16 replies to this topic

[dirac]

A review of the Joffrey Ballet's 'Don Quixote' by Kathleen Quilligan for nwitimes.com.

http://www.nwitimes....0dc7903d03.html

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Over the course of the two act ballet, Don Quixote's visions and reality come to life in the form of animated set projections by Wendall K. Harrington and original costumes by the Joffrey's Travis Halsey, as well as a life-sized animated puppet of Don Quixote's horse. It's a world where windmills turn into monsters, bullfighters roam the streets and Don Quixote and the audience learn the power that comes from getting caught up in a good story.

Accompanied live by the Chicago Sinfonietta, the dancers bring the story to life with elegant precision, gravity-defying moments and comedic elements provided by the hero's sidekick and villains.

[dirac]

A review of Beijing Dance Theater by Judith Mackrell in The Guardian.

http://www.guardian....w?newsfeed=true

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When Wang Yuanyuan was resident choreographer of the National Ballet of China, she earned her place in Chinese dance history through her work on the internationally successful Raise the Red Lantern and her Chinese Nutcracker. In 2008, when she moved on to form Beijing Dance Theatre, Wang was looking for the greater artistic freedoms of contemporary dance. But from the evidence of her recent work, Haze, she still has to figure out the constraints and challenges of her new form.

[dirac]

Nikolaj Hübbe signs on at the Royal Danish Ballet for another five years.

http://artsbeat.blog...-danish-ballet/

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Mr. Hübbe retired as a dancer and went to Copenhagen in 2008 to take on the job that year. The Danish Ballet has scored several successes under his leadership, including a major United States tour last year. Mr. Hübbe trained and spent the first half of his career at the Copenhagen company before joining City Ballet in 1992.

[dirac]

New York City Ballet MOVES will perform in Santa Barbara.

http://www.independe...october-18-and/

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This isn’t a second company for less-experienced dancers, MOVES artistic director Jean-Pierre Frolich explained in a phone interview last week. Instead, it’s made up of a rotating cast of about 20 performers from the main company, including principal dancers. For years, NYCB Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins envisioned a way to bring the company’s world-class dancers, repertory, and live music to more audiences. With MOVES, that vision has become a reality. While the main company will continue to offer its full New York season, MOVES will be on the road. Rather than touring with the full NYCB Orchestra, they’ll travel with a small group of chamber musicians.

[dirac]

A co-curator of "Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement" writes on the exhibition for The Telegraph.

http://www.telegraph...my-of-Arts.html

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Degas was initially guarded towards photography, but developing practices did come to his attention over time. High-speed sequential photographs of figures in movement were captured by the photographer Eadweard Muybridge and the French scientist Étienne-Jules Marey; a number of Degas’ sequences of dancers reflect the imagery caught by these pioneer photographers. Parallels with their discoveries are also suggested in the wax models of dancers (of which the bronze casts are on view in the exhibition) that Degas created during these years. Some of them, such as three dancers in arabesque, convey the notion of a single figure in an unfolding movement. With the lightening speed of a snapshot photograph, Degas drew dancers leaping or in mid-pirouette, relying on flurries of line to illustrate figures who seem to be momentarily suspended in space.

[dirac]

Canton Ballet presents "Dracula."

http://www.cantonrep...s-local-dancers

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Zachary Catazaro, the Hoover High School grad who has the title role in “Dracula,” is now a dancer with the prestigious New York City Ballet. Dillon Shifferly, the McKinley grad who portrays Dracula’s misfit servant Renfield, is a company member of the Philadelphia-based Ballet Fleming. Kelly Yankle, the Central Catholic grad who plays Dracula’s adored Mina, is in her first season with Ballet Met Columbus.

[dirac]

Beyonce says inspiration, Anne Teresa De Keersmaker says plagiarism. Video clip included.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/15295719

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The pop star admitted that a 22-second sequence was inspired by Belgian dancer Anne Teresa De Keersmaker, who created the ballet Rosas Danst Rosa. However, Ms De Keersmaker said she had never been contacted for permission and called the pop video "pure plagiarism."

Beyonce said the ballet was "one of many references" for the video, which also pays homage to Andy Warhol.

[dirac]

A review of Birmingham Royal Ballet in 'Beauty and the Beast' by Paul Marston for This is Tamworth.

http://www.thisistam...tail/story.html

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No human teapots, cups and saucers, clocks or candelabra here, and the story opens with the cruel prince coming under the spell of a mystery woodsman who saves a pretty vixen from thoughtless huntsmen.

