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Tamara Rojo and her coup for English National Ballet


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Tamara Rojo has achieved a box-office coup with the engagement of both Alban Lensdorf and Ivan Vasiliev appearing in English National Ballet Production of "Swan Lake."

"Continuing to bring the very best talent from around the world to a UK audience, this season sees English National Ballet welcome Guest Artists Ivan Vasiliev and Alban Lendorf, performing with the Company in Derek Deane’s Swan Lake at the London Coliseum from the 7 – 18 January 2015."

http://www.ballet.org.uk/

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As long as any grant to the company follows all laws and company policy, there's no requirement for full disclosure of terms and more than is legally required. It is legitimate for benefactors to sponsor specific productions, performers, and uses on a "take it or leave it" basis.

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As long as any grant to the company follows all laws and company policy, there's no requirement for full disclosure of terms and more than is legally required. It is legitimate for benefactors to sponsor specific productions, performers, and uses on a "take it or leave it" basis.

Thank you Helene.

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It is clearly not anyone's business when a case of under funding for major dancers to appear is solved by an anonymous donation especially if it has not been sought or even if it has been sought.

Such acts have been in place for generations and some donors in many circumstances are referred to as “Angels” and many theatrical shows and ballet companies that might have folded, went on to long running successes.

The implication that in the case of the ENB that they were possibly wrong to either accept or identify the donor is to me personally, somewhat naïve.

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Look at the published donor lists for all sorts of cultural and educational non-profits in the US and you routinely find "Anonymous" on the lists. Some people do not want to be identified publicly for all sorts of legitimate reasons. When you appear on those lists (especially with high dollar amounts) you are opening yourself up to more solicitations from other groups that perhaps are unwelcome. Or perhaps you don't want a competitor you support to know that you are also donating to other groups. The reasons don't matter. I don't have a problem with this practice, especially if it encourages more donations than would otherwise be received.

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Look at the published donor lists for all sorts of cultural and educational non-profits in the US and you routinely find "Anonymous" on the lists. Some people do not want to be identified publicly for all sorts of legitimate reasons. When you appear on those lists (especially with high dollar amounts) you are opening yourself up to more solicitations from other groups that perhaps are unwelcome. Or perhaps you don't want a competitor you support to know that you are also donating to other groups. The reasons don't matter. I don't have a problem with this practice, especially if it encourages more donations than would otherwise be received.

Quite right.

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Didn't Osipova first appear as a guest artist with the Royal Ballet before she was offered a contract? Didn't Roberto Bolle appear at the Royal Ballet as a guest artist in the past when Bussell was still there? Didn't Corella and Steifel appear as guest artists at the Royal Ballet?

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Didn't Osipova first appear as a guest artist with the Royal Ballet before she was offered a contract? Didn't Roberto Bolle appear at the Royal Ballet as a guest artist in the past when Bussell was still there? Didn't Corella and Steifel appear as guest artists at the Royal Ballet?

The current roster lists quite a few guests, including Acosta: http://www.roh.org.uk/about/the-royal-ballet/artists

It's possible the ENB anonymous donor is also a major supporter of the Royal Ballet or perhaps doesn't want lesser companies asking him/her to chip in on their guests. We'll never know, I guess.

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I don't know if it will be interpreted as a 'coup' but it was announced yesterday (1st October) that CESAR CORRALES (winner of a Prix de Lausanne 2013 and this year's YGAP Award in the Senior Division; a former 'Billy Elliott' in Chicago and Toronto professional productions and, I believe a past member of ABTII) will join ENB as a (permanent) Artist of the Company. He is all, I think, of 17 or 18 years of age. Just thought I would add this to the above notifications.

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I would be grateful if our posters from London could provide some context for those of us reading from the other side of the Atlantic. Although I saw London Festival Ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1989, nearly everything I knew about the company in those days came from reading the dance press. Perhaps I am completely mistaken, but my impression was that, to some extent, London Festival Ballet had been a company where ballet stars spent their summer holidays, so to speak (i.e., an opportunity for non-Commonwealth citizens to dance in London, given that prior to 1980 they were ineligible to join the Royal Ballet). I'm thinking, for example, of Eva Evdokimova, who performed often with LFB, but whose primary base was in West Berlin. In more recent years it seems that English National Ballet's roster has been quite stable, with relatively few guest principals parachuting in for performances.

