Thursday, October 13

[dirac]

The United Ukrainian Ballet will make its US debut at the Kennedy Center next year.

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Principal casting will include guest artist Christine Shevchenko, a Ukrainian-born principal ballerina with American Ballet Theatre, and other guests will be announced later, said Jane Raleigh, the Kennedy Center’s director of dance programming.

 

[dirac]

A review of the Joffrey Ballet by Lauren Warnecke for The Chicago Tribune.

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British choreographer Scarlett’s 2013 “Vespertine” opens the evening, a piece first done by the Joffrey in 2019. It is repeated here as a posthumous tribute to Scarlett, who died in 2021 at age 35. The end of Scarlett’s life was plagued by turmoil and controversy, such that the catalog of this prolific and remarkable talent is unlikely to be broadly performed — and there is no one entrusted with staging it.

The bold move, then, is not about the ballet itself but the decision to present it. “Vespertine” was reconstructed by Joffrey’s rehearsal directors; its stunning sets are on loan from Atlanta Ballet (who debuted the ballet on this side of the pond five years ago). And it is a beautiful ballet.

 

[dirac]

Bay Area Houston Ballet & Theatre presents "Giselle."

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The last time Bay Area Houston Ballet & Theatre performed the classic “Giselle,” the title role was danced by Natalie C. Zundel, now the group’s associate artistic director who is handling lights, costumes and other stage duties for a production Oct. 21-23 at the University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Bayou Theater.

 

[dirac]

An interview with Margot Fonteyn is among a trove of recently discovered recordings of Desert Island Discs.

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I met Richard Harrison at his home in Lowestoft where he told me he's always been "interested in finding missing radio". He's a member of the Radio Circle, a group of enthusiasts who try to locate lost programmes. He says he honed in on Desert Island Discs because it's "such an iconic programme".

For years the BBC didn't automatically archive its radio programmes, so when episodes are missing, collectors like Harrison are dependent on listeners from the period who recorded the shows on reels and cassettes so they could listen again.