10 replies to this topic

[dirac]

Natalia Miroshynk of the Moscow Ballet teaches students up north.

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Nataliya Miroshynk, a Russiantrained soloist with the Moscow Ballet, was all business Monday morning as she instructed 12 local ballerinas - the lucky ones chosen from the 28 hopefuls who auditioned earlier in the day. On Nov. 28 and 29, the local dancers, who range in age from 13 to 17, will dance alongside professionals from the Moscow Ballet company on stage at the Conexus Arts Centre.

For some, this is the first time they've been chosen to dance with Moscow Ballet professionals. But others have gone through the steps before.

[dirac]

Human rights groups criticize the Edinburgh International Festival for accepting money from the Chinese government.

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The two national companies are believed to have received support worth at least £100,000 from the Chinese Ministry of Culture, which is using the festival to promote the country's image abroad.

Campaigners warned that the festival organisers risked endorsing China's crackdown on cultural figures, including the dissident artist Ai Weiwei, who was recently subjected to 81 days in prison. Beijing has banned Weiwei, who is said to have feared for his life, from speaking to the media since his release from the detention centre.

[dirac]

Boca Ballet Theatre throws a party and announces the schedule for its new season.

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BBT's 2011-2012 season kicks off Sept. 1 under the direction of Co-Artistic Directors Dan Guin and Jane Tyree. Performances this season include "The Nutcracker" (Nov. 26 and 27, 2011) presented by Marleen Forkas, "Coppélia" (March 31 and April 1, 2012) and "Summer Heat" (Aug. 4 and 5, 2012). Excerpts of these programs will also be performed at "A Princely Affair," the company's annual fundraising luncheon to be held Nov. 6 at The Boca Raton Resort & Club.

[dirac]

A review of the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater's performance of 'Swan Lake' by Sam Smith for musicOMH.com.

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Paradoxically, since there was nothing to appeal to the eye, there were ways in which this performance was more viscerally thrilling than a fully staged one. In particular, the four national dances in Act II (Act III in some versions) came thick and fast, leaving a trail of excitement in their wake. One weaker moment came in the Allegro moderato that directly precedes the ending. Here the violin sound, in particular, felt too strident to create the required sense of sorrowful lament. Whether that matters when we don’t need to witness that mood on stage is not beyond debate, but the music itself lends itself to that emotion and was not played in a way that really suited it.

[dirac]

An interview with Patrick Swayze's mother.

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That’s why Patsy has agreed to speak for the first time ahead of the second anniversary of Patrick’s death on September 14 – to pay tribute to the amazing courage and strength of character he showed in his ­gruelling battle with the disease.

In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, Patsy reveals how Patrick, 57, known to his family as ­Little Buddy, refused to stop working when he was diagnosed in January 2008. He had been signed to play the lead in a US cop drama called ­The Beast and was determined to fulfil ­his commitment.

[dirac]

Cape Town City Ballet presents "Swan Lake."

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Late August promises rich rewards for Cape Town ballet-lovers when the perennially enchanting Swan Lake, staged by Cape Town City Ballet, features guest artists Daria Klimentova and Vadim Muntagirov in two of its six performances at Artscape.

Both are luminaries of London’s English National Ballet company, and there is another reason for Klimentova’s presence in Cape Town: she will attend the award evening on August 21 that will determine the recipients of the Prague Scholarship, which offers an intensive two-week course for classical ballet dancers in the Czech capital, taught by professional dancers still at the height of their careers. Klimentova directs the annual event, known as the Prague International Ballet Masterclass.

[dirac]

The Joffrey Ballet hires a new ballet master and eight new dancers (scroll down).

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Nicolas Blanc, who has served as ballet master of the Scottish Ballet since 2009, and who previously danced as a principal with the San Francisco Ballet and several major European ballet companies, will replace Chartel Arthur, who retired after years as both a Joffrey dancer and longtime ballet mistress with the company.

[dirac]

A story on the renovation of the Bolshoi Theater by Seth Mydans in The New York Times.

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After six years of delays, scandals, firings and resignations, huge cost overruns, and charges of embezzlement, as well as unforeseen architectural challenges on a mortally wounded building, the crown jewel of Russian arts is set at last to reopen on Oct. 28.

Tickets for the rich, the beautiful and the well connected were available at the pleasure of the office of the president, said the Bolshoi’s general director, Anatoly G. Iksanov. For others who wish to watch in the cold, he said, the opening-night gala concert is to be shown on giant television screens installed in front of the theater.

[dirac]

Under pressure, the Royal Danish Theater releases a heavily redacted version of the internal study of the Royal Danish Ballet that reported cocaine use in the company.

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However, large sections of the now-publicised report have been censored out – including almost all the passages about Hübbe.

One uncensored paragraph in the report’s summary, however, refers to the drug problems: “Escalating drug abuse problems among dancers over the past two years, among these escalating problems with cocaine abuse. It is important to emphasise here that people not employed by the ballet, but with various connections to the ballet, have also reported rising concerns about the escalating drug abuse problems,” reads paragraph two of the report’s summary.

[dirac]

An interview with Brett Simon of the Australian Ballet.

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The styles across the three works run the gamut from classical to contemporary ballet – a challenge for any dancer, but one that Simon said he relishes.“I love the versatility of being able to do both. Australian Ballet’s a great place for that, because our repertoire is so varied.”

It also makes a change from Simon’s time at the Hong Kong Ballet, with its classical repertoire and an especially disciplined working culture, even within the already disciplined world of dance.

[dirac]

A story on the Chicago Dance Festival quotes Mayor Rahm Emanuel on his plans for the festival and the city's dance scene.

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“The Chicago Dancing Festival is the largest free dance festival of its kind in the country. I want to get the word out to tourists — throughout the Midwest and beyond — that you can come here for a week and see the Joffrey Ballet and Hubbard Street and the Martha Graham troupe and all the rest for free. I also want everyone from throughout the city — people who might not ordinarily come downtown — to attend the festival. And I hope the festival also will begin to go into the neighborhoods.”

Will he subsidize such satellite festival events?

“No, the festival will do that,” said the cash-strapped mayor.