volcanohunter

The Royal Ballet's stream of Apollo, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and Dances at a Gathering can be purchased here:

https://stream.roh.org.uk/products/balanchine-and-robbins

It can be accessed until July 11.

Oksana Lyniv is about to become the first woman to conduct at the Bayreuth Festival.

https://www.bayreuther-festspiele.de/en/programm/auffuehrungen/der-fliegende-hollaender/

https://m.dw.com/en/the-bayreuth-festival-to-have-a-female-conductor-for-the-first-time/a-55003920

Sae Eun Park has been named danseuse étoile following today's performance of Nureyev's Romeo and Juliet.

https://www.operadeparis.fr/actualites/sae-eun-park-nommee-danseuse-etoile-du-ballet-de-lopera-national-de-paris

The National Ballet of Canada in excerpts from The Sleeping Beauty - prologue fairies, bluebirds, cats and newlyweds. 

1 hour ago, vipa said:

Height, seems to be a big factor in casting these roles. What if that wasn't a requirement?

Sure, especially in light of the fact that the Gold and Silver Waltz was not choreographed on an Amazonian ballerina.

1 hour ago, Drew said:

I had to laugh (ruefully) asI read this. As you probably have seen, there is footage of Farrell’ in the role and her exit at that moment was SO extraordinary, I was eager to see if the camera captured even a whiff of it. Alas no—the camera cuts away to show instead the swirl of couples as the crowd enters, so you can’t get any sense of what Farrell did with that moment....and I will never not be unhappy about that! 

The director of the 1983 telecast dealt with this by showing the entire stage, so you do see a smallish Farrell making her exit, but you also see the chandeliers switch on and the couples coming on from stage right. Sort of the Fourth Ring view.

 At the beginning of the season the Vienna State Opera announced it would no longer be running a paid streaming service. Granted, the theater was plunged into a repeat lockdown pretty quickly, and its migration to the (paid) Fidelio platform was delayed. But the mostly Robbins program streamed last weekend was free of charge.

I certainly wasn't hoping for skycam, but one camera for medium shots and another for a wide shot would have been nice. In particular the transition from Kowroski's solo exit to the entrance of the whirling couples was, um, clumsy. Had I been watching on a computer, the figures on the screen probably would have appeared larger and clearer than they ended up looking on my TV.

But the music was really disappointing, not just because of the thin recorded sound, but also because there was quite a lot of flat playing, particularly in the Lehar.

11 hours ago, California said:

NYCB Vienna Waltzes free on YouTube through June 17

I've been thrilled that NYCB has been posting archival recordings, but in this case the tinny sound and single camera really blunted the ballet's impact. 

France is introducing a QR code that confirms vaccination/infection status. As of June 9th it will be required at any event hosting more than 1000 seated spectators. Non-residents of France have to present their Covid credentials pending the introduction of a pan-EU system.

Basically, the rules are the same as in Hamburg: full vaccination or negative Covid test within the preceding 48 hours or proof of recovery 15 days to 6 months ago, plus ID.

https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/info/health-pass

The Hamburg Opera House has just re-opened, and it was interesting to read what Covid safety protocols are in place.

Tickets have the holder's name printed on them and must match ID.

Spectators must present a negative PCR test taken within the preceding 48 hours or a negative antigen test taken within the preceding 12 hours; or proof of full vaccination at least 14 days earlier; or proof of infection 28 days to 6 months ago plus a negative PCR test taken within the previous 48 hours. (Not sure why anyone would fess up to having been infected if a negative PCR test is adequate.)

FFP2/N95-type masks are obligatory at all times, the bars are closed, physical distance must be maintained and moving to a different seat is not allowed.

La Scala paying final respects to Carla Fracci

10 hours ago, Drew said:

Since it's easy enough to connect the dots and realize who it must be--one is left wondering what she thought might happen when she refused to dance with a)one of the very few dancers in the company for whose height she is perfectly matched  and who is also b)one of the company's most widely admired stars. The reasons she gives are understandable and yet, taking those two things into account, the decision--at least as she explains it in this interview--still seems surprising to me.

If she felt unsafe on stage because duets were under-rehearsed, I'm not sure she could have done anything differently. (In particular, more than one dancer has suffered a debilitating injury because of the feet-first slide in Manon.)

But as you say, she was in a weaker position in that equation, and if he implication was "choose him or me," she ended up on the losing side.

9 hours ago, laurel said:

I was astonished to learn that during her decade in soloist purgatory, she was offered a principal contract in San Francisco.  Family or no, how many other young ABT dancers would have turned that down?

Perhaps she remembered the experience of Sascha Radetsky, who accepted a principal contract with the Dutch National Ballet and headed off for Amsterdam without Stella Abrera, but ultimately returned to ABT and his old rank less than a year and a half later. As far as distance goes, Amsterdam isn't the furthest European capital from New York, but it was far enough.

