Sunday, May 29

[dirac]

The Ballet Arts Conservatory of Tallahassee presents "Snow White."

Quote

The Ballet Arts Conservatory of Tallahassee (BACT) will celebrate its 23rd anniversary this summer. Established by artistic director and educator Amy Lowe, the studio and its youth ballet ensemble have persevered through the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent variants by remaining steadfast in the belief that “ballet changes lives.”

 

[dirac]

An interview with Toni Bentley,

Quote

To many dancers, Balanchine is a figure so imbued with history, he’s almost not real. He lives on through his 465 works, which we study in dance history classes, watch onstage, and—if we’re lucky—learn ourselves. He’s almost been stripped of humanity, raised up to such a high status that it’s easy to forget that he—in his own words—“pulled the toilet chain for the same reason you do.” Toni Bentley, and her latest book, Serenade, are here to remind us.

 

[dirac]

A review of Natalia Osipova in "Carmen" by Lyndsey Winship in The Guardian.

Quote

Not content with being one of the world’s best ballerinas, Osipova continues to explore new avenues of expression. Here with Dutch contemporary choreographer Didy Veldman she reimagines fiery temptress Carmen, made famous in Bizet’s opera (whose music is subsumed into Dave Price’s score). The story is turned into a backstage drama, where a film of Carmen is being made, starring Osipova. Isaac Hernández is Escamillo (the matador character) but also the film’s director, smug with self-assurance; quietly powerful Jason Kittelberger (Osipova’s IRL partner) is Jose, off stage entangled with Hannah Ekholm’s Micaela but playing Osipova’s lover on film, where a bit of emotional osmosis goes on and the dancers’ real feelings start to mirror their characters’.