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National Ballet of Canada 2018-19 season


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4 hours ago, kylara7 said:

Was it really because Pite was too busy? How do we know that is the reason? Or was the announcement of Pite's new work a scramble to respond to public critique about the lack of woman choreographers (e.g., Martha Schabas' Twitter, the NBoC social media accounts, among other places) and the lack of diversity in general? I mean, Emergence was 2009....that's a long time and the programming has been less than exciting over the past decade...I (and others) have a lot of questions.

So busy that a decade goes by without follow up? I doubt it.. 

Saw the performance last night and since no one else appears to have gone thought i will share some thoughts.

The Dreamers Ever Leave You was painful. There is no way around it. It did not seem to say anything, take you anywhere, and at points I was uncertain if it would ever end. When the curtain finally came down the overwhelming sense was "thank goodness". More than anyone I felt sad for the dancers. Here are some wonderfully talented artists in the prime of their careers and doing what? Stomping their feet...trying to make the best of a situation that everyone is absolutely sick of. Had it not been for my work colleauge who attended with me I would not have noticed just how many people appear to have skipped this piece entirely. The house was not nearly full, but it was certainly more full for the second two ballets. If i choose to go again i will definitely do the same and show up late and I would recommend the same. I would not wish the experience on anybody.

The Four Seasons was like this tsunami of dance that arrived at the best time. After the torture of the first piece we got to see what real, wonderful dancing/choreography can do. The audiences was invigorated and it was palpable. Hodgkinson/Cote were breathtaking and the company looked so engaged and present. The corps was not as together as they should have been and I still don't understand why each female dancer season was in a wedding dress at the end but even that aside - this was DANCING and the standing ovation was deserved entirely.

Emergence I had actually already seen in Seattle so I knew that it was a very strong piece from probably one of the top couple choreographers working today. The piece is still phenominal. What stood out to me  this time was the sound design. I am unsure if it is actually changed since the last time but it was so so cool this time and even if the dancers weren't as together as they were in Seattle in the unison sections I didnt mind because they commited fully. I had hoped to see James/Lunkina in the duet but it it was again Hodgkinson/Cote, who were, again sublime. Perhaps Lunkina/James is (are) injured? Also where is Evan Mckie? 

Overall I would say this program really showed the dancers off well. And it was also I think great for the audience because (despite Karen Kain's determination to put Binet on the "same level" as Pite/Kudelka) you just can't fake good dance. It was so crystal clear, so obvious, that the works were on a different level entirely... And I think that even the most uneducated audience can tell the difference. Perhaps that is where the company really misstepped. You can't help but wonder if they still think it was all really worth it.

Looking forward to Sleeping  Beauty next week. This production sounds/looks sumptuous!!

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Thanks for the review.  Am going to the matinee tomorrow (March 4).  I should check casting; am not anticipating a great start to the afternoon....

I have always enjoyed the Four Seasons, so looking forward to that.  Emergence - have seen multiple times. Have issues with the bug heads and the dark lighting, but have always appreciated the dancing and Pite's work.

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Evan McKie is injured. He;s been off since January, when he had to be replaced in the Ottawa performances of Nijinsky.

I'm not sure why people need convincing that Crystal Pite is and has been very busy and that it's hard to find time for her to create a new piece for the NBOC. For one thing, she had a baby in 2010, not long after Emergence premiered.  She also runs her own company, Kidd Pivot.

In 2010, Kidd Pivot signed a two-year deal (which was later extended to three years) to become the resident company of Kunstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt. As part of the deal the company changed their name to Kidd Pivot Frankfort RM and premiered new choreography by Pite.[24] This caused her to split her time between Frankfurt and her hometown of Vancouver. Kidd Pivot also increased their touring schedule that year as the company was invited to perform in various countries.[1]

In 2011 Pite premiered Tempest Replica.

In 2013 Sadler's Wells appointed Pite as an associated artist. The following year Sadler’s Wells performed Tempest Replica at its United Kingdom premiere.[30] Pite took this opportunity to rework and improve upon the piece, stating "it wasn’t done. It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t what it was going to be. I knew that I would need more time and money to fix it."[27] This version of Tempest Replica won Pite the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance.[31]

Polaris was Pite's first original work with Sadler's Wells.[2] Premiering in 2014, it was part of a larger program called Thomas Adès: See the Music, Hear the Dance to honor the music of Thomas Adès.[32] It was danced to Adès' song Polaris[33] played by 75 musicians placed throughout the theatre.[34] and featured 64 dancers from her company Kidd Pivot and the London Contemporary Dance School.[32]

Pite premiered a new dance piece at Panamania during the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. Betroffenheit is a collaboration between Pite and Jonathon Young, co-artistic director of Vancouver-based theatre group Electric Company Theatre, with dancers from Kidd Pivot.  It has been on tour widely since then. Here is the touring schedule for just the next four months:

