Paquita

It appears Canada's loss is Australia's gain -- it was just announced that former NBoC principal Jiri Jelinek is joining the West Australian Ballet: http://www.danceaustralia.com.au/news/new-appointments-at-wab

He will be missed!

He also has a new website: http://www.jiri-jelinek.com

This is great news! I would love to see them both. Too bad Bridgett Zehr isn't coming too.

That's great news! Looks like I'll be making another road trip to Ottawa next year:)

Thanks for the heads up!

I am going to be in London this October and definitely would love to see this exhibit!

Just saw the preview screening tonight (it opens in Toronto tomorrow). Definitely an inspiring story with some great moments of dancing. I especially enjoyed the scenes when Li is training in Beijing. But I agree with Helene that the whole thing felt more like a TV-biopic than great cinema. Some of the lines were just so cliche, like Liz's "What about MY feelings?" or Li's "Here, I just feel so FREE!" (or something along those lines). As for the Houston Ballet scenes, I wasn't familiar with Murphy's "Swan Lake", so I found those segments rather surprising/odd. They also showed "Rite of Spring" (the Tetley version, I presume?). The filming is a bit frustrating - the jumps are shown in slow-motion and the turns are shown in fast-forward, making it hard to fully appreciate Chi's musicality and technique. Amanda Schull actually doesn't get a lot of dancing time. She really only dances in one scene, when she is practicing in the studio and meets Li for the first time. Overall, I quite enjoyed the film and would recommend it to other ballet fans, but I'm not sure if I would recommend it to those who don't have a particular interest in ballet.

Oh and I think the funniest line in the whole movie was: "my aunt used to have a cat named chairman me-ow"

Good news, the Stars of the 21st Century gala is returning to Toronto Oct. 14, 2010 at the Sony Centre!

Stars of the 21st Century

She appears to like them tall, dark and anodyne. (though I haven't seen Kish dance, so can't include him in that.)

He fits the description, except for "dark".

I saw "The Young Victoria" over the holidays and enjoyed it. I thought the lead actors had good chemistry and the sets and costumes were lovely. But I agree that there isn't much in the way of dramatic tension and I still found the characterizations a bit superficial.

It's a real departure from "C.R.A.Z.Y.", probably Vallee's best-known film (which I would highly recommend).

Not sure if he has been mentioned, but Seto Himedi has taken some outstanding photos over the years for Japan's "DANCE magazine".

I have never traveled with them before, but their offerings look very tempting!

Here is a link with information for an upcoming Washington, DC tour in Feb. 2010 and other possible tours.

Here is a link to the announcement (now posted on the NBoC blog) with a photo of the cover shot.

The NBoC just posted a note on their facebook page that Karen Kain is going to be on the cover of September's issue of Chatelaine (it's a Canadian women's magazine, I'm not sure if it's available in the US?). She was on the cover of the same magazine in 1973 after she appearing in "Sleeping Beauty" with Nureyev for the first time, which the company will perform again this fall.

Oh that is disappointing for us Canadians:(

I've only seen him in Cranko -- R & J and Taming of the Shrew -- and in those, he was excellent. Very confident technically, and a strong partner with natural acting abilities. I was looking forward to seeing more of him. Hopefully even though he is staying with Stuttgart he will still be able to come do some guesting at NBoC.

it's no difficult to get used to good things and so I could enjoy the rest of her very brilliant performance.

I agree with you there!

Thank you for sharing your impressions here, sunday! It sounds like it was a wonderful first Bayadere. It must have been so special to meet the dancers afterward. Hope you'll continue to report on Corella's performances!

I've seen Nico on TV and he is certainly talented but not a ballet-type at all in his dancing.

I did see a short clip on the news and it shows him dancing with NBoC's Greta Hodgkinson.

Not really sure what to make of it...