I wonder to what extent ENB was or could be London's analogue to American Ballet Theatre, which has quite a few principals who appear with the company only during its Met season and perhaps some of the more glamorous overseas tours. And if so, does the importation of guest artists or ready-made principals similarly jeopardize the performance opportunities, artistic development and career advancement of the company's young dancers?

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ENB - or LFB as was - has always been a mix, but certainly has always been a place where young artists could (i) get a meaningful measure in the development of their careers whilst (ii) having an opportunity to learn from visiting masters and (iii) benefit from its own now established school and (iv) outreach incentives. I well remember among the younger ranks people like Tamara Rojo, Patrick Armand, Jose Manuel Carreno and most recently Vadim Muntagirov. There have also been young guests. I well recall the Rojo/Bolle combination and Seviliano when all were but virtual teenagers. The guests have always been plentiful ranging from Nureyev to Luders; from Sombert to Lendorf; from Jose Martinez to Nicolas La Riche; from Maximova to Haydee; from Seymour to Makarova; from Hart to Semenyaka. There are many, many examples. Many - like Friedemann Vogel for example - have guested frequently over a considerable period of time so build up their own history with ENB. There are an even greater talented many who have been raised through the LFB/ENB ranks. (Thomas Edur and Agnes Oakes come to mind - as does Daria Klimentova.) Currently Ksenia Ovsyanick (who just leapt two levels in her ranking with the last round of promotions) is one of my personal favourites. Here there is no question but that resident star principals - say, people like Rojo and Cojacaru - must do their national service. That is expected. Indeed, guest artists are occasionally brought in for those too. Matthew Golding did his share of regional stints as well as at the Coliseum with Corsaire and I understand that Vitor Luiz from SFB is coming in to do certain performances of Swan Lake and Coppelia on the national tour commencing next week due to a couple of current (unfortunate) male principal injuries. Refreshingly the guest principals are not made permanent members of the ENB company. (For example Vasiliev who will guest with ENB in January in his debut as Seigfried and who has previously guested in Petit's Le Jeunne Homme et la Mort has NEVER been listed as an ENB principal and would not, I assume, unless he fully agreed to appear in Manchester, Oxford, Southampton, etc.) That LFB/ENB is not on the same scale as ABT there can be no question. It never was. It never could be. Then, of course, neither is the UK when physically compared to the USA. Still, ENB has always hit above its considerable weight. It is very much 'a Company that can'. ENB has recently looked fabulous under Rojo's vital direction. There are just so many glorious talents amongst its current ranks (and that number seems to be ever growing as the announcement above indicates). Certainly during ENB's glorious recent production of Le Corsaire and this year's incendiary multi-bill in commemoration of the WWI centenary, Lest We Forget, oh, so many fine talents had an opportunity to shine both in London and throughout the country. It is now fully justified that ENB should once more go on a world tour during the summer of 2015 taking in venues ranging from Madrid to Mexico City to Beijing. (Sadly they are not appearing in NYC nor Paris as I myself believe they deserve to do with pride.) As ENB currently sits - or perhaps better termed 'dances' - their ranking fully deserves to be amongst the world class. Rightfully so. Sadly the Arts Council of England has deemed it necessary to freeze their grant for the next three years. However, we can rest assured that under Rojo's fine direction, they will fight on with a full compliment of artistic stealth. That the resulting steam will be heady can, I think, be promised.

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I have probably seen 80 or more performances of London Festival Ballet/English National Ballet, of which some were a misjudgement on my part, but mostly, they were of a standard that made me go back and see them again and again due to some extraordinary performers that spent time with the company.

In respect of, "Perhaps I am completely mistaken, but my impression was that, to some extent, London Festival Ballet had been a company where ballet stars spent their summer holidays, so to speak (i.e., an opportunity for non-Commonwealth citizens to dance in London, given that prior to 1980 they were ineligible to join the Royal Ballet)."

Significant international dancers were of course able to achieve financial rewards exceeding those who only danced at one venue.

When a ballet company is peripatetic and without a permanent home its life can become challenging.

However as it developed over time to become the English National Ballet, it has achieved a status exhibiting quality performances and acquired a state of the art home with a school in London that I suspect gives it a greater sense of permanence.

