12 replies to this topic

[dirac]

Ivan Vasiliev and Natalia Osipova plan to leave the Bolshoi for the Mikhailovsky.

AFP

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In a decision that has rocked the ballet world, they are moving to the Mikhailovsky Theatre of Saint Petersburg, a well-regarded house that is nonetheless overshadowed in Russia's second city by the world famous Mariinsky.

The departure of possibly the two greatest attractions in its entire company is a huge blow for the Bolshoi ballet just weeks after it re-opened its historic theatre after a painful closure of over half a decade.

Pravda

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"The artists have written the applications, but they have not been signed yet," Mr. Filin said.

Ivan Vasiliev has been working in the troupe of the Bolshoi since 2006. Natalia Osipova has been dancing in Russia's widely recognized theater since 2004. "We are going to talk to them and try to convince them to stay. We can offer them a flexible schedule," Sergei Filin said, BFM.ru website reports.

[dirac]

A review of the Royal New Zealand Ballet by Penny Neilson for The Otago Daily Times.

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Dancing to a live orchestra as opposed to a pre-recording is infinitely better, and while the Southern Sinfonia provided a wonderful accompaniment, there were a couple of moments where timing may have been an issue.

Originally choreographed by Marius Petipa, Greg Horsman has created a visual classical delight, while a pair of naughty cats introduced comic elements.

[dirac]

Ballet Philippines presents "The Sleeping Beauty."

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“To show versatility,” replied award-winning ballerina Candice Adea. “To show that we can do contemporary as well as classical.”

Good answer. But wait, there’s more. “It’s also economic,” noted Ballet Philippines artistic director Paul Morales, indicating that classical ballet was more popular with Filipino audiences and thus the company could earn more.

[dirac]

An interview with Anatoly Panasyukov of Philippine Ballet Theatre.

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Clearly satisfied with the direction his life has taken, the ballet master says that his only disappointments stems from the fact that ballet in the Philippines carries a still-apparent stigma — that it targets a very specific demographic. Momentarily pausing to recall memories of his days at the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow, he laments the state of the arts in the Philippines, whereas in Russia, there is even a Kultura channel.

“Filipinos are naturally good actors,” he praises, and although he is thankful that theater has at least gained a wide audience here, one cannot hire a celebrity to help boost the number of attendees at ballet shows. Instead, to combat this, the Philippine Ballet Theatre regularly conducts outreaches, and even performs for schools, which is why they are happily gaining converts.

[dirac]

A BBC News story on the departure of Vasiliev and Osipova.

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They are leaving the Bolshoi Theatre, which reopened a fortnight ago after a six-year renovation, to work under Spanish artistic director Nacho Duato.

The Mikhailovsky Theatre said the couple signed five-year contracts, from 1 December, after 18 months of talks. Director Vladimir Kekhman said they had joined "in search of artistic growth".

[dirac]

An interview with Trey McIntyre.

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“You’re going to become a non-thing in the dance world,” McIntyre recalls people telling him.

“I learn more about the why of choosing Boise all the time,” he says today, during a phone interview in early November. “San Francisco and New York were high on my list for the thriving dance communities and people to bounce ideas off of. But for me, it was answering the question: why have a dance company in America today? It’s not enough to say, ‘To make the best possible work.

’”

[dirac]

A review of Richmond Balletin 'Liebeslieder Walzer' by Susan Howson for RVANews.

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.......Artistic Director Stoner Winslett has been attempting to secure the Walzer for her dancers for years, and now, on their intimate studio stage, the Richmond Ballet joins only a handful of other companies to have ever performed this singular work.

Balanchine’s foundation has a lot of specific requirements, including a two-week rehearsal limit and the inclusion of live pianists and vocalists on-stage. The former is simply an impressive fact to keep in the back of your mind as you witness intricately detailed steps and emotion that emanates rather than explodes. The latter adds a touch of the genuine (my only gripe about the RB’s wonderfully intimate studio theater is the necessity for canned music), which helps to put the period ballroom costumes and gilt chairs into context.

[dirac]

Headphone commentary will be available for viewers of the Birmingham Royal Ballet's Nutcracker. Item in brief.

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Aimed at people with impaired vision, the scene on stage at Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre will be described as it happens through headsets during the 1pm performance on Sunday, December 11

.

[dirac]

A review of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet by Caroline Palmer in The Star-Tribune of Minneapolis.

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The performance was full of the expected whimsy, but choreographer Shawn Hounsell seemed more engaged by the darker undertones, which was to the work's benefit. He played up the cranky dispositions of Wonderland's denizens and their bizarre random behavior, as in the raucous domestic battle scene between the combat-boot-wearing Duchess (Eric Nipp) and feral Cook (Yayoi Ezawa).

But Hounsell also tapped into a primal sense of isolation, best embodied by the melancholic duet of Alice (Amanda Green) and Mock Turtle (Dmitri Dovgoselets).

[dirac]

A review of American Ballet Theatre by Deborah Jowitt in her blog, "DanceBeat."

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It’s a great pleasure to see leading dancers change and grow. In the past, Herrera has often seemed to me almost too grand in her tutu roles, but she’s a champ in Upper Room and one of the finest performers in Cunningham’s Duets. In this 1980 work (taken into ABT’s repertory two years later), Herrera is almost unrecognizable at first without her ballerina makeup. Excellently partnered by corps member Eric Tamm, she aces the difficult pas de deux in which the woman must repeatedly race to the man and vault onto his shoulder, but she also brings out the quiet sensuality of those moments when she leans back against Tamm and gazes into the distance.

[dirac]

A review of the State Ballet of Georgia by Carol Pardo for danceviewtimes.

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To give ‘em what they really wanted, there was "Swan" the staging credited to Raissa Struckhova, the choreography uncredited, though "Swan" is in fact two versions of Fokine’s "Dying Swan" and too much of a good thing. Ananiashvili’s arms out-Plisetskaya-ed Maya. That wingspan seems too big for the dancer’s body and too forceful for a dying bird. The colored lights during the bows were too much and the sight of Ananiashvili wrapped in the Georgian flag made me queasy. The flag was unnecessary; Georgians had already claimed our affection, by dancing.

[dirac]

The executive director of the Cowles Center of Minneapolis leaves his post after less than a year.

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Sonntag came to Minneapolis after three years as managing director of the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. His longest tenure in nearly 25 years in arts administration was a seven-year stint as executive director at Parsons Dance Company in New York. The Cowles Center position was his fourth job since leaving Parsons in 2005.

"I spent a lot of years working on the East Coast, and the way of doing business there and the way of doing business here are very different," Sonntag said. "That tripped me up."

[dirac]

Q&A with Michele Wiles by Gia Kourlas in Time Out New York.

When did you and Askegard come up with this idea?

It was a conversation that turned into a larger conversation about something larger than just dancing. Something bigger than ourselves. But it started when we started dancing together. We knew that we would be more than just dance partners. We just had similar views and thoughts on dance. We work really well together, and we both have networks of friends and dancers and people that want to help us in this cause. We really think that we can put this together in a unique, high level. And we want to stick to our classical fundamental roots. But then we also want to show that there’s another side with new works and choreography.