innopac

The Royal Ballet has added an "Introduction to Ballet" (audio).

Here is an example of the reverse - protecting dancers, especially those who are stars. There was a performance where a very important visiting ballerina fell and none of the critics, at that performance, mentioned it. I would hope that if it had been a member of the corps who had fallen the critics' restraint would have been the same.

The Critic's Point of View: "Why Do They Say What They Say?" by Joseph Carman. “Being a critic is a very good education,” says Macaulay. “You are learning all the time. That is the most interesting thing about the job. If it stopped being an education, I would move on to something else."

Article: "Jessica Lang on the Woman Choreographer Shortage".

Not much notice -- but for those of you who live close enough here is the link Education - Lecture: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 6:00pm - 7:00pm Green Room (2nd Floor), Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue In its United States premiere, The Little Mermaid, by Hamburg Ballett Director and Chief Choreographer John Neumeier, offers a dramatic and modern interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1836 tale by the same name. We’ll explore how the classic tale becomes a contemporary work of art. Principal Dancers Tiit Helimets and Damian Smith along with Ballet Master and Assistant to the Artistic Director Ricardo Bustamante discuss working on this intensely emotional production. Please note that The Little Mermaid explores deeper, more mature themes of the original story and is not intended for younger children.

I wrote a couple of emails and have just been told that the dvd of Hamburg Ballet performing The Little Mermaid is not available for the public. It sounds as if it is a filmed dvd used as an additional record of the ballet. Added later: Just got an email from the company. "There are no plans to film this ballet at the moment."

Could the dvd be the set mentioned in this article? It isn't clear if the viewer saw the whole ballet or excerpts. However there was something more, though it did not happen on the stage of the opera-house, and that was the publication of a DVD box, containing three discs of together 530 minutes of duration. Under the title “John Neumeier´s Ballett-Werkstatt” it presents a collection of his matinées from the seventies and early eighties, where he lectured on the basics of ballet, starting with the demonstration of the build-up of daily classes, and from there progressing to the finer details of choreography and how a ballet grows from its very first rehearsels to its finished product, with lots of excerpts from bis rich repertory, performed by many dancers from his early Hamburg days, including Lynne Charles, Marianne Kruuse, Beatrice Cordua and Gigi Hyatt through Kevin Haigen, François Klaus, Ivan Liska and Max Midinet – an excellent account of his educational efforts to teach the audience how to look at a ballet and how it takes shape.

Interview by Ismene Brown -- "Gang-rape and ballet: Thiago Soares and The Judas Tree"

Rudolf Nureyev - Rudolf Noureev l'Attraction Céleste :

Ninette de Valois: Adventurous Traditionalist Conference April 2011 "The Royal Ballet School is to host a Conference to mark the 10th Anniversary of the death of the Founder of The Royal Ballet School and Companies, Dame Ninette de Valois OM, CH, DBE (1898 - 2001). Entitled Ninette de Valois: Adventurous Traditionalist this significant and wide-reaching event will be held over the first weekend of April, 2011; opening at the Upper School, Floral Street, Covent Garden on 1-2 April, and concluding on Sunday 3 April at the Lower School, White Lodge, Richmond Park. The aim of the Conference is to facilitate a rigorous and multi-disciplinary exploration of de Valois’ life and legacy, while promoting a productive exchange between dance practitioners, academics, social historians and cultural commentators, in the context of ballet and the wider theatre." "On 26 March 2010 the Conference website will go live and it will be possible to access regular updates about contributors, events and the development of resources from the Conference proceedings."

Carlos Acosta talks in this video about his career, the Royal Ballet and what the trip to Cuba meant to him. "Carlos Acosta has been hailed as ballet's next major star. The Cuban dancer, of mixed Spanish and African heritage, came to prominence in the early 1990s while still in his teens, and joined England's Royal Ballet in 1998. Since 2003 he has enjoyed the rank of Principal Guest Artist. In his story Carlos describes how he has found a home for his art in London and how he sees the vibrant cultural mix of Britain as being reflected in the company of the Royal Ballet. The dynamism which results provides, he believes, the foundation for an exciting pushing back of creative boundaries."

