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sandik

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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    writer
  • City**
    Seattle
  • State (US only)**, Country (Outside US only)**
    WA

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  1. I'm not sure, but I think it was Adrienne Sharp -- "White Swan, Black Swan," 2001. I misremembered -- it's a short story collection.
  2. Josh Grant and his partner Chris Montoya have been running the Dance Conservatory school in south Seattle for just on three years now, and have a small performing ensemble as well -- the group (Dance Theater Seattle) is part of the Seattle International Dance Festival this year, and is premiering a work by Grant this evening -- "Casta Diva" is set to six arias, responding to the text as well as the powerful dramatic aspect of the singing. I saw a rehearsal this week, and it is worth seeking out. They will also be performing part of it at their school showings next weekend.
  3. This is indeed a twisty thing. I was reviewing a memoir last summer, and was thinking about the difference between memoir and autobiography. I asked around among friends and colleagues, and my favorite response came from a book critic friend -- "If it's a memoir, I don't trust a thing they say." Reconstruction is another part of the territory, with many of the same pitfalls. I appreciate the link to the oral history discussion (and especially the contributions from folks who are no longer living) while we're in the middle of several projects, dance and otherwise, where people are grappling with that challenge. Alongside the reconfigured Bayadere that Doug Fullington and Phil Chan are staging in Indiana (here's an excellent preview from Marina Harss in the NYT today), we're all following along with the reconstruction of Notre Dame and the discussions about old v new building technology. And today as well, in the Guardian, an overview of a project in Berlin that is dealing with contentious opinions about a new building at an old site, and how much of past attitudes should be included.
  4. I have a feeling that, with Doug Fullington doing a big chunk of the staging, the choreography will stay very true to the original material. I'm more curious about the contributions from the other collaborators. Preston Singletary does amazing work combining the Northwest Coast formline aesthetic with the specific qualities of glass art -- I'm not sure what this means about the look of this Beauty. Will they be transferring the setting, and if so, how does that work with the specifics of the scenario? Basil Twist is an incredible illusionist puppeteer -- I could easily imagine how their work with transforming physical objects would mesh with the transformation masks from the Kwakwaka'wakw tradition. So much fun!
  5. For full subscribers, yes. As I understand it, a stand-alone digital subscription for the season will be considerably more money. Still, I'm thrilled that they're continuing to offer a digital option. And a discount on parking...
  6. And this is the million dollar question! Doug Fullington is hip deep in the "authentic from the notation" world, but he's also immersed in the movement to excise offensive material from heritage works (like the upcoming Bayadere he's working on in Indiana with Phil Chan). I'm so curious to know how this will all come together. As I understand it, the Bayadere is keeping the heritage choreography while it's shifting the setting and the colonial aspects of the story. For Beauty, they're planning a "historically-informed staging by dance historian Doug Fullington based on Stepanov notation." On a continuum between Ratmansky and Bourne, I think we're closer to the Ratmansky end of the spectrum. But the scenic design could be moving us into very different territory. With Bayadere, it's pretty clear what contemporary audiences might have trouble with -- with Beauty, it's not so obvious. I'm wondering what we're going to see!!!
  7. Casting is up on the website for both weeks, and they're also listing the post-show guests (for the first week).
  8. I was wondering about them -- thanks for the report!
  9. When the company performed Sleeping Beauty a few years ago, they said that would be the last time for that production -- it was staged by Ronald Hynd, at the invitation of former directors Francia Russell and Kent Stowell, and generally followed the Royal Ballet production that Hynd had danced. It was a lovely work, full of echt Petipa moments, but the physical production was starting to show its age. I was afraid that the company would move forward without a Beauty in their repertory, but fortunately, I was wrong. I'd heard through the grapevine that they were making plans, but I was quite surprised when I learned that they'd invited glass artist Preston Singletary to design sets for a new production. Singletary is a splendid artist in the glass world, combining the unique qualities of blown and fused glass with the formline design traditions of his Tlingit heritage -- his most recent work (Raven and the Box of Light) has toured from Seattle to Washington DC and is currently in Oklahoma City. This is a bold choice, and should make for a truly unique project. Alongside Singletary, they've asked puppeteer Basil Twist to participate in the work. While he's better known in the theater world, he's still an unusual choice, though as I think about it, his ability to created physical slight-of-hand effects would be a fascinating combination with the transformation masks found in Coast Salish performance regalia. The company has also got Paul Tazewell (whose costumes we just saw in Swan Lake) and Wendall Herrington (projection designer for Wartime Elegy) involved -- no word yet as to who will actually stage the choreography, but at this point, my eyes are looking everywhere!
  10. And I agree, as a dance critic! Thanks so much for the link. I don't subscribe to NYRB, and so missed a lot of what she wrote here.
  11. Rummaging around in my hard drive, I found this, from some long-ago review. She was super smart, and knew her references, but she could also be a smartass. "One of the most frightening things you can say to someone is, 'let’s go to a modern dance concert.'”
  12. "“What will they become?” she recalled thinking about their futures, when she wrote the introduction to her book “Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints” (2007), a collection of essays and reviews. “There are many brilliant artists — they are born every day — but those who end up having sustained artistic careers are not necessarily the most gifted,” she wrote, adding that they were “the ones who combined brilliance with more homely virtues: patience, resilience, courage.”" I've often thought that one of the attributes of an excellent dancer or choreographer is a high tolerance for repetition -- the patience to work on something over time.
  13. I didn't see Melisa Guillams as Dewdrop, but I was at Ashton Edwards' first performance as the SPF. The program had gotten some social media attention because of debuts by Edwards as SPF, Zsilas Hughes as Coffee, and Destiny Wimpye as lead Marzipan, and I'm glad to say that they all gave really lovely performances. Edwards was just where you would like someone to be for a first-time performance of that role. They hit all the signature moments, sparkled where you want them to, and was a graceful traffic cop when they were leading the citizens of the Land of the Sweets. And they did a great job with the wand, which so many people don't really attend to. The solo was very clear, and their partnership with Luther DeMyer continues to get even stronger. The two shoulder lifts were dead-on. Hughes seemed to understand that you need to treat the Coffee solo really seriously -- people that get too playful run the risk of making it hokey, but there was none of that in their performance. The sequential arms were lovely, the focus was intense, the cross-lateral nature of the epaulment was beautiful. And the finger cymbals were just right (again with the props -- too many people don't really get comfortable with things, and it shows in their performance). There isn't that much pointe work in Coffee, so when they did draw themselves up on pointe, it was an astonishing moment. And the crawl downstage at the end of the solo was electric. Wimpye really stands out in whatever role she dances -- she was the first Snowflake on stage and she had a wonderful moment there. As the lead Marzipan she was able to keep a lovely flow in her upper body even during some of the picky pointe work in that role. I'm hoping that she gets some featured casting in Swan Lake next month. Alongside these exciting debuts, though, there was some incredibly nuanced dancing by Cecilia Iliesiu. If Edwards gave a clear performance of the choreography, Iliesiu made Dewdrop her own. Over and over again she made choices about how to approach the phrasing of the solo. She has the technical control to play with timing -- drawing out some of the suspensions and then making sharp, fast work of other elements. Carrie Imler had similar skills, and used them to similar effect. Iliesiu is well on her way along that path, and it's thrilling to watch her development. I have a feeling that Edwards will be capable of that nuance as they continue to work -- it was such a pleasure to see them both dancing at the top of their current skills.
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