volcanohunter

Casting for the mixed bill on 20-24 March, featuring William Yong's UtopiVerse, Emma Portner's Islands and Serge Lifar's Suite en Blanc. UtopiVerse Lotus Koto Ishihara (March 20, 22 at 7:30 pm/March 23 at 2:00 pm) Tirion Law (March 21, 23 at 7:30 pm/March 24 at 2:00 pm) Leo Ben Rudisin (March 20, 22 at 7:30 pm/March 23 at 2:00 pm) Siphesihle November (March 21, 23 at 7:30 pm/March 24 at 2:00 pm) The Daemon Christopher Gerty (March 20, 22 at 7:30 pm/March 23 at 2:00 pm) Noah Parets (March 21, 23 at 7:30 pm/March 24 at 2:00 pm) The Undermined Emma Oulette islands Heather Ogden and Emma Ouellet (March 20, 23 at 7:30 pm) Alexandra MacDonald and Alexander Skinner (March 21 at 7:30 pm/March 23 at 2:00 pm) Hannah Galway and Jenna Savella (March 22 at 7:30 pm/March 24 at 2:00 pm) Suite en Blanc La Sieste Chelsy Meiss, Tene Ward, Monika Haczkiewicz (March 20, 23 at 7:30 pm) Chelsy Meiss, Alexandra MacDonald, Calley Skalnik (Mar 21, 23 mat) Clare Peterson, Selene Guerrero-Trujillo, Monika Haczkiewicz (March 22 at 7:30 pm/March 24 at 2:00 pm) Thème Varié Brenna Flaherty, Donald Thom, Larkin Miller (March 20, 23 at 7:30 pm) Koto Ishihara, Naoya Ebe, Harrison James (March 21 at 7:30 pm/March 23 at 2:00 pm) Calley Skalnik, Peng-Fei Jiang, Larkin Miller (March 22 at 7:30 pm/March 24 at 2:00 pm) Sérénade Isabella Kinch (March 20, 21, 22, 23 at 7:30 pm) Brenna Flaherty (March 23, 24 at 2:00 pm) Presto (pas de cinq) Koto Ishihara (March 20, 23 at 7:30 pm) Jeannine Haller (March 21 at 7:30 pm/March 23 at 2:00 pm) Ayano Haneishi (March 22 at 7:30 pm/March 24 at 2:00 pm) Isaac Wright, David Preciado, Scott McKenzie, Noah Parets (March 20, 22, 23 at 7:30 pm/March 24 at 2:00 pm) Keaton Leier, Kota Sato, Josh Hall, Alexander Skinner (March 21 at 7:30 pm/March 23 at 2:00 pm) La Cigarette Calley Skalnik (March 20, 23 at 7:30 pm) Svetlana Lunkina (March 21, 22 at 7:30 pm/ March 23, 24 at 2:00 pm) Mazurka Spencer Hack (March 20 at 7:30 pm/March 23 at 2:00 pm) Siphesihle November (March 21 at 7:30 pm) Aidan Tully (March 22 at 7:30 pm) Naoya Ebe (March 23 at 7:30 pm) Harrison James (March 24 at 2:00 pm) Adage Svetlana Lunkina, Harrison James (March 20, 23 at 7:30 pm) Heather Ogden, Ben Rudisin (March 21 at 7:30 pm/March 23 at 2:00 pm) Emerson Dayton, Spencer Hack (March 22 at 7:30 pm/March 24 at 2:00 pm) La Flûte Svetlana Lunkina (March 20, 23 at 7:30 pm) Heather Ogden (March 21 at 7:30 pm/ March 23, 24 at 2:00 pm) Emerson Dayton (March 22 at 7:30 pm) Harrison James, Donald Thom, Larkin Miller (March 20, 23 at 7:30 pm) Ben Rudisin, Naoya Ebe, Harrison James (March 21 at 7:30 pm/March 23 at 2:00 pm) Spencer Hack, Peng-Fei Jiang, Larkin Miller (March 22 at 7:30 pm/March 24 at 2:00 pm) https://national.ballet.ca/Productions/New-Yong-Islands-Suite-en-Blanc

I finally relented when the season went past The Nutcracker and Swan Lake and bought access to the final three streams for $120.

Thank you for the explanation. I remember that Boston Ballet has purchased retired Royal Ballet productions in the past, and that these often look terrific decades after they were first used. Personally, I'm very pleased that they don't end up on a scrap heap and are rented by companies far beyond Boston.

