Lilly

For dance fans in the Toronto area - the finals of the Genee International Ballet Competition are taking place on Sat. Aug. 23rd @ 7:00 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in downtown Toronto. For details on how to get tickets, check out the website: http://www.geneeballetcompetition.com/index.htm. The competition is associated with the Royal Academy of Dance. I can't make it, so I hope someone will report on it! (See also today's (Aug. 21st) Links section in Ballet Alert for an article about the competition.)

Also John Alleyne who danced with NBoC. He now directs and choreographs for Ballet British Columbia (not a strictly classical company but nonetheless...). Here's the link: http://www.balletbc.com/company.htm

Hi Mom2, Wow - congratulations on your daughter getting into the summer school. She must be looking forward to it! I went to the Sunday matinee so quite a few of the dancers were different from the performance you attended. Ideally I'd like to see both casts!

Hi Christa, I don't know much about the internal workings of the school, being just a regular dance fan, but I know for sure they do have foreign students, including Americans. Their web page on auditions does mention something about sending a video if you can't attend. There is also an e-mail address which you can write to for more information on the same page at the following URL: http://www.nationalballetschool.org/pages/.../auditions.html Perhaps that would be the best way to get the information you need. Good luck!

I wanted to share a few impressions on a performance of the National Ballet School (Canada) which I attended recently, since it's one of the highlights of the year for me to see the next generation of young dancers. The program began with a lovely performance of Chopiniana (Les Sylphides). Although it seemed to me that the dancers were still a bit uncomfortable with this older style, they performed musically and with sensitivity. I especially liked Tina Pereira (I think it was her - the notes on casting were rather confusing!) who moved easily and really looked as if she were enjoying herself. The second ballet was Pyrrhic Dances II by Toer van Schayk. According to the notes, it is based on the art of warfare in the times of Louis XIV, and is set to Lully, Phildor and Couperin. It starts out by showing the pomp and glory of war, then turns into a "dance of lament and compassion". In this work, the young dancers gave an outstanding, technically secure performance, and were able to convey a great deal of mood and emotion. Though modern, Pyrric Dances also seems to borrow from courtly dances and of course there is a lot of marching! [names edited out] Last on the program was a set of pieces from various works by Jiri Kylian. As an audience member, I was a bit disappointed, as the school also performed it last year, but as the director emphasized, the main purpose is to give the students stage experience. There were excerpts were from Nomads, Overgrown Path, Dream Dances, and Symphony in D. There was a greater range of ages in this part of the evening (the earlier parts were danced by older students), and the three who performed to the song "I wonder as I wander" in Dream Dances were particularly wonderful to watch - so young but so professional, and loving every minute of it! I guess the best part about school performances is the youthful energy and dedication of the students, so it was fitting that the evening was rounded off by the first movement of Symphony in D. It's danced to Haydn, but the performers are dressed in athletic clothing and baseball caps, and there is a lot of humour (like the group of boys who give a bit grunt when they lift the girl). I'm already looking forward to next year! (By the way, did any other Toronto posters attend? I hope someone with dance background can talk more about the technical side of things.) [ 06-01-2001: Message edited by: alexandra ]

It's one of my favourites too! I like the way Karen Kain (formerly of the National Ballet of Canada) describes it in her book: "Fille is as great a masterpiece as anything in the ballet repertoire, and it is only because it is a comedy-and a very English one at that-that it's not universally recognized as such. Perhaps also its great appeal for children, whith its chickens, its obstreperous rooster, its live pony and cart, blinds some adults to both its beauties and its deep wisdom."

I heard that "allemand right/left" is a corruption of "a la main droite/gauche" or whatever the correct French is (it's been a long time since high school!). They also yell out "promenade", which I think is derived from French too. A lot of fun!

Hi Katharyn, There are some rumours over here in Canada that James Kudelka, who is currently the director of the National Ballet of Canada, may be interested in applying for the directorship of the Australian Ballet. I don't know if he would be better than Ross Stretton. He has had quite a bit of controversy during his term with NBC over the Kimberly Glasco fiasco. On the other hand, he is an interesting choreographer. There is an article on this but with a hopelessly long URL. If you go to the website of the Globe and Mail (http://www.globeandmail.com) and enter "ballet" under the 7-day search, the article should appear near the bottom of the hit list.

I remember a great moment from the late '70s or early '80s during one of those PBS galas that they used to have. Gelsey Kirkland danced Dying Swan, and I can still remember those beautiful arms during her entrance, and the flutters at the end of the death scene. I probably saw it through naive eyes - I was only in my early teens then - but it was really thrilling! Lilly

Hello! I've been a lurker at Ballet Alert for a while and love this site. I might have lurked indefinitely, but just had to put in my two cents' worth concerning Jane's experience with computerizing her dance data. (I admire your energy and high level of organization Jane!) I'm far from being a computer expert, however, as a library/archival student I've been warned that technology obsolescence is serious problem if you want to preserve data in the long term. For example, if you invest a lot of energy and time into putting your data onto the computer and the technology changes, it may be difficult to migrate the data to a new system. (Maybe it's not such a big problem if you stick with products of major companies like Microsoft.) Do any of the engineer ballet fans have some insights into this?