Sunday, June 13

[dirac]

An obituary for Japanese ballet dancer Mikiko Matsuyama.

Quote

Hailing from Kagoshima Prefecture, Matsuyama was selected as one of the first members of the Nihon Gekijo theater’s classic ballet section in 1936.

She performed in 1946 in “The Swan Lake” organized by a ballet company set up by dance critic Eiryo Ashihara and others. The performance proved to be a long-running hit at the Imperial Theater for a month.

 

[dirac]

A review of the Royal Ballet by David Jays in The Sunday Times.

Quote

Genius comes in many flavours. In ballet those flavours can sit at the sharp end of the spectrum — tangy with talent yet too often with an acrid aftertaste of controlling behaviour. Works by two icons of American ballet form a satisfying evening at the Royal Ballet. George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins were colleagues but very different — one assured in his talent, the other a diffident mess. Both made sublime work but often, through caprice and tantrum, pushed loyal dancers beyond their boundaries.

 

[dirac]

A preview of Ballet Festival Korea.

Quote

A total of 12 ballet works will be presented by 16 troupes including the KNB, UBC, Gwangju City Ballet, as well as Wise Ballet, Dance Company with Ju Hyun Jo, KYG Dance Company, Luda Lee Black Toe, JHI Ballet Creative and Dark Circles Contemporary Dance, among others.  
 

 

[dirac]

An interview with David McAllister.

Quote

McAllister says the AC “blows my mind a little bit”. He feels it is a vindication of the importance of the Australian Ballet to the country.

“It is a dream for some and a source of pure joy for others,” he says. “It is living beauty. It is the pursuit of the perfect.”

 

[dirac]

Bejart Ballet Lausanne is placed under audit after allegations of drug abuse and other misconduct.

Quote

While the foundation has revealed few details of the allegations facing the two institutions, anonymous testimonies gathered by trade union representatives and the media paint a bleak picture.

 

[dirac]

Feature on a blog devoted to commemorating Jewish involvement in ballet.

Quote

For more than five years, People of the Barre has been a repository of photos, videos and biographies Waterhouse writes about dancers, choreographers, composers, founders and impresarios, setmakers, and other Jewish artists who’ve contributed to the past and present of ballet. At its height, the follower count was in the thousands, and hovers today just below the 1,000 mark, a decrease Waterhouse attributes to a quieter period on the blog a couple of years back as well as the general decline of Tumblr as a platform. Still, it’s a small but engaged core audience that Waterhouse imagines as “an auditorium full of people.”

 

[dirac]

A report from Spoleto Festival USA by Maura Hogan for The Post and Courier.

 

Quote

In George Balanchine’s 1928 “Apollo,” American Ballet Theatre’s Calvin Royal III  embodied the god of music and New York City Ballet’s Unity Phelan the muse of music and dance, joyfully reviving both art forms.

 

[dirac]

 A review of the Birmingham Royal Ballet by Bruce Marriott for DanceTabs.

Quote

Later, bigger concrete assemblies appear and eventually, we see the reverse of them and people rather crammed in at home or possibly living on the street. And at one point we hear first-hand the unsanitised words of immigrants about their arrival and life in the city. These words are accompanied by short matching dances, but blink and you have missed it – we are on to the next one. There is also a touching duet for Rudd and Tyrone Singleton, but it ends all too soon. In general, I think I wanted the plethora of ideas boiled down into fewer sections danced at greater length and with less of the moving-the-set-around business. It doesn’t feel clear yet how good a choreographer Altenaga is BUT it is very clear that he (with Kludje and Acosta) know(s) how to bring a band of creatives together to deliver a thoughtful and interesting show about an unusual subject. Worth catching the streamed version if you can.
 

 

[dirac]

Jacob's Pillow presents a virtual gala.

Quote

The Paris Opera Ballet next performs an excerpt from “Et Si,” a mesmerizing ensemble work that features hypnotic music and movements that build in intensity. A combination of Twyla Tharp meets Pina Bausch, “Et Si” simply left me wanting to see more of this work featuring these dazzling dancers.