dirac
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A review of San Francisco Ballet by Katie Sweeney for The Bold Italic.
QuoteGender fluidity isn’t traditionally associated with ballet, where the women wear point shoes and play princesses while the men lift the women and portray kings. However, with Dos Mujeres, SF Ballet is moving beyond stereotypical gender roles. Upon returning home to her family’s restaurant in Cuba after her mother’s death, Carmen, danced by principal Sasha de Sola, falls in love with a female chef. But she brought her husband with her. A love triangle emerges between Carmen, the knife-wielding chef, Escamillo, played by Jennifer Stahl, a powerful female figure, and Joseph Walsh, the husband, whose movements mimic toxic masculinity.
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Reviews of the Royal Ballet's "International Draft Works."
QuoteAltogether 10 choreographers from the UK, continental Europe and South Korea showed their work in this year’s edition of International Draft Works hosted by The Royal Ballet in the ROH Linbury Theatre; and they brought us variety, sincerity, uniformly beautiful dancing and some originality.
QuoteWith ten works on offer the programme is a mixed bag, but there are a few jewels. Disappointingly, for the future of classical dance, only half of them were created for the pointe shoe. What is this craze for asking ballerinas to dance in socks?
QuoteThis year’s offering opened with Burrow, an extended duet for Matthew Ball and Nicol Edmonds by visiting Canadian choreographer Joshua Beamish. In this slice of erotic peacocking, Beamish finds a nice counterpoint between Ball’s luminescent allure and Edmonds’s darker strength, even if Shostakovich’s music strikes an odd note. Valantino Zucchetti’s Elégie du souvenir, to Rachmaninov, is a sentimental duet for Fumi Kaneko and Tristan Dyer, replete with showy lifts and long, lingering glances. Capably constructed, but pastiche.
QuoteTwo people in love never shake hands by Nicola Wills of Opera Ballet Flanders is what one's come to expect from mainland Europe’s general take on ballet’s future: contemporary dance in socks. The partner work is intricate and well executed but the content doesn't feel new or emotionally substantial.
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Curry performing Tharp's Three Fanfares at the 1980 Olympic exhibition skate, followed by Hamill skating to...Chuck Mangione.
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A preview of Beth Gill's "Nail Biter" by Gia Kourlas in The New York Times.
QuoteYou see that care in all of Gill’s productions, including “Nail Biter,” which incorporates a drop from a scene — its tag read, “The Witch’s Palace” — in a [Rose-Marie] Menes ballet. Even before Menes died, Gill had been thinking about her training: How do her ballet roots connect with her path in experimental dance? She’s interested in a new kind of traditionalism that could draw on both. That idea is evoked in “Nail Biter” in a solo for Cloud.
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BalletNext performs this weekend.
QuoteThe production, part of the Park City Institute’s Main Stage Season, will include a new work, “The Devil Wears Pointe Shoes,” which Park City’s history inspired, said Michele Wiles, BalletNext’s founder and artistic director.
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A review of Oregon Ballet Theatre by Amy Leona Havin for Oregon ArtsWatch.
QuoteRowe’s Wooden Dimes was a fun romp from start to finish. The first duet, performed by Carly Wheaton as Betty and Brian Simcoe as Robert, was full of young love and cheekiness; the narrative aided perfectly by assisted turns and light partnering. As the work progressed, saut de chats, bourres, unison, and jazz walks en pointe during the crowd-pleasing chorus girl scene added a lightness to the theatrical choreography until the midpoint of the work, where an unfortunate encounter left Simcoe’s character heartbroken. He then enters into a trio with the ‘Dark Angels’, an interwoven partnering piece danced with precision by Hannah Davis and Nicholas Sakai.
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Montgomery Ballet moves into temporary new digs because of safety concerns.
QuoteIt’s not the first safety concern for Watson properties in that area. In 2020 a roof collapsed at a vacant property owned by Watson on Fairview Avenue, not far from the ballet company’s former home. At the time, Watson said he had plans to transform Old Cloverdale into a Montgomery theater district. Having Montgomery Ballet there would become a part of that unfulfilled plan, which included an expansion with theater facilities the ballet company could use.
