12 replies to this topic

[dirac]

Ballet Theatre Companyof West Hartford presents its Nutcracker.

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Roman Baca will choreograph and will present a military twist. (He is an Iraq War veteran). Baca will take the role of "Colonel Drosselmeyer." Baca is a graduate of the Nutmeg Conservatory in Torrington, and dancer with the Connecticut Ballet and New Mexico Ballet.  Baca is also director of his own Exit 122 Dance Company.

[dirac]

Dance Augusta, likewise.

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The Coltons have directed The Nutcracker under the banner of Dance Augusta since 2006.
The duo previously served on the artistic staff of the Augusta Ballet, where Ron Colton first brought The Nutcracker to Augusta in 1971.

Ron Colton, a former dancer with the New York City Ballet, joined George Balanchine’s company in 1953, the year the choreographer unveiled his own spin on the story and popularized the tale for many Americans.

[dirac]

A story on Vasiliev and Osipova's departure from the Bolshoi by Irina Titova in The St. Petersburg Times.

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Osipova said that for her, a native of Moscow, the decision to move to the Mikhailovsky was "a very serious step."
"The main reason I'm leaving the Bolshoi is the lack of repertoire. Everything I could dance there I had already performed. We strive for creative freedom. When life becomes too comfortable for me I feel a huge need to change something, to get rid of that comfortable and stable current," Osipova said, Fontanka reported.

Vasilyev said that they needed to move on when it was difficult to change their work at the Bolshoi. He said the couple wanted to dance as much as possible, including dances that incorporated new choreography.

Related.

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The Bolshoi Theater reacted sharply with Anatoly Iksanov, general director of the Bolshoi Theater, accusing the pair of moving for monetary gain.

“As for the motives for the ballet soloists’ decision, then I am certain that it is in no way connected to creativity,” Itar-Tass reported Iksanov as saying, calling it “an attack on the chief theater of the country.”

[dirac]

Jack Widdowson, injured in a mugging earlier this month, is taken off the critical list.

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The 19-year-old, who is one of the youngest members of the prestigious Bern:Ballett in Switzerland, suffered a broken neck when he was attacked in Cardiff Bay.

[dirac]

A review of American Ballet Theatre by Robert Greskovic in The Wall Street Journal.

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Mr. Volpi's premiere was created to a string of guitar selections (played live by Christian Kiss, who arranged them). Often dimly lit (by Bonnie Beecher) and unbecomingly costumed (by Katharina Schlipf), this half-hour dance contains elements of interest by way of drawing attention to its physical, inner workings. Kissing between pairs of the 10-dancer cast becomes a motif of sorts, whether as kissing-fish images or a reference to the kinds of obsessive behavior that distinguishes the evocative dance-theater works of Pina Bausch. A foot-focused and leg-flashing—if also extraneous-seeming—solo for Joseph Gorak, a prodigiously gifted corps de ballet dancer, catches one's eye. Mostly, however, it points to the fact that Mr. Volpi's youthful eagerness can shatter more than it can structure a dance's momentum. Whether or not this experiment stays in repertory, Mr. Volpi might be worth keeping around for his active imagination.

[dirac]

American Repertory Ballet presents its forty-ninth Nutcracker.

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The production that audiences will see at four New Jersey venues is one that pays homage to the company’s earliest seasons under founder Audrée Estey. Her Act One party scene, supplemented by new choreography from Martin, replaces the Graham Lustig version that the troupe presented for more than 10 years.

Introduced last year, the current production is being outfitted with original stage décor in stages. This season, the local Covance Foundation has underwritten new stage décor for the second act; next year, when a new Snow Scene set is built, the ARB’s “Nutcracker” will be fully revamped in time for its golden 50th anniversary.

[dirac]

Q&A with Alexei Ratmansky.

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Q Do you think that’s how it should be done?

A I’m not sure. Teaching kids to do ballet could be entertaining but the main part is to teach self-discipline, to teach how to deal with pain and to teach that there are rules. It’s not like the ballet should be changed to what you can do. You have to change your body to do ballet.

