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2020: Free Streaming during COVID-19 Crisis


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Yesterday’s Mariinsky broadcast of “Giselle” featuring Diana Vishneva is now available.

Magnificent theatrical performance by her !

I know where I might be spending a lot of time today.

 

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1 hour ago, Roberta said:

For those particularly interested in seeing brand-new content -- complete-ballet performances never before released on DVD or cinemas or streaming -- we have at least three offerings coming today. All three companies have YouTube channels, which should be easily accessible on big-screen televisions...at least they are via my Comcast TV system...speak "YouTube" into the remote control, then search by each company's name. I just checked my YouTube-TV and all three ballets are in the system but won't commence until the indicated starting times. Enjoy.

Coming today, in this order: (all times Eastern US)

5:30PM EST - San Francisco Ballet - Edwaard Liang's The Infinite Ocean to Oliver Davis' music (available through Fri, May 8 at 3pm EST)

8:00PM EST - NYCBallet - Balanchine's Ballo Della Regina (to Verdi music) and Wheeldon's After the Rain PDD (to Aarvo Part)  (available until sometime next Tuesday, when Rubies is uploaded)

10:00PM EST - Pacific Northwest Ballet - Alejandro Cerrudo's One Thousand Pieces to Philip Glass music (avail through May 6 at 10pm EST)

Why only the After the Rain PDD? Why not the complete ballet?

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On 4/29/2020 at 11:16 AM, naomikage said:

Compania Nacional de Danza's Don Quixote with Maria Kochetkova and Joaquin de Luz, choreographed by Jose Martinez. Will be available till May 3rd.

 

Thank you, Naomikage.

I've just watched Act I.

Maria Kochetkova is Delightful !

The production is charming. To see a Compania Nacional de Danza de Espana dancing Don Quixote must be worth watching. (Until May 3)

 

 

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15 hours ago, pherank said:

Why only the After the Rain PDD? Why not the complete ballet?

I can’t say what the company is thinking, but the pas de deux has often been programmed on its own. It wouldn’t surprise me if some people judge it most effective as a stand alone piece.

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1 hour ago, Drew said:

I can’t say what the company is thinking, but the pas de deux has often been programmed on its own. It wouldn’t surprise me if some people judge it most effective as a stand alone piece.

Also, the recording they used may have been from one of those stand-alone performances of the PDD. (I have no idea.) And the streams have tended to be in the 30-minute range, as this one was.

Edited by nanushka
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8 hours ago, Buddy said:

The production is charming. To see a Compania Nacional de Danza de Espana dancing Don Quixote must be worth watching. (Until May 3)

 

If you're missing Joaquin du Luz, this wonderful performance will remind you why. He's terrific!

So is Kochetkova. I was much more impressed by this than I ever was by her performances with ABT years ago. Free-lancing seems to serve her well. And they are both obviously having a great time.

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3 minutes ago, canbelto said:

After the Rain pdd is almost always seen as a standalone at NYCB nowadays. 

If I read the dates correctly, this was her retirement performance. Most of that is included on her DVD, Restless Creature:

https://www.amazon.com/Restless-Creature-Whalen-Linda-Saffire/dp/B075P9VPCX/

And it's included (for now) on Amazon Prime, if you subscribe.

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9 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

The kind of thing I was never likely to see in pre-pandemic days. Eugene Ballet in Suzanne Haag's The Firebird.

 

 

I got into this after a quick glance because I found the Firebird ballerina to be -- Uhm ! -- 'Sensual.'

I really enjoyed it all. I'm a particular fan of 'waves of dancers' choreography, done very well here.

Thanks, Volcanohunter, for this and all the other that you're finding.

Edited by Buddy
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5 hours ago, California said:

If you're missing Joaquin du Luz, this wonderful performance will remind you why. He's terrific!

So is Kochetkova. I was much more impressed by this than I ever was by her performances with ABT years ago. Free-lancing seems to serve her well. And they are both obviously having a great time.

This is not a partnership I would immediately have conceived of, but De Luz's buoyant charm and unbridled enthusiasm seems to entice Kochetkova to turn it up here. I've seen such performances from her back at SFB, but she had to have the right partner to do it. Otherwise Masha starts to approach things in a more mechanical fashion.

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Edwaard Liang's The Infinite Ocean doesn't happen to be one of my SFB favorites. It's all very nice and sweet, but I find much of the choreography eminently forgettable. Cotton candy neoclassicism. The choreography is so devoid of buoyancy it does seem like the point is that everyone appear weighted down by circumstances. Sylve and Helimet's PDD is a highlight, and YYT and Carlo Di Lanno's too, but a number of the group sequences look a bit ragged and unrehearsed. That isn't a shock though given the crazy demands of the 2018 Unbound Festival (12 ballets created and rehearsed all at the same time). YYT has been described as something of a muse for Liang and so it's not surprising that her PDD with Di Lanno has more emotional intensity, and perhaps "meaning", than much of the other variations. I still feel like I've seen it all before, and in a more inventive fashion.