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A student ballet company presents "Giselle" in Monterey County.
Quote“Working with students and adults seeking to become the best they can be through dance and the arts is my life’s work,” said [Janette] Harkness, who directed and choreographed “Giselle.” “Taking on challenges and going beyond mediocrity is important. The student company of Monterey County Dance Theatre is an example of just that. The dance classes are but one aspect of their education. The other is the enrichment it provides for not only them but for our communities.”
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A review of Scottish Ballet by Kathy Elgin for Bachtrack.
QuoteDawson’s stripped-down production threw the impetus immediately on his choreography, whilst keeping the bones of the story clearly in sight. Siegfried (Bruno Micchiardi on this opening night in Glasgow) was a bit of a loner and, in the opening scene, clearly not enjoying the party being thrown by his best mate, Benno. Like Hamlet, he had of late lost all his mirth and not even Benno, despite his best efforts, could draw him into the fun. Which meant that for much of Act 1 Siegfried hovered about on the edge of the party, drawn into a half-hearted duet now and then with one of the girls, while the other guests – girls in bright frocks, T-shirts for the boys – caroused joyfully in solos and duets.
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The International Ballet Company is hosting a gala in Majorca.
QuoteThe company has stepped in (or rather danced in) to fill the gap left by Moscow Ballet and is becoming something of a regular feature in Mallorca. And it is extending this presence by putting on a special Gala of Soloists. Rather than whole ballets, there are specific scenes, with eight soloists performing a range from Swan Lake and Don Quixote to Nutcracker and Esmeralda.
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James Yoichi Moore is retiring from Pacific Northwest Ballet.
QuoteReflecting on favorite roles, Moore singled out many, but noted that “Mopey” was the work that established him with PNB audiences. “I noticed people knew my name after that,” he said. “That ballet taught me a lot. It was my first taste of freedom on stage … almost like an out-of-body experience, you’re not controlling yourself.” He spoke affectionately of his “heroes” in the company, among them Jonathan Porretta, Seth Orza, Lesley Rausch, Carla Körbes, Lucien Postlewaite and Noelani Pantastico (with whom he co-founded Seattle Dance Collective in 2019).
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A review of Ballett am Rhein by Vikki Jane Vile for Bachtrack.
QuoteThis is a programme that warms up as it goes along, which is unfortunate as some audiences left before Demis Volpi’s Non-Fiction Études. It explores the life of troubled American writer Truman Capote, who besides being best known as the author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, published a real-life crime book in 1959 about a quadruple murder in Kansas. All the dancers inherit the role of Capote at some stage, capturing a multi-faceted personality. However it is Daniele Bonelli who stands out, his body switching from calmly undulating to stilted skittishness. The opening moment where he moves in silence is captivating, Bregje van Balen’s red mesh costumes allowing us to see the quiver of every muscle and to feel every breath.
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Anthony Madu writes about his dance journey.
QuoteFrom there, I joined a ballet school and really enjoyed it, and decided to carry on going.
Before the video of me dancing ballet in Nigeria went viral on social media back in June 2020, life was pretty normal, but focused on dancing. I'd go to school and then in the evenings and weekends I'd go to my dance lessons.
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Q&A with Tamara Rojo about her favorite places in the Bay Area.
QuoteWhat's your favorite thing about living in the Marina?
I love that it's flat and that it has lots of parks around—great parks like the Presidio and the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge, which allows you to just go to Sausalito and beautiful places really quickly. But also, it has lots of shops, cafes and little stores. It has a real personality.
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The Australian Ballet rehearses "Carmen."
QuoteBack near the stage, the hubbub of the orchestra and dancers has fallen silent. Instead, the dancers have made a loose semicircle around the two principals and the choreographer, Johan Inger. The conductor looks intently at the stage and all the musicians, in turn, at him.
“Johan is bringing – I think – a grittiness, a raciness. Sensuality, sexuality,” Hallberg says. “What’s so amazing with this company is that we closed last year at the Sydney Opera House with Swan Lake, and this year, we opened it with Carmen....."
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Milwaukee Ballet presents "Cinderella."