On Sunday, March 24th, at 18:30 CET/1:30 pm Eastern, the Vienna State Ballet will livestream the company premiere of John Neumeier's The Lady of the Camellias. The performance should be available on demand for 72 hours. The stream is free of charge, and registration requires only a name and email. The scheduled cast includes Ketevan Papava as Marguerite Gauthier, Timoor Afshar as Armand Duval, Hyo-Jung Kang as Manon Lescaut, Marcos Menha as Des Grieux, Ioanna Avraam as Prudence Duvernoy, Masayu Kimoto as Gaston Rieux and Elena Bottaro as Olympia. https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/4dfb69e2-63b2-4be0-9ded-6af3a9a56fa1

As was pointed out by Marsha Lederman in the Globe and Mail, Marco Goecke’s planned piece for the company is not, despite the advertising, a world premiere, but a retitled adaptation of his duet Nachtmerrie, which was first presented by the Stuttgart Ballet in 2021. https://www.seeingdance.com/stuttgart-ballet-new-works-210701/

It will probably be altered beyond recognition, and not in a good way. Welch seems to like to tinker for the sake of tinkering. Granted, it's not especially recent, but his Bayadère is the most awful I've seen.

Yes, it is, but for me it's curious that the new production of Ashton's Cinderella is a joint effort between the Royal Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada, but Ballet West will show it before the latter.

So far I'm not seeing any signs that the Australian Ballet is planning to stream performances in 2024. It may be that yet another company determined that the audience was too small to make the enterprise viable.

Boosting this on the occasion of Antoinette Sibley's 85th birthday. Wishing her many happy returns of the day!

It's behind a paywall, but Globe and Mail columnist Marsha Lederman has written about the Goecke commission. "The National Ballet of Canada’s winter season will kick off with what it is billing as the world premiere of a work by Mr. Goecke. The piece was originally developed for the Stuttgart Ballet in 2021 and is being adapted for the National Ballet under a new title, Morpheus’ Dream. "Artistic director Hope Muir told The Globe and Mail that the company does not condone Mr. Goecke’s behaviour during the incident in question, 'but feels he has since demonstrated sincere regret and apologized publicly,' she wrote. 'This and time to reflect has informed our decision.' "This project has been in discussion since 2021, and subsequently postponed twice. Mr. Goecke has previously worked with the National Ballet, which Ms. Muir called a very positive experience. 'He is an important and gifted choreographer and I feel that his work will enhance the repertoire of the National Ballet and should not be cancelled.'" (Hope Muir was not affiliated with the NBoC when Goecke worked with the company in the past.) Lederman, who was previously the paper's arts correspondent in Vancouver, noted that she was been on the receiving end of verbal "poop" as a result of her writing: "Not only from anonymous trolls – and not from choreographers, generally, as far as I know, but from people who hold what would be considered respectful positions (usually male, in the case of my own inbox). The sticks-and-stones theory of bullying has long been disproved – names can hurt, and you should see some of the names we are called. "True, it would be a lot worse to be on the receiving end of an actual feces-laden attack, but in this environment where the discourse has reached new, often expletive-filled misogynist and racist lows, verbal smears also deserve condemnation." https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-two-things-you-wouldnt-expect-to-find-together-the-national-ballets/

I stumbled upon some rehearsal photos from the Opéra-Comique and couldn't help but notice that in March Renavand will be performing in its production of Pulcinella, with choreography by Clairemarie Osta. https://www.opera-comique.com/fr/actualites/les-repetitions-de-pulcinella-l-heure-espagnole-en-images https://www.opera-comique.com/fr/spectacles/pulcinella-l-heure-espagnole

