Drew

@dirac posted a link to an article about Helen Pickett's recent work with Boston Ballet dancers -- it dates back several weeks but I only caught up with it today and a search doesn't turn up any other discussion of it on this site. Pickett collaborated to create three short new digital works evoking the experience of sheltering in place during the pandemic. I'm posting a link to a more recent article about the work that was also shared on the balletcoforum site -- hoping to catch the eye of additional people.

From the article:

"'Home Studies'” is the first installment of a greater triptych and is composed of two duets and one solo, each piece exploring the experience of being 'cooped up' and how the emotions of that circumstance differ so greatly between individuals. Pickett also worked with British composer Peter Salem, who offered the stunning score for the pieces, as well as cinematographer and long-time Boston Ballet videographer Ernesto Galan to capture the project on film — both of whom donated their time and services along with the dancers for the sake of making art in this difficult time."

The article includes separate links to each separate section of the work (each a little over 3 minutes long). I especially liked the solo--with it's V-shaped enclosed space heightening the feel of claustrophobia and, perhaps, the urgent need to move too--and the second duet. The dancers are LIa Cirio, Paul Craig, and My'Kal Stromile and all quite wonderful in these video vignettes:

https://www.wbur.org/artery/2020/07/20/boston-ballet-home-studies-choreographer-helen-pickett

14 hours ago, dirac said:

De Havilland was photographed riding a tricyle earlier this month:

 

Goodness! When I saw there was a new post from you about De Havilland, I started preparing my "rest in peace ..." message...Evidently not. Hurray for Olivia De Havilland!

3 hours ago, YouOverThere said:

But I'm dreading autumn when evenings are dark and there will be nothing to do.

Solidarity!  I'm worried about Autumn and, even more, winter. Fortunately I live someplace where we usually get a "late" summer and winters are not severe so I will be able to go outside sometimes. Still...it will be dark and dreary.

(I am anticipating being sealed in until mid-spring at earliest, but at least once it's warm it's possible to get outside more.)

Thank you for posting...will look forward to reading more....

A long, rich life and career -- may she rest in peace...

Hello Hogmel and welcome.  Sometimes even people who have been going to the ballet for years can't find the words to explain why they reeeeally like things!  That's one of the mysteries of art....(But it can be fun to try to find them.)

A ballet legend...may he rest in peace....

Atlanta Ballet has just announced it is cancelling its Fall season and doesn't expect to return to the stage for regular "series" performances until February. I remain a little confused as to whether they are still hoping to have a Nutcracker season: 

https://www.atlantaballet.com/news/2020-2021-season-update

For now, I am in an increasingly "hot" hot spot and very much wish there were a state-wide "face coverings" mandate here. There is not. Mostly I work from home but it's proving not always possible...Tomorrow I have to go into my workplace because of a computer problem. Not happy about that--and I don't think the tech person I'm meeting with is all that happy either....(We will both be masked.)

I would be very interested in the answer to @odinthor's question -- and very interested if any choreographer or company wanted to stage a suite from Petipa's choreography for operas. (Allowing that the source material is detailed enough, workable as pure dance outside the opera etc.)

A great figure....May he rest in peace.

(Thank you for sharing the link.)

Hello @Giannina's daughter--Your mother's presence here is still missed. And thank you for that kind and generous offer! 

My great Abrera Sleeping Beauty experience was when I saw her dance Princess Florine in Ratmansky's Sleeping Beauty--I thought it was in every detail--down to her fingertips--the most beautiful, enchanting performance of that role imaginable. She danced with such purity and fluidity and inhabited so completely the fairy tale spirit of the pas de deux that one felt the whole spirit of the ballet was captured in her performance. Of course, I didn't get to see Abrera as often as many posting here, and I do think that performance of Princess Florine probably goes down as my favorite performance of all those I saw her give.

This is wonderfully helpful information. Sadly, for myself, I can't imagine doing any ballet-travel until there is a vaccine for Covid 19 or, perhaps, if a vaccine proves impossible, until the disease is much more under control and we have much better treatments for it.

3 hours ago, nanushka said:

I saw that comment on a lot of accounts posting black boxes with the BLM hashtag on Tuesday — individual accounts, not just large accounts. Many of those users responded gratefully to the comment, and deleted the hashtag as suggested. I didn't get the sense that they felt they'd been damned either way. Was there a controversy that I wasn't aware of?

I had the same experience as you--none of the posts I saw showed any irritation at being directed to the other hashtag. People found it helpful ... and, in turn, they wanted to be helpful.

I've still been surprised at the degree to which companies and other organizations have felt they need to weigh in on the current protests. But mostly it's been a pleasant surprise. (One of the most strongly worded and explicit statements I read from an arts organization came from Atlanta Ballet--and, in the larger historical and social context, that did not surprise me.)

