10 replies to this topic

[Alexandra]

Is your home company not on this forums list?


One of the reasons we started the forums for individual ballet companies is to give people a place to talk about their home companies.  We want to hear what they're doing and what you think about it.  Please tell us about that company (here or over on "Recent Performances" if you prefer), and encourage others to do so as well.  If there are enough people to sustain a
conversation (it only take three or four) we'll be happy to make a forum for your favorite company.

What to talk about?  Dancers,  repertory, company news.  Did you just get a new artistic director?  Interesting guest artists this season?  What are you seeing? We'd love to read reviews.

We have people from all over reading this board, and they may well zip out of Lurkdom and join in.  So start talking and let us know about your home company!

[driver of a dancer]

Any information on Suzanne Farrell Ballet Company??
Dancers etc??

[Alexandra]

See the post on the News Forum; I just got the roster.

[driver of a dancer]

Thank you Alexandra for the information on Suzanne Farrell's ballet company. Now in my "spare time" I plan to research the dancers.......;)

[Alexandra]

They're not household names   There should be a press release in a few weeks, and I'll post it when I get it.

[nlkflint]

Orlando Ballet should be "ready" for a listing/forum

[Renee Renouf]

I was told Ballet Alert had posted
Christopher Stowell's inaugural season
as artistic director for Oregon Ballet
Theatre on its pages.

Where would I find it?

It is of no small interest to those of us who enjoyed his dancing at San Francisco Ballet, and who remembered his father,
Kent Stowell, when he too danced with San Francisco Ballet when it was under
Lew Christensen's direction.

Thank you.

[Mel Johnson]

Here's the thread, Renee:

http://www.balletale...&threadid=10362

[bart]

Anyone know where to locate information/discussion about Ballet Florida, based in West Palm Beach?  After 3 years in the area, I've become a big fan, but find that they are almost invisible on the internet.  

This is a small but very ingratiating company, with highly individualistic dancers and a wide range of choreographic styles (currently doing a number of Ben Stevenson pieces).  Despite the size, they mount a huge and joyful Nutcracker each December (9 performances in the 2000-plus seat Kravis Center). Last year they performed at the Joyce in NYC and they tour in Florida and, occasionally, out of state.  Even in West Palm, they are out-gunned (financially, in size, and in classical technique) by Miami City Ballet, which does four programs a year in West Palm and recently opened a Palm Beach County liaison office at the Kravis.  But they have a good school,  a 40-week employment contract for the dancers, most of whom have stayed with the company for years, and a very loyal, enthusiastic fan base.   Several friends have commented that the dancers seem to be having fun -- something that cannot always be said of performances by Royal Ballet, NYCB, or ABT.  This comes, of course, with recurrent financial difficulties.  One symptom is a web site that is rarely updated.  (For the entire 2002-03 season, they site listed the performance schedule for the previous year.)  

It is easy to find lots of internet talk about larger companies (all the principals, every cast in every last Swan Lake).  But smaller companies can't get forums beyond the local -- and even have to struggle to get that.  Hope someone can help out with Ballet Florida.  Or at least with discussion of similar companies in other parts of the country.

[KarenD]

Another small but exciting company, now in its 25th year, is Maine State Ballet.  They have made some important accomplishments in the last five years, and did get a mention on this board last summer.

see:

http://balletalert.i...__1#entry273328

But, like Ballet Florida, they don't get much exposure outside local press!  The artistic director is a former NYCB dancer under Balanchine.  Repertoire includes Serenade and some great original choreography as well.  A new piece is in the works for this summer.