Fraildove

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There are major stars out there… a few off the top of my head are Jacobo Tissi, Marianella Nunez, Friedman Vogel is still dancing gorgeously at 43, Kimin Kim, Antonio Cashalino is up and coming very quickly, Elise Badenes, Maia Makhateli, Yana Salenko, Olga Smirnov, Vadim Muntegirov etc. Even having a few guests each season could help energize ticket sales for all performances.

I think most of the Soviet ere ballerinas did them. Plisetskaya’s were also notable. Makarova was the first that I thought of.

I have not seen anything posted yet, so thought I would give a heads up: YAGP has their 25th anniversary kickoff gala Tuesday, April 11 at Alice Tully Hall in NYC. Dancers performing include: Constantine Allen (Dutch National Ballet) ** Evelina Godunova (Berlin State Ballet) – NY DEBUT* Anne Jung (International Guest Artist)* Michaela Mabinty DePrince (Boston Ballet) ** Jun Masuda (Tulsa Ballet) ** Roman Mejia (New York City Ballet)* Tiler Peck (New York City Ballet)* Christine Shevchenko (American Ballet Theatre) ** Jacopo Tissi (La Scala Ballet) – NY DEBUT* Shale Wagman (Bavarian State Ballet) * – NY DEBUT Also, previous winners as well as this year’s winners, including last year’s Youth Grand Prix Winner and Helsinki Silver medalist Alexei Orohovsky (John Cranko Schule) and this years Prix de Lausanne winner and YAGP Grand Prix Winner Fabrizzio Illoa Cornejo (Basel Ballet, Switzerland, for next year, Royal Ballet School) will also be dancing. Wanted to let anyone in the NYC area know as it has not been well publicized. Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.lincolncenter.org/venue/alice-tully-hall/stars-of-today-meet-the-stars-of-tomorrow YAGP will be returning to NYC for next year’s finals.

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Someone please keep us updated! This is fabulous!

Buddy, would you mind giving your impressions of Joy Womack’s performance? I have heard from friends in Russia when she was first at the Bolshoi and then later at the Kremlin (an at the Moscow IBC 5 years ago 🫣) about their thoughts, but have not heard recently how she is doing. She is definitely a controversial figure but I think age has done wonders for her as far as what she says and what she keeps to herself. I’m curious how she is performing now.

Irina Sapozhnikova was principal ballerina at the Mariinsky- Primorsky theatre in Vladivostok. She gives beautiful performances on the more technical side but is solid in everything she does. Her black swan is better than white, but she is always dependable to give a great performance. Her and her husband, also former principal at Primorsky, are now on the remainder of the tour. Tickets are expensive but for places that normally don’t get ballet, it’s a solid performance. The Corpse de ballet was much much better than I was expecting. The 3rd act was not good, from all perspectives, but the incredibly busy backdrop and overly fussy costumes sent it over the edge. The black swan pas almost made up for it. The 4th act is abbreviated, which is a shame as I feel that Irina is her best as Odette in the 4th act, and it’s a happy ending.

I thought you all might like to see an update on Alexei Orohovsky. He is now 15, training at the John Cranko Schule in Stuttgart. Here he is in the Helsinki International ballet Competition where he won the silver medal and jury encouragement prize as the youngest dancer in the competition.

Henry Danton, aged 102 passed away on Feb 9, 2022. His career began in 1939 and he was still teaching classes up until his death. He was a true legend and his death is truly an end of an era. May he Rest In Peace. http://www.moorefuneralservices.com/obituaries/Henry-Danton?obId=23989185 https://www.alastairmacaulay.com/all-essays/313m0rdes4fsw3nug3p410qakhbeg1 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Danton (Wikipedia gets his date of death incorrect. He died Feb 9, not Feb 10).

Hi Gianna’s daughter. I remember reading so many of your mom’s comments here at Ballet Talk. She is definitely missed! I direct a small, pre-professional Ballet school and we have a library for our dancers containing both books, old copies of Dancemagazines and video and DVD’s that they are allowed to check out. After you give items away, if you have anything left over that you can’t find a home for, I know our young dancers would love to have access to some new/old material. I hope that you are able to give your items to your mother’s contacts, but if you can’t get rid of everything I would be happy to pay any shipping costs. If you would rather stay local, I’m sure many other Ballet schools also offer the same. Best of luck, and I wish you well in your journey to find out more information on the wonderful art that is ballet!

There is another dancer that recently left the Trocks, Alberto Pretto. On his Facebook and Instagram he went into more detail about the outside expectations that are required of the dancers. Alby as well as some of the other dancers wanted to dress more feminine, leave their hair pretty long, and dress in soft chiffon skirts and more feminine dance attire for classes while on tour. This was forbidden by management for the very reasons outlined above: they want their dancers to be identified as all male, and that includes the image they portray wile on tour. He mentions that he felt it was done more selectively and the same rules didn’t apply to everyone. If anyone is interested, you can go back and watch his videos from around Oct/Nov of 2019 (my dates me be off slightly) to hear more about what management enforced. Alby is now transitioning to female and also talks about the difficulty he has had on that journey and how he misses performing onstage and the relationships with the cast of Trocks. I remember in Chase Johnsey’s videos when he quit he says much the same thing. Alby cites that as the number one reason that he left. If I can find the video, I will post the link. I believe he is listed as Albie Pretti on Facebook. He makes and sells custom leotards, skirts, and tshirts on his Facebook and Instagram site AlbyPretty. He is a friend and I wish him and Chase well.

From my understanding of most AGMA contracts, regardless of rank, a company never has the obligation of renewing a contract. Case in point, Veronika Part. Or Dvorovenko and Herrera. If there is a male soloist that they want to promote to Principal and they need an open contract, they have the right to not renew. And I hope that no one will take this the wrong way but Ramasar is the same age that I am, 38. That is nearing the retirement age for most dancers anyway. So if there is a young, up and coming soloist that they want to promote I think that they could arguably say so with the mention of the WSS contract as another consideration. I’ve never been on the other side of it where AGMA recommends a company to renew, but if it was recommended, would the company be beholden to the recommendation? companies don’t usually update their rosters unless it’s a promotion or at the end/beginning of the season. If Ramasar’s contract isn’t renewed, but he is still under his current contract then he would still be listed as principal dancer. I have no idea if his contract has been or will be renewed. Just offering a different perspective. 😊

Hi Veya, definitely check out Ballet Talk For Dancers. In the meantime, yes you can perform the same variation at multiple regionals. Most people do. Best of luck!

Awkward in the extreme!!! And I will report back!