dirac
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Louisville Ballet announces its 2024-25 season.
QuoteThe 2024-25 season is also the first under the full direction and vision of artistic directors Harald Uwe Kern and Mikelle Bruzina, who took over following the departure of Robert Curran in July 2023.
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The City Ballet of San Diego presents "An American in Paris."
QuoteFrom the intense colors of Spanish flamenco combined with classical music to the versatile imagery of Paris infused with a jazzy orchestra, and the visually striking stage of contemporary music and choreography, the City Ballet of San Diego’s performance featuring three different programs enchanted the eyes and ears of San Diegans.
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Sarasota Ballet presents MacMillan's "Las Hermanas."
Quote“Maybe love is the wrong word because it is so dark,” said Barbieri, the assistant director of The Sarasota Ballet. “But it is an amazing piece and it is an honor to be able to stage it.”
“Las Hermanas” had its premiere in Stuttgart in 1963, and Barbieri was featured as one of the sisters in the Royal Ballet premiere in 1971.
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A preview of Louisville Ballet's new production. TV video clip.
QuoteOfficials said the electrifying performance utilizing Jack Harlow's music, called 502, is a one-of-a-kind integration between ballet and contemporary music.
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A review of the Royal Ballet by Rupert Christiansen in The Spectator.
QuoteMy feelings about the genius of Kenneth MacMillan have always been volatile, but in the course of the Royal Ballet’s current triple bill, they veered even more wildly than usual between uncomplicated delight, awed reverence and embarrassment.
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A review of New York City Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet by Rupert Christiansen for The Spectator.
QuoteOf the three new pieces, by far the most impressive was Pam Tanowitz’s austerely elegant Gustave le Gray No. 1, in which four priestly figures in voluminous scarlet robes seem to take control of the music to the point of comically propelling the piano and pianist across the stage. This may sound banal, but Tanowitz’s choreographic imagination is inexhaustibly inventive and her intentions are subtle. Justin Peck’s Rotunda was a pleasant but unremarkable opener that puts a lively band of dancers in leisurewear through some gymnastic paces. The delicious leggy blonde Miriam Miller was enchanting in her solo, but there was nothing much else to take away from it. I was even less engaged by Kyle Abraham’s trendy Love Letter (on shuffle), with its super-cool score by James Blake and fanciful costumes by Giles Deacon – altogether chic and gimmicky in ways that I feel Balanchine would have deplored.
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Minnesota Ballet presents "Snow White." TV video clip.
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And more:
QuoteInger has worked extensively with Nederlans Dans Theater and Cullberg Ballet, but is little known in this country. He certainly has a very distinctive dance vocabulary. The heightened theatricality of his emphatic expressionist movement, full of jutting angularity, twitchy scurrying, an overt, almost ugly sexuality and a lot of squat positions, brings to mind Mats Ek. It’s notable that the opening night cast is predominantly from English National Ballet’s lower ranks, with first artist Minju Kang as Carmen, and junior soloist Rentaro Nakaaki as Don José.
QuoteHe sets his ballet to Rodion Shchedrin’s arrangement of Bizet’s toe-tapping melodies but to that he adds effective new music from Marc Álvarez, which is introspective and more disturbing, taking us inside Don José’s troubled mind. The transition between live and recorded music is seamless (Manuel Coves conducting the ENB Philharmonic). The design is symbolic: nine big boxes move around the stage to suggest different settings.
QuoteENB’s production is the UK premiere of Inger’s ballet, created for Madrid’s Compañía Nacional de Danza in 2015. It’s a sign of how ENB is positioning itself under new director Aaron S Watkin: a balance of classical ballet, with a bigger dash of European contemporary dance. The company dive into Inger’s style with assurance.
QuoteRecasting the whole thing as a fable of ditched-boyfriend jealousy is a bold and well-intentioned move, added to which Inger does quickly establish a recurring physical vocabulary of sorts: tense, angular, fingers and wrists straight, elbows at 90 degrees, and so on. But it all feels decidedly mannered, and although we are left in no doubt that Domestic Violence Is Bad, both steps and scenario fall way short in terms of offering any insights into either its nature, causes or consequences. Meanwhile, none of this is helped by the corps’ black-clad “Shadows” that haunt both the guilty Don José and, frankly, the entire show, at one point in Act II simply rolling comically across the stage like human logs or something out of It’s a Knockout.
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Researchers in Fort Worth study the health of female ballet dancers.
Quote"Specifically bone health," UNT Health Science Center Performing Arts Medicine Fellowship Director Dr. Yein Lee said. "From a sports medicine perspective or other medical perspective, we see it a lot in the clinic."
