Friday, April 29

[dirac]

Foreign-born dancers continue to leave Russia.

Quote

Mitchell, who is American, and Lassakova, who is from Slovakia, are among the dozens of foreign dancers who have left Russia since the war started in February. The two are now in the U.S., preparing for a performance in Southern California.

They say the war is bound to take Russian ballet back to the isolation of the Soviet era.

 

[dirac]

Oklahoma City Ballet concludes its season with "The Sleeping Beauty."

Quote

The classic fairytale ballet will feature live music performed by the OKC Philharmonic and dancers from OKC Ballet, including its professional dancers, studio company dancers and students from its Yvonne Chouteau School, a news release noted. The ballet company last performed this popular ballet in 2017.

 

[dirac]

Helgi Tomasson's directorship of the San Francisco Ballet draws to a close with the last program of the company's season.

Quote

"I felt I accomplished everything I set out to do," said Tomasson, who initially planned to retire in 2020 before the pandemic. He says the SF Ballet Board asked him to stay on to help shepherd the company through the challenging shutdown.

Related.

Quote

It is fitting that Helgi Tomasson ends his final season as San Francisco Ballet’s artistic director with this revered love story involving an evil sorcerer and a flock of swans. Tomasson’s version of the classic premiered in 2009, asserting San Francisco Ballet as a premiere international company. In its last performances under his leadership, two couples will debut in the roles of the Swan Queen and Prince Siegfried: Wona Park and Wei Wang, Sasha De Sola and Max Cauthorn, marking several firsts.

 

[dirac]

A ballet master at the Royal New Zealand Ballet is fired for "inappropriate behavior."

Quote

Michael Auer trained dancers and is also the husband of the national company's artistic director Patricia Barker, which members past and present say made it difficult to speak out.

A leaked email signed by executive director Lester McGrath shows the board terminated his contract immediately and he is not allowed on RNZB premises or events.

 

[dirac]

A review of Thomas Adès' "Dante" by Joshua Barone in The New York Times.

Quote

Put “Dante” in the pantheon of great ballet scores that stand alone — thrive, even — outside the pit and the proscenium. As seen in a streamed video from the Royal Ballet, it nearly overpowered the contributions by McGregor and Dean. But at Disney Hall, under the enthusiastic and commanding baton of Gustavo Dudamel, the music’s tempos were freer; the dense textures, more clearly defined; the mastery of craft, impossible to miss.

 

[dirac]

A review of Washington Ballet in 'Giselle' by Sarah L. Kaufman in The Washington Post.

Quote

It’s telling that for all the clean buoyancy of the opening scenes of Act I — Giselle’s bashful encounter with Albrecht, their well-mannered dances together and with the villagers — the ballet truly came to life when Sona Kharatian swept on. On Thursday, she played the character role of Bathilde, the princess to whom Albrecht is engaged — a dangerous little fact that he’s kept secret from Giselle. Kharatian, a veteran company member and rehearsal assistant, has always been a dancer of keen dramatic fire and stage-filling charisma. Those qualities electrified her non-dancing role here: Her expressive transition from blithely condescending royal to authentically captivated admirer of Giselle anchored the ballet in something real.

 

[dirac]

Claudia Schreier makes a new work for Miami City Ballet.

Quote

The Source is an original “adventure story” made in collaboration with Adam Barish, a filmmaker and Schreier’s husband. It is part of a program of four ballets presented by Miami City Ballet in three South Florida cities over three weekends. The program, entitled Prodigal Son, also includes the show’s namesake Prodigal Son by George Balanchine, After The Rain Pas de Deux by Christopher Wheeldon and Herman Schmerman Duet by William Forsythe.

 

[dirac]

Alexandra Waterbury scores a win in court.

Quote

A lawsuit against the New York City Ballet has been sustained by the Appellate Division for the First Judicial Department