Thursday, June 10

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An obituary for Violetta Elvin by Anna Kisselgoff in The New York Times.

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Significantly, she excelled in “Ballet Imperial,” one of George Balanchine’s signature ballets but which was new to the Royal. Its first cast in London had Ms. Fonteyn as the principal ballerina, but its fast tempos and lack of visible preparations for steps did not come naturally to her.

 

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Charles and Camilla go to the ballet.

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Prince Charles, 72, and Camilla, 73, watched Balanchine and Robbins, which celebrates the two legendary American choreographers, at the London venue. 

 

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A review of Northern Ballet by Graham Watts for Bachtrack.

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In terms of risk, this liaison with Northern Ballet at Sadler’s Wells – the middle part of their brief three-venue, post-lockdown tour – was anything but dangerous. The specially adapted version of David Nixon’s full-length interpretation of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ 18th-century epistolary novel requires a small cast (just eleven dancers), no scenic transitions and an orchestra exclusively comprised of strings, which ticked all the boxes for socially-distanced performance and – in a very important sense – it seems only fair to review it against the essential requirement, which was to present a ballet for these times that was safe. 

 

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A review of the National Ballet of Japan by Naomi Mori for Bachtrack.

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One characteristic of Maki's version lies in the character portrayal of the Saracen prince, Abderakhman. In the opening sequence, Raymonda is secretly betrothed to the Crusader, Jean de Brienne, while Abderakhman adores her from a distance. Abderakhman is not just an infidel Muslim, but a young nobleman passionately in love with her, and is the only humane character in the ballet. Masahiro Nakaya portrayed the role with charisma, powerful leaps, clean classical technique and with much affection, stealing the spotlight in his appearance in Act 2. It was such a pity that this role has to disappear in this act with such short stage time, but Nakaya’s stage presence and characterisation was one of the afternoon's highlights.

 

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Seven dancers are leaving Pacific Northwest Ballet.

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Among those leaving is one of the company’s most senior dancers: principal Laura Tisserand, who joined PNB (as Laura Gilbreath) as an apprentice in 2003. She and her husband, Jerome Tisserand, a fellow principal dancer who’s been with the company since 2007, are leaving to take new positions at Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo. Also departing from the principal ranks is another longtime company member: William Lin-Yee, with PNB since 2004.

 

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A review of PNB by Sondra Forsyth for Broadway World.

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"Curious Kingdom", the program opener of Rep 6, is a world premiere by Tony-award winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. The first of the work's two parts, set to piano compositions by French Impressionist composers Erik Satie and Maurice Ravel, is decidedly contemporary with both men and women in shiny unitards although the women are on pointe. The second part, with tulle added to the costumes, is a suite of dances to songs sung by Edith Piaf. As always, the world-class PNB dancers show themselves to be versatile and accomplished.

 

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An obituary for Carla Fracci in The Irish Times.

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But it was with the Danish danseur noble Erik Bruhn that Fracci formed one of the great dance partnerships of the 20th century. It was a combination of opposites, described as “a meeting of ice and fire”. He was blond and restrained, she dark-haired and sprightly, but for a decade – following their first joint appearance in 1962 when he invited her to dance an extract of La Sylphide with him on the US TV show The Bell Telephone Hour – they had a perfect rapport.