Q After dancing with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet, you were invited back to Russia in 2004 to direct the Bolshoi. I’ve heard that it’s a famously difficult place to work. Was it as hard as you thought it was going to be?

A It was as hard as I thought, yes. It’s a historical theatre, a huge tradition with more than 200 years of history. You have to try to be up to the challenge.

[dirac]

An item on Richmond Ballet's production of "Liebeslieder Walzer."

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The Richmond Ballet captures the essence. Its Studio Theatre offers appropriate intimacy. The larger spaces of New York's Lincoln Center swallow the piece. The Richmond stage invites the audience to a private evening scented, it seems, by Bal a Versailles.

[dirac]

A story on the post-renovation Bolshoi Theaterby Courtney Weaver in The Financial Times.

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But now the Bolshoi appeares to have once again found itself buried in the same old problems. As the theatre made clear in comments to journalists today, the Bolshoi has been trying to take down the so-called “ticket mafia” in Russia, a long-standing problem.

The scalpers have been making a killing by buying up tickets for the renovated Bolshoi’s highly coveted performances and re-selling them online for up to ten times the price.

[dirac]

The English National Ballet announces the finalists for its Emerging Dancer Awards. Item in brief.

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The gong is given annually to celebrate ENB’s most promising up and coming dancers. The six finalists are Barry Drummond, Nancy Osbaldeston, Ksenia Ovsyanick, Junor Souza, Jia Zhang and Yonah Acosta – the nephew of ballet star Carlos Acosta.

[dirac]

A review of New York City Ballet in "Jewels" by Natalie Axton for Pursuitist.

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Although each ballet is different the through-lines in Jewels are elements of pointe work and port de bras (motion of the arts and head) — backbends and simple walks on pointe. The most famous of these are the walks in the Diamonds pas de deux. Combining the walks on pointe and the upper body, the ballerina walks across the stage, slowly bending over the arm of her partner. It is an iconic moment in the canon of ballet, and it summarizes Balanchine’s neoclassical approach. I saw principal dancer Wendy Whelan perform Diamonds. She was partnered by Tyler Angle. In this and every other step Ms. Whelan commanded the ballerina role without pointing to it. She let the choreography speak for itself, demonstrating restraint is the better part of artistry.

[dirac]

A preview of the National Ballet of Canada's new "Romeo and Juliet" by Paula Citron in The Globe and Mail.

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Jelinek came to the National after nine years with Stuttgart Ballet, Cranko’s spiritual home, where he performed both Romeo and Tybalt. “In comparison to Ratmansky,” he says, “Cranko is simple. For example, Tybalt was a lot more about acting than dancing. In fact, Ratmansky has created much more dancing for everyone.”

The dancers talk about Ratmansky’s quest for organic physicality, a pliant, expressive upper body and quicksilver footwork. They also note his concern with how a dancer should relate to others on stage. Many choreographers work only with the first cast in rehearsals, while the other dancers are on the sidelines picking up the steps. Ratmansky, however, switches casts in the studio, tailoring the choreography to their individual strengths.

[dirac]

Q&A with Sylvia Nolan, who is designing the costumes for New York Theatre Ballet's Nutcracker.

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What fabrics did you use?

The fabrics are highly varied. Many of the them are what I would call novelty fabrics. Fabrics with other fabrics appliqued to them, color, lot of pattern some used in a way that are a fantasy and an imaginative use. The mice for instance, are a gray and black and chartreuse polka dot. Rather than just used a gray faux fur, the element of their color is used to tell us who they are. The characters are not literally dressed in a faux fur mouse suit. But there are also the flowers that are more traditional. There is an element of people that are coming to see a ballet So it is important to incorporate images that are traditional ballet, images of the classical tutu, costumes that represent the more romantic period of ballet, the early romantic period, tulle skirts in a riotous combination of colors.

For more on this interview, go here.