CM

The touring Diaghilev exhibition has left Quebec and will be at Caixaforum in Barcelona from October 5 through to 15 January 2012: http://obrasocial.lacaixa.es/nuestroscentros/caixaforumbarcelona/losballetsrusos_ca.html It will then move to Madrid (17 February to 3 June 2012). The exhibition is available for hire from late 2012: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/touring-exhibition-diaghilev-and-the-ballets-russes/ There will be a Benois auction at Sotheby's London on November 29th (will the collection be on display in advance?) http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/2011/an-important-collection-of-works-by-alexander-benois/overview.html “The collection includes set and costume designs from productions such as Petrushka, The Nightingale and Sleeping Beauty, charming family portraits, rare views of St. Petersburg, Versailles and Venice, which will be offered alongside Benois’ letters and sketchbooks.” A “new-old” live recording of Petrushka and “les Orientales” with les Siecles/Francois-Xavier Roth will be issued. I think this would have been included in the same program/weekend as the Le Festin/Carnaval/Scheherezade concert that was available online for a few months (and previously linked to) at la Cite de La Musique.

I think the commentator is saying that as usual (for the festival) there are people in the audience that are new to dance and then there are the two interviews. The link http://www.lesetesdeladanse.com/presentation/ gives some background to the festival. I think the section in french is slightly more specific on the intentions of the festival, e.g., "L’objectif des organisateurs : enrichir Paris d’une grande manifestation au moment où la plupart des théâtres de la capitale ferment leurs portes, offrir aux amateurs éclairés de danse des spectacles de qualité, et enfin permettre à un large public de découvrir un art trop souvent réservé à un cercle d’initiés." "The goal of the organizers: enrich Paris by a major event when most theaters in the capital closed their doors, offer connoisseurs of quality dance performances, and finally allow a wide public to discover art too often restricted to a circle of insiders. " - google translate So it seems to me that they have a strategy and plan in place to achieve their aims , and , looking at the english part of the link, they have some high powered support. Valery Colin says that the presentation has an immediate emotional impact - there isn't the need to have a knowledge base to enjoy the performance. Having said that, there is a need to sell that to the public. I would guess that the TV and press coverage, the positive reviews and the various Miami/US references, e.g., baseball, cheerleaders, beach boys (possibly Miami Vice as well), that the press have been able to use in their articles, must have all helped in this.

That goes right to the subject of ballet marketing I touched on above. CM - or anyone - is there any indication of how those two neophytes came to be in that audience? (Yet another time I regret not having studied French!) I believe that one of the aims of "les etes de la danse" festival in Paris is to broaden the appeal of dance. The festival wants to attract a wide audience including those who might be nervous of attending more formal performances at the theatre or at the opera. The festival has been running for quite a few years now so I would guess that they have by now worked out how best to publicise the program. They seem very pleased with the audience numbers this year - more than 26,000 for the MCB season.

Culturebox video - Miami City Ballet and Angelin Prejlocaj draw crowds in Paris. First time ever at the ballet for the two audience members at the beginning of the clip: http://culturebox.france3.fr/#/miami/38521/miami-city-ballet-et-angelin-prejlocaj-attirent-les-foules-a-paris

I second the thanks. I had no idea these performances were available online. I think they're also available online for a week or so (maybe a month) after the festival finishes. The Verbier concerts are free for the moment - you just have to register with Medici. The independent gave Verbier a good review: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/papeterfelwilliamshoughbuniatishvili-verbier-festival-2318272.html I watched the Bryn Terfel Lieder recital live on line. So far it's my favourite.

I'm afraid I can't help - It's not a subject that I'm familiar with and I struggle with spanish. Slightly off topic again, the RT Bolshoi feature includes two or three minutes of Vasiliev and Zakharova in "le jeune homme et la mort" - off-stage and also shot from the wings. The presenter seems to trying to persuade Zakharova to give him a ballet lesson. Semenyaka also features. I think Zakharova is due to appear in the Bolshoi's tribute to Alicia Alonso at the beginning of August: http://actualidad.rt.com/programas/la_lista_de_erick/803

Many thanks for your explanation and translation. It gives me a flavour of the conversation. It's very helpful. Going slightly off topic, I searched for ballet-related programs on Spanish RT. In addition to the A solar series, I found two further short programs - (1) on the Vaganova School and (2) on the Bolshoi. http://actualidad.rt.com/search.html?buscar_por=videos&q=ballet&start_date=&end_date=&sort=date Spanish TV has several programs available - some one hour and some 1/2 hour dance related documentaries. The longer programs aren't always too accessible for non spanish speakers (but that's to be expected as they weren't intended for them) The imprescindibles series on RTVE also includes a documentary on Antonio Gades http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/imprescindibles/imprescindibles-antonio-gades-etica-danza/1000827/ The paso a paso series on RTVE has 13 half hour programs on different types of dance http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/paso-a-paso-con-nacho-duato/paso-paso-nacho-duato-american-ballet-theatre/896636/

Many thanks for the link. The recording of the interview on Ustream lasted about one hour and forty minutes. The interviewer was Japanese but there was a translator and David Hallberg spoke in English throughout. He discussed his life as dancer from his time in France up until today. He talked about several of his video clips -great use of video/equipment - and also demonstrated some dance steps with some of the participants. I really enjoyed the interview. It was very interesting and also very amusing.