Brief and belated impressions of week 4. I first saw Rotunda in October 2021. I didn’t like it then, and I don’t like it now. The circular images are trite. I hate the music. I don’t think any cast could save it for me. I did enjoy Concerto for Two Pianos. (Love Poulenc's music.) Perhaps the choreographic vocabulary wasn’t spectacularly original. Tiler Peck’s choreography for the central male seemed a little derivative of Hans van Manen, and the references to Spanish dancing each time castanets appeared in the score were a bit obvious. But I appreciated that the ballet was direct, joyful and unpretentious. Roman Mejia was brilliant, Mira Nadon was ravishing, and Emma Von Enck was dazzling. I hadn’t seen Odesa before and thought that the choreography was strikingly original and that Leonid Desyatnikov’s music was gorgeous. It was odd to see Joseph Gordon in the role of an abusive gangster, but I have to say I particularly admired Andrew Veyette and Tyler Angle, not just as partners, but as solo dancers. And full points to Von Enck for performing fouettés en dedans and en dehors. I’ve seen Opus 19/The Dreamer a lot over the years and am puzzled by the ballet’s longevity. For me, in any case, it’s aged badly, and on a program with ballets by Ratmansky and Balanchine, the choreography looked almost simplistic. Taylor Stanley danced it beautifully, and Unity Phelan was very fine, but I think the ballet’s central position in the company’s repertoire should be reevaluated. Alexei Ratmansky’s Solitude was immensely powerful. I was glad when Gia Kourlas’ review appeared the following day, because I could not have described or analyzed the choreography. But at every point it was interesting and layered and meaningful. I think we are seeing a new Ratmansky, who is more overtly personal and emotional. But he also steered clear of melodrama and spreading his guts all over the place, and the ballet is more powerful for it. Nadon tore up the stage with the amplitude of her dancing, and Gordon was both affecting and dignified in what was an incredibly long and taxing solo. I can only sympathize with Felix Valedon, who didn't get to dance the boy in the premiere, and also Theo Rochios, who did dance the part, but whose name wasn't printed in the program for the world premiere. No doubt that would have been a wonderful keepsake. Symphony in Three Movements is a favorite, although initially the dancing seemed a little underpowered. I did enjoy Isabella LaFreniere’s uninhibited energy – I always do, and I am a long-time fan of Adrian Danchig-Waring, whose dancing I find genuinely interesting, as well as having amplitude and clarity. I was only sorry that this and Rotunda were the only ballets I saw him dance. I would have liked to see him in Solitude. The Four Temperaments is among my very favorite ballets. For the most part, the themes were danced less than incisively, particularly the second theme on February 18th. Jules Mabie made a fine debut as Melancholic, but there’s still a way to go to reach Anthony Huxley’s stellar standard. Alston Macgill absolutely devoured the choreography. In Sanguinic, I liked Peter Walker better than his partner. Davide Riccardo’s debut as Phelgmatic was excellent, particularly in his second performance. I would just say that toward the end of the variation, when he performed a sequence of very high à la secondes, the rond de jambe was sacrificed in the process, and structurally it is more fundamental to the choreography than the extension. Nadon as Choleric was sensational, approaching goddess standard. I love Liebeslieder Walzer unequivocally, except, in this instance, the screechy soprano and wobbly mezzo. I enjoyed all the dancers. I think I liked LaFreniere more than others did, because I thought she caught the bend and lilt of the movement, and Sara Mearns somewhat less than others, because I thought her dancing verged on the inelegant. I would not have guessed that Indiana Woodward, Preston Chamblee and Veyette (can that really be?) were making debuts. I hadn’t seen Copland Dance Episodes before and thought it was terrific: engaging, inventive, bracing. I guess the thing with Justin Peck is that I have to like the music he selected. When it’s Copland or Martinů, I’m thrilled. Otherwise, his musical choices are a real obstacle for me. Among the dancers I particularly enjoyed the trio of Megan Fairchild, Ashley Laracey and Von Enck, and I thought that Miriam Miller held her own as the central woman. In Ballo della Regina Fairchild was admirable, although in terms of style and panache she was outdone by partner Gordon, and I am always a bit disappointed when the ballerina doesn’t perform fouettés en dedans at the end. But it’s a great piece, danced well by everyone, especially Mary Thomas MacKinnon.

It's interesting that Chelsy Meiss is making her debut as the Queen of Hearts. Since she has a background in tap dancing, during the last run she danced the Mad Hatter, the first woman to do so.

I don't enjoy Goecke's pieces. Watching his choreography makes me feel as though a hole is being drilled into my skull. Sorry, but that's the effect they have on me.

I think the reason for removing Goecke's choreography was obvious. He smeared a woman's face with dog feces in public, which was physical assault. Since she was a critic, I don't think other critics will be inclined to view his work favorably. It's possible some dancers, especially women, will refuse to work with him. I will not attend a program that includes his choreography. I'm only sorry the program also includes Antony Tudor, whose Leaves is the only piece apart from Giselle that I'm interested in seeing. As it stands, I will probably attend only Giselle. At least it's also touring to Ottawa.

That's well and good, but she should have chosen something other than Anna Karenina. It looks like a repudiation of Neumeier, which was unnecessary and impolitic, and it's throwing away a lot of money. I'm shocked, though, that she has commissioned a piece from Marco Goecke after his violent assault on Wiebke Hüster. Or do we excuse him because he's a "genius"?

