5 replies to this topic

[Mme. Hermine]

A group of blind dancers trains in Brazil:

http://www.independe...de-2345595.html

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With a lost look, a group of dancers hold the barre as they practice plies, twists and turns, as their teacher corrects their posture with a gentle touch.

Learning is slow and arduous, requiring much patience from ballerina Fernanda Bianchini, 32, who is trying to convey the beauty of the discipline to the students, who have one major difficulty: they are blind.

[Mme. Hermine]

Kansas City Ballet moves into their new headquarters:

http://www.fox4kc.co...0,4794593.story

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The Kansas City Ballet has a new home at the Todd Bolender Center. It's not just for ballet dancers. Many involved with the ballet hope it will be a celebration of dance for the entire community.

[Mme. Hermine]

Judith Mackrell reviews the Scottish Ballet for the Guardian:

http://www.guardian....h-ballet-review

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Kenneth MacMillan's Song of the Earth works at a masterfully different level: a ballet pared down to poetic essence, capturing the sublime complexities of its Mahler score through a resonating palette of imagery. The dancers of Scottish Ballet have nothing comparable in their repertory, and at their first performance of MacMillan's work they seemed ill at ease both with its vastness and its simplicity.

[Mme. Hermine]

Grand Rapids Ballet welcomes new company members:

http://www.mlive.com...apids_ball.html

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Artistic director Patricia Barker also has added four trainees to the roster for a total of 24 dancers who will dance the season opening Sept. 15 with a 40th anniversary gala.

“We looked for good dancers who could do roles, are quick learners and that definitely have their own personality,” Barker said. “And I think you’ll see that on stage.”

[Mme. Hermine]

Luke Jennings reviews the Guangdong Acrobatic Troupe of China in their "Swan Lake":

http://www.guardian....rmingham-review

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The Guangdong Acrobatic Troupe of China was established in 1951, and since then has performed all over the world. The UK first saw the company's extraordinary version of Swan Lake three years ago, by which point it was already a YouTube sensation. The idea of creating a full-length acrobatic work to Tchaikovsky's score came about when two of the company's performers, Wei Baohua and his wife Wu Zhengdan, made a piece called Oriental Swan Ballet on Top of Head. This routine, in which she balances on pointe first on his shoulder and then, unbelievably, on his head, won the couple huge acclaim, and became the climax of the present production. Only Wei and Wu have the skill and strength to execute the sequence, and in consequence have done so at every one of the 150-odd performances of Swan Lake.

[Mme. Hermine]

A profile of Larissa Ponomarenko in her new role at Boston Ballet:

http://articles.bost...oston-ballet-ii

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Now, as a new company ballet master at 40, Ponomarenko has given up performing for teaching. At a rehearsal for this season’s production of “Les Sylphides,’’ she’s the embodiment of Chopin’s music, wafting along the sidelines, making weeping willows of her arms, or checking herself in the mirror to see what she looks like - which is what the dancers should look like.