Thanks for loading the extract and the photo from Fall River Legend. I found two excerpts from this week's Alicia Alonso interview on the CNN Espanol website - both around 9 minutes long. They look quite similar to the screen format used by RT, interview showing in small box during dance extracts etc. The first extract includes some footage of the ABT tribute and some discussion of style. The second extract focuses on Giselle and a discussion about Fernando Alonso. There are a couple of dance extracts labelled as Giselle 1963 - the second one is the Vasiliev/Alonso performance in the 1980s, I'm not sure who is the male dancer in the first extract and when this performance would have taken place. http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/spanish/2011/07/18/cala.alicia.alonso.cnn http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/spanish/2011/07/19/cala.alonso.giselle.cnn Hopefully a spanish speaker would be able to highlight interesting points. I'm curious about the discussion about Fernando Alonso.

RTVE Spain has some video available including a one hour documentary: http://www.rtve.es/television/imprescindibles/alicia-alonso/ According to El Nuevo Herald http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2011/07/15/983697/estudio-13.html CNN Espanol will be transmitting a two hour interview over two days with Alicia Alonso next week. It sounds as if it will be quite a revealing interview: Google translation "ALICIA ALONSO EN 'CALA'. Alicia Alonso, prima ballerina assoluta of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, is the guest of Ismael Cala in a special edition of its program, which airs in two parts, on Monday 18 and Tuesday 19 at 9 pm on CNN in Spanish. During the two-hour special, Alonso, founder and director of the Cuban ballet body, will discuss personal issues that has rarely spoken as her love life, marriage and subsequent divorce from the maestro Fernando Alonso and his political position. We also talk about his health and a long history of vision problems that have left blind. Legendary Cuban ballerina will also speak on how he lived and reacted to the persecution of Fidel Castro against homosexuals in the 1960's, and the fact that they qualify for deserters (something to do with defectors?) to the dancers who decide to leave the company and settle in other countries. Cala airs Monday through Friday at 9 pm on CNN in Spanish."

The Verbier Festival started yesterday and runs until July 31st. Included in the concert schedule are the 1911 version of Petrushka, three movements from Petrushka for piano (a different concert), Ravel's La Valse and La Tzigane, Swan Lake and Shchedrin's Carmen. Concerts are being streamed live online by Medici http://www.medici.tv/#!/verbier-festival-4

For the french speaking version of the programme, France 24 interviews Valery Colin, the director of Paris's annual dance festival, ".les etes de la danse". The interview is illustrated with different video and starts around 5 minutes 30 seconds http://www.france24.com/fr/20110709-fr-culture-miami-city-ballet-valery-colin-étés-danse-chatelet

"Paris hosts the Miami City Ballet" France24 video in english. Interview with Edward Villella starts at around 5 minutes 20 seconds: http://www.france24.com/en/20110709-en-culture-edward-villella-miami-city-ballet-chatelet-etes-danse

TSR Switzerland has a very short video showing Roland Petit onstage with Zizi Jeanmaire in Geneva in 1962 http://www.tsr.ch/video/info/journal-continu/3260975-sequences-choisies-roland-petit-et-zizi-jeanmaire-dansent-sur-scene-en-1962-a-geneve.html#id=3260975

http://www.lemonde.fr/carnet/article/2011/07/10/le-choregraphe-roland-petit-est-mort_1547073_3382.html

It's interesting to read Ariane Bavelier's comments on the dancers' bodies -- the women with "rounded thighs, full buttocks" -- the boys with "full chests and chiseled muscles, attacking [the steps] ... with the trust of a 'pompom child'." Pompom child? I'm not sure I understand the image. The writer contrasts Miami's women, dancing Balanchine and Robbins, with certain "willowy ballerinas, cut as if by diamonds, queens of fire and ice ... who, in three steps, can give one the shivers." Sounds like a rousing Symphony in Three Movements, reminding me of others equally bold and energetic back home in 2003, 2007 and 2009. These are the same words that many French fans used to welcome Balanchine and his New York City Ballet dancers to Paris in the 50s and 60s. Not a bad start for Villella and MCB in 2011. Now I'm looking forward to the real challenge -- more detailed reviews, including specific evaluations of performances and dancers. Is" l'entrain du pompon child" something like " the energy/bounce? of a child cheerleader": There's something in the tarantella that puts me in mind of Toni Basil's" Hey Mickey" but I think the writer's mainly talking about the male corps?

I had two tabs open - one with the video and one with google translate so I could type in the wording at the bottom of the screen and get it translated. With enough practice, maybe iI might be able to understand a synopsis of a ballet in spanish

Culturebox - short video - etes de la danse - Miami City ballet http://culturebox.france3.fr/all/37759/paris-a-l_heure-des-etes-de-la-danse#/all/37759/paris-a-l_heure-des-etes-de-la-danse

RT Website lists the following countries for coverage in Latin America Panama Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Falkland Islands French Guiana Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela

RT website says: "RT Spanish official site is a multimedia service, providing 24/7 news coverage for the spanish speaking population of Europe, North and South America". The programme host, Elena Rostova, conducts interviews in Russia as well as in South America. If you flick through the "a solas" interview list: http://actualidad.rt.com/programas/a_solas/919 there are a few interviews with russian ballet figures, e.g. Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Marina Leonova, Anastasia Volochkova and Andris Liepa

RT 25 minute interview with video excerpts (in spanish) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERpe8toQZek

Two more

Competition has started and is being streamed live with joint russian and english commentary http://www.tchaikovsky-competition.com/en

CNN video from Washington - company class, interviews with Alicia Alonso and dancers (in spanish) http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/spanish/2011/06/10/morales.usa.cuban.ballet.cnn.html?on.cnn=1 Also, a few seconds of archive film of Alicia Alonso http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzgraKrQtrg

"Diaghilev's Ballet Russes - When Art dances with Music" opens at the Musee National de Beaux-Arts in Quebec on June 9th http://www.mnba.qc.ca/expo_ballets_russes_ang.aspx A downloadable PDF (in french) lists events and activities accompanying the exhibition: http://www.mnba.qc.ca/activites_brochure.aspx