November 9-16 León, Lightfoot/Glass: Silent Screen Côté/Beethoven: Body of Work Ashton/Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody November 20-24 Wright, after Coralli, Perrot, Petipa/Adam, Burgmüller: Giselle December 6-31 Kudelka/Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker February 26-March 2 Dawson/Richter, after Vivaldi: The Four Seasons Goecke/Jarrett, Lady Gaga: Morpheus' Dream Tudor/Dvořák: The Leaves Are Fading March 8-22 Kain, Binet, Stowell, Bruhn, after Petipa, Ivanov/Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake May 30-June 5 Côté: Into the Fade Côte/Ravel: Bolero new Ethan Colangelo new Jennifer Archibald June 13-21 Spuck/Rachmaninoff, Lutosławski: Anna Karenina Still no sign of Ratmansky's Of Love and Rage, which was a co-production with ABT, or of any replacement Ratmansky. Has the investment simply been written off? Despite the Toronto Star's Michael Crabb trying to strong-arm Hope Muir into a declaration of undying admiration for James Kudelka, his Four Seasons is being replaced by a version by David Dawson. I am, frankly, astonished that Muir has commissioned a new piece from Marco Goecke. To her mind Of Love and Rage has an misogynistic plot line, but spreading dog excrement on a woman's face is okay??? (Bummer that it's on the same program with Tudor.) Another long run of the tasteless new Swan Lake. Well, something has to pay for the write offs. The farewell of Guillaume Côté is going to be endless. John Neumeier's Anna Karenina was a co-production for the National Ballet of Canada, which performed it in November 2018 and took it on tour to Paris. It never returned for a second run, and now it is being replaced by a different version by Christian Spuck. Again, has the investment simply been flushed down the toilet? Was it necessary to replace it so soon and burn bridges with Neumeier? How did Muir persuade the Board to agree to this? https://national.ballet.ca/Tickets/Next-Season

I'm very glad Kourlas wrote this review, because I found the piece so emotionally overpowering, that I couldn't have analyzed or described it. Going in I had read Marina Harss' preview, and was a bit apprehensive after her description of the ensemble's opening movements, fearing it might look a bit hackneyed or melodramatic, but in fact it looked amazing.

This is a great primer on etiquette at the symphony. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1Y9HFrBGBL/?igsh=dTNlMGFlOGNxdXJm

The inspiration, if that's the right word, for Ratmansky's ballet were photographs of a man in Kharkiv who spent two hours praying and holding the hand of his dead son, who had been killed in a rocket attack at a bus stop. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/07/20/pictured-father-holds-hand-dead-son-fresh-russian-air-strikes/ There were also pictures of emergency workers comforting the father as he kneeled on the ground, which is alluded to in the piece as well. https://www.itv.com/news/2022-07-20/heart-wrenching-photo-shows-father-holding-dead-sons-hand-after-russian-attack I won't post related videos, because they are more graphic.

There was this on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/yQawr8ARarV5QCzx/?mibextid=oFDknk

In between working on his premiere for New York City Ballet, Alexei Ratmansky found time to make a piece for the Vienna Opera Ball to music by Mykola Lysenko and danced by the Vienna State Ballet. Starting from 32:32, especially if you're curious about how Ratmansky looks in white tie. (I'd never seen him dressed that way before.) https://www.3sat.de/gesellschaft/politik-und-gesellschaft/opernball-2024-die-eroeffnung-100.html

A potentially perilous consequence of eliminating printed programs is that the rear section is often devoted to pages and pages of donor names, and there may be some people who like seeing their names in print there and value the playbill as a keepsake. It would be interesting to find out from organizations that switched to digital programs a few years ago whether or not individual donations have been affected as a result.

No doubt I have an inadequate machine, but scanning anything fills me with dread. It's something I do only when absolutely necessary. Do you keep a file that tells you which ballets you saw on which day? I have always found it easier to quickly flip through a printed publication rather than searching in an electronic copy. Even a playbill cover can jog my memory. I do read books on my phone or reader while traveling, but prefer a bound paper version. I spend enough of my day staring into screens.

To my mind, the biggest drawback of the digital playbill is that it does not include a complete listing of company members - dancers, orchestra players, artistic staff. In my experience with digital programs, these have been available only on company websites, and since turnover among dancers tends to be high, leavers are simply deleted from the site. There is no longer a printed record of company membership, and it's suddenly impossible to determine who danced in the company in the previous season and at which rank, particularly if performers of a large ensemble in a piece are identified only as "artists of the ballet."