Paquita

James Kudelka's "The Contract".

I finally got around to seeing "Paris, Je T'aime" yesterday and also enjoyed it very much. Each film was so different and they flowed into one another very well. The brevity of each section made them feel fleeting, unfinished, and true to real life.

I saw this pair perform the Don Q pdd at a gala last year. Even for Don Q, she was WAY over the top. Her grand battements were downright violent at times and she has quite a sway back. I really liked Sarafanov though. Acrylic nails?!? Is that even allowed for ballet dancers? (Well apparently so...) I'll be interested to read reports on this performance on Ballet Talk!

These were announced yesterday: Tanya Howard, Etienne Lavigne, and Bridgett Zehr to First Soloist Alexandra Golden, Tina Pereira to Second Soloist (Media Release I am especially happy for Tina Pereira. She has been one to watch since she joined the company as an apprentice. I will never forget her as the 1st shade in Bayadere Act II. Such a strong and confident dancer. She does not have the conventional "ballerina" look, but makes up for it with her charisma. Bridgett Zehr is also very deserving. She just joined a year ago, but has already made a lasting impression in Sleeping Beauty, Voluntaries, and Polyphonia. If you watch her in class, she is just stunning. It's premature to say, but I could definitely see her becoming a principal one day. Congrats to all of these fine dancers!

Just wondering if anyone has seen this collection of short films (and whether one would recommend it)? It has quite the impressive lineup of directors (Coen brothers, Alfonso Cuaron, Walter Salles, Gus Van Sant, Alexander Payne...) and actors (Juliette Binoche, Natalie Portman, Ludivine Sagnier, Maggie Gyllenhaal...). It just opened in Toronto a couple weeks ago.

Just briefly: I was there on opening night. I saw Aleksandar Antonijevic in the Four Seasons. He brought a lot to the role. I think this role requires a more mature dancer, and Antonijevic definitely has a lot of experience. Chan Hon Goh and Greta Hodgkinson danced the roles that were created for them, Spring and Summer respectively. Rebekah Rimsay danced Autumn (originally created on Martine Lamy, I believe). All of them are so familiar with the work and comfortable with the tricky choreography; the whole performance was near flawless. I agree that Landry was quite a convincing and menacing death figure. I did enjoy Polyphonia very much. The whole cast was superb and the Wheeldon's choreography is witty and fun, while highlighting the beautiful simplicity of classical ballet vocabulary. I continue to be impressed by Bridgette Zehr. I went to the on stage class that same day (part of the LuminaTO festival) and she definitely stood out to me. I was amazed by the precision and speed of her allegro, and the purity and openness of her positions in the adagio. She was also outstanding in the recent Stars of the 21st Century gala (she performed with Zdenek Konvalina). I would like to see her promoted in the near future. I was very excited to see the premiere of Wolf's Court, as I really liked A Delicate Battle. But I share your sentiments, in that I did not find it overall very memorable or stirring. The music (by Alexina Louie) was interesting and set an ominous tone, and the designs were quite striking, but it seemed to me a little too theatrical, without much in terms of innovative dance. I still need to think about it some more... I went to the talk before the ballet, where Matjash Mrozewski and Alexina Louie were interviewed. It is certainly an ambitious work, dealing with themes of empire, conquest, politics, etc. However, I am not sure that it really "works". I have to say that like his "Monument", "Wolf's Court" was a bit of a dissapointment...

It looks like Heather Ogden has been replaced by Xiao Nan Yu: http://www.kofflercentre.com/gala_dancers.shtml

This year's gala line up is up! Koffler Centre for the Arts Gala New York City Ballet * Ashley Bouder American Ballet Theater * Herman Cornejo Royal Ballet * David Makhateli * Sarah Lamb Bolshoi Ballet * Artem Shpilevsky * Svetlana Lunkina Complexions Contemporary Ballet * Desmond Richardson Berlin State Opera Ballet * Ronald Savkovic (partner will be announced) The National Ballet of Canada * Guillaume Cote * Heather Ogden The National Ballet of Canada * Zdenek Konvalina * Bridget Zehr Stuttgart Ballet * Mikhail Kaniskin * Elena Tentschikova

Anyone going to this event? Mad Hot Ballet I'm surprised the performance is only 1 hour long.

