15 replies to this topic

[dirac]

Three articles on Li Cunxin's plans for the Queensland Ballet.

The Australian Financial Review

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Li is replacing Frenchman Francois Klaus, 64, who has been in the role since 1998 when he and his wife and artistic associate, Robyn White, moved to Brisbane from Europe where he had been a dancer, choreographer and artistic director in Germany and Switzerland.

The trigger for his eventual departure was a gradual unravelling of his relationship with the Queensland Ballet’s chairwoman, Liberal Party stalwart Joan Sheldon, who became a member of the board in 2004, the same year she ended her career as a member of Queensland Parliament.

The Herald Sun

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Stepping away from the tradition of the ballet company opening their shows in Brisbane, the second ballet for the year, Giselle produced and staged by Australian-based dancer Ai-Gul Gaisina, will open in Toowoomba in the middle of the year.

The Australian

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He has deliberately programmed classical ballets such as Cinderella and Giselle because they are difficult.
"I think classical ballet is always the most challenging technically and artistically," he said. "The dancers are going to grow, mature and be very challenged by these ballets."

[dirac]

An interview with Nigel Burgoine, the artistic director of Ballet Theatre of Toledo.

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From age 4 to 10, Burgoine studied dance and performed in festivals around England, the equivalent to dance competitions in the U.S., where he almost always won first place.

When he was 10, a member of the Buckinghamshire County Council who was friendly with Sir Anton Dolin, England’s leading dancer at the time, invited Dolin to watch Burgoine dance. “I had been auditioned to go and dance at the Princess Grace School of Ballet in Monaco,” Burgoine said. “And he came and saw me and said, ‘Nope. You’re going to go to the Royal Ballet School in London.’

[dirac]

The West Australian Balletpresents "Onegin."

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Calling Onegin the Everest of Cranko's dramatic ballet repertoire, Cavallari said it had been a long-held ambition to bring the production by the National Ballet of Prague to WA. The season next September/Ocober would be the first time Onegin had been performed by the WA Ballet, which had finally reached a level of accomplishment to pull it off, said Cavallari, who will return to Perth to stage it.

"This is something I have wanted to do for a long time but for costume and set problems somehow we just didn't make it happen," Cavallari says. "This Onegin forms a bridge between what we have done up until now and a new beginning for the company."

[dirac]

A review of Northern Ballet's "Madame Butterfly" by Malcolm Handley in the Daily Post.

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French ballerina Julie Charlet is excellent as both the delicately vulnerable Butterfly who is seduced into crossing the cultural divide and, as the wronged woman who must return to her own culture and face her fate. She does both with an undeniable tenderness, conviction and elegant, dramatic power.

[dirac]

An extracurricular appearance for Jared Anglethis weekend. Item in brief.

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The Salon/Sanctuary Concerts, a series of pre-Romantic music in tiny spaces, begins its season with a mixed bag of artists: countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, ballerino Jared Angle and harpsichordist Bradley Brookshire are to join together into some sort of Handel supergroup at the Gramercy Park Players Club …

[dirac]

A preview of the Louisville Ballet's production of "The Lady of the Camellias" by Elizabeth Kramer in The Courier-Journal.

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“It was not me who was supposed to do it,” Caniparoli said recently in between rehearsal sessions at the Louisville Ballet’s Main Street studios.

Actually, the now defunct Ballet Florida had originally commissioned the late choreographer Norbert Vesak, who had hired Caniparoli for his first job with the San Francisco Opera Ballet. The last time Caniparoli saw him was in 1990.

[dirac]

A review of New York City Ballet by Gia Kourlas in The New York Times.

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On Wednesday evening at the David H. Koch Theater, “Violin Concerto” started City Ballet’s latest tribute to the collaboration between Balanchine and Stravinsky this fall season. To have Janie Taylor be that singular woman in its opening toccata gave the prickly, vibrant music a primal air. What she lacks in technical ability, she more than makes up for in her witchlike alertness, a blend of unsmiling blond coolness and elemental heat.

[dirac]

A feature on teachers and potential teachers at the School of American Ballet by Gia Kourlas in The New York Times.

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“You have to keep constantly finding people who will be the teachers for the future,” Mr. Martins said. “It’s not a science. You don’t know who will end up being a good teacher. So you have to ask people, and you have to give them a chance. You put them in front of the class.”