The first half of the ballet – performed at Birmingham Hippodrome – is more beastly than beauty, full of anger, dark costumes and scenery, as well as a darkened stage, and even bailiffs turn up to confiscate furniture from the home of Belle's debt-troubled merchant father whose ships haven't come in.

[dirac]

An arts center is in the market for a new dance director.

http://www.chieftain...1cc4c03286.html

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The Sangre de Cristo Arts Center is searching for a new director for its dance school and the Sangre de Cristo Ballet Theatre.

  Misha Izotov, director of both programs since April 2010, left the organization Wednesday, according to Executive Director Dan Lere. He declined further comment because the departure is a personnel issue

.

[dirac]

The Trey McIntyre Project performs this weekend.

http://www.idahostat...y-mcintyre.html

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Cherry-picked out of the Juilliard dance program, this Indiana native has traveled the world, made his mark as a performer of great finesse and emotional depth, and won a prestigious Princess Grace Fellowship. Not bad for his first company.

Flying high has been a signature attribute of the company. It created a persona around a series of “Air Photos” showing the dancers suspended in a cloudless sky and soaring over the Boise Foothills. Now, as Perry and the company enter their fourth year together and fourth year in Boise, things are about to change.

[dirac]

The European Ballet will perform "The Nutcracker" in Derry.

http://www.belfastte...r-16063831.html

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Set to Tchaikovsky’s glorious score, the ballet is directed by Stanislav Tchassov, former principal dancer of The Bolshoi Ballet and features award winning dancers from France, Italy, Russia, Spain, the UK and elsewhere.

[dirac]

Terry Teachout complains about PBS arts broadcasting in The Wall Street Journal.

http://online.wsj.co...1838441178.html

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.....The San Francisco Ballet's dance version of "The Little Mermaid."

I have just one question: Who's kidding whom?

These shows don't add up to an arts festival, or anything remotely like it. What PBS is giving us instead is a stiff dose of the usual safety-first pledge-week fare, only spread out over two months....

[dirac]

Molly Glentzer reports on the critical reception of Houston Ballet in New York for The Houston Chronicle.

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Leigh Witchel of the New York Post, reviewing the company's mixed-rep performance Tuesday at the Joyce Theater, noted some fine dancing but said Jorma Elo's ONE/end/ONE "segues from piquant to pointless." He found Jiri Kylian's Falling Angels "less a performance than a feat of endurance." And he slammed Christopher Bruce's Hush, which we personally love, as "his stock piece."

The biggest ouch: ONE/end/ONE and Hush were commissions for Houston Ballet. Thus, Witchel scolds artistic director Stanton Welch: "A leader's taste should go further."

[dirac]

A new weekly column on dance by Luke Jennings begins with a look at the youthful Sizova in action. Video clip included. Thanks to innopac for sending in the link!

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The very difficult final section was substituted at Nureyev's suggestion, almost as a dare, to make the performance more exciting. He put it together for Sizova, and in fact this clip represents his first recorded choreography. Sizova almost carries it off perfectly, but you can see her falter as she pulls out of the Italian fouettés – here's how to do these; easy, no? – into the pirouettes at 1:09. Even in today's much more technical era, few ballerinas could carry off this particular combination.

[dirac]

A review of Alberta Ballet in 'Love Lies Bleeding.'

http://www.straight....ndeniable-blast

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No wonder much of the show refers to the years Elton John lost to coke binges. Those tinges of darkness and torment, along with generous helpings of off-the-hook choreography, keep Love Lies Bleeding from falling completely into a pandering piece of pop-music-fed, Disneyfied ballet. The show is an undeniable blast: witness the wild, rock-concert response the corps received on opening night.

Choreographer and artistic director Jean Grand-Maître has used the Brit star’s life as inspiration for the abstract narrative, which focuses on the die-hard Elton Fan—diminutive fireplug Yukichi Hattori, who barely leaves the stage despite uncountable costume changes and acrobatic feats. He falls into a fantasy that mirrors Elton John’s life, from the excesses of fame to struggles with his homosexuality and rampant drug use, through to finally finding love in a character named David (Kelley McKinlay), presumably a stand-in for Elton’s real-life partner, David Furnish.