10 replies to this topic

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A feature on young student William Dugan, who'll be participating in the School of American Ballet summer program.

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An aspiring ballet dancer, the 14-year-old knew he never would be a professional if he couldn't master the basic split. After all, his teacher told him so.

Peter Stark knows what it takes. He danced with the New York City Ballet, among others, and has a reputation as one of the finest instructors of "ballet wunderkinds." And Stark, who heads the dance program at Tampa's Patel Conservatory, never gave up on William

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An interview with Stanton Welch at Jacob's Pillow.

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"Choreography is about making a dancer grow," says Welch, who is here for the first time as an instructor.  "That's why I want to work in schools. I like to work right on the edge of their capabilities. That's how artists are made."

  "What I love about the program here is how they involve the students in every aspect of dance, from sewing costumes to cleaning the studio," Welch says. "It really makes you appreciate everything that goes into dance."
Although Welch has been in residence for less than 48 hours, he already looks at home in the rustic quarters of the Ben & Estelle Sommers Studio. What a study in contrasts to see Welch at this treasured dance landmark  after just seeing him at his brand new Center for Dance, a building just in the beginnings of its history.

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A review of the National Ballet of Canada by Denise Sum for danceviewtimes.

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One of the benefits of having Karen Kain as artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada is that she understands the dancer’s perspective intimately. As one of Canada’s most treasured dancers of her time, Kain’s approach has always been dancer-focused compared to former artistic director James Kudelka’s philosophy which placed more emphasis on choreography. She knows how to make the company’s dancers feel appreciated and recognized. Few artists are more deserving of recognition than Greta Hodgkinson, who has been dazzling audiences over the past 20 years that she has been a member of the NBoC.............

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A review of the Royal Danish Ballet by Carol Pardo for danceviewtimes.

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The company also showed its respect for Bournonville by casting to strength. Gudrun Bojesen with her long, far-reaching limbs, is a dancer of this century, seemingly too large in scale for Bournonville’s. But from her first half circle of bourées around James’ great room, her sylph was magical, weightless and incorporeal, all gossamer innocence, capricious but not malicious, and utterly believable unto death.

Like Bojeson, Ulrik Birkkjær revealed his James immediately, playing out his fate consistently, inexorably leading to tragedy. This James was forceful and head-strong, running from his home with the sylph as if shot from a cannon, no looking back, and arriving in her domain intoxicated with wonder. The broad outlines of the part are in place. Birkkjær, young and new to the part, needs to add detail and texture, to color between the lines.

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A review of American Ballet Theatre in 'Cinderella' by Marina Harss in The Faster Times.

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It doesn’t help that Kudelka seems to have trouble telling the story. Instead of clear mime or well-constructed episodes leading up to the main event–the ball–we get busy to-ing and fro-ing, the meaning of which the audience is left to fill in from memory. When does the invitation to the ball actually arrive? Unclear. Nevertheless, the two stepsisters engage in cartoonish slapstick, prancing about, making faces, and contorting their bodies into garish, and strangely humorless, poses. The step-mother wanders in and out, tippling without interruption. Instead of fairies sent to prepare Cinderella for the ball, we get “creatures from the garden” who go by the name of Twig, Blossom, Moss, and Petal, dancing fussy but non-descript variations that reveal almost nothing about their individual qualities or their gifts to Cinderella. (One of them comes bearing a pair of toe-shoes for our heroine, a relief.)...

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A feature on a ballet class for older people by Jonathan Pitts in The Baltimore Sun.

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Fifty years later, Savage got a chance to return to the pastime she never got out of her system. That was when the retired Galesville resident enrolled in Ballet 40/60, a class offered at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis for people just like her.

"Whether they're coming back after a long time, rehabilitating an injury or just looking to improve their health or balance, I've found that ballet is an ideal activity for men and women in this age group," says Barbara Owen, 75, who started teaching the course for "middle adults" in 1995 and is just beginning her 17th annual summer sessions.

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A review of the National Ballet of Cuba in 'Don Quixote' by Christie Grimstad for ConcertoNet.com.

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Dressed in a deep purple dress, Verónica Corveas as Mercedes has good lines and radiates an abundance of smiles, pairing off nicely with Alfredo Ibánez’s Espada who’s well grounded in leading his entourage of bullfighters with brilliant leaps, flowing red capes and intricate patterns. Though brief, Jesse Domínguez’s portrayal of Graciosa has the most pronounced arabesque penchée in the performance.

Ludwig Minkus’ score, assigned to the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, performs satisfactorily enough, but lacks a certain spark. There’s an absence of sharpness due in part to Giovanni Duarte’s subtly erratic tempo which loses preciseness with the corps. Sloppy timing in relation to the simultaneous closing of curtain, notes and steps unbraids the production’s tightness.

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A feature on ballet teacher Martha Goodman.

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As the only child of the late Ruth Goodman, who taught ballet to countless Savannah girls, Martha practically grew up at her mother's dancing school.

When Martha left Savannah shortly after high school, she toured internationally with dance companies, taught and coached all levels of dancers, and staged and performed in ballet classics like "Swan Lake."

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A review of the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève by Janine Parker in The Boston Globe.

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While more traditional productions, replete with opulent sets and costumes, can be fun, this starkly designed “Romeo and Juliet’’ abounds in its own sumptuousness, beginning with Bouvier’s contemporary movement, all swirling port de bras and curving torsos punctuated with exploding jetes. The several powerfully physical group dances are rife with women diving into the men, who catch and toss them around now with effortlessness, now with a caressing violence, perhaps manipulating their partners into a turn, creepily supporting the women by their necks. If Bouvier tends toward an excess of unison in the group sections, it’s a small quibble in the face of such voluptuousness. These classically trained, lusciously dynamic dancers plunge into both the story’s bliss and its abyss.

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A story on the new 3D film of Matthew Bourne's "Swan Lake" by Ismene Brown for The Arts Desk.

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The director - the experienced dance film-maker Ross MacGibbon - has seized the opportunities to exploit a much more atmospheric potential for character interaction than in the conventionally flat dance film, but has resisted too much insistent choosing of what you see. This is an expertise I'd guess he's learned from filming the multi-character ballets of Kenneth MacMillan (the Royal Ballet's 2009 DVD Romeo and Juliet among them), whose narrative influence one can see in Bourne's own works.

It must have been a fine call to judge how much to show off in 3D. The Swans' dances (a little samey on stage, whisper it) are actually improved by the long diagonal shots or changes from below to above view....

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Alberta Ballet holds its annual House and Garden Tour.

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"The style is very nicely done . . . it represents a lovely example of a house being renovated to contemporary standards," says Sabrina Neumann Bartlett, chair of the 2011 tour.

Each year, the tour features homes of varying sizes and design styles. Neumann Bartlett calls Powell's house an example of high design on a smaller scale. "And the garden is fantastic!"