6 replies to this topic

[dirac]

The Bolshoi salutes Alicia Alonso.

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The Havana-native, who turned 90 last December, received a standing ovation at the packed theater on Tuesday night where she was honored alongside Russian dancers -- such as Vladimir Vasiliev and Azari Plisetsky -- who have worked with her over a career that has spanned more than six decades.

"I really feel like Alicia in Wonderland," Alonso gushed on stage after the performance.

[dirac]

A review of Ballet Revolucion by Chloe Smethurst in The Sydney Morning Herald.

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Without the discipline of pure ballet, the sensuality of salsa or the pyrotechnics of theatrical jazz, this uninspiring fusion is only saved by a few spectacular stunts thrown in to camouflage the mediocrity.

The underdeveloped numbers swing between awful slapstick, overtly sexual gestures and large group unison sequences that lack structure and kinetic excitement.

[dirac]

Maine State Ballet will perform to Schumann's 'Dichterliebe.'

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This weekend, Maine State Ballet becomes the latest arts group to interpret Schumann's epic work, which he wrote in the mid-1800s.

The Falmouth-based ballet company will perform "The Poet's Love" in collaboration with baritone Aaron Engebreth and pianist Alison d'Amato, co-directors of the Florestan Recital Project. Also on the program will be "Napoli" and "Souvenir."

[dirac]

Ballet San Jose is unlikely to present any fall season performances.

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But an announcement of the 2011-12 season has been delayed because of uncertainty about the company's budget, Ballet San Jose Executive Director Stephanie Ziesel said this week. Like many arts organizations, Ballet San Jose has faced its share of budget problems over the years; it reported a deficit of nearly $1 million on its tax return for the fiscal year ending June 2010.

And in addition to questions about how much revenue the ballet will generate in the coming season, the company's management still has not reached a contract agreement with the ballet dancers union. Against that backdrop, it's unlikely that the curtain will rise on a Ballet San Jose performance this autumn.

[dirac]

A report from the Vail International Dance Festival by Alastair Macaulay in The New York Times.

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On Tuesday evening Damian Woetzel, the director of the Vail International Dance Festival, and Peter Martins, the ballet master in chief of New York City Ballet, presented an evening of talk and dance about Balanchine and the male dancer. Both men’s experience of the subject is extensive: Mr. Martins danced leading Balanchine roles from the late 1960s until his retirement in 1983 (the year of Balanchine’s death); Mr. Woetzel, who retired as a City Ballet principal in 2008, was prominent among the first generation of post-Balanchine men to join the company. The psychological dynamics were striking. Mr. Woetzel was clever, informative but overly loquacious; Mr. Martins was judicious, sage, wry, supportive of his dancers and a source of Balanchine lore.

[dirac]

Kentucky Ballet Theatre and the Lexington Ballet present "Ballet Under the Stars."

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For more than two decades, the annual late-summer dance festival has maintained its place on the calendar in the first week of August and on the stage in Woodland Park, while other attractions have moved on and diminishing city funds have threatened to make a dance concert seem frivolous. This weekend will see the 23rd edition of Ballet Under the Stars, and for the second straight year it will feature Lexington's two professional ballet companies, Kentucky Ballet Theatre and the Lexington Ballet, and a performance of Snow White by area student dancers.

[dirac]

The views of some New York dancers on "So You Think You Can Dance" are solicited by Elaine Stewart for The New York Times.

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The tap dancer and “Stomp” cast member Michelle Dorrance turned to Ms. Peck: “Can you imagine if you went on there and did some Balanchine, and they were like, ‘Your tendu has so much swag!’ ”

Also in attendance were Dallas McMurray, a member of the Mark Morris Dance Group; Anthony Rue II, a hip-hop artist known as Ant Boogie who founded an urban dance troupe and has toured with Madonna; and Brittany Marcin, a former Rockette who is now appearing in the Broadway revival of “Follies.”