Among the outstanding dancers of the LFB and ENB that I witnessed were: John Gilpin, Galina Samtsova/Margot Miklosy, Andre Prokovsky/Alain Dubreuil, Dudley von Loggenburg, Peter Schaufuss, Eva Evdokimova, Cyril Atanassoff, Peter Schaufuss, Maina Gielgud, Paul Clarke,Rudolf Nureyev with Eva Evdokimova in Sleeping Beauty, Galina Panov, Valery Panov, Eva Evdokimova and Attilio Labis in Swan Lake,Patricia Ruanne and Rudolf Nureyev in Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet,Trinidad Sevillano and a much more than average cast of Onegin with Alexander Sombart, Peter Schaufuss, Natalia Makarova and many more.

SEE:-

http://www.ballet.org.uk/the-company/our-history/

http://www.myballetcareer.co.uk/story_beginning.htm

On a personal note,"MY FINANCIAL DOWNFALL"

My introduction to the Royal Ballet in the Spring of 1962 was my downfall in respect of my sustaining any kind of financial stability for many years as haunted opera houses and other venues to witness excellence in action.

Newspapers heralded the arrival of the Russian defector Rudolf Nureyev and a fellow student friend said it is absolutely unmissable and that we must see this supposed phenomenon.

We queued for tickets for Nureyev's debut and got caught up with other young people to see the latest hot star dancer.

I really did not know what to expect, but I quickly that found this new world of the ballet would became a perfect fit for me with its atmosphere of excellence in a very old art art form.

The first performance I saw was with Yvette Chauviré and Rudolf Nureyev The Sleeping Beauty 17 May 1962 and two other performances with this cast and at this time, little did I know how many hundreds of times I would enter the portals of the Royal Opera House and other ballet venues.

A performance of Flower Festival at Genzano pas de deux followed with Nadia Nerina and Erik Bruhn was seen two days later followed by Sonia Arova and Rudolf Nureyev Don Quixote pas de deux 14 June 1962.

With Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev in Giselle on the 15th and 20th July I knew that I would never be rich.


PS

Re: “I wonder to what extent ENB was or could be London's analogue to American Ballet Theatre, which has quite a few principals who appear with the company only during its Met season and perhaps some of the more glamorous overseas tours. And if so, does the importation of guest artists or ready-made principals similarly jeopardize the performance opportunities, artistic development and career advancement of the company's young dancers? “

It has been my experience over time, that it is extremely rare for highly talented young dancers not to make the grade and become fully integrated into a company.

I would suggest that distinguished guest artists are the life blood of challenging young dancers to emulate their achievements.

EDITED

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. Sadly the Arts Council of England has deemed it necessary to freeze their grant for the next three years.

And I think this may be at the heart of the earlier discussion: the company using anonymous donations to fund specific guest appearances. As I understand it (those of you with more knowledge please fill in my blanks or correct my errors) the standard funding structure in the UK is much more dependent on government/institutional grants than we are in the US -- those moneys can often make up all of a company's budget. I do know that several dance organizations felt they had to disband after the last big round of funding cuts -- the idea of making up the difference through individual donation, which is a standard response here in the US, didn't seem to be considered an option. (we've discussed this before on this site, in a couple of contexts). In the US, the tax code is written so that donations to charitable organizations can be advantageous to people in a certain income bracket -- those dynamics are different in the UK.

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. Sadly the Arts Council of England has deemed it necessary to freeze their grant for the next three years.

And I think this may be at the heart of the earlier discussion: the company using anonymous donations to fund specific guest appearances. As I understand it (those of you with more knowledge please fill in my blanks or correct my errors) the standard funding structure in the UK is much more dependent on government/institutional grants than we are in the US -- those moneys can often make up all of a company's budget. I do know that several dance organizations felt they had to disband after the last big round of funding cuts -- the idea of making up the difference through individual donation, which is a standard response here in the US, didn't seem to be considered an option. (we've discussed this before on this site, in a couple of contexts). In the US, the tax code is written so that donations to charitable organizations can be advantageous to people in a certain income bracket -- those dynamics are different in the UK.

See:-

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/businesses/giving/companies.htm

A pretty poor show as far as I am concerned.

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