"As I was doing this fellowship, I saw a lot of dancers with stress injuries and stress fractures," Performing Arts Medicine Fellow Dr. Stephen Fung, DO said. "My question was, why?"
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More reviews of ENB.
QuoteEnglish National Ballet present Johan Inger's 2015 production with music by Bizet, Shchedrin and Marc Alvarez, and we're promised "fiery drama" and "new resonance." I'd propose it offers a lot more than that, and most keenly - a vehicle that shows where ENB currently is: at the top of the game.
QuoteThe action may take place in Seville, a city of sunlight, sensual warmth and the scent of orange blossom, but the set of Inger’s Carmen would better suit a 1950s Soviet gulag, all forbidding metallic grey, the only props a collection of rectangular blocks that look like huge filing cabinets.
QuoteThe ENB Philharmonic strikes up on the cue of a young girl bouncing a basketball. This curious metaphorical character serves as a motif that gains significance as the narrative unfolds. As the curtain rises, the stage reveals a stark environment dominated by brutalist and mechanical elements, setting the scene outside the tobacco factory.
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A review of Los Angeles Ballet by Tom Teicholz for Forbes.
QuoteLast weekend, LAB launched their 2024 season, the first full season programmed by Barak, and in keeping with her earlier vision, the program had plenty of new work to be excited about.
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A review of the National Ballet of Canada in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Denise Sum for danceviewtimes.com.
QuoteDuring this run, all four dancers cast as Alice were making their debuts. The opening night show went to a very deserving Tirion Law. She is a second soloist but has some experience with principal roles (Juliet and the Sugar Plum Fairy) under her belt. This youthful, petite soubrette is a natural choice for Alice who in this production is an adolescent rather than a child (a smart artistic decision as it allows for a love story that gives the work a romantic arc). Despite a phenomenal and eclectic cast of supporting characters, Law holds her own as Alice and does not let anyone steal the show. She brought a nuanced characterization to the title role. Far from a passive observer, her Alice has agency and a sense of her own values. She is a smart and courageous teen on the brink of womanhood. In this libretto, she is on a quest to find and save her love interest – the Knave of Hearts – which helps give the ballet direction and flow. Like Odysseus, she is on a hero’s journey. Law depicts Alice as kind and generous, but also someone that is not afraid to speak up and stand her ground, even when scared or confused. The role must be exhausting as she is almost continuously on stage with very few breaks, but if she was tired it did not show. She executed Wheeldon’s choreography with precision and texture, all the while taking the audience on an epic emotional journey.
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A review of the Vienna State Ballet by Ilona Landgraf for "Landgraf on Dance."
QuoteShouts of “Bravi!” mingled with enthusiastic applause after the curtain closed on John Neumeier’s The Lady of the Camellias last Sunday at the Vienna State Opera. I, who was following the performance on screen, was less happy. Being familiar with this piece as it was performed by other companies, I felt that this premiere left a lot to be desired.
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Reviews of the English National Ballet in "Carmen."
QuoteInger’s retelling of the story is based on Prosper Mérimée’s novella rather than the plot of the famous Bizet opera and, as the drama unfolds, it reflects on Don José’s (Rentaro Nakaaki) psychological state rather than simply focusing on Carmen’s (Minju Kang) numerous sexual conquests. Its setting and timescale are not specific, and thus the complexities playing out could be taking place in today's society. The theme which emerges is topical: men’s violence towards women. Inger states that he wanted to address the domestic violence that is evidenced in the book. The results are disturbing.
QuoteInger doesn’t give access to Carmen’s insouciant decision-making – though Minju Kang, leading the first-night cast in her ruffled scarlet frock, gives her a sly grin and wonderfully sleek gleam. Rentaro Nakaaki’s José starts poker-faced and proper, but the soldier is soon juddering on his tippy toes, palpitating with desire until he can barely stand. Kang’s Carmen rules the group dances with a flick of the ankle, a push of the hips. José watches from the back, ignored. He and Carmen have almost nothing in common – until they dance together in twisty, expressionist movement that no one else shares.
QuoteInger likes a choreographic device, whether that’s the chorus-like figure of Francesca Velicu who stands outside the action, reflecting its hope and woe, or the ominous gang of black-clad and masked figures who sometimes manipulate the players. Among the various lovers Carmen (Minju Kang) takes, Erik Woolhouse’s Torero, soloing in front of a bank of mirrors in a sequinned bolero, might be her true match in the narcissist stakes. Woolhouse is good, hamming it up and throwing his body into the deep curves of the choreography.
