15 replies to this topic

[dirac]

The New Orleans Ballet Association's season schedule:

http://www.nola.com/...son_set_by.html

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The Joffrey Ballet comes to the Mahalia Jackson Theater on May 12. Forty dancers strong, the Chicago company displays classical refinement — and a keen eye for choreographic quality. The group’s New Orleans program includes a classic by Jerome Robbins and a new work, “Age of Innocence,” from Edwaard Liang, a rising star American choreographer who cut his teeth as a dancer with the New York City Ballet.

[dirac]

Michael Beasley hires a PR firm takes up the study of ballet:

http://www.cbssports...748484/32845000

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Beasley is far from a "monster" though. He hasn't done anything over-the-top horrible. He got caught with some weed. He got in a scuffle. He's just kind of an immature idiot that can absolutely get everything straightened out. Compared to other "monsters" out there, Beasley's a pretty good guy. Relatively speaking, of course.

The biggest issue for Beasley has just been that he's wasting an extreme amount of talent. We're talking a No. 2 overall pick that averaged 25-10 as a freshman at Kansas State. He's easily a top tier NBA talent if he could keep his focus and continue to work. Beasley had nights for Minnesota where he scored at will. Remember the first month last season? He was a top five scorer. Then he started to tune out and didn't bring it every night.

[dirac]

A preview of Morphoses' engagement at the Joyce by Claudia La Rocco in The New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.c...rges-ahead.html

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This new approach reflects Ms. Lopez’s desire to find a sustainable framework for generating new work. But whether the company will develop a viable or truly innovative alternative to established models remains an open question, as Ms. Lopez readily acknowledges.

The support and excitement engendered by the first Morphoses (pronounced MORE-pho-zees) is notably muted now, and the company’s long-term outlook remains uncertain. Its annual budget is a little under $500,000, down from $1.2 million during Mr. Wheeldon’s final year, and the company still needs to close a $275,000 gap for this year. There are no gigs booked beyond the Joyce, though Ms. Lopez said she is in discussions with several European festivals.

[dirac]

Mark Morris is interviewed by Chris Waddington in The New Orleans Times-Picayune.

http://www.nola.com/..._morris_ki.html

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“We don’t do ballet with my company, but I lead ballet classes. Sometimes we hold hands and look at each other and work on folk-dance patterns. I want to be able to cite anything in my work,” he said.

The appearance of his dancers is equally varied, and they tend to be older than those found in other companies. “If you go for great dancers — and by that I mean artists with more life experience, more interpretive depth and intelligence, then you don’t end up with a matched set of 101-pound white girls who all happen to be 5 foot 4 inches,” Morris said. “Besides, can you imagine anything duller than being stuck on a tour with a bunch of teenagers? I like to work with adults.”

[dirac]

A review of the Royal Ballet by Louise Levene in The Telegraph.

http://www.telegraph...ine-review.html

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Tamara Rojo, who danced her first Marguerite in 2005, is dream casting for the doomed heroine and enriches every step with a persuasive emotional hinterland, but only now has she met with an Armand who can join her in bringing the story to life.

Armand doesn’t simply make entrances. He erupts onto the stage, but the role also demands physical beauty and elegance of line that will make sense of the ballet’s many moments of stasis. Sergei Polunin is one of those rare performers who can raise melodrama to an art form, conjuring complex emotions with a tilt of the chin.

[dirac]

Kings of the Dance perform in Moscow. Video clip included.

http://rbth.ru/artic...scow_13604.html

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Unlike previous programs, a level playing field was ensured for all dancers this time. Mauro Bigonzetti staged the common ballet performance, and Marcelo Gomes prepared the final piece for the project’s six male dancers, who come from different parts of the world. The main part of the program consists of six solos, with each dancer allowed to select a choreographer of his choice.  

The choreographers include Nacho Duato, Marco Goecke, Edward Clug, and Patrick de Bana - all famous names, although they have produced very different experiences.

[dirac]

A report on Doug Fullington's presentation, "After Petipa," by Helene Kaplan for danceviewtimes.

http://www.danceview.../tradition.html

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A stark contrast of character was in the adagio of the "Black Swan Pas de deux". In the Hynd version Carrie Imler's Odile wickedly and masterfully manipulated Lucien Postlewaite's Siegfried in an interpretation with which modern audiences are familiar. In the reconstructed version Baron von Rothbart, here portrayed by William Lin-Yee, has an active mime role, interacting with Odile during a gentle, moving pas de deux, danced by Kaori Nakamura and Seth Orza in andante tempo, in which it's quite clear that Siegfried does not have to be delusional to confuse her with Odette. Odile doesn't portray a temptress who must switch to iconic Odette poses to convince: she simply enchants with tragic results.

[dirac]

A story on Cyd Charisse by Behn Cervantes in The Philippine Daily Inquirer.

http://entertainment...dancing-goddess

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Ironically, Cyd took up ballet lessons to forestall the ill effects of polio, which she contracted at age 6. Because of her innate talent and perseverance, she was invited to dance with the Ballet Russe of Monte Carlo at the tender age of 14 and, later, married handsome ballet dancer, Nico Charisse.

Mentored by choreographer Robert Alton, who discovered Gene Kelly, Cyd soon became MGM’s resident ballet dancer. It was in the late ’40s, after she danced in Margaret O’Brien starrer, “The Unfinished Dance,” that her cinematic appeal as a dancer was recognized. The only worry of Hollywood’s top male dancers was Cyd’s height. Thus, in her films with them, she often wore flats!

