Tuesday, December 8

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A review of the Royal Danish Ballet by Jann Parry for DanceTabs.

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The set for James’s Scottish farmhouse in Act I is intimately linked with the natural world outside. The interior is decorated with greenery for the celebration of his betrothal to Effy. Decorative curtains at the rear of the stage then become translucent when the Sylphide invites him to enter her woodland domain. Since the painted vegetation is primarily pink and purple, this cannot be a Scottish grove or glen. If it’s James’s fantasy world, how come he dreams in pink as an escape from his responsibilities as a married landowner? Perhaps the clue is in the unlikely hue of his bright blue tartan Highland dress. He’s no son of the soil, unlike soberly kilted Gurn (Benjamin Buza), in love with Effy.

 

[dirac]

A Houston Ballet program raises $75,000.

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All pre-recorded and streamed on Vimeo, the event didn’t even require waist-up Zoom attire for the viewers. (Host Ian Casady hinted with his opening segment that maybe the company’s dancers and staff were going half-casual. He wore loose pajama pants under his suit coat and tie.)

 

[dirac]

How dancer-manager Louis Antoine Duport helped make the first performances of Beethoven's Ninth happen.

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Duport eventually assumed the lease of the Kärntnertor, managing it until 1836, when he retired to Paris. He died in 1853 and was buried at Père Lachaise, where his tombstone is decorated with two female nudes, one appearing to sprout wings. Few who pass the monument probably realize that he was among the greatest dancers of his generation. Or that he played a major role in bringing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony to the world. But whenever voices rise up to sing “Ode to Joy,” we have Zephyr to thank.