Sybil Shearer's evaluation of John Neumeier quoted in a review of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. "His praise continues, as the woman who discovered him (none other than the mystical dancer Sybil Shearer) reflects on the choreographer’s progression, ‘Yes, the phenomenon of John Neumeier is unique in the world of ballet. He is avant-garde in an entirely different way from anyone else. He is not rebelling, he is not straining for recognition, lie is not taking up a cause, or joining a school, or throwing out the past. He is simple; through his own integrity and insight, pointing a way to the future.’"

Article about the Mark Morris Dance Group giving dance classes for people with Parkinson's: Dancing away the Parkinson's blues "The Morris dancers began offering dance classes to patients in New York nine years ago. The idea was to use dance instructors and live music to help people focus on movement and rhythm. Now, the dancers travel across the country, offering classes and training workshops."

'Transmitted from Moscow in High Definition, the Bolshoi Ballet performing one of their most prestigious productions, Les Flammes de Paris – over 130 dancers on stage!" Notice of film times. Wednesday 31 March, 7.00.

Agnes, do you think it is likely that this will come out on dvd?

Thank you, carbro, for that heads up. A very poignant moment when Franklin talked about performing: "I can walk onto that huge Met stage... and there is always somebody out there that remembers... which is lovely...."

Link to program - active for a few days only.

Thanks for mentioning this book, Bart. I am enjoying it. There is a podcast of the author discussing The Pearl at the Seattle Public Library linked to from his website.

Do you have iTunes (a free download)? If you don't already have the software you need to choose a pc or mac version and download it to your computer. Open iTunes Open "iTunes Store" from the menu down the left side You need to give them your credit card number the first time but you don't need to use it and there are lots of free podcasts. Once the Store opens type into the search box in the top right hand corner: royal ballet When you get the search result scroll down There are two iTunes U (I am not sure why) for the Royal Ballet (all free videos) The first one has subjects you can subscribe to (to get all the videos) The second one looks like it is the individual videos -- there are about 50 videos and pdfs on various subjects I wish they had just one site that you could subscribe to but for some reason they have separated the subjects. I especially enjoyed the rehearsals.

Dance on iTunes U "The Royal Opera House will make opera, music, ballet and dance content available on iTunes U, a dedicated area within the iTunes store. iTunes U offers free educational content, available for download. Content on the Royal Opera House’s site will include a specially commissioned series of films aimed at dance students, entitled In Rehearsal, shot by the Balletboyz. The first film, Romeo and Juliet In Rehearsal, shows Lesley Collier coaching Royal Ballet artist Leanne Cope in Juliet’s potion scene. The six films explore key works from The Royal Ballet’s repertory, including Mayerling, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Giselle. The new films sit alongside a variety of existing multi-media content on opera and ballet from the Royal Opera House archives. These include film, audio and written resources on specific productions, or from the ROH Education’s Insight events programme, such as master classes, interviews with artists and backstage staff and sessions focusing on specific repertory. Almost 300 items will be made available, with the aim of releasing about 1000 items within the first year. The Royal Opera house is the first performing arts organisation in Europe to launch its own iTunes U site, and the third in the world (following American Theatre Wing and Washington National Opera)." From Dancing Times

Laura McCulloch ( Royal Ballet Soloist ) studies the role of Myrtha in Giselle prepared by Monica Mason ( Royal Ballet Director ). Here is a youtube of the rehearsal.

Helena Wulff makes the statement in her book: A central dichotomy in the ballet world is the one separating the act of doing ballet from watching ballet: 'You have to do it in order to understand what it's like.' It seems primarily to be the physical exertion of dancing that makes dancers distinguish themselves from the audience in general, and from critics in particular. Somehow, I can't imagine a musician saying this and I was wondering what others think.

with Seymour and Dowell (1980) is now on youtube.

Are there any recommendations for a useful book for dancers on this topic?

Beautiful of one of Pushkin's classes.