8 replies to this topic

[dirac]

Texas Ballet Theater performs this weekend.

Quote

“Lambarena” will bring a unique genre to the stage in Fort Worth. It infuses African dance with classical music and ballet.

“Voluntaries” is a work from 1973, by Glen Tetley, a choreographer known for melding ballet and modern in his pieces.

[dirac]

A review of Leah Sarago's "Ballet Body Core Workout" DVD.

Quote

As soon as I popped in the DVD, I was surprised and impressed by its intensity. While it's described as "suitable for all levels," a true beginner who has never been in a dance class might be discouraged from a few of the opening exercises. A handful of balancing exercises require the ability to stabilize your core and balance on one foot for an extended period of time, which a beginner may find harder to do.

[dirac]

The Huffington Post picks up the English National Ballet's Harlem Shake video.

Quote

....What begins as graceful pirouettes soon turns into raucous head tossing, wherein the ballerinas and ballerinos don unusual ensembles and writhe on the floor to bass-heavy music.

[dirac]

Reviews of Ballet Black.

Evening Standard

Quote

Director Cassa Pancho has an admirable appetite for commissioning new work from up-and-coming choreographers, so we get a confident, clean-lined pas de deux from Robert Binet and a clever love duet from Ludovic Ondiviela. The ballet rep is overflowing with love duets — lusty love, thwarted love, Mills & Boon love, will-they-won’t-they love, all expressed through the elaborate intertwining of bodies, but this one’s different.

The Independent

Quote

The new mixed bill continues Ballet Black’s move into narrative dance. War Letters, created by Christopher Marney, is a stylised story ballet, exploring a situation rather than a plot. Kwame Kwei Armah, in voiceover, reads a real letter from a soldier to his sweetheart, introducing a ballet of wartime longing and brief meetings.

The Guardian

Quote

The dancers look as stretched and easy in De Frutos's choreography as they do in Robert Binet's duet Egal. Predicated on two equal dance partners (a rare concept within a ballet context), Egal takes Binet into a stylish, androgynous vocabulary of art deco geometries and silvered pirouettes, and an interesting conceit that the two dancers, though equal, are like magnetic forces, unable to connect within the same space.

[dirac]

An interview with Maureya Lebowitz of the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Quote

Maureya was born in California, grew up in Montana and completed her training at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Canada. After graduating in 2007, she joined Royal Winnipeg Ballet and performed four lead roles in her first two years. Switching from North America to the UK was not as simple as hopping on a plane, though.

"I trained in the Russian style. You 'attack' the note," she says. "The English style is more subdued, more understated, more fluid."

[dirac]

New York City Ballet Moves performs in St. Louis next month.

Quote

Following will be a newly choreographed piece by Justin Peck set to music by Philip Glass titled “In Creases,” which is scheduled to make its New York debut this spring. Paired with an abstract piece choreographed by Ulysses Dove for the company, these two ballets represent the continuity of the company’s legacy to the dance world.

“These pieces are variations on what the company is all about,” Frohlich explained. “The dances have a structure similar to Balanchine’s, but these choreographers were also influenced by Robbins in that they are creating a community on stage. The dancers are thinking about why they are doing what they are doing and who they are doing it with.”

[Helene]

Michael Popkin reviews New York City Ballet in "The Sleeping Beauty" for danceviewtimes.

Quote

Yet a paradox lies at the heart of how NYCB dances it. Balanchine and Robbins are the company’s core repertory.  From this material the dancers acquire the habit of just being themselves and letting their personalities show.  Dancing “Beauty,” a story ballet par excellence, they try to act, but basically stay who they are.  The way they dance in Balanchine is the way they dance here as well.  They can’t help it. The surprise is that the result is disarming.  The principals’ inability to leave themselves behind actually becomes a strength.  Fascinating to watch these youngsters tear into standard Petipa material that they no doubt dreamed of dancing when very young, because those dreams are the stuff of all ballet students.

[dirac]

A review of San Francisco Ballet by Rita Felciano for danceviewtimes.

Quote

Possokhov's sense of Ballet as a tool of 21st century expressiveness continues to impress. Unlike some of his colleagues, he doesn't feel the need for extreme angularity, disjunction and super physicality to make ardently contemporary statements. He inflects and stretches the vocabulary so that it still looks organic, fresh and, above all, unforced.

This "Rite" is devoid of mythological overtones; it offers a harsh, nihilistic perspective on human behavior. Yet it opens on a beautifully poetic note: young girls spread on a hillside awaken to their sexuality. Sliding down the incline, they nuzzle each other and try out their limbs like newborn colts finding their legs. Rolling their spines, they prominently put their rear ends on display, just about sending out a mating call. Lifting their transparent shifts overhead (gorgeous costumes by Sandra Woodall), they show their nude-looking bodies, whirling excitedly in anticipation of what they clearly know will come.....

[dirac]

Q&A with Desmond Richardson.

Quote

Is there a particular dance style that you feel most comfortable in?
Well, I would say I am pretty comfortable in all genres because I have trained in many different styles. I started out as a hip hop dancer and then I went into classical ballet where I have been a principal dancer with Alvin Ailey, American Ballet Theater and Frankfurt Ballet in Germany. I have also gone to Broadway and was Tony-nominated for my role in Fosse. So, for me it varies. If I can add my experience to whatever I am learning at the time that is always a plus for me. I love growing in that way and I love breathing life into other choreographer's work.