volcanohunter Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 Does anyone know anything about Yukichi Hattori's decision to join Alberta Ballet? Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Alberta Ballet and have the highest respect for its artistic standards, but I'm still amazed that a dancer would trade in a soloist position with the Hamburg Ballet for Calgary, especially since he was such a favourite of John Neumeier's. I see that Galien Johnston is also making the move from Hamburg to Calgary. I suppose Albertans ought to be grateful! Link to comment
Helene Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 Welcome to Ballet Talk, volcanohunter. We hope you enjoy the board and will introduce yourself on our Welcome Forum by clicking "New Topic" at the top right of the forum page. If we find any official news on the changes, we'll be sure to post them here. Seven new dancers is a lot for a Company of 20 or so. Perhaps the local press will publish an article introducing the new dancers. Link to comment
Geier Posted September 5, 2006 Share Posted September 5, 2006 I'm still amazed that a dancer would trade in a soloist position with the Hamburg Ballet for Calgary, especially since he was such a favourite of John Neumeier's. I Hattori, as the most famous Jiri Bubenicek, that recently moved to Dresden, is not only a dancer, but also a choreographer and will probably find more room for his own creations in a Alberta Ballet than in Hamburg, where the "competition" with John Neumeier would be quite hard. That possibility could compensate for leaving from a soloist position in such a top level company. Here a link, in German, reporting that reason "Hattori hat starke choreographische Ambitionen, die er hoffentlich auch in seiner neuen Wirkungsstätte, dem "Alberta Ballet" im kanadischen Calgary, verfeinern kann." http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2006/04/01/549235.html [Edited by Helene to add: The Babelfish translation is "Having tori has strong choreographische ambitions, which it hopefully also in its new effect place, which "Alberta clench" in the Canadian Calgary, refine can", or to spruce that up a bit, "Hattori has strong choreographic ambitions, which he hopes to refine at his new company, the Alberta Ballet."] Link to comment
volcanohunter Posted September 5, 2006 Author Share Posted September 5, 2006 Thank you for the welcome, Helene. I'm hopeful I'll find other Alberta Ballet viewers on this forum. From what my very bad German allows me to understand, Yukichi Hattori went in search of new challenges, and since he and Galien Johnston are a couple, they wanted to go to a company that would take them both. Galien was born in Lethbridge, not too far from Calgary, so it's a sort of homecoming for her. If anyone comes across any additional information, I hope they'll share it here. You're right, Alberta Ballet does have a high turnover rate. Several former members are now with Boston Ballet and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal, but so many others have come and gone that it's hard to keep track. If it's true that Alberta Ballet now has 27 dancers, that means it's larger than the Royal Winnipeg Ballet for the first time. I'm glad Alberta's oil revenue has finally turned into something useful. Link to comment
volcanohunter Posted September 7, 2006 Author Share Posted September 7, 2006 Thanks for the information, Geier. As soon as Alberta Ballet schedules a Hattori ballet, I'll be sure to post the information. Link to comment
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