Social media has its limits for sure, and most of us need a rest from it from time to time. But since (as we all know, even if our views on the situation differ) the current social media "noise" reflects things happening in the 3-D world, it's to be hoped some 3-D changes can still happen...

Seeing announcements of promotions and retirements at Ballet West made me realize I should post about the retirement from Atlanta Ballet of wonderful ballerina Nadia Mara who has been dancing here for 15 years.  She is returning to Uruguay to become a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Uruguay -- currently directed by Julio Bocca.

Mara was one of the company's best and most versatile dancers--and one who always "delivered." I even recall one or two performances where (almost) everyone else seemed to be having an "off" performance -- or to be out of their depths (cough...Paquita...cough) -- where Mara's reliability and charm helped to save the day. I always especially appreciated that while she was technically one of the strongest ballerinas I've seen here in Atlanta (especially pre-Nedvigin), all of her performances were gently infused with warmth and emotion.

I treasure many of her performances but will mention two (where, in fact, the whole company was "on" but her performance was the stand out): the lead ballerina in Allegro Brillante -- not as fast as Tiler Peck (!) but more warmly romantic in a way that recalled to me things Tallchief has talked about as important to the ballet;  and Marguerite in Helen Pickett's Camino Real, a role that calls on the ballerina not just to dance but to speak and even cry out in anguish which Mara did convincingly.

Here is the company's notice about her departure--as they write, it's sad that Atlanta Ballet and its fans won't be able to see her off in person:

https://www.atlantaballet.com/news/a-fond-farewell-to-nadia-mara

Yes....I had trouble finding the right word for what I wanted to say....

Very grateful for these streamed performances from San Francisco! 

43 minutes ago, pherank said:

Spoiler alert: Snowblind is not good fun.   😉
....

Drew, what did you mean by "witnessed" PDT?

(Kind of puzzled by the first remark....My questions about the ballet were whether it was coming to grips with its material in a formally and emotionally substantive way.)

”Witnessed” was a way to register that the ensemble  —which figures fellow townspeople though also, at times, other forces—is on stage and feels very much present (does not just disappear into the background) during the pas de trois.

Happy Birthday Alexandra--we are always happy to hear from you!

When I read, just now, here on this thread, about the Instagram Kerfuffle, my first thought was that it was scarcely credible that Lane was completely ignorant of the implications of #alllivesmatter -- and my second that it wouldn't surprise me if Copeland isn't exactly in the most easy-going frame of mind these days. However, since Lane was so quick to change her formulation and to post as she has, I guess I do now credit it and...uh...props to her for making the changes. (Though I fear there is a certain way of being "naive" about issues that itself is part of the problem.)  I couldn't find the original exchange with Copeland on Instagram--and perhaps Copeland took it down because she thought it was kinder to do so--but I'm not inclined to give Copeland a hard time on this one in any case.

(By the by, I think it would be a mistake to assume that everyone on this site has a problem the #alllivesmatter hashtag--I assume there is some disagreement here as there is elsewhere in the country.)

For me the pas de trois at the end (admittedly, a "witnessed" pas de trois) made the ballet; I found it not just emotionally, but formally the most interesting section--in part,  because of the way it seemed to draw on and revise movements what we had seen before.  Until then, I found the ballet engaging but wasn't sure it would bear repeat viewing or that I would particularly want to see it in the theater. But that intrigued me...

2 hours ago, Dale said:

That is very beautiful. Now, that, makes me want to see the ballet in the theater (in a couple of years!).

I had the identical reaction. Thank you @canbelto for posting....

I thought the "debut deferred" feature was a good idea--not depressing, but a way to acknowledge and show both what its dancers have accomplished and what they and we are losing this season.  Especially since debuts were a big part of the planned season. (And I'm curious to see rehearsal footage while realizing that dancers don't necessarily want rehearsal footage to be shape people's ideas of their ability in a role.) 

I agree that Megan Fairchild is an excellent interviewer--and interviewing seems to me to be one of those skills that is harder than it looks!

Just watched the video of Soiree Musicale--a ballet I had never seen--thank you @sandik.  I don't understand why every smaller-sized company in the country that can't afford a live orchestra for all of its performances (cough...Atlanta Ballet...cough) doesn't have that in their repertory. (And how much credit does Tudor get for being in on the piano ballet craze decades ahead of time?)

Edited to add: after writing the above I realized that of course the Britten was not necessarily a piano score at all -- that's just how NY Ballet Theater staged it. I still think it works very well with the piano and could be staged that way by other companies that can't afford an orchestra. Don't know how it was done by Rambert...

9 hours ago, nanushka said:

Robert Gottlieb (in George Balanchine: The Ballet Maker, p. 133), for one, strongly suggests that that was all after Balanchine "took roles away from Mejia" in retaliation for Farrell's having married him.

Which is what Farrell has said as well...

This was my first experience of Ballet Arizona--though I have occasionally read about them and their performances--

It was a pleasure!