As part of his mandate to develop new teachers, Mr. Martins started a fellowship program, now in its third year, in which company members watch classes at the school and fill in when necessary. The fellowships are open-ended; currently, Megan Fairchild, Jenifer Ringer, Abi Stafford and Sébastien Marcovici are taking part and are paid $50 for each class they observe.

[dirac]

The Kansas City Balletadds new dancers.

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William Whitener, the company’s artistic director, said the ballet’s contract with the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union that represents dancers and opera singers, allowed the company to hire two apprentices if it expanded its roster.

Read more here: http://www.kansascit...l#storylink=cpy

The benefit of the extra dancers will be tangible, Whitener said. “We’ll have more coverage,” he said. “We’re stronger in terms of understudying and alternating roles. That’s the practical reasoning. And of course I want to provide employment for as many dancers as possible because so many have trained so diligently and are deserving of their career in dance.”

[dirac]

California Riverside Balletwon't stage a Nutcracker this year after losing money on the last one.

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“This is a matter of resources, but not just financial resources,” Susan Anderson, president of the board of directors, said Friday, Sept. 28. She said the ballet’s signature show – that featured snow and digital effects – will return for Christmas 2013.

[dirac]

A review of New York City Balletby Mary Cargill for danceviewtimes.

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There is plenty of will, as well as rhythm, in Balanchine's "Danses Concertantes", the 1972 homage to the old Ballet Russe era, with its Eugene Berman sets and commedia dell'arte costumes.  The jazzy feel and bright colors make it look like an earlier version of a vein later mined in "Rubies", but the fizzy choreography is wonderful, especially for the four pas de trois.  Ashley Laracey's beautifully articulated upper body stood out in the red group, but everyone looked very-well rehearsed.  The pas de deux, danced by Megan Fairchild and Andrew Veyette, is, unfortunately, not as musically vibrant or as interesting as the dances preceding it, and it does drag a bit towards the end, despite the fine performances.  Veyette avoided an overly cute approach, dancing with a slightly dead-pan panache, and Fairchild gave the frisky steps a radiant confidence.

[dirac]

A preview of Ballet Jorgen Canada's "Swan Lake" by Michael Crabb in The Toronto Star.

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Although the $600,000 production is the biggest undertaking in the company’s history, Ballet Jörgen’s Swan Lake might seem modest by international big-ballet standards, involving about 30 dancers. Yet the key to the troupe’s success has been its ability to remain compact and mobile, thus delivering the classics to smaller communities across North America who otherwise might never see them performed live.

After its debut run in Markham, Swan Lake heads on a coast-to-coast tour to 33 communities in seven provinces. Besides that, Ballet Jörgen will present a seasonal run of The Nutcracker in seven cities, plus a variety of mixed programs, in-studio presentations and outreach activities.

[dirac]

A story on the new red carpet presence at NYCBand the Met by Ruth La Ferla in The New York Times.

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For Sarah Jessica Parker, a member of the City Ballet board of trustees, turning dance into a must-attend event for Manhattan’s bright young things was something of a grail.

“I was always thinking about Anna Wintour and all that she did to raise funds for the Metropolitan Museum,” Ms. Parker said unabashedly. “In planning this event, I tried to think, What would Anna do?”

[dirac]

Michael Kaiserapologizes for telling the President of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts to go have carnal relations with himself.

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Since 1978, when the awards were inaugurated, one Latina has been saluted — Chita Rivera, of Puerto Rican descent, in 2002 — out of more than 175 Honorees. In addition, Placido Domingo, who was born in Spain, was honored in 2000. The Honorees are selected by the executive committee of the center’s board of trustees, with input earlier in the process from Kaiser and awards producer George Stevens Jr.

Related.

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Kaiser later explained his anger during the phone call, claiming that Sanchez was accusing him of racism. (For the record: Kaiser rejected any suggestion of discrimination on behalf of himself or the Kennedy Center, and Sanchez denied that he ever leveled such charges.) After the incident, a coalition of 30 national Latino organizations issued a letter calling on Kaiser to apologize.

[dirac]

A BBC television interview with Chris Ofili about designing for the Royal Ballet.

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When the Turner Prize winning artist Chris Ofili was asked to design a set and costumes for the Royal Ballet's Metamorphosis: Titian 2012, he found inspiration in the story itself of a hunter who comes upon the chaste goddess Diana and her nymphs bathing in a sacred grove.