QuotePink’s ballets always grow as he revisits and revises. This production had the additional advantage of having Luz San Miguel and Denis Malinkine as rehearsal directors. San Miguel was an original Cinderella and Malinkine rehearsed all three productions with the dancers. They know it inside out.
The Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra conducted by the great Andrews Sill made Sergei Prokofiev’s complicated score seem as natural as breathing. The blend of music, choreography, and dancing was extraordinarily seamless.
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A preview of Sarasota Ballet's new season.
QuoteDirector Iain Webb said that after a slow start to the current season, ticket sales started picking up by December and are nearing what they were prior to the COVID pandemic, which has had a lingering impact on attendance at performing arts organizations across the country.
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An interview with Nikisha Fogo.
Quote“We were also really connected to the opera house,” Fogo said of the Royal Ballet School in London. “So it was really easy to see my idols like Marianela Núñez, and Tamara (Rojo) was there. And I could watch them before and we could take a class with them … London was just such a hub of incredible dancers.”
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London City Ballet announces its new season.
QuoteThe dancers in the new company are: Alejandro Virelles (Freelance, formerly Staatsballet Berlin, ENB), Álvaro Madrigal Arenilla (Compañía Nacional de Danza), Isadora Bless (Orlando Ballet), Joseph Taylor (Northern Ballet), Miranda Silveira (Freelance, formerly San Francisco Ballet) and Ayça Anıl (Istanbul State Opera and Ballet).
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Four Royal Ballet ladies talk to Tatler about their wedding plans.
QuoteLike a performance there will be changes of outfits. First artist Sophie Allnatt who is due to marry this July in Cheltenham says her dress is ‘brave’ as the not having the ‘wow’ factor wasn’t an option. Being pinned into their costumes is another daily occurrence so having something ‘as tight as possible’ is also essential. Hinkis adds her dress ‘isn’t subtle’.
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An interview with Guillaume Côté.
QuoteAs far as his expiration date goes, Côté says all professional dancers know that their careers are limited by the physical requirements of the job, just like any other professional athlete. "You know there's going to be a better dancer coming up and also dancers get better with each generation," he says.
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A review of Nederlands Dans Theater by Gia Kourlas in The New York Times.
QuoteStill, gimmicky Forsythe is better than nothing. The other works on the program were created by duos — which really goes to show that two choreographers aren’t better than one. In “The Point Being,” the Dutch choreographic pair of Imre and Marne van Opstal — they are siblings and former members of the Nederlands company — collaborated with Lonneke Gordijn and DRIFT, an Amsterdam studio, to create a light installation that interacted with dancing bodies.
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More reviews:
Elizabeth Zimmer in The Village Voice:
Quote...Errand into the Maze is cultural history entwined with critical biography, accounting for New York’s social, creative, and political climate in the interwar era. Jowitt’s method includes close reading, textual analysis, all the stratagems of literary criticism of the period: translation, observation, and thick description, work for which journalistic critics rarely have space or time. She explicates music with as much clarity and confidence as she does movement.
Carl Rollyson reviews Jowitt's book and Neil Baldwin's biography in The New York Sun.
QuoteIt is very difficult to surpass Agnes de Mille as a witness who writes so splendidly. So Neil Baldwin takes a different tack, beginning his biography with Martha Graham having an epiphany: “Bodies never lie,” she told de Mille. I immediately thought of another Graham biography, “Martha Graham: A Dancer’s Life,” by the late Russell Freedman; it’s supposedly for 10- to 12-year-olds, but is really the work of a master biographer to be read by those of all ages.
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A review of Alonzo King's Lines Ballet by Rachel Howard in The San Francisco Chronicle.
Quote[Adji] Cissoko joined Lines Ballet from the National Ballet of Canada in 2014. She is many things—tall, tautly muscled, gifted at the unfurling movement quality King’s ballets depend on—but in “The Collective Agreement” she is also a kind of angel, seeming to beseech for cooperation among the other stage players, her hands shooting up and out in a prayer as partner Shuaib Elhassan spins her.
Thursday, April 11
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Tupelo Ballet presents "Cinderella."