9 replies to this topic

[dirac]

A story on a Peruvian ballet competition by in The Huffington Post. Photo gallery.

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Nearly 100 girls and boys from Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, France and Peru are submitting themselves to a week-long competition hoping to win medals from Peru's national ballet school – and perhaps a grant to study in Miami.

[dirac]

A review of Cincinnati Ballet's season opener by David Lyman in The Cincinnati Enquirer.

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There are always new company members, of course. A notable addition this season is Romel Frometa Castellon, a distinguished veteran dancer from the National Ballet of Cuba who boosts the already formidable power of the Cincinnati Ballet’s ranks of male dancers. Then there are younger dancers who, seemingly overnight, have turned into mature artists capable of commanding performances. Company trainee James Gilmer, who just turned 19, wowed the opening night audience with a performance that dancers a decade older would brag about.

[dirac]

Attila Mosolygo announces plans to retire from the Grand Rapids Ballet Company.

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Mosolygo, who celebrates his 40th birthday in December, is ready to retire. “You get to a certain point, you have to start thinking about the future,” he said. “Because dancing is physically demanding, and a lot of people retire at a much younger age...."

[dirac]

A review of Houston Ballet's season opener by Molly Glentzer in The Houston Chronicle.

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It's not just sure-footedness, abundantly evident in "Clear." Nuances play out in bodies that aren't afraid to luxuriate in the music. Welch created "Clear" for American Ballet Theatre in the fall of 2001, shortly after the tragedies of 9/11. Now it looks made for Houston Ballet.

Although there's a female figure in a prime role, "Clear" shows off the men's prowess. They've never looked sharper, and the audience noticed, applauding flashy moments of dazzling tours and fouettes.

[dirac]

No racismto see here, says Luke Jennings in response to a Guardian piece articlepublished earlier this week.

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"Still there is this mentality, especially with directors, that a black ballerina in the middle of a flock of white swans would somehow alter the harmony", Carlos Acosta told Marsh and Goldhill. With respect, though, I doubt it. For UK ballet directors and choreographers, the issue is one of line and style. The physique and technique have to fit, not the skin tone.

If no black ballerina has danced the female lead in Swan Lake at Covent Garden, it's not because anyone's opposed to the idea. Covent Garden audiences love Carlos Acosta, and a black Odette-Odile of the calibre of existing Royal Ballet ballerinas would be a sensation, and box-office magic.

[dirac]

Ballet Nouveau Colorado's "Carry On" moves to the opera hosue.

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It helps, of course, that "Carry On" is a collaboration with the local band Paper Bird, whose folksy, voices-upfront sound has won it a growing number of fans across the country. The piece pulls audiences from both the concert and dance crowds.

"Carry On" is also the kind of work that can stretch comfortably to a larger house. With bright lights and busy projections, the piece lasts a full evening and features 10 dancers and seven musicians.

[dirac]

A preview of San Francisco Ballet's engagement at Sadler's Wells by Laura Cappelle in The Financial Times.

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The result is a repertoire with fresh ideas. Of 10 short works to be performed at Sadler’s Wells, nine were created in the past five years. Among current trends, Tomasson cites more complex work for the corps de ballet and the increasing cross-pollination with modern dance. “I think the classical vocabulary has many more possibilities than most people think,” he says.

For its first UK tour in eight years, the company is bringing three mixed bills, with works by Possokhov, Morris and up-and-coming choreographer Edwaard Liang, plus three recent creations by Britain’s Christopher Wheeldon, another SFB regular. Tomasson’s own choreography – he has more than 40 works to his name – will be showcased too, in Trio, created last year. That’s not to say Balanchine has been forgotten. In a nod to US ballet’s presiding spirit, Tomasson will open the London season with Balanchine’s Divertimento no 15.

[dirac]

A previewof the fall season in dance by Laura Bleiberg in The Los Angeles Times.

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With Benjamin Millepied as director and Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center as the primary backer, L.A. Dance Project is the most hyped dance event of this season — or of any other, for that matter. That's been a boon for Millepied, the French-born former principal dancer with New York City Ballet and choreographer of the hit movie "Black Swan." Overflow crowds attended two site-specific events in the Museum of Contemporary Art. And the company was lustily cheered during a prime-time national TV guest spot on "So You Think You Can Dance"; Millepied was there as a guest judge.

[dirac]

Sid Smith's season preview in The Chicago Tribune.

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'Moulin Rouge — the Ballet,' the Royal Winnipeg Ballet
In a rare visit by this Canadian troupe, the company performs Jorden Morris' full-length take on the famed Parisian nightspot.

[dirac]

An appraisal of Edward Villella's tenure at Miami City Ballet by Jordan Levin in The Miami Herald.

MCB grew to play a vital role in the dance world, one not fully appreciated in its hometown. Within a decade of Balanchine’s death in 1983, there was a growing sentiment that the genre-changing repertory he created for New York City Ballet was losing its integrity and edge. But Villella’s troupe — despite its small size, youth and relative lack of virtuosity — soon became known as a haven where the master’s revolutionary ideas, acute musicality and brilliant craftsmanship were honored and expressed. More than once, a dance critic or ballet lover in New York, the capital of the dance world, told me how lucky I was to live in a city where I could regularly see the company perform.