I'm interested in ordering tickets to see the Julio Bocca ballet gala on Sept. 12 at Madrid's Teatro Real, however I'm finding the website a little confusing. The performance doesn't seem to be coming up among the options for buying tickets. Does this mean it's sold out? Would it be easier to order via phone? If anyone else has ordered tickets at Teatro Real from abroad and could let me know what works best it would be much appreciated! Thank you!

I saw this documentary over the weekend and quite enjoyed it. The film follows dancers through the auditions for the revival of "A Chorus Line". I haven't seen "A Chorus Line" before, but nonetheless found the interviews engaging and the film certainly made me want to see it! Jacques d'Amboise makes a brief appearance, as his daughter Charlotte auditioned for the role of Cassie. I'd recommend checking it out if it's playing in your area!

Did anybody attend these performances? I saw Goh's final Giselle on Sunday. She gave a really memorable performance - such soft jumps and lovely port de bras.

She has always been sublime in Act II but this time I was really struck by her acting and attention to details in Act I. Her mad scene, especially, was quite chilling. The curtain calls on Sunday were long and emotional... There were a few people who brought flowers but 2 bouquets did not make it over the orchestra pit and instead, fell in! After the bows, several of her partners (Rex Harrington, Aleksandar Antonijevic...) and other principal dancers (Greta Hodgkinson, Sonia Rodriguez) presented her with flowers, followed by Karen Kain. At the end, her parents came on stage and then her husband, Che Chun, and her 3 year old son Aveary joined them. A cascade of red balloons showered the stage and Chan took a bow with her son, who started playing with the balloons! She will be missed.

I've watched her over the past 12 years and will remember her in many roles -- Mozartiana, Les Sylphides, Tatiana, Juliet, Aurora, Diamonds, Terpsichore, Desir, Madame Butterfly... I also had the chance to meet her on a number of occasions. As a young student, I would get her autograph during intermissions and I also took a master class from her. I can say she is as gracious off-stage as she is on-stage. I wish her all the best in her future endeavours, with her pointe shoe company, teaching at the Goh Academy, and beyond.

Thanks for posting that, Marga. The press release is also up now on the NBoC website. She will be truly missed. Not only is she an incredibly expressive dancer, but she is also lovely in person (from the few times I have met her, including taking one of her master classes years ago). I hope I get to see her Juliet and Giselle this season before she retires.

Australian Ballet & NBoC dancer Geon van der Wyst is now a real estate agent.

James Kudelka went from dancer to choreographer to... artisan bread maker!

In addition to those listed above, another dancer turned photographer is NBoC/Royal Ballet's Johan Persson.

I have an extra orchestra level ticket for the Feb. 28 evening performance (Reyes/Carreno/Part) in Ottawa. Please PM me if you are interested.

Great news, Canadian Jason Reilly will be joining the NBoC as a principal dancer for the upcoming 2009-2010 season (the repertoire is going to be announced on Monday) after 12 years dancing in Europe. He will also be guesting in "Romeo and Juliet" this March. Some might remember him from his appearances in "Taming of the Shrew" at NBoC a couple years ago. I'm looking forward to seeing more of him!

The NBoC dancers who will compete this year are Elena Lobsanova and Noah Long! This is a great opportunity for them both, I can't wait to find out which pas de deux they will perform. The remaining competitors will soon be announced on the website.

I must guiltily admit that I've been watching SYTYCD Canada (although, in my defense, mainly because of Allie Betram, a 17 year old ballet dancer from Calgary who has trained at the Boston Ballet School). The show concluded a few weeks ago, and she was the runner-up (apparently that is the farthest that any ballet dancer has gone on any of the SYTYCD shows -- they're in several countries now). She looked vaguely familiar, and as I was reading Dance International today, I realized where I saw her before -- she was a bronze medalist at this year's Genee IBC held in Toronto! She even danced one of her Genee solos (Sleeping Beauty prologue fairy) on the show. Just thought I would post in case anyone else missed that connection. Incidentally, this year's gold medalist from the Genee competition also appeared on television, in "Australia's Got Talent".