10 replies to this topic

[dirac]

Reviews of Houston Ballet's Women @ Art program.

CultureMap Houston

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I have remained largely indifferent to Barton’s work in recent years, but my attitude has changed drastically with this landmark dance. It is a gem for Houston Ballet and a deeply experimental piece that furthers the contemporary ballet repertory. Other companies will want to perform it. With 27 dancers, it not only makes an enormous impact, but also exploits the many attributes of the ensemble.

The Houston Chronicle

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Planet Barton is a cheeky place with a language of its own. The intricate movement glimmers with simple, highly punctuated gestures. (Sometimes they appear to riff on the magical moments of George Balanchine's "Serenade.") You have to smile at the sight of so many feet glued to the floor, with the bodies above tilting this way or that.

[dirac]

A story on attending the New Haven Ballet’s Open Division Beginner’s Course by Kate McMillan for The Yale Daily News

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For an hour and a half, once a week, I don’t question anything. There’s no unwritten rule at New Haven Ballet that I have to be critical of everything I hear or analytical about anything I do. Clichés are welcome, because there’s no pressure to be original; messing up is okay, because that’s really the only way to learn; closing your eyes whenever you feel like it is allowed, because you won’t miss eight vital things for every second your eyelids rest. This is a class not about being good, or even a class about doing good. It’s a class and a space and a time about feeling good. And for an hour and a half, once a week, I don’t worry about letting anybody down.

[dirac]

Verb Balletspremieres "Carnival of the Animals" next month at a zoo.

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Choreographed by Richard Dickinson and set to the music of the same name by Camille Saint-Saens, the 30-minute ballet is called an ideal introductory classical piece for young children.

[dirac]

Reviews of New York City Ballet's gala.

The New York Times

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New York City Ballet's gala on Thursday night managed to do disservices to both ballet and fashion. Three dances were presented with new costumes by the fashion designer Valentino, as was a world premiere; a Balanchine ballet was performed with its three lead roles redistributed among eight dancers; and Valentino was honored in film and, finally, onstage. This should have amounted to something substantial. The proceedings, however, kept suggesting that couture and ballet have less in common than we might hope.

The Faster Times

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A  gala, is a gala, is a gala, as they say. Which is to say that the ballet portion of the evening is a mere amuse-gueule leading up to the main event, the dinner and (non-professional) dancing, for which guests have paid a pretty penny, a large portion of which (one hopes) will be recycled into useful things like salaries, pointe shoes, piano tuners and the electricity bill. Galas are intrinsically light, glittering affairs, so it's pointless to complain if what one sees onstage is not really on a par with the rest of the season. So I won't.

Red carpet pixfrom the gala.

[dirac]

A report on Pacific Northwest Balletat the Guggenheim by Carol Pardo for danceviewtimes.

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What did Balanchine want? Why did he want it and when? The question of the ur-text of his ballets, and revisions to that text, has been a flash point among those who love Balanchine’s work since the choreographer’s death in 1983. Balanchine’s reaction, quoted by Peter Boal, director of the Pacific Northwest Ballet, the genial commentator in command of this issue of Works and Process, was "I can change [my ballets] if I want to."  Excerpts from "Apollo", "Agon" and "The Four Temperaments", and "Tchaikovsky pas de deux," gsiven in full, performed by PNB dancers (Maria Chapman, Benjamin Griffiths, Carla Körbes, Seth Orza, Lesley Rausch and Matthew Renko) provided incontrovertible evidence that change them he did.

[dirac]

Barbara Newman writes on San Francisco Ballet's visit to London in The San Francisco Chronicle.

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Yet the house was packed every night, and the eager response spoke of a hunger for new artists and new experiences that often goes unsatisfied. "There's a buzz, a thrill, to have them here," a friend said, "and it's wonderful to see something truly classical in this theater without the precious air of the Royal Ballet." Another commented, "I always like watching American companies because they're so professional, right to the final bell, even their curtain calls."

Years ago, Tomasson told me, "I think and I feel and I say to my dancers, 'We have an obligation to be at our best at all times.' " He's wise to remind them - dedication doesn't grow on trees. In British ballet, excellence is a distant goal, sometimes approached but seldom attained. In San Francisco Ballet, it runs right through the ranks as dancing of boundless energy and immaculate polish, dancing at its best.

[dirac]

A preview of Colorado Ballet's new season by Erica Prather for 303 Magazine.

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Ballet Masterworks will interrupt the dullness of winter; with modern works by the great George Balanchine, the striking Rite of Spring set to Stravinsky’s powerful score, and a new work by San Francisco Ballet’s Val Caniparoli.  Running from February 22 through March 3 at the Ellie, this collection will be the ultimate celebration of choreography in the twenty first century.

Light/The Holocaust Project will have it’s Denver debut March 29-31 at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts on the DU campus. Exploring the depth of emotion surrounding the Holocaust, this ballet will feature powerful music by five living composers. Originally set on Ballet Austin in 2005, Light/The Holocaust Project is a moving piece that will be performed in an intimate setting.

[dirac]

A CNN interview with Svetlana Zakharova.

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From then on she practiced everyday, often for up to eight hours solid. She says she didn't miss out on the usual freedoms of childhood: "I cannot say that it was a sacrifice," she said. "I do not even think about it."

Revealingly, she wouldn't wish the same experience for her own daughter, who was born in February 2011. "I cannot imagine myself giving her away to study in a different town," she said. "I asked my mum, 'Why? How did it happen?' And she said, 'You know, even until now I can not understand what I was led by -- it must have been something from above.'"

[dirac]

Asheville Ballet kicks off its fiftieth season.

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“A typical program has one dance, maybe two. This time we have four choreographers who are each coming up with their own work.”

Dunn is taking on R. Buckminster Fuller — the latest local arts endeavor after N.C. Stage’s play about the academic. “Bucky” is a four-part ballet based on the inventor-philosopher-environmentalist’s work with a score by New York composer Dosia McKay. Atlanta sculptor Chad Awalt provided a “torso” as the stage centerpiece.

[dirac]

Dance Theatre of Tennessee opens its season with "Carmen."

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“I am where I am right now because of that brief moment,” says Mohnani. And where he is is artistic director of Dance Theatre of Tennessee, on the cusp of presenting a Ballet in the Park performance series of his own. The event, featuring “Carmen,” is an extension of the Dance Theatre of Tennessee goal to bring professional ballet to the people, wherever they may be. Since its founding in 2009, that has included not only a dance academy in Donelson, but also outreach to more than 10,000 students. This year’s touring “Nutcracker” will travel to six towns in five counties.

[dirac]

A story on Pacific Northwest Balleton the occasion of its fortieth season by Marcie Silliman for KUOW. Audio and text.

　

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But it's a challenge for PNB, or any arts organization, to be risky when money is tight. Since the recession hit in 2008, Boal has included big crowd pleasers like "Cinderella" and "Nutcracker" on his annual schedule. This helps to balance the edgier, contemporary dances he likes to present.

Boal: "I think it's important to preserve those commissions and those risks, that aren't even audience tastes yet, but it's important to stay at the forefront and introduce the new, and to lead an audience down a path that may be their taste in the future."