9 replies to this topic

[dirac]

A review of Ballet West at Wolf Trap by Sarah Halzack in The Washington Post.

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George Balanchine’s “The Four Temperaments” presents its dancers with an extraordinary challenge. The body angles are so precise, the lines are so clear-cut and the staging is so spare that it leaves virtually no room for error.

In their Tuesday performance at Wolf Trap, the dancers of Ballet West took up this mission with evident enthusiasm, ably demonstrating their athleticism with deep, slicing lunges and sharp, nose-skimming kicks. But they hadn’t mastered the pristine accuracy that makes the 1946 classic so spellbinding.....

[dirac]

Boston Ballet will be making improvements to its workspace. Item in brief.

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The objective was to provide Boston Ballet with a “fresh design” that offers both dancers and administrative staff a “flexible environment,” Boston-based Environments at Work said.

The upgrade included new paint and carpet as well as the addition of a cantilevered boardroom, Environments at Work said.

[dirac]

Problems continue between musicians and management at Louisville Orchestra.

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That puts upcoming Kentucky Opera concerts in question. The opera performs with musicians from the orchestra and a spokeswoman says the company is working with the union to put together a temporary agreement for shows next month. The Louisville Ballet is not affected. Directors decided earlier this year to use recorded music rather than live accompaniment.

[dirac]

A dual interview with Ashley Page and Jorma Elo by Kirsten Innes for The List.

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Elo has responded to these two music stimuli with just as much intensity as Page describes in MacMillan’s work, too.

‘I usually start with the music, and I listen to it so much that it becomes an almost primitive thing: I go to a new plane, swim in it for a couple of months, and so it begins to be the environment I’m in, it’s a breathing element connected to my skin..."

[dirac]

Australian Ballet performs its "British Liaisons" program.

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The entire company will perform in British Liaisons, a dramatic triple bill from three of England's top choreographers opening at the Arts Centre tonight.

Artistic director David McAllister said one of the pieces Concerto, by renowned choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan, was "fiendishly difficult''. "It's pure dance, there's no story,'' he said. "At the time, he saw it as an opportunity to really push the dancers' technical ability.

[dirac]

An interview with Ben Stevenson.

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But oddly enough, even one of our most respected living ballet masters had a surprising gap in his resume: He has never staged one of the world’s most famous ballets, Giselle. That’s about to change, though, as his production of the 19th century ballet by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot opens Texas Ballet Theater’s 2011-12 season in October.

“It’s a romantic ballet I’ve always liked,” said Stevenson in a phone conversation from Sonoma, Calif., where he was accepting a lifetime achievement award at the Anaheim International Dance Festival. “I’m going to keep the choreography from over the years, but am directing a new production of it — a traditional production.”

[dirac]

A Huffington Post item on the drug scandal at the Royal Danish Ballet.

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A secret internal report of the company members' use of drugs, particularly cocaine, was leaked to the Danish press, and since then several disgusted dancers have quit the company. The scandal is centered around the Danish Royal Ballet's artistic director Nikolaj Hübbe's allegedly serious cocaine problem, although the report censors almost all of the passages refering to Hübbe.

[dirac]

San Francisco Ballet returns to Orange County.

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The company will perform Sept. 27 to 28 and Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa. The six performances, divided into two programs, include the Southern California premieres of Yuri Possokhov's "RAkU" and "Trio," choreographed by Helgi Tomasson, the San Francisco Ballet's artistic director and principal choreographer.

[dirac]

A review of Ballet West at Wolf Trap by George Jackson for danceviewtimes.

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Ballet West's cast did very well in "4 Ts" for the most part. The "Theme" couples - Emily Adams & Beau Pearson, Elizabeth McGrath & Christopher Anderson, Jacquelin Straughan & Rex Tilton - showed Balanchine's movement ideas cleanly, with suitably sharp edges and emphases. Nor were they impersonal demonstrators. Christopher Ruud as "Melancholic" displayed pliancy, fine degrees of pacing and sensuality even though he lacks a streamlined body. Katherine Lawrence caught the eye more than Christopher Sellars in the "Sanguinic" duet. Adrian Fry gave "Phlegmatic" dynamic variety but cartooned the acting on occasion. Haley Henderson Smith made "Choleric" something of a school marm rather than an Amazon Queen.  The 14 women of the Greek chorus were as urgent and mutable as the choreography required. With motion having been explored and the emotions having been dissected and purged, this ballet's "Finale" builds to a crescendo of elation.

[dirac]

A review of the Chicago Dancing Festival by Zachary Whittenburg in Time Out Chicago's blog.

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One thing about the Chicago Dancing Festival has always been a little bit awkward: Since its inception, at least one of its programs has included a work by its cofounder, choreographer Lar Lubovitch. Now, I’m on the record as positive about most of his dances, but one must admit that it takes a pair to put yourself in the company of artists named Balanchine, Coralli, Forsythe, Graham, Kylián, Limón, Morris, Perrot, Robbins and Taylor. These bills have been called “Modern Masters” or, this year, simply “Masters.”

Lubovitch’s 2010 The Legend of Ten, to Brahms, closed his festival’s first presentation at the Auditorium Theatre on August 25. It’s deeply gorgeous and held its own among Graham’s Embattled Garden (1958, with décor by Isamu Noguchi) and Kylián’s 1991 Petite Mort, set to Mozart. Legend stood head and shoulders above the Act II pas de deux from Giselle (1841), albeit mostly because its interpretation, by Victoria Jaiani and Temur Suluashvili of the Joffrey, was timid and lacked any demonstrated sense of its history.