Just quickly, a few of my impressions: The standout performance last night, for me, was "Petite Mort" hands down. Misty Copeland and Jared Mathews are both lovely dancers, but their Sleeping Beauty pdd just didn't do it for me. But when they came back in the contemporary round I was really blown away! I was also very impressed with the Royal Ballet couple. Fernando Montano in particular has gorgeous lines and epaulment in all his jumps. Wonderful stage presence also. As for the NBoC dancers, Hirano's entrance was so daring it commanded everyone's attention. His performance was confident and clean-- he looked better than I have ever seen him. What happened during the coda is very unfortunate. I hope he will be back in time for the spring season. Depending on how serious the achilles injury is, it can take months (Rex mentioned that he had a similar injury recently). I have always been a fan of Tina Periera, since her first soloist part in Monotones I. It was nice to see her back, and performing so well despite the circumstances. The young dancers from the RDB were both excellent and after all the Petipa, their "Flower Festival" pdd was a nice change of pace. Also, these two dancers seemed to have the best rapport/partnership on stage. I quite liked Opus as well, although it was a bit generic. I'm not crazy about the music (Valentin Silverstrov), but the choreography highlighted the dancers' lyricism and expression. Both Yao Wei and Ulrik Birkkjaer will be ones to watch in the future. And yes, Voluntaries was good except for some syncronicity issues in the corps. In terms of the principals, it doesn't get much better than yesterday's cast: Greta Hodgkinson, Aleksandar Antonijevic, Xiao Nan Yu.

I second Marga's comment. I've been going to Dance Teq on and off for over 4 years. I also wanted to add that they have some wonderful pianists as well, that make taking class there a real pleasure. I've mostly taken class with Kevin Pugh, Cindy Macedo, and Martine Lamy. Each have really different teaching styles, but all are excellent. It's a great environment because the classes are a mix of adult students, professionals, and everything in between and no one is competitive at all. Let me know if you have any more questions about the studio.

FYI, casting is up: I'm probably going on opening night. Looking forward to seeing Jason Reilly dance with Hodgkinson again. I'm contemplating seeing a second cast, as both Tina Pereira and Jillian Vanstone are having debuts. I've been watching both of them closely since they joined the company. Both are very gifted, but very different dancers. Principal Casting Katherina Greta Hodgkinson (March 10 at 7:30 pm/ March 13 at 7:30 pm/ March 15 at 7:30 pm/ March 17 at 7:30 pm) Tina Pereira (March 11 at 2 pm/ March 15 at 2 pm/ March 17 at 2 pm) Jillian Vanstone (March 14 at 7:30 pm/ March 16 at 7:30 pm/ March 18 at 2 pm) Petruchio Jason Reilly (March 10 at 7:30 pm/ March 13 at 7:30 pm) Nehemiah Kish (March 11 at 2 pm/ March 15 at 2 pm/ March 17 at 2 pm) Piotr Staczyk (March 14 at 7:30 pm/ March 16 at 7:30 pm/March 18 at 2 pm) Guillaume Côté (March 15 at 7:30 pm/ March 17 at 7:30 pm) Bianca Jillian Vanstone (March 10 at 7:30 pm/ March 13 at 7:30 pm) Alexandra Golden (March 11 at 2 pm/ March 15 at 2 pm/ March 17 at 2 pm) Tanya Howard (March 13 at 7:30 pm/ March 14 at 7:30 pm/March 15 at 7:30 pm) Stacey Shiori Minagawa (March 16 at 7:30 pm/ March 18 at 2 pm) Lucentio Zdenek Konvalina (March 10 at 7:30 pm/ March 17 at 7:30 pm) Etienne Lavigne (March 11 at 2 pm/ March 15 at 2 pm/ March 17 at 2 pm) Patrick Lavoie (March 13 at 7:30 pm/ March 14 at 7:30 pm/ March 15 at 7:30 pm) Dong Hyun Seo (March 16 at 7:30 pm/ March 18 at 2 pm) Hortensio Keiichi Hirano (March 10 at 7:30 pm/ March 13 at 7:30 pm/ March 17 at 7:30 pm) Nan Wang (March 11 at 2 pm/ March 16 at 7:30 pm/ March 18 at 2 pm) Etienne Lavigne (March 14 at 7:30 pm/ March 15 at 7:30 pm) Brett van Sickle (March 15 at 2 pm/ March 17 at 2 pm) Gremio Kevin Bowles (March 10 at 7:30 pm/ March 13 at 7:30 pm/ March 17 at 7:30 pm) Adam Toth (March 11 at 2 pm/ March 15 at 2 pm/ March 17 at 2 pm) James Leja (March 14 at 7:30 pm/ March 15 at 7:30 pm) Christopher Body (March 16 at 7:30 pm/ March 18 at 2 pm)

Apologies for not posting my source earlier, the press release came out today: Tina Pereira

Zehr has been injured and will be replaced by corps member Tina Pereira in the competition. I hope Zehr is okay and recovering. Periera is also a very gifted dancer, who has been one to watch ever since her graduation performance from NBS. I'm looking forward to seeing her compete. She will also dance Katherina in "The Taming of the Shrew" next month.

