dirac
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The Fiji Times looks back at the Royal New Zealand Ballet's visit in 1980, a first for both countries.
QuoteAccording to The Fiji Times of Monday March 10, 1980, the New Zealand Ballet Company was to stage three performances in Suva the following August as part of its first overseas tour.
The company was flown to Suva under an arrangement the company had made with Air Pacific.
Performers included an internationally acclaimed Russian ballerina, Galina Samsova, who went on to become the artistic director for Scottish Ballet, and premier dancer Malcolm Burn.
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Ballet Victoria presents "Dracula."
QuoteThis evening will also open with a Gothic soirée, where guests are encouraged to dress in their own unique interpretation of Gothic style. Contortionists and music featuring The Valley Babes will fill the lobby before the show, where people can enjoy specialty drinks in this evening of fiendish romance.
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A review of NYCB by Marianka Swain in The Daily Telegraph.
QuoteOn this flying visit, a quartet of pieces – one Balanchine classic, plus contributions by Justin Peck, Pam Tanowitz and Kyle Abraham – categorically displays the pace, pizzazz and vigorous athleticism for which New York’s finest are renowned. At times, it feels almost as though they’re gearing up for the Summer Olympics instead; surely Team USA could use their explosive virtuosity. However, that firepower isn’t always deployed to their best advantage.
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A review of Northern Ballet by Lyndsey Winship in The Observer.
QuoteNorthern Ballet’s production has come back to life itself, after Lez Brotherston’s sets and costumes were destroyed by floods. It was devised in 1991 by Christopher Gable with Italian choreographer Massimo Moricone, who provides lyrical, lilting pas de deux for the lovers and hard-edged formations for the Capulets. Juliet’s clan are very much painted as the baddies in this production, with cold hearts and studded black leather. The famous Dance of the Knights at the ball is less welcoming party, more a warning.
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Smuin Ballet holds its annual gala.
QuoteThis year’s gala honored [Celia] Fushille for her incredible milestone of 30 years with the company. A founding member of Smuin and its principal dancer for more than 12 years, Fushille has served as Artistic Director of Smuin Contemporary Ballet since 2007. After completing three decades with Smuin, Fushille will step away as Artistic Director at the conclusion of this season....
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City Ballet of San Diego presents a new program.
QuoteFor City Ballet’s resident choreographers Geoff Gonzalez and Elizabeth Wistrich, the journey to develop new ideas for “An American in Paris” involved leaving the country.
The resulting production that opens Saturday at the Balboa Theatre includes three works: Gonzalez’s title piece, “An American in Paris”; “Boléro — The Awakening,” choreographed by Wistrich; and “Morphoses,” the company’s first ballet by internationally renowned contemporary choreographer Christopher Wheeldon.
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Orlando Ballet seeks a new executive director.
QuoteAs its 50th-anniversary season draws to a close and hot on the heels of its successful debut of a $3.6 million “Nutcracker,” Orlando Ballet is looking for a new executive director.
A statement provided to the Orlando Sentinel this week announced the company would not renew its contract with Cheryl Collins, who has led the organization as executive director since 2020.
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Portland Ballet presents "New Works."
QuotePortland Ballet currently has a roster of 19 dancers, ranging from professional to apprentices to trainees. “New Works” is also an an opportunity for audiences to see pieces they’ve never seen before.
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A review of the National Ballet of Canada by Michael Crabb in The Toronto Star.
QuoteOn Wednesday night, for the fourth time on its home stage since the production’s triumphant 2011 Toronto premiere, Canada’s major-league dance troupe revived its multimillion-dollar, gobsmackingly spectacular, action-packed production of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by British-born A-list choreographer Christopher Wheeldon; a 15-performance run perfectly timed for March break.
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BalletMet announces its 2024-25 season.
QuoteBalletMet Artistic Director Edwaard Liang will soon be leaving the company he has led for 11 years for a new position at the Washington Ballet in the nation’s capital.
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Members of the Kharkiv National Opera and Ballet prepare to reopen underground:
QuoteNow the pair are rehearsing to perform for Kharkiv residents again, safely beneath the city streets.
But it's not just the surroundings and acoustics that are different.
More than half of the company are still in Slovakia; one man was killed fighting on the frontline and several more have been mobilised; others are scattered as refugees.
For those who have stayed in Kharkiv, everything is being adjusted to their reduced new reality.
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A nice article with Graham Fletcher, who as Miss Piggy danced with Rudolf Nureyev on The Muppet Show by Alexander Simpkins for Bachtrack.
QuoteThe editing of Swine Lake is seamless, but part of its comic value lies in moments when the costume is obviously inhabited and then mercifully not – such as when Nureyev swings the ballerina pig around himself and sends her flying. Fletcher remembers being instructed by Henson to lie face down on the floor and make his whole body jump to affect the impact of landing so the edit could be realised effectively. During the curtain calls, the pig curtseyed a little deeper each time, snout a touch closer and the more the crew laughed the more outrageous Flecky became, running into the wings and back, flinging himself at Nureyev, until even Rudi was laughing hysterically as ‘Miss Piggy’ embraced her Prince’s muscular legs, feigning exaggerated, super-fan adulation: “Oh Rudi! Oh Mr. Nureyev!” – not included in the final cut of the family show.
In addition to "Swine Lake," (the link is included in the article), Nureyev and Miss Piggy sang "Baby, It's Cold Outside" in a sauna bath.
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A review of New York City Ballet by Leigh Witchel for dancelog.nyc.