Today I've been watching her Giselle, her Dying Swan, clips of other roles, and I feel an eviscerating sense of loss. May she rest in peace, but we are so much poorer without her.

The National Ballet of Canada in Balanchine's Apollo, with Brendan Saye, Svetlana Lunkina, Jeannine Haller and Calley Skalnik, and Tarantella, with Koto Ishihara and Skylar Campbell

This is a rehearsal of Kyle Abraham's piece from the same program.

This is the rehearsal of the Pite pieces.

This is the link for purchasing access to the stream, which begins on 28 May.

https://stream.roh.org.uk/packages/21st-century-choreographers/videos/21st-century-choreographers 

1 hour ago, pherank said:

I can figure that out, but it's about me having to sort through the sentence and get to her probable meaning and intention.

I agree with you. I don't think it would have violated her style too much to move "on the marble floor" to a different part of the sentence.

I'm sorry to read that the opening program was so deflating. I had been debating purchasing a ticket to the streamed version, but I will probably pass, especially since I agree that Within the Golden Hour is over-programmed.

Fumi Kaneko and Cesar Corrales have been promoted to principal dancer. Mayara Magri and Anna Rose O'Sullivan will be principals as of September. Full list of promotions here: https://www.roh.org.uk/news/the-royal-ballet-announces-company-promotions

2 hours ago, California said:

Performances by European and Russian companies are often available on DVD, yet we flock to see those companies when they tour the US.

But it often depends on the vehicle. During the Bolshoi's last visit to the U.S., Lincoln Center was forced to offer a 25% discount on tickets to The Taming of the Shrew. Three years ago in London there was a discount on the Mariinsky's Don Quixote and a year later on the Bolshoi's Bright Stream.

You know, I lasted about two minutes. Those extensions are grotesque. 

I have not seen Kovalyova as Nikiya or Odette-Odile because I have no inclination to do so. I have seen her as Myrtha (not very formidable) and the Queen of the Dryads, because I came to watch other dancers in the cast. Two disastrous performances I saw were in Etudes, because she absolutely could not execute the variation, fell off pointe repeatedly and the partnering was very scary, and as "Armida" in Flames of Paris, because during the final diagonal of hops alone she managed to fall off pointe four times. It wasn't her first performance of either ballet; I believe it was her seventh of Etudes. Evidently, management is determined to cast her until she stops falling over, and in the meantime the audience is expected to pay to watch.

This does not mean that tall dancers are incapable of doing these roles, for example Agnès Letestu, who is almost 5'10", was near perfect in her execution in Etudes. Her body proportions are different: longer torso rather than very long limbs, and the lower center of gravity no doubt accounted for part of her technical security. Indeed, no one at the Bolshoi comes close to performing the variation at this standard. (I rather wish it would stop doing the ballet. The dancers no longer look as ragged as they did in the ill-advised cinemacast of the premiere run, but they now look like joyless little automatons.) 

Anna Antonicheva, the original Mireille de Poitiers in Ratmansky's production of Flames, is also not a natural hopper, given her elongated, flexible body and pliant feet, but she did manage it.

I think it's extremely unfair of the management to put Kovalyova in roles to which she is so unsuited technically. It would be rather like asking a dancer who can't jump to do La Sylphide or one who can't turn to do Don Quixote. When I saw her do the second movement of Symphony in C, watching her ankle tremble underneath her as she did the sequence of fouettés into arabesque with pliés on pointe was nerve-wracking.

A role to which I think she is suited is the Ballerina in Béjart's Gaîté parisienne, because height incompatibility and awkward partnering are pretty much built into the choreography (the Bolshoi's other interpreter of the role is equally tall), and because the gaucheness of Kovalyova's stage manner plays into the comedy, and she demonstrated good humor and no vanity while doing it.

Alexandrova is more robust than Zakharova, but they are both about 5'7" tall. They both have long feet. Alexandrova's are long and narrow, while Zakharova's are large all over, so both "grow" disproportionately on pointe. Kovalyova's additional four inches alter the physics considerably, especially when her big feet are on pointe. Kovalyova also has nothing resembling the technique of Alexandrova or Allash. That body of hers is very hard to control.

Alexandrova is not my very favorite ballerina, although I have great respect for what she does on stage. Kovalyova I avoid if at all possible. I've seen her fall off pointe far too many times. (Part of the problem is the parts in which she is cast. She can't hop on pointe. It's doomed to end in failure.)

The Bolshoi electronic archive includes cast lists from the previous revival, starting in 2002, and Allash was dominant then as well. 

Rodkin is strong, but at 6'1" he's not really tall enough for Kovalyova, and some maneuvers will be difficult from a purely mechanical point of view.

Both Zakharova and Stepanova have danced the role only twice at the Bolshoi, although Stepanova would be likelier to dance it again in the future. Over the past 20 years the most frequent interpreter of the role has been Allash, by a mile.

Kovalyova won't have an easy time of it. She is about 5'11" tall, and the dream duet in particular will be challenging for her partner.