In recent years, the NBoC hasn't performed a lot of MacMillan's non-narrative works. The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, and Manon are all quite popular. But as for plotless ballets, I can only remember "Solitaire" (which I think is also quite accessible). This was my first time seeing "Song of the Earth" and I think a second (third, fourth...) viewing would be beneficial. It's hard to take it all in at once. Interestingly, a few parts of the choreography reminded me of different Balanchine ballets- Apollo, Prodigal Son, Rubies, and Serenade.

I was there on saturday night. I thought "Song of Earth" was an interesting piece- quite haunting and visceral. Some of the choreography looks awkward, but it always appears natural and at times can be startling in its beauty. I found it to drag on a bit near the end though-- definitely not as tightly crafted as Symphony in C. Some of the mannerisms also got tiring (flicked wrists, flexed feet, etc.). The real standout was Guillaume Cote's messenger of death. He layered passion and conviction over flawless technique. Nehemiah Kish danced the man, and when the two men danced side by side, the differences between them were clear. Kish has great potential and a lovely line, but has yet to develop Cote's sensitive attention to detail. Xiao Nan Yu was also memorable as the woman. Symphony in C was well done and looked very well rehearsed. The corps was nice as crisp and the principals were "on". Only Jennifer Fournier (substituting for Chan Hon Goh) in the third movement looked a little tense. Especially in the finale, she had difficulty keeping up with the tempo. In the 1st movement, Greta Hodgkinson and Aleksandar Antonijevic gave a confident and dazzling performance, which we have come to expect from them. I loved Sonia Rodriguez in the 4th movement. She was full of energy and her movements were clean and articulate. I was dissapointed about the last minute cast change. I heard great things about Goh and Konvalina's 3rd movement.

A preview and some images can be seen here.

Kind of trivial but... Rimsay has a new hairstyle! Rebekah Rimsay Bio

Almost 3 hours including intermissions.

The November issue of Toronto Life features an article about Karen Kain's direction of the NBoC as it enters its first season in the new opera house. I don't think it's available online though. Did anyone else read this article? I found it extremely gossipy and poorly written. The author didn't seem to know much about dance. Instead, he read Kain's autobiography and tried to find the most juicy bits (e.g. when Kain and Augustyn were locked in a hotel room before the Moscow competition). The writer then goes on to review the NBoC's inaugural gala that happened in June. I wish I could quote but I don't have the magazine here. Basically he said, the only good thing in the gala was Forsythe's "In the Middle..." becuase it was so hot and sexy, and the NBoC needs more of these works to show the world that "ballet still has something to say" (but then he never specifies what he thinks the ballet is "saying"). He goes on to proclaim Kudelka is a "genius". I don't expect much from a general interest magazine like Toronto Life, but this article still really irritated me!