QuoteShe also has a gift for knowing when to play for the laugh and when to act as if what she was doing were the most normal thing in the world. Nadon played the hat shop sketch with perfect timing and physicality, slumping over dejected when someone else wore her hat. She was funny enough that even her accidents were funny; when she surreptitiously dropped the fake hand into the piano, she somehow managed to have the thing hit the piano strings with the loudest sproing.
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An appraisal of New York City Ballet's winter season by Gia Kourlas in The New York Times.
QuoteFor a company to unveil a decent new ballet is a strange and marvelous occurrence. To unveil two in one season? This is fantasy territory. Quality choreography that celebrates classicism, that highlights musicality — that even pushes the form into new realms — isn’t the norm. But at New York City Ballet this season, two premieres were worthy of many more viewings — and in the case of Alexei Ratmansky’s harrowing “Solitude,” set to Mahler, endless ones.
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Evelyn Hart coaches the dancers of Mission Ballet Centre.
Quote“At this point in my dance life the biggest reward I get is by giving back,” said Hart. “That’s actually how dance gets handed down, it’s from person to person.”
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A preview of The Seattle Project's new program.
QuoteIn 2022, dancer Amanda Morgan became the first Black female soloist in Pacific Northwest Ballet history. Despite that title, Morgan is all about collaboration — so much so that in 2019, she launched The Seattle Project, a network of interdisciplinary creatives drawn together to create new dance works, providing a platform for LGBTQ+ artists and artists of color.
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A review of New York City Ballet in London by Alastair Macaulay for Slipped Disc.
QuoteOne large point does emerges from this programme: these twentyfirst-century New York choreographers, like their London counterparts, are far more tentative about using pointwork than were Balanchine or even Robbins (or Frederick Ashton or Kenneth MacMillan). The pointwork of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries – nowhere more pronounced than in the second movement Balanchine’s irresistible “Symphony in C” – was boldly sexist, creating an abyss-like dualism between the genders from which many ballet choreographers today steer uneasily away. Sure, women in these three twenty-first century ballets sometimes go on point. But their pointwork becomes just another of those ballet devices. It’s no big deal – whereas pointwork in Balanchine (as in the ballets of Petipa) is still intense, high-exposure, edge-of-the-cliff, disconcerting.
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Reviews of New York City Ballet's London program.
QuoteChoreographers love the music of British producer James Blake. William Forsythe made a series of works to Blake’s tracks, and now Kyle Abraham has made Love Letter (on shuffle). Like Forsythe, Abraham counters the angsty electronica by leaning in to the precision of classical form and academic steps – brisé, sissonne, pas de chat, three girls linking arms like Swan Lake’s cygnets. But then he’ll break the line, send a ripple all the way through the torso, add jolting isolations, fold in a hip-hop stance, in a way that thoroughly makes sense. Principal dancer Taylor Stanley is a natural conduit for Abraham’s style in arresting solos and a cool but charged pas de deux with Jules Mabie. This is what ballet looks like now.
QuoteBack in London for the first time since 2008, New York City Ballet is in joyful form, forward-thinking and sizzling with energy. This programme is dominated by new works and fresh approaches. Speed, athleticism, and musicality are still company hallmarks, but they’re taking them into new territory.
QuoteFor its first visit to London in 16 years New York City Ballet has brought a mixed programme that instead of looking back to its illustrious past — the extraordinary legacy ballets of its founder George Balanchine — looks forward, towards the future of American choreography. What you expect your New York City Ballet to be, then or now, will determine how you feel about the show.
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Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied are phfft.
QuotePreviously, Page Six exclusively reported that the pair, who married in 2012, separated in 2022.
We were told it was an open secret on the set of “May December,” which shot in November over the course of 23 days, that she and Millepied were having problems.
QuoteAfter 11 years of marriage, Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied have officially ended their union with a private divorce in France. The news comes after months of speculation and separation rumors that surfaced in the wake of alleged infidelity.
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Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied call it a day after 11 years of marriage.
QuoteThe actress, 42, filed last July and the divorce was finalized last month in France, where Portman and Millepied, 46, live with their children, son Aleph, 12, and daughter Amalia, 7.
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An interview with David McAllister in Tatler.
QuoteWhat are some of the most commonly asked questions about ballet that you’ve answered in your book?
Usually after performances, and probably after a few drinks, people get bold and ask you some of those more personal questions. One of the things that people always ask about are jockstraps—the garments that male dancers wear under tights. There’s a myth that ballet boys wear jockstraps to make them look endowed, [which is not the case]. -
A review of New York City Ballet and the Royal Ballet by Louise Levene in The Financial Times.
QuoteThe latest revival of Liam Scarlett’s 2018 Swan Lake opened on Wednesday. The production has its weaknesses, but John Macfarlane’s sumptuous costumes and easel-worthy sets are a joy in themselves and Royal Ballet director Kevin O’Hare has made sure of a five-star review with a smartly drilled corps of swans and a thoroughbred opening cast.
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Ballet Arkansas celebrates its forty-fifth season.
QuoteTo honor this momentous occasion, Ballet Arkansas leaders Micheal and Catherine Fothergill said they have a breathtaking lineup throughout the year, including a Pointe Gala, a Mother’s Day production entitled Bravo and the classic production The Nutcracker.
96th Academy Awards
in Other Performing & Fine Arts: Performances, Exhibits, Films, and Events
Posted
It was, and I did not much care for the movie. Gosling looks great in pink glitter. I actually preferred that to his red carpet outfit.
I think Stone was surprised too, although by the time of the ceremony she was a front runner along with Gladstone. Stone was deserving, but Gladstone was too, and Stone won for La La Land not too long ago. Also I suspect that this was Gladstone's only shot at the top prize while Stone will have many such opportunities in future. The Best Actress category was unusually competitive this year.