Santa Monica, California, USA

Betroffenheit
February 14 – 16, 2018 | The Broad Stage

Taipei, Taiwan

Betroffenheit
February 23 – 25, 2018 | Taiwan International Festival of Arts

Wellington, New Zealand

Betroffenheit
March 3 – 4, 2018 | New Zealand Festival

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Betroffenheit
March 14 – 17, 2018 | DanceHouse

Seattle, Washington, USA

Betroffenheit
March 23 – 24, 2018 | On The Boards // Seattle Theatre Group

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Betroffenheit
March 30 – April 1, 2018 | Citadel Theatre

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Betroffenheit
April 6 – 7, 2018 | NAC Theatre

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Betroffenheit
April 19 – 22, 2018 | Canadian Stage

Zurich, Switzerland

Betroffenheit
April 28, 2018 | Dance Festival Steps

Fribourg, Switzerland

Betroffenheit
May 2, 2018 | Dance Festival Steps

Sevilla, Spain

Betroffenheit
May 11 – 12, 2018 | Teatro Central

Turin, Italy

Betroffenheit
May 17 – 18, 2018 | Teatro Stabile Torino

Bruges, Belgium

Betroffenheit
May 24, 2018 | Concertgebouw Brugge

Oslo, Norway

Betroffenheit
May 29-30, 2018 | Vulkan Oslo

Montreal, Québec, Canada

Betroffenheit
June 5-7, 2018 | FTA

 

In 2016 she created The Season's Canon for Paris Opera Ballet. This is being brought back in May of this year.

In 2017, the Royal Opera House commissioned a new piece from Pite, Flight Pattern; it premiered there in March 2017.

Paris Opera Ballet has commissioned a new work from her for 2019.

For Nederlands Dans Theater she has created since 2009 the following: Plot Point (2010, nominated for the prestigious Benois de La Dance award), Solo Echo (2012), Parade (2013), In the Event (2015), and The Statement (2016). In season 2017-2018 Pite will create a new piece for the NDT 1 programme Savoir Faire, which will premiere on May 17, 2018.

In addition, Emergence has been staged by, among other companies, PNB, Scottish Ballet, and Zurich Ballet and presumably Pite visits those companies when the ballet is being staged.

 

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So getting back to the subject..

Anyone else see the mixed program? I found the following review.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/theatre-reviews/review-made-in-canada-gives-a-panoramic-view-of-the-national-ballet/article38170873/?utm_medium=Referrer:+Social+Network+/+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts from this afternoon mom2.

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Yes, we know that Crystal Pite has been busy because other companies have been requesting her work, but that doesn't tell us anything about whether or not NBoC has also been requesting her work during the last decade. Are we simply assuming that they asked and were told "sorry...too busy" or do we know that as a fact?

I'm sorry to hear that Evan McKie is injured. Has there been an announcement from NBoC or information posted on social media? I haven't seen anything, and I'd like to be able to separate fact from hearsay/opinion.

Edited by kylara7
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This is what the press release said:

Crystal is an important voice and I greatly admire her work. I am so pleased to have secured this new commission from her,” said Ms. Kain. “Ever since she created her outstanding Emergence for the National Ballet in 2009, Crystal has been in such high demand around the world. I have wanted her to create another work for us for many years and it is now coming to fruition.

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Went to the show today.  Feel like I should post here, although the thread is really for next season....

First was Binet's piece.  Agree with JumpFrog - it was painful.  Student level choreography in my opinion, and LONG.  This piece was FORTY MINUTES long.  Five would have been quite sufficient.  Luckily for Binet, he had incredibly talented dancers to work with.  There are 9 or 10 dancers for this work - four changes were announced so I'm not really sure who I saw exactly.  Isn't this quite a high percentage of changes?

Next was Kudelka's Four Seasons. This is a favourite of mine, both in terms of music and choreography.  I'll note that, in the Winter entrance, one of the dancers (Ottman, who was not named in the program) lost his eyeglasses and they stayed on the stage for the longest time.  I was amazed that nobody tripped!  Finally someone picked them up.

Finally Pite's Emergence. This has been performed a number of times by NBOC in recent years.  I have seen this several times before, and I appreciate it but to be honest I don't really enjoy it. I try, but it's just not my taste (I know, I'm in the minority here).  That said, this work is well beyond the level of Binet's piece, just so we are clear.  Again, I think this work really showed the skill of the NBOC dancers, and I imagine that Pite was hoping for this when she created the piece.

In summary, this is a company fully of extraordinarily talented dancers.  I think KK could have come up with a better program to show Canadian works on this company.

 

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10 hours ago, kbarber said:

This is what the press release said:

Crystal is an important voice and I greatly admire her work. I am so pleased to have secured this new commission from her,” said Ms. Kain. “Ever since she created her outstanding Emergence for the National Ballet in 2009, Crystal has been in such high demand around the world. I have wanted her to create another work for us for many years and it is now coming to fruition.

Frustratingly vague, but it's something...

Anything official on McKie? I"m sure that it's blow to lose him as a Prince Florimund going into Sleeping Beauty.