[dirac]

The Sacramento Ballet kicks off its season with 'Dracula.'

http://www.sacbee.co...ms-dracula.html

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The Sacramento Ballet last performed "Dracula" in 2005, after its introduction the year before. It was a hit both years, with some audience members showing up in costume.

"Dracula" marks the Sacramento Ballet's first appearance at the Community Center Theater since the company canceled part of its 2008-09 season due to financial woes. Bolstered by outreach efforts that attracted younger dance lovers to its events, the company since has recovered. With dates on the Community Center calendar so close to Halloween, and with interest in vampires at an all-time high via "Twilight" and "True Blood" – especially with the same younger demographic that pumped new lifeblood into local ballet – the choice of material was easy.

[Helene]

Michael Popkin reviews Suzanne Farrell Ballet in "Haieff Divertimento," "Diamonds Pas de Deux from Jewels," "Meditation," and "Agon" at the Joyce Theater for danceviewtimes.

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No Balanchine muse is more renowned than Suzanne Farrell, as great a ballerina as America ever produced.  Athough she retired from the stage in 1989, she's promised to deliver some of her old magic through the company she founded, and her first New York performances in over a decade have generated great anticipation and are selling out this week.  But the magic wasn't there on opening night as her program of all Balanchine works (all to Russian music) proved stiff and lifeless.  "Haieff Divertimento" and "Agon" did the most to justify the evening, "Divertimento" because it's a fine work and seldom seen; and "Agon" as the one piece that truly came alive.  But in the middle of the program, "Diamonds Pas de Deux" and "Meditation" seemed more like objects in a museum than live dance and one left the theater questioning the rationale of Farrell's project as a whole.......

[dirac]

A review of Pennsylvania Ballet by Alastair Macaulay in The New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.c...let-review.html

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The company, which has had a strong Balanchine association since its start in 1963, has just 32 dancers, most of whom danced two of Thursday’s ballets each. Its orchestra played the three scores handsomely, skillfully conducted by Beatrice Jona Affron. The elegant, bright Arantxa Ochoa and the hunky, precise Ian Hussey led “Raymonda Variations” to Glazunov’s music. It’s wonderful to see again this astonishingly intricate and step-packed piece, with its staggering demands of footwork, turns and jumps for five supporting women, as well as the lead couple.

The Pennsylvania dancers don’t have full Balanchinean turnout — amid the highest-speed passages there were a few blurs and slips but their style is bright and lucid, with especially spacious arms. The steps shone: Audience members left the performance talking about them (and their awesome demands) above all. Ms. Ochoa’s deportment is one source of delight; Mr. Hussey’s command of rapidly beaten jumps another.

Related item.

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The Pennsylvania Ballet opened its 48th season with a black-tie affair on Wednesday night. After watching a performance at the Academy of Music, guests dodged rain drops to attend a reception at the Union League. Below: Alexandeiz Iziliaev, principal dancer with Pennsylvania Ballet, a guest, Arantxa Ochoa, also a principal dancer, and Dasha Yermakova and Richard Pruett, co-chairs for the evening.

[dirac]

A review of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet by Tobi Tobias in her blog, "Seeing Things."

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As in every ballet Farrell has mounted on her company, her coaching has clearly been superb and miraculously without ego. But she is working with people (here Violeta Angelova, partnered by Momchil Mladenov) who are dancing the coaching, phrase by phrase, step by step, as if they had a microchip containing Farrell's wise, detailed, and objective instructions embedded in their bodies. The dancers operate as if they understand these instructions and respect them but they can't follow them--or, when they do--can't make them cohere. The results include missteps, disjointedness, and a woeful absence of confidence and spontaneity.

[dirac]

A review of Suzanne Farrell Ballet by Leigh Witchel in The New York Post.

http://www.nypost.co...GohZ6rrGvc2XKGP

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But despite Kirk Henning’s warm lead performance, “Haieff Divertimento” gets a stilted and cramped reading that won’t make the case for keeping it around.

A muse has her mementos, and Farrell shows off two Tchaikovsky duets Balanchine made for her more than four decades ago. Watching from the audience Wednesday night was Jacques d’Amboise, her original dance partner in both.

[dirac]

A review of Birmingham Royal Ballet by Clement Crisp in The Financial Times.

http://www.ft.com/cm...l#ixzz1bf30P6Mq

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And then Symphonic Variations, that declaration about classic dance as Ashton wanted it for our national ballet when the troupe took up residence on Covent Garden’s stage in 1946. Hand on heart, I must declare that I have never been so affected by this masterpiece since I saw its premiere. This performance, by Jenna Roberts, Arancha Baselga, Laura-Jane Gibson, Iain Mackay, Jamie Bond (exceptionally fine) and Tzu-Chao Chou, recaptured the work’s freshness, its sublime clarity. There have been more stellar casts, but in sweetness of performance, in honesty of dancing, this sextet told the truth about a great ballet, made it anew for us. Cheers. Gratitude.

[dirac]

Milwaukee Ballet presents 'Dracula.'

http://www.jsonline....-132346733.html

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Pink created "Dracula" in 1996 in the U.K., working with composer Philip Feeney, Academy Award-winning set and costume designer Lez Brotherston and director Christopher Gable. Their "Dracula" has been performed in the U.K., Atlanta and Denver as well as in Milwaukee.

"This is an action thriller, it's breathless," Pink said in a recent conversation about the production. "I've seen productions that say they're 'Dracula,' but they try to force the story into 19th-century ballet form. We have tried to tell the story of the book and be honest with it."