Friday, March 27

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A review of an episode of "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" inspired by the recent scandal at New York City Ballet by Gia Kourlas in The New York Times.

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As for the way the scandal was portrayed? This was very much a TV version, typical in depicting the dance world in impossibly broad strokes. There were so many sordid twists that it was more farcical than shocking, making it seem that the original incident needed to be pumped up in order to be truly horrifying.

 

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Ballet Philippines cancels its final show of the season for health concerns.

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“We planned to finish our golden season grandly with two of Ballet Philippines’ masterpieces, Itim Asu and Rama, Hari. Unfortunately, this was not to be because COVID-19, an epidemic unprecedented in the annals of modern history,” Ballet Philippines president Kathleen Lior- Liechtenstein said in a statement.

 

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A review of the last performances of the Richard Alston Dance Company by Jann Parry for DanceTabs.

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After a pause for Ridgway’s piano to be brought on, Harriette and Shikkis danced Alston’s 2015 Mazur, to seven of Chopin’s mazurkas. Now the dancers and pianist acknowledged each other, agreeing on the phrasing with its syncopated rhythms and pauses for breath. Yes, it’s another piano ballet, like Jerome Robbins’s Dances at a Gathering in rep. at the Royal Opera House, but here the dancers were barefoot. Alston could set Mazur on ballet dancers in future because its choreography is close to balletic versions of Polish mazurkas.

 

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Houston Ballet shuts down "for the foreseeable future."

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Stephens also said the board’s executive committee voted unanimously to use cash on hand to pay dancers, staff and full-time teachers through the end of the current fiscal year. She noted that executive director Jim Nelson and artistic director Stanton Welch are “battle-hardened in dealing with crisis management” after Hurricane Harvey.

 

[dirac]

Pennsylvania Ballet cancels the balance of its season and makes changes to next season's schedule.

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Originally set to run April 2-5, Suspended in Time will move in its entirety (Suspended in Time, Clear and Matthew Neenan's world premiere Other Half) to the 2020-2021 season and will replace New Stories at the Perelman from January 29 to February 7. New Stories was scheduled to include three world premieres by Matt Neenan, Meredith Rainey, and Russell Ducker with music by Jennifer Higdon. Pennsylvania Ballet is coordinating with these artists for a future production.

 

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Performances and partying at American Ballet Theatre's Southern California engagement earlier this month.

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Arrivals were greeted with staff in white gloves passing flutes of champagne fronting a dramatic caviar bar set in ice sculptures created as a nod to ancient Greek statuary and adorned with a floral headdress of roses, Vanda orchids, Icelandic poppies and ferns.

 

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A review of an online performance of the BalletBoyz by Lynette Halewood for DanceTabs.

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Deluxe is available from 27 March on Sadler’s Wells Facebook page, and it’s an enterprising mix of short films from the rehearsal studio (which would have been projected in live performance) and performances of two new works, filmed earlier this year. Both commissions are from female choreographers, and they present strikingly different visions of the dancers, from aggressive uptight in-your-face masculinity to a serene, delicate and meditative. The contrast is fascinating. It is brilliantly well danced by the cast of six, and really is a welcome treat in these difficult times.