7 replies to this topic

[dirac]

A look at notable deathsin the arts world in the past year by David Ng in The Los Angeles Times, with photo gallery.

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Local dance fans lost two significant talents -- Yvonne Mounsey, who directed the Westside School of Ballet, and Zina Bethune, who brought dance to disabled children around Southern California.

[dirac]

A review of the Royal Ballet by Laura Thompson in The Telegraph.

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The choreography, meanwhile, is apparently conventional and constantly surprising. It is as if Robbins has taken apart the very concept of the pas de deux, examined it, realised its intrinsic worth and put it back together, having infused its basic elements with renewed significance. Into the Night still palpates with its original creative impulse; so, too, more than a hundred years after it was first performed by the Ballets Russes, does Fokine’s The Firebird, the work that opens this triple bill.

[dirac]

A reviewof the PBS broadcast of "Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance" by Blair Howell in The Deseret News.

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Where the documentary falters is overemphasizing the works by new and emerging choreographers. While the Joffrey introduced innovative choreography to a global audience, the documentary nearly ignores the company’s proven excellence in pure classicism — Joffrey’s productions of ballets by Sir Frederick Ashton, for example. There is also a meandering structure to the interviews, with some details from the interviewees included that don’t always directly discuss the company.

[dirac]

Jóhann Jacobs announces his resignation as Ballet West's executive director.

The Salt Lake Tribune

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Jacobs returned to Salt Lake City in 1998 when he replaced Susan Barrell as the company’s executive director. He saw Ballet West through some of its most turbulent years, including a highly publicized disagreement with artistic director Jonas Kåge that led to Kåge’s departure in 2006. The company struggled through financial difficulties two years later. According to 990 form tax filings, Ballet West’s expenses exceeded its revenues in 2008, leaving it $2.1 million in the red.

The Deseret News

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Ballet West's Board of Directors will begin a national search for Jacobs' replacement. Jacobs will continue as executive director until June 30, 2013.

[dirac]

A review of the Paris Opera Ballet in an all-Forsythe program by Roslyn Sulcas in The New York Times.

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But the real draw of this program is two other Forsythe pieces, both created for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1999, and rarely seen since. It’s hard to know why, since both these dances, “Woundwork 1” and “Pas./Parts” are superb works of craft and imagination, evidence of a choreographer at the height of his powers. They are the last pieces that Mr. Forsythe choreographed for a company that is not his own, and his last ensemble pure-ballet works. (He has since worked almost exclusively with his own troupe, the Forsythe Company.

[dirac]

A preview  of the PBS broadcast of "Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance" by Matthew J. Palm in The Orlando Sentinel.

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WUCF, the PBS affiliate, will air "Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance" as part of PBS' "American Masters" series. It's the first film to chronicle the pioneering dance company founded by Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino — and take note of the Central Florida connections.

[dirac]

An appraisal of the Sugar Plums and Dewdrops at New York City Ballet by Alastair Macaulay in The New York Times.

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But as the Sugar Plum Fairy, she showed qualities both touching and gracious: a sense of both ceremony and awe. Chase Finlay, her partner, heightened all of her virtues: his combination of spacious grandeur, modesty and nobility is very moving.


You can feel that you know each of these women. With Ms. Sell, a company member since 2006, you don’t as yet. She has the steps, though when she strikes rapid positions on one point, her torso sometimes lurches as she adjusts her placement; she has speed but not yet the ultralucid delivery that makes this role scintillating.

[dirac]

A review of Ballet Victoria  by Adrian Chamberlian in the Times Colonist.

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In terms of narrative, The Gift of Pandora’s Box is 80 per cent Nutcracker with a few new twists. Clara is now Pandora (sweetly danced by Cassidy Brumby), a girl who out of curiosity opens a mysterious box. What pops out are not the evils of the world, but a cornucopia of characters who seem to have escaped Act II of The Nutcracker. But this isn’t quite The Nutcracker; audiences will notice plenty of new flourishes.