Saturday, December 11

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Dawn French and Darcey Bussell reminisce about their "mirror duet" in The Vicar of Dibley.

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French said: “When I came to work on this sketch with Darcey, everything I knew about ballet was what I had loved as a child at ballet class.

“My brother remembers this as little hippopotamuses running about – but in my head I was beautiful, lithe, free, I could express myself and I was appreciated by everybody, and I was able to be as unique as I wanted to be inside this discipline.

 

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Madison Ballet performs "The Nutcracker" for an audience of Afghan refugees.

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A review of the Philadelphia Ballet by Ellen Dunkel in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Some of the dancers also seemed to add extra flourishes, including Sydney Dolan, as the Sugar Plum Fairy, who had believable reactions during the Prince’s pantomime story of battling the mice as well as stretching her movements out to her fingertips during her solos. Her pas de deux with Sterling Baca as the Cavalier, was strong and steady. Baca also impressed with his solo jumps and turns.

Photo gallery

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Milwaukee Ballet Nutcracker photo gallery

Interview with Michael Pink.

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La  Scala Ballet postpones its season opener.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/la-scala-delays-ballet-season-opener-due-to-virus-outbreak/2021/12/11/42056a70-5a86-11ec-8396-5552bef55c3c_story.html

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At least one of the four ballerinas who tested positive for COVID-19 also appeared in the Dec. 7 premiere of the opera “Macbeth.”

Ten other people linked to the outbreak tested positive for the virus, all of them theater support personnel, including someone who worked in the hairdressing department, the theater said in a statement.

 

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An interview with Tyrone Brooks.

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Looking back on his distinguished ballet career, which began at the Dance Theatre of Harlem as a principal dancer, to his role now as an educator and artistic director, he is optimistic for what the future holds for the Tallahassee Ballet.

 

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A review of San Francisco Ballet by Rachel Howard in  The San Francisco Chronicle.

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For a balletomane and a critic, it was heartening to see that the most exuberant applause of the night went not to cute set pieces like the French can-can ladies with their mile-long ribbons or even Mother Ginger’s bashful bear, but to the pure classical dance passages that crown Act 2. The evening’s audience came hungry for spectacular ballet technique, and they got it, especially from Nikisha Fogo.

 

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A review of Australian Ballet by Andrew Furhman in The Age.

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The unnerving unison spectacle of William Forsythe’s end-of-world-is-nigh Artifact Suite added a bit of grit and steel to the evening. This excerpt features a solo for the multi-talented Coco Mathieson as a barefooted outsider.

 

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BalletMet's Nutcracker returns to the stage.

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Though the production is using recorded music this year rather than orchestral accompaniment for budgetary reasons, it remains otherwise lavish and magical.

 

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Tamara Rojo talks about English National Ballet's new "Raymonda."

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Hence her determination to give Raymonda more of a voice. Unlike Petipa’s demure 1898 St Petersburg heroine, Rojo’s is a woman who doesn’t sit back and wait for men to define her. “She’s not a victim, she tries to take charge of her own destiny and follow her dream of becoming a professional nurse, which was something frowned upon by her social class.” Instead of a woman who needs rescuing from a sexual predator by a brave knight, Raymonda in the 21st century is an independent woman trapped in a love triangle when she falls in love with John’s best friend Abdur, a leader of the Ottoman army.