9 replies to this topic

[Mme. Hermine]

Luke Jennings comments on Kevin O'Hare's appointment as director of the Royal Ballet, succeeding Monica Mason next year:

http://www.guardian....rector-jennings

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In Mason, who succeeded the late Ross Stretton, the Royal has enjoyed 10 years of safe, conservative leadership. This was the moment for an appointment that would seize the imagination of the public and the wider art world. It's no secret among Royal watchers that the glamorous Spanish-born ballerina Tamara Rojo ran O'Hare a very close race for the post, and it's probable that in the end it was not Rojo's age (37) or administrative inexperience which counted against her, but her international perspective.

[Mme. Hermine]

Jenny Gilbert for the Independent on the Royal Ballet:

http://www.independe...on-2299536.html

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Much of the narrative action happens in mid-focus scenes where key business is transacted among a throng: think of the illicit locking of eyes at the Capulet ball, Juliet's nurse delivering her letter to Romeo on the crowded piazza, the dangerous street games of cat and mouse that erupt into fatal gang war when one side goes a taunt too far. Artfully prepared video segments shown during scene-changes helped a bit (all credit to the BalletBoyz, Michael Nunn and William Trevitt). Live, the eye struggled to pick out who was doing what to whom in a crowd.

[Mme. Hermine]

An article on Britain's oldest ballet student:

http://www.dailymail...o=feeds-newsxml

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At 91, he is surely Britain’s oldest practising ballet dancer.

Aside from the trapeze, there is a ballet bar lining one wall and roller skates in the corner.

[dirac]

A review of the Royal Ballet at the O2 by Jeffery Taylor in The Sunday Express.

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Clearly screens are a necessity but positioned as they are above the working area means a choice between a pretty but feelingless picture on stage and the recorded emotions of the dancers on screen. Either way we lost the sweaty and powerful impact of live bodies and the screens won every time.

The company looked terrific and it was the ensemble moments that really worked, like the famous ballroom scene, music crashing around the space while the dancing aristocrats dip and sway.

[dirac]

A story on the just-formed Natchez Dance Theatre.

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The newly formed Natchez Dance Theatre will be the first dance company in Natchez and will also be the nonprofit arm of the Natchez Ballet Academy.

Reid said the mission of the Natchez Dance Theatre is to provoke interest in classical ballet and dance as theater art, provide quality training, offer dancers an opportunity to perform regularly and provide the Miss-Lou with programs of the highest artistic quality.

[dirac]

A preview of Jacob's Pillow by Tresca Weinstein in The Albany Times Union.

http://www.timesunio...son-1430486.php

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On our shores for the first time: Carte Blanche, Norway's National Company of Contemporary Dance, performing works by former members of Ohad Naharin's Batsheva Dance Company; 3E Etage, made up soloists and dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet; and Danzabierta from Cuba, presenting "Mal Son," set against film vignettes of seascapes and city streets. Switzerland's Ballet Geneve returns with Joelle Bouvier's version of "Romeo and Juliet," set to the classic Sergei Prokofiev score. Argentina's Tangueros del Sur brings tango and live music to the Ted Shawn, and LDP/Laboratory Dance Project from South Korea performs works flavored with hip-hop and martial arts.

[dirac]

A review of American Ballet Theatre's 'Coppelia' by Alastair Macaulay in The New York Times.

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You could tie yourself in knots just comparing all four versions of the Act I theme-and-variations dance for Swanilda and her girlfriends — they’re generally similar, sometimes identical, occasionally divergent — and yet it’s well worth the effort. This is the dance that, in 1945, Balanchine — so devoted to theme-and-variations as a compositional method — cited as the inspiration for all his own choreography. Ballet Theater’s credits safely avoid addressing who in Russia actually composed these and most of the ballet’s dances. Was it Petipa in 1884? Or Enrico Cecchetti in 1894? While nobody now seems to know for sure who was responsible for what, the dances have a wit that makes you want to know more about their attribution.

[dirac]

A story on the Royal Ballet's appearance at the O2 by Sarah Lyall in the NYT.

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But her companion Anja Tita, 40, said that while that was well and good, the lack of airs and graces meant that many people seemed to have no compunction about rudely taking their seats even after the dancing had begun. (Even more rudely, there was a rush for the exits even as the last scene was taking place.)

The easy availability of messy sports-crowd food also irritated Ms. Tita. “I don’t like to see people eating popcorn during the ballet,” she said, “although I’m on my way to buy popcorn myself.” (She apparently planned to eat as much as possible during the break.)

[dirac]

A review of the performanceat the O2 by Clement Crisp in The Financial Times.

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The choreography has been generously spaced on the broad expanse of the O2 stage, and is played in two acts, the break coming after the balcony duet, while the Georgiadis set is reduced to arched colonnades and flights of stairs, dramatically effective and well lit.

After four decades of watching this ballet, I found the event both fascinating and illuminating. Interpretations were well judged: Tamara Rojo wholly communicative as Juliet, with Carlos Acosta her Romeo and Thiago Soares a tremendous Tybalt, and with the company on very best form. It works. It works very well indeed.

[dirac]

An item on Whim W'Him in Seattlest.

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The sentimental event of the week, however, is a party: Friday is Mr. Wevers' 40th birthday. To celebrate this personal milestone with the loving company of dancers and dance audiences around him, Whim W'Him are holding a "Dancing, Dessert and Decadence" event immediately after the show on June 25th. It is a fantastic way to close a show, and an equally fantastic way to celebrate the life and company of this fabulous dancer. Seattle really ought to be proud to have such treasures in its own backyard, and this is a great time to show some love and wish Mr. Wevers a fantastic journey in his new career as choreographer and artistic director for one of the most lively dance companies to hit Seattle in a long, long time.