Monday, April 4

[dirac]

Igor Zelensky leaves the Bavarian State Ballet.

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Odd, isn’t it?, that nobody mentions the war.

 

[dirac]

A review of English National Ballet by Stefan Kyriazis for The Daily Express.

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When Forsythe's utterly joyous all-male Playlist (Track 1,2) debuted in 2018, it blew the roof off. Standing ovations (usually not the done thing in dance, darlings) every night heralded the arrival of lightning in a bottle – a universally thrilling piece that thrills and unites the performers, audiences and critics in delight. Tampering with perfection is a huge risk but the ENB has unveiled a new incarnation Playlist (EP), expanding the piece from two tracks to six and bringing in the ladies to share the fun.

Louise Levene's review of ENB in The Financial Times.

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After a long, not entirely fruitful wander down some of the blind alleys of postmodernist deconstruction and Tanztheater — remember I Don’t Believe in Outer Space (2011)? — Forsythe returned to the barre, injecting new life into familiar classroom steps. Blake Works I, created for Paris Opera Ballet in 2016, is danced to the easy-listening electronica of The Colour in Anything by British singer-songwriter James Blake. It was Forsythe’s first “ballet ballet” (as he termed it) in 15 years, but proved that he had lost none of his genius for reimagining and subverting the classical vocabulary.

 

[dirac]

Dayton's Gem City Ballet celebrates its thirtieth anniversary.

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Founded by former Dayton Ballet principal dancer Barbara Pontecorvo and originally known as Ballet de Jeunesse, Gem City Ballet was formed for three purposes: to educate young dancers in the joys and rigors of ballet performance; to make quality ballet performances available to a wider audience; and provide both new and experienced choreographers an opportunity to create new works. The current roster consists of 21 dancers between ages 12 and 18.

 

[dirac]

Ty King-Wall is retiring from the Australian Ballet.

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“To be able to perform a principal role in a full-length ballet is incredibly demanding. I’m still able to achieve that, but it’s becoming harder and harder. I can see the point where I won’t be able to do it, and it’s like an oncoming train, to reference Anna Karenina. I wanted to stop before I was over the other side of that.”

 

[dirac]

Cincinnati Ballet presents a performance of "Snow White" for the visually and hearing impaired.

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The ballet's performance of "Snow White" will be interpreted in American Sign Language.

 

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Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre presents a new staging of "Swan Lake."

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Though the story remains the same, [Susan] Jaffe is definitely putting her own imprint on this particular production.

“There are many endings to ‘Swan Lake’ – mine is one of tragedy and redemption all at the same time because life is a dichotomy,” said Jaffe.

 

[dirac]

An interview with Helgi Tomasson.

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As for the individual who shaped him the most as an artistic director, Tomasson credits Robert Joffrey, who hired him when he was 19 to dance for his then-New York company. “At the time, he was the first director of a ballet company to engage the modern dance community’s choreographers — John Butler, Norman Walker, Anna Sokolow — so I was exposed to a totally different way of moving than I had been trained for, and it was fascinating and challenging,” Tomasson says. “It influenced me as a director of this company to seek new works, new choreographers, respect the old classics.”