourlas previews the company in today's New York Times, with quotes from Ariana Lallone and Carla Korbes; the article confirms that Korbes will dance in "Fur Alina", "Opus 111", and "3 Movements" ("[S]he will appear in all the works except 'Mopey'")

On his philosophy of programming:

Quote

Mr. Boal likes to broaden the focus from individual pieces to a choreographer’s body of work, as he has also done with ballets by Jerome Robbins and Christopher Wheeldon, for audiences as well as dancers. “The idea is so that they can really discuss, as with Robbins, how ‘In the Night’ differs from ‘Fancy Free’ and what are their similarities?” he said. “Once the choreographers become the box office draw, the abilities that you have for programming are endless.”

http://www.nytimes.c...e/05ballet.html

[SandyMcKean]

This list doesn't tell which dancers are dancing which nights, but it does at least list all the dancers that will perform each piece:

http://seattledances...ur-casting.html

P.S. Seattle Dances is an excellent website here in Seattle for finding information and reviews of nearly everything dance in the Northwest.  It is run by Rosie Gaynor.

P.P.S. ......and do yourself a favor and see the video interview with Barry Kerollis at the end of the posting.  Barry is one of PNB's bright upcoming stars (IMHO).  He has a grace and power and commitment that stands out.

[E Johnson]

I am probably going to have one or two extra tickets to the Thursday night PNB performance. I would be happy to give it/them to a fellow Ballet Talker.  feel free to message me here if you are interested.