Since The Infinite Ocean is not particularly challenging for either the audience or the dancers, it strikes me as a better fit for smaller regional companies looking for something neoclassical to do. But world-class dancers are not required to perform this piece, and I don't feel it's a good fit for many of the cast members who really require a challenge to shine. YYT's limber physique probably fits these languid movements and soft poses as well as anyone, but Sofiane Sylve is largely wasted here - Liang is just lucky to have those wonderful arms to work with. We get a chance to see Sofiane's smiling face and recall great performances of the past - as she prepares to leave North America and finish her career Europe - but this isn't my idea of one more thrilling performance. I'll just hold on to the memory of Sylve in Anima Animus...

[I'd be happy to hear from fans of this ballet though]

Edited by pherank
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Not ballet! But ... one of the best things of this kind that I've seen yet.

Stile Antico, a UK-based early music ensemble, performs a socially-distanced version of Thomas Tallis' 40 part a cappella motet Spem in alium (for eight small choirs of five voices each, each voice singing a different line). Since Stile Antico is only a 12 voice chorus, they each had to perform more than one voice part. Thanks to the magic of our digital age, they were able to record this version in isolation on their smartphones and make a video out of it. 

It's not as thrilling as hearing it live, but one big advantage to a video like this is that you can actually see how the different voices and choirs weave together to make the glorious whole. Here's Stile Antico's note to the video:

"The word ‘quarantine’ derives from the 14th-century Venetian word quarantena, meaning ‘forty days’ – the length of time for which ships had to be isolated during the Black Death before their crews were allowed on shore.

To mark forty days of lockdown in the UK, Stile Antico has created a socially-distanced video recording of Thomas Tallis’ legendary forty-part motet, Spem in alium, whose affirmative text and monumental musical confidence resonate in these troubled times.

To produce the video, the twelve members of group each recorded multiple parts using smartphones in their own homes, and tenor Benedict Hymas painstakingly wove them together to create the final performance. The video premieres on YouTube on Saturday 2nd May at 10am London time."

Here's their website - https://www.stileantico.co.uk

 

Text & Translation

Spem in alium nunquam habui
Praeter in te, Deus Israel
Qui irasceris et propitius eris
et omnia peccata hominum
in tribulatione dimittis
Domine Deus
Creator caeli et terrae
respice humilitatem nostram

I have never put my hope in any other
but in Thee, God of Israel
who canst show both wrath and graciousness,
and who absolves all the sins
of man in suffering
Lord God,
Creator of Heaven and Earth
Regard our humility

Edited by Kathleen O'Connell
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It’s an amazing piece. Thanks for the link @Kathleen O'Connell.

I have to admit I have found quarantine videos as a form to be generally depressing. I want to like them, but ultimately I just get more pleasure out of watching videos from live performances and feeling at least somewhat transported back to such experiences.

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10 hours ago, nanushka said:

I have to admit I have found quarantine videos as a form to be generally depressing.

I enjoy the the solo and wildly creative I-have-too-much-time-on-my-hands little videos that pop up on TikTok, IG, and Twitter— e.g., Mary Neely's delightful recreations of famous musicals using whatever props and costumes she can cobble together from her own closets—but I agree that most of the "alone together" performing arts efforts can feel like rituals of grief even if their intention is to spark hope and community.

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2 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

...but I agree that most of the "alone together" performing arts efforts can feel like rituals of grief even if their intention is to spark hope and community.

You've hit the nail (of my sentiment, at least) right on the head there.

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12 minutes ago, jeff-sh said:

Balanchine Ballets by Perm Opera Ballet Theater coming up at 10AM

Good video of Ballet Imperial is always welcome, IMO. There's too little of it available. I do wish NYCB would include it in their spring line-up. We get to see plenty of Rubies. I'm hoping some of the gaps in the recorded Balanchine rep will be filled in by the end of all this.

(Though I personally don't find Megan Fairchild at all a great fit in Ballo della Regina, I'm glad to see a complete recorded performance of it other than the Dance in America video.)

Edited by nanushka
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1 hour ago, nanushka said:

(Though I personally don't find Megan Fairchild at all a great fit in Ballo della Regina, I'm glad to see a complete recorded performance of it other than the Dance in America video.)

The Dance in America Ballo never engaged me. I found the ballet much more interesting in the actual stage version currently available at www.nycballet.com.

Opposite to what nanushka said, I really liked Megan Fairchild in this, and also Catazaro. Definitely, watching this helped me to see many of the things you pointed at when I asked about Balanchine style. One more time, thank you all for that!

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20 hours ago, eduardo said:

The Dance in America Ballo ... I really liked Megan Fairchild in this, and also Catazaro...

Huxley. This is Catazaro https://www.kennedy-center.org/video/digital-stage/ballet/2018/new-york-city-ballet-live-from-rehearsal-tschaikovsky-pas-de-deux--the-kennedy-center/ .   KC digital stage has Tarantella rehearsal, Farrell coached Divertmento No 15, etc.

R&J [Abrera-Gomes] https://www.facebook.com/mtyibg/videos/2853074474810225/?t=5

Edited by maps
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