Well, I'll get the ball rolling on the Canadian shows... I attended the saturday matinee at the National Arts Centre. This was my first time seeing the Kirov live, so it was very exciting for me! I can't think of a more suitable ballet to showcase the depth of talent in the company. Overall, the performance was everything I expected it to be-- powerful, dramatic, and assured. The dancing, most importantly, was splendid overall. I was very moved and impressed. There were definitely things that I didn't like about the production. The jester's costume and choreography, the way Rothbart loses a wing in Act IV (and the whole ending in general), the touches of red in Odile's tutu and the mechanical swans upped the cheese factor. But these did little to detract from the overall effect. There is currently no such thing as a flawless production of Swan Lake, and with the variations we are getting now (Kudelka, Martins, McKenzie, etc.), it is really a relief to see a Swan Lake that is more or less true to its roots. For me, Act II was the highlight; no question about it. The corps moved in perfect unison. Stylistically and musically, every swan was on the exact same page. Their entrance was so beautiful, each jump so light and each port de bras so soft. Sometimes certain segments can feel rushed, but this was not the case here. Every little transition step was carried to completion and flawlessly timed, giving a sense of wholeness to the dancing. This is something that really sets the Kirov apart, IMO. I find that the dance of the baby swans is a crowd pleaser and gets enormous applause no matter how sloppy the feet are. But this time, they deserved all their applause. Svetlana Ivanova, Elena Chmil, Irina Golub, and Elena Yushkovskaya were precise and totally in sync. Act IV was also beautifully done. I did not recognize the music used for the beginning of act IV. Do many other productions use it? I liked that the Act III national dances were done in character shoes/boots rather than pointe shoes. The order (Spanish, Neopolitan, Hungarian, Mazurka) is a little different from what I'm used to. It's too bad they don't do the Russian dance, though. In the Act I pas de trois, both Nadezhda Gonchar and Tatiana Tkachenko were lovely. Vasily Scherbakov was clean, but not particularly exciting. His beats looked a little overcrossed and he "cheated" a bit on the double tours (1/4 turn on plie before jump). As for Odette/Odile, I found Victoria Tereshkina compelling. Her extension in attitude derriere is remarkable and she is blessed with a very pliant spine. Despite her flexibility, she seldom resorted to kicking, the way I have seen Alina Somova do in the past. At first, her sorrowful Odette seemed pretty standard. The act II pas de deux was technically sound, perhaps initially lacking in emotion. As the dancing progressed however, Tereshkina's Odette started to grow on me as she started to tell the story. But I felt her Odette was missing a spiritual element and vulnerability. Still, her strength allowed her to portray a serene and majestic queen. She was especially stunning in the series of entrechats quatre/retires during the coda. Tereshkina's Odile was more distinctive. She exuded unbridled confidence and conviction as she seduced Siegfried. Once the pas de deux began, he was hopeless. She was on a mission. I admire her for really going for it. Tereshkina only had one performance in Ottawa (only Lopatkina got to dance twice, because of a sunday evening show that was added) and it showed. She pulled out all the stops. For the coda, she did fouette, fouette, tour a la second, double! She did this several times before finishing up with single fouettes. She has so much momentum that she stumbled out of the last turn slightly. To me, this was a sign of inexperience, but her performance was impressive nonetheless. She certainly has tremendous potential and has already developed a strong stage presence. Everyone was surprised to hear that Igor Zelensky would be dancing the prince instead of Danila Korsuntsev, since he apparently injured himself during practice. At times his dancing had the finesse of an experienced principal, which contrasted with Tereshkina's attack. His jumps did not have a lot of height or extension, but his finishes were cleanly placed and well timed. During the 3rd Act however, fatigue set in and he was visibly struggling to make it through the arduous black swan pdd. He had difficultly getting all the way around in his double tours and attempted to disguise off-balance landings with small hops on the spot. During the manege in the coda, I was just hoping that he would make it. Still, he certainly has the looks and poise of a prince. I enjoyed his dancing in the first two acts. He was powerful yet controlled. Even in act III when he looked exhausted, he was a responsive partner. At one point, I could see very clearly from my seat (a little off to the side) that Tereshkina was off-balance entering an en dedans pirouette, but he made the split-second adjustments so that she was right on her foot. So maybe he was just having an off-day, which would be understandable given his recent injury. All in all, it was a wonderful performance. Us ballet-starved Canadians will take whatever we can get, but this time we really lucked out! I hope the Kirov will visit again-- given how quickly tickets sold out, there certainly is a demand! Hopefully they can stop in Toronto/Montreal the next time around!

Is it possible to order DVD's from Japan? Are they in the same region code as North America?

Actually, for the saturday matinee, Zelensky replaced Korsuntsev! I need to get some sleep (even with the extra hour from daylight savings), but will post about the performance this week.

I'll be attending the matinee on saturday in Ottawa. It will be my first time seeing Tereshkina and Korsuntsev. I've heard that Tereshkina is quite promising, so I'm looking forward to it!

Casting is up! I would love to see Xiao Nan Yu's Aurora, although I would rather see one of the princes other than Nehemiah Kish. I think I will try to see Chan Hon Goh and Zdenek Konvalina. I've missed her during her maternity leave, and I am eager to see Konvalina. I will also see Heather Ogden and Guillaume Cote if I have time. Anyone else here going? Aurora Greta Hodgkinson (Nov. 9 at 7:30 pm/ Nov. 15 at 7:30 pm/ Nov. 18 at 7:30 pm) Sonia Rodriguez (Nov. 10 at 7:30 pm/ Nov. 16 at 7:30 pm/ Nov. 18 at 2 pm) Xiao Nan Yu (Nov. 11 at 2 pm/ Nov. 17 at 7:30 pm) Heather Ogden* (Nov. 11 at 7:30 pm/ Nov. 14 at 7:30 pm/ Nov. 19 at 1 pm) Chan Hon Goh (Nov. 12 at 2 pm/ Nov. 16 at 2 pm) Stacey Shiori Minagawa* (Nov. 19 at 7 pm) Florimund Guillaume Côté (Nov. 9 at 7:30 pm/ Nov. 11 at 7:30 pm/ Nov. 15 at 7:30 pm/ Nov. 18 at 7:30 pm) Aleksandar Antonijevic (Nov. 10 at 7:30 pm/ Nov. 16 at 7:30 pm/ Nov. 18 at 2 pm) Nehemiah Kish (Nov. 11 at 2 pm/ Nov. 14 at 7:30 pm/ Nov. 17 at 7:30 pm/ Nov. 19 at 1 pm) Zdenek Konvalina* (Nov. 12 at 2 pm/ Nov. 16 at 2 pm/ Nov. 19 at 7 pm)