#FlashbackFriday

[pherank]

3 hours ago, canbelto said:

As long as there's racism, I don't think anyone can say that they're "exempt." If you are white in America, you can't say you "don't see race" because the fact is many people only see race, and you're the beneficiary of that attitude. 

Also people don't get to "choose" when that choice is made for them. Again, this is not limited to POC. I'm going to go with the GS Warriors again -- Steve Kerr can't "choose" to not see race if he wants to manage his team because the fact is he coaches a majority black/mixed race team. He himself is white, but because of the people he has to coach everyday, he can't take himself out of that discussion.

I think ballet companies are finally coming to that realization that they can't take themselves out of the dicsussion either and that's a good thing.

Totally agree. Have you read the recent NYT interview with Alonzo King Lines? I've always liked how his mind works - he makes me smile:

"How do you feel when you see so many white dancers or artists or anyone really suddenly start to embrace Black Lives Matter?

I think that something profound is really happening because we are moving into a higher age, and I think that there has to be a recognition that I’m black. Whatever color I am. That’s the real deep part — when will it be a time where any man wouldn’t mind being a woman? It wouldn’t matter. Do you get me?"

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/arts/dance/alonzo-king-lines.html

 

Which immediately reminded me of something Jon Stewart (and Chris Rock) recently talked about:

Does the scale and intensity of the protests suggest some positive strides toward accountability?

"Maybe. Look, every advancement toward equality has come with the spilling of blood. Then, when that’s over, a defensiveness from the group that had been doing the oppressing. There’s always this begrudging sense that black people are being granted something, when it’s white people’s lack of being able to live up to the defining words of the birth of the country that is the problem. There’s a lack of recognition of the difference in our system. Chris Rock used to do a great bit: ‘‘No white person wants to change places with a black person. They don’t even want to exchange places with me, and I’m rich.’’ It’s true. There’s not a white person out there who would want to be treated like even a successful black person in this country. And if we don’t address the why of that treatment, the how is just window dressing. You know, we’re in a bizarre time of quarantine. White people lasted six weeks and then stormed a state building with rifles, shouting: ‘‘Give me liberty! This is causing economic distress! I’m not going to wear a mask, because that’s tyranny!’’ That’s six weeks versus 400 years of quarantining a race of people. The policing is an issue, but it’s the least of it. We use the police as surrogates to quarantine these racial and economic inequalities so that we don’t have to deal with them."

http:// https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/15/magazine/jon-stewart-interview.html

Edited June 20, 2020 by pherank

[pherank]

SFB website posting:

June 19, 2020

SF Ballet @ Home will take a pause on June 19th to participate in Juneteenth. Inspired by MoBBallet, we’re joining the global dance community to uplift “the diversity of Black people’s beauty, creativity, ingenuity, elegance, power and perseverance” by using our platforms to feature some of the incredible artists within our own organization, and in our social Stories, artists from across the field of dance. Please visit us on Facebook and Instagram to see these stories, and come back next Friday, June 26 as we resume SF Ballet @ Home with a Director’s Choice program.

UPCOMING STREAMS

Friday, June 26, 2020 at 2:30 pm PDT

Director's Choice Program

Soirees Musicales
Pas de deux from After the Rain
Concerto Grosso

Note: 2020 Opening Night Gala programming originally scheduled for June 26 has been moved to a later date in June, please stay tuned for more information.

[nanushka]

On 6/14/2020 at 7:10 PM, On Pointe said:

"Relatively little outside hiring" is not the same as "no outside hiring".  

Indeed, and the company recently announced a rather prominent outside hire:

 

[On Pointe]

I first became aware of the MacKay brothers when I caught a late night story on CNN about their attempt to return home to see their gravely ill father.  Julian is a beautiful dancer (I believe his brother is more interested in photography now),  but given his youth and lack of experience with a contemporary repertoire,  it might have been a better idea to bring him in at the soloist level.  He seems totally invested in the Russian approach to ballet and enamored with their culture.  Having spent his formative years abroad,  living and working at "home" is going to take a major attitude adjustment.  In my opinion,  that photo does him and SFB no favors.  The "heroin chic" look is so 20th century,  and if I hadn't seen Julian MacKay in interviews,  I would have zero interest in seeing the person depicted dance.

[pherank]

SF Ballet @ Home

Stay tuned for the next stream, tomorrow, Fri, June 26 at 2:30 pm PDT featuring a Mixed Repertory Program with three crowd-pleasing ballets.   Tomasson’s Soirées Musicales opens the program. The San Francisco Chronicle hails the "spins, jumps and bravura technique" from principal dancers Misa Kuranaga and Angelo Greco. Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain pas de deux is a sensual duet between principal dancers Yuan Yuan Tan (who is celebrating her 25th anniversary with SF Ballet) and Luke Ingham. Tomasson's Concerto Grosso closes the stream with a high-energy quintet of male dancers. Plus, don’t miss an extra special SF Ballet @ Home stream of its 2020 Opening Night Gala program – SPELLBOUND – on Tues, June 30 at 10 am PDT, presented as a heartfelt message of appreciation to our patrons and donors. A new work by Choreographer in Residence Yuri Possokhov created for Yuan Yuan Tan will be streamed at intermission to celebrate her 25th anniversary with the Company. The stream will be available on SF Ballet @ Home, Facebook, IGTV, and YouTube.

[sf_herminator]

Gala is still up (for now) - I also posted this in the 2020 Gala Thread:  

The Opening Night Gala is still available for viewing.  It was going to be up util 11:59 PM last night, but that has been removed (for now) and can be seen on the SFB site, YT, FB, and IGTV.  Links as follows:  

SFB Site:  https://www.sfballet.org/sf-ballet-home/

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1byNQHeIBw&t=4815s

FB:  https://www.facebook.com/27923251292/videos/205300877368132

Instagram TV (in 2 parts):  

Part 1:  https://www.instagram.com/p/CCERyuOnkiK/

Part 2:  https://www.instagram.com/p/CCEXc9yHtDC/

At 'Intermission', there is a new piece created on Yuan Yuan Tan by Yuri Possokhov.  On Instagram, it is a separate video:  https://www.instagram.com/p/CCEW4VRn6xg/

Please go watch while it is available - and donate if you are able 🙂. 

[Phrenchphry11]

I've only been able to watch the first 20 minutes so far, but what a treat!  Stars and Stripes is so much fun!

[pherank]

KTVU interview with Helgi Tomasson, Sasha De Sola and Joseph Walsh about the Friday livestreams of archived performances:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFuHlxKzCv4