kbarber

53 minutes ago, bingham said:

I think this production is borrowed/rented from the National Ballet of Canada and it was redesigned by Santo Loquasto a few seasons ago.

 

Yes, it is the NBOC'S production that ABT (and SFB) rent, as was the case with the Jurgen Rose production before. But the Rose production was pushing 30 years old and literally falling apart so needed replacing. I believe there were some rights issues with just rebuilding the Rose so they went with a brand new production. In my opinion the Loquasto is vastly inferior to the Rose production it replaced.

Emma Hawes, Hannah Fischer and Brendan Saye will be promoted to First Soloist next season.

Félix Paquet and Ben Rudisin will be promoted to Second Soloist.

I don't think reading Pushkin helps. I also wouldn't choose Stearns as my Onegin. I would go for the Ferri/Bolle or Vishneva/Gomes casts. It's all about the drama with Onegin; you need good dance actors.

1 hour ago, Canadian said:

Okay, I didn't want to make this personal about this kid, but this needs to be said: It says even on his own website that the "choreographic apprentice" position was created "Especially for Robert." 

That position was created at tghe ROYAL BALLET.  David Binet has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ROYAL BALLET. 

1 hour ago, JumpFrog said:

Where his father was also head of the Board. 

oh for heaven's sake. This strikes me as unjustly maligning both Rob Binet and his father.

Rob Binet did not suddenly appear as a choreographer when his father became chair of the NBOC board. And he didn't need daddy to set up a foundation to funnel money and work to him. He had been choreographing since he was in the National Ballet School, and was then mentored by John Neumeier and commissioned to do work for the Hamburg Ballet junior company (and other companies, such as Dutch National Ballet's junior company and Ballet Black). He then was named "choreographic apprentice" or some such at the Royal Ballet where he was mentored by Wayne McGregor. He created The Blue of Distance for New York City Ballet after participating in sessions of New York Choreographic Institute in 2011 and 2014. He has also been commissioned to do work for the Estonian National Ballet and Theatre Ballet Moscow. Clearly some big names in the ballet world believe in him, and they aren't influenced by daddy. And... he's not even 25.

9 hours ago, JumpFrog said:

 I can't think of another industry where this level of conflict-of-interest would be accepted.

Other than the US Presidency, perhaps?

17 minutes ago, sandik said:

For some reason I get the reply "unknown exception" when I try this.

Worked for me

20 hours ago, California said:

The 2017-18 schedule has been posted. I didn't realize this is the 50th anniversary of Cranko's Onegin. I guess that explains why both La Scala and ABT have scheduled that.

 

https://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/schedule/17-18season/

maybe, but really, ballet companies somewhere are always doing Onegin. At least 6 companies did it in the 2016-17 season.

will be announced next Tuesday, May 23.

Hello Canadian, welcome to the forum. I'm in Toronto (well actually at the moment I'm in London on a different-ballet-every-day extravaganza, but I LIVE in Toronto), so we must get together at an NBOC performance. YOu can send me a private message or friend me on facebook at Katherine Barber.

actually I would start looking now for returned tix for Polunin performances. If one has an electronic ticket, it can be "returned" over the phone and put back in circulation almost immediately.

It's the #gettingonaredeyetolondon part I'm interested in, since I have tix for American in Paris next Monday!

Ulrik, who was the force behind the recent Bournonville tour, announced this on his facebook page:

25 years ago in August 1992 a very curious 6 year old me walked through the stage door to the Royal Danish Theater for the first time.
It turned out to be one hell of a ride!
Not only did I grow up in the magical world of a theater but I also had the luxury of working with beauty on a daily basis.
I have been exposed to and educated in music, art and creativity and I’m so thankful that I work with something I care about.
In July 2017 I will start a new adventure that I can’t tell you about officially…yet... BUT I can tell you that this will be my last official month with the Royal Danish Ballet and Diamonds my last shows on Gamle Scene for a while ;)

Being a Principal Dancer at an institution like The Royal Danish Theater is a bit like standing on top of an iceberg. There are so many incredible people that are the foundation of not only the art we produce but also the values of the Theater.

Perhaps the most important lesson and value that I have experienced is that the space and appreciation for beauty (in expression and humanity) doesn't come for free. It takes hard work every single day to create space for the most fragile thing in the world.
But I care. And I believe in it.

So its time to step down from the Iceberg and start my own little snowball.

where is Aaron Robison going?

From the SIFF site:

Roberto Bolle - L'Arte della Danza

https://www.siff.net/festival/roberto-bolle-the-art-of-dance

in French (no subtitles). Quite charming

and you can see the Royal  Ballet's Dream/Symphonic Variations/ Marguerite and Armand bill in a Montreal Theatre on June 7.

Until June 11, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is offering a special exhibition on the theme "Chagall and Music". It includes many costume sketches and costumes for Massine's Aleko, likewise for Skibine's 1959 version of Daphnis and Chloe for Paris Opera Ballet, with film of Marie-Agnes Gillot and Yann Saiz dancing the pas de deux for a 2004 gala, amazing close ups of the ceiling of the Opera Garnier (must have been shot from a drone), and more.

You could combine a trip to Montreal with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens' next performance run, May 25 to June 3:

" Set to Steve Reich’s extraordinary music and percussion, Kylián’s Falling Angels is a mesmerizing study for eight dancers, a powerful work of the highest order. His pure and refined Evening Songs are set to Dvořák’s a cappella songs of the same name, and performed live by a choir. Finally, Stephan Thoss’s Searching for Home, an inner voyage into the multiplicity of the self, features 16 dancers in a piece inspired by the music of Philip Glass and the images it evokes. "

and if you're ambitious you could then hop on a train from Montreal to Toronto to see the National Ballet of Canada in A Streetcar Named Desire (Neumeier), June 3 -10.

11 hours ago, canbelto said:

 

Suzanne Farrell owns the rights to Tzigane and it's unlikely she'll allow NYCB to perform either that or Meditation and Don Quixote (two other ballets that belong to her). 

In my opinion, NYCB is lucky if she won't let them have Don Quixote!

2 hours ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I find all-Balanchine programs that consist entirely of his leotard ballets fatiguing. They are all great ballets; cramming three or four of them into an evening does not make for a great program. I find that the eye -- and the mind -- need more variety.

Well, I agree with you, for one.

26 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

I agree that Herman Cornejo is exquisite in this role. Gorgeous, airy, light jumps and perfectly shaped arms. Just sublime.

I am also a fan of Herman Cornejo in this role. Seeing him leap out the window at the end made me gasp; it was the first time I understood what all the fuss was about that jump.

I also agree that Bratislava is worth a visit. I always include it on my Vienna ballet trips. The new theatre is one of the comfiest I've ever been to. Huge amounts of leg room, excellent raking in the audience (you'd have to have someone 6'6" in front of you not to be able to see over them), super comfy seats. I have seen the Slovak company's R&J (Morricone) and Sleeping Beauty (Malakhov) and enjoyed them both.

Shall we try this. If we ask people on this forum "How big is New York City Ballet? / Paris Opera Ballet? etc." I think their answer would be "about 95 dancers/250 dancers". I think it highly unlikely that people would say "Oh, 95 dancers, and 15  ballet masters, and 20 people in the wardrobe department, and then there's the fundraising and the box office, oh and School of American Ballet...."

I seriously don't think people consider or should consider every last 6-year-old taking creative movement when they make claims about how big a ballet company is and how it ranks compared with others, because that is not what most people will understand (maybe not you) and it is misleading to do so.

I think there is one "key metric that everyone agrees" for determining the "size" of a ballet company: how many dancers it has.

And besides, the RWB has a school as well.