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On 2/13/2018 at 5:24 PM, California said:

Does anyone know dates of the Northern Fall for Dance? It just says "October 2018." Coincidentally, I have a meeting in Toronto in October and would love to see the Peck again. (But nothing else on their schedule is sufficiently intriguing to make me want to travel to Canada to see it.)

https://national.ballet.ca/Productions/2018-19-Season/Fall-for-Dance

Fall for Dance North will take place on October 2-6.

https://www.ffdnorth.com/

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posted this afternoon on NBOC instagram:

nationalballet2018/19 Promotions: Congratulations to Skylar Campbell and Francesco Gabriele Frola on being promoted to Principal Dancer.

nationalballet2018/19 Promotions: Jack Bertinshaw will be promoted to First Soloist. 

nationalballet2018/19 Promotions: Congratulations to Christopher Gerty, Spencer Hack and Miyoko Koyasu who will be promoted to Second Soloist. 

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with Frola now, Caley, Hernandez, Robison, the stunning young Mexican American, McCormick and the PdL winner Wagman to come Rojo seems to be again building a strong male stable for ENB - having lost Canadian/Cuban Corrales to the RB (much akin to Muntagirov previously).  It enforces ENB's role as a significant training ground towards further glory much as it served for Canadian born Rojo herself in times past.  The stealth of her arm (and taste) has continued to pay significant dividends.  Long may it do so. 

Edited by meunier fan
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1 hour ago, meunier fan said:

with Frola now, Caley, Hernandez, Robison, the stunning young Mexican American, McCormick and the PdL winner Wagman to come Rojo seems to be again building a strong male stable for ENB - having lost Canadian/Cuban Corrales to the RB (much akin to Muntagirov previously).  It enforces ENB's role as a significant training ground towards further glory much as it served for Canadian born Rojo herself in times past.  The stealth of her arm (and taste) has continued to pay significant dividends.  Long may it do so. 

nice for you guys, not so much for us!

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14 hours ago, mom2 said:

posted this afternoon on NBOC instagram:

nationalballet2018/19 Promotions: Congratulations to Skylar Campbell and Francesco Gabriele Frola on being promoted to Principal Dancer.

nationalballet2018/19 Promotions: Jack Bertinshaw will be promoted to First Soloist. 

nationalballet2018/19 Promotions: Congratulations to Christopher Gerty, Spencer Hack and Miyoko Koyasu who will be promoted to Second Soloist. 

It is shocking to me that Dylan Tedaldi would not be promoted.   Technically, he is amazing, and so strong at both classical and contemporary work.  

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What the company really needs is a tall male principal to partner the taller young women Karen Kain has been advancing. What they've added instead are a short and a shortish male principal. Granted, the company performs almost no 19th-century ballet anymore, so the fact that Tedaldi could never play a leading man is less of an impediment than it once was. But he's also short. These men can't stand on each others' shoulders to partner Hannah Fischer or Alexandra MacDonald. The fundamental hole in the male ranks remains. (And it can't be filled by Brendan Saye or Christopher Gerty until they learn how to do a grand allegro manège, which, unfortunately, neither can at the moment.)

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27 minutes ago, volcanohunter said:

What the company really needs is a tall male principal to partner the taller young women Karen Kain has been advancing. What they've added instead are a short and a shortish male principal. Granted, the company performs almost no 19th-century ballet anymore, so the fact that Tedaldi could never play a leading man is less of an impediment than it once was. But he's also short. These men can't stand on each others' shoulders to partner Hannah Fischer or Alexandra MacDonald. The fundamental hole in the male ranks remains. (And it can't be filled by Brendan Saye or Christopher Gerty until they learn how to do a grand allegro manège, which, unfortunately, neither can at the moment.)

While I understand the dilemma with the tall women, Tedaldi could certainly play a leading man with the right woman.  He is no shorter than Cornejo or Simkin at ABT, and he certainly has the ability to carry a leading role, unless something has happened since he has been at NBoC.  I knew him as a student in Boston and in Hamburg.  

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Unfortunately, Tedaldi has nothing like their technical or stylistic refinement, build or even posture. It has nothing to do with the size of the ballerina. Tedaldi's limitations go beyond size. 

The National Ballet of Canada has had short leading men. Kevin Pugh and Jeremy Ransom spring to mind immediately. But they were unimpeachable classicists and virtuosos, the likes of which the company does not have today.

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Tedaldi is a wonderfully talented dancer.  No less so in my view than the two who were promoted.  His height is similar to theirs as well.  He and Campbell joined the company the same year; Frola the following year.  I actually haven't seen much of Frola in a leading role (that blasted Sunday matinee again), but his photo appears often in publicity material and he has been getting some nice casting in the last season and a bit so obviously KK et al liked him.  Would be interesting to know whether the ENB contract came before he was given principal status with NBOC.

 

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16 hours ago, McJagger said:

My daughter attended a dress rehearsal of Paz de la Jolla the other night. Dylan Tedaldi spoke to the group in the intermission and said he was leaving the company to go to a contemporary company in Israel. 

Sorry to hear that, but I am sure Dylan will be successful in anything he does.

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