7 replies to this topic

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Sergei Polunin talks to Georgia Dehn in The Independent.

I was born in Kherson in southern Ukraine and attended the big gymnastics school there from age four until eight. I was aiming to win an Olympic gold. I did a little bit of dancing at the school in the afternoons and was good at it, so my mum saw an opportunity for a better life for me as a dancer. We moved to Kiev so I could attend the State Ballet School. We didn’t have any money, so my father went to Portugal to work as a builder and my grandma moved to Greece to look after a family and they both sent money home so that we could pay the rent.

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A review of American Ballet Theatre by Marina Harss in The Faster Times.

Not to speak of Veronika Part and Paloma Herrera in Merce Cunningham’s “Duets,” their first foray into this wholly alien style. Both gave themselves fully to the choreography, offering a keen, lucid readings of Cunningham’s steps, resisting the urge to interpret or editorialize. They shone all the more brightly. They may not look like Cunningham dancers—or convince the purists—but they certainly made a convincing case for the power of his torqued, architectural coordinations of the body. Herrera was all clean lines (highlighted by a blinding fuchsia unitard) and rapt concentration in her duet with Eric Tamm; Part exuded otherworldly calm and stretchy legato in her more elastic duet with Vitaly Krauchenka.

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A review of the Royal Ballet in 'Manon' by Zoe Anderson in The Independent.

The leads in Kenneth MacMillan's Manon are coveted roles in the Royal Ballet's repertory, with passionate duets, decadence and death for dancers to get their teeth into. This was a strong double debut for Lauren Cuthbertson and Sergei Polunin, two of the company's young stars. Polunin gave a promising first performance as Des Grieux, dancing with clean elegance. Cuthbertson's Manon is already a nuanced portrait in dance and drama, an impulsive young woman plunging into experience.

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A review of Pacific Northwest Ballet by Alice Kaderlan from seattlepi.com.

The other classical excerpt on the program was the final act from Ronald Hynd’s Sleeping Beauty and newly appointed principal dancer Lesley Rausch was the clear star here. It has been exciting to watch Rausch’s rise since she joined the corps in 2001 and with this performance, she has clearly “arrived” as an imposing presence, far more than just a lovely technician. Rausch has consistently brought solid dancing to her performances but she now has that special quality, so hard to dissect, that keeps all eyes on her. In the Sleeping Beauty excerpt, her Princess Aurora overshadowed everyone else on stage, quite a feat given the talents of the other dancers, including Lindsi Dec, Sarah Ricard Orza, Seth Orza, Rachel Foster and Jerome Tisserand, who appeared in the third act variations. Batkhurel Bold as Rausch’s prince was a strong and reliable partner but it was Rausch’s radiant star turn that made the Grand Pas de Deux come alive.

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Fort Wayne Ballet announces its Nutcracker schedule.

The ballet will also partner once again with Fort Wayne Animal Care & Control and expand upon its longtime collaboration with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.

Friday’s announcement said three weekend performances, on Dec. 2 and 3, will feature the Philharmonic, Assistant Conductor Sameer Patel and the Fort Wayne Children’s Choir with Director Pamela K. Pierson.

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An interview in brief with Courtney Catalana of Richmond Ballet.

She says dancing as the Snow Queen is a dream role. "I always came to watch The Nutcracker every year. So then when I was 10, I decided I wanted to audition and I got to be an angel and then I decided I wanted to come to the Draper Center and train and I've been doing it ever since. I think this is my tenth or eleventh Nutcracker with the Rochester City Ballet. I'm honored to get to do this role but very excited and I can't wait to get up there and perform."

This is the thirteenth consecutive year the Rochester City Ballet and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra have teamed up with the Bach Children's Chorus to present "The Nutcracker."

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A preview of the new season at Sadler's Wells by Ismene Brown for The Arts Desk.

Fairy tales are in at Sadler's Wells Theatre next year with a vengeance after long years of domination by abstract contemporary dance. Matthew Bourne has been commissioned to produce a new Sleeping Beauty for next winter, in the line of his previous classic rewrites Swan Lake and Nutcracker!, both of which have become Sadler's box-office staples. There'll also be a new Snow White shown by radical French choreographer Angelin Preljocaj, and the return of the Pet Shop Boys/Javier de Frutos creation based on Hans Christian Andersen's folk tale The Most Incredible Thing.

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Dancer and choreographer Adam Cates returns to Reno to help his alma mater prepare its Fall Dance Festival.

Cates is spending two weeks as an artist-in-residence at the University of Nevada, Reno, teaching classes, guest lecturing and doing outreach in the community. He also choreographed an eight-minute piece that will be part of the Fall Dance Festival performed Friday and Saturday.