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Atlanta Ballet presents a mixed bill.
QuoteSergio Masero, a dancer with Atlanta Ballet, presented the opener, Querencia, (Spanish for desire). It is his third work for the company. The piece was a heaping dose of lovely. A lovely painting mottled with gold, royal blue and maroon loomed as a backdrop to similarly dressed dancers in lovely romantic costumes. Were the dancers melting away from the painting or being folded into it? Music by Anton Arensky, elegantly played by Western-Li Summerton, Lisa Morrison and Charae Krueger, provided the sonic foreground that would sporadically make its presence known.
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An interview with Adam McKinney of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.
QuoteAlthough new to leading a medium-sized, union-affiliated professional ballet company, he has amassed a wealth of experiences through interacting with governmental and non-governmental agencies, by directing an arts organization and from working with his former artistic directors and role models – among them Judith Jamison, Alonzo King and Maurice Béjart.
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A preview of a new ballet based on the history of the Iranian National Ballet.
Quote“The White Feather” is the brainchild of the ballerina and choreographer Tara Ghassemieh, who has never been to Iran. Her father, born and raised in the north of Iran, left just before the revolution to attend college in Los Angeles. There he married an American woman, and the couple had three children, Tara Ghassemieh among them.
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A review of New York City Ballet by Leigh Witchel for dancelog.nyc.
QuoteGordon was all about swagger, but in Solitude that was transformed into a demonstration of grief. Danchig-Waring was working hard, and all the steps were happening, but with little projection. It took him falling to the ground and thrashing to see some anguish. There was more as he went on and was carried along by ballet’s build, but he got to where he should have started by the end. Solitude needed Gordon, Danchig-Waring needs Solitude.
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A review of Tulsa Ballet in "Romeo and Juliet" by James D. Watts Jr. for Tulsa World.
QuoteThis is the third time Tulsa Ballet has staged Liang’s work, and it remains one of the most effective contemporary narrative ballets we’ve ever seen. The story is streamlined without sacrificing any of its emotional richness, the physical production is properly sumptuous, the sword-fighting scenes are vigorous and exciting, and the choreography is both physically demanding and richly evocative.
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Annabelle Lopez Ochoa returns to the Bay Area to work with San Francisco Ballet and Smuin Ballet.
QuoteLopez Ochoa is now beginning that creative process again as she develops her vision of Elvis Presley for Smuin. “When I reset Requiem for a Rose seven years ago, it was the first time I saw Smuin. My piece was in a program with a work by [the company’s founder, Michael] Smuin, to [popular] songs. I thought, ‘Oh, that’s what Smuin does.’ I was thinking out loud, while I was on the staircase going down, that I would use Elvis, and Celia [Fushille, the company’s artistic director,] remembered that.
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Sarasota Ballet presents an all-Balanchine program.
QuoteDuring a recent interview at Sarasota Ballet’s offices in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, Webb said that hiring [Sandra] Jennings was worth the cost because the authenticity of Balanchine’s work is preserved.
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Joseph Gordon dances a solo from "Solitude."
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Thank you both for posting. I hadn't heard.
Byron Janis also died last week, aged 95.
QuoteAt the height of his career, in the 1950s and 1960s, he was known for the tremendous sound and colorful sonorities he drew from the piano, and for a freewheeling interpretive approach that sometimes led him to bypass composers’ expressive markings when they were at odds with his conception.
Obituary for Pollini in The Guardian.
QuoteIt was also in the 60s that music and politics first became intertwined in Pollini’s career. A friendship with a fellow-student, Claudio Abbado, a like-minded leftwing idealist, led them to seek radical ways of bringing classical music to factory workers, including a cycle of concerts at La Scala for employees and students. Another friendship, with the Marxist avant garde composer Luigi Nono, was equally important, resulting in the commission of two pieces for Pollini, including one for piano, voice and tapes, commemorating an assassinated Chilean revolutionary. Pollini’s radical outlook remained with him throughout his career, as did his intellectual approach to art and life.
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Dancers of the National Ballet of Cuba visit Italy for a gala.
QuoteViengsay Valdés and Anyelo Montero will perform selections from Carmen, by Alberto Alonso, as well as a pas de deux from Love Fear Loss, choreographed by Brazilian Ricardo Amarante, a ballet inspired by the life of French singer Edith Pieaff, in whose performance they will be accompanied on stage by renowned Cuban pianist Marcos Madrigal.
Friday, April 5
in Links
Posted
A review of San Francisco Ballet by Rachel Howard in The San Francisco Chronicle.