Sunday, March 12

[dirac]

Aaron Watkin, the new artistic director of English National Ballet, talks about what he's looking for in his dancers' physiques.

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Aaron Watkin, who takes over as artistic director this year, said: “Body type is not a standard I’m looking for. I’m looking for elite athletes who can perform to their best.

“The different make-up of someone’s physique can be celebrated. There is not one way I am looking to do that. I’m not looking for that kind of traditional uniformity.”

 

[dirac]

Obituaries for Lynn Seymour.

The Daily Mail
 

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The 84th birthday of one of the world's most-celebrated ballerinas, Lynn Seymour, was mentioned in yesterday's newspapers. Sadly, I hear she had died the previous night.

'It's the most terrible shock,' one of her friends tells me. 'She had been due to have a celebratory lunch at Brasserie Zedel.'

 

The Guardian

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Most widely known as a muse for Kenneth MacMillan, Seymour was a dancer of individuality with fine musicality and in all the roles she created left a high benchmark for successors to try to emulate. She was noted for a fluidity that MacMillan in 1980 said made her “movements melt one into the next”. He added that “Lynn is as real as anyone can be on stage when wearing pointe shoes.”

 

[dirac]

A review of Ballet Black by Sarah Crompton in The Observer.

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The evening opens with Will Tuckett’s Then Or Now, from 2020. It’s a tribute to the poet Adrienne Rich and inspired by words from her collection Dark Fields of the Republic, which form part of the score. It’s a fine piece, hinting at the nature of individual happiness set against community need, full of watchful glances and delicate steps that sometimes soar and sometimes seem pinned down with weight. The dancers gleam, as always.

 

[dirac]

A preview of City Ballet of San Diego's new program.
 

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Contemporary ballet combines the technical training of the classical vernacular with nontraditional music and movement.

The results can energize dancers, who get to perform their pirouettes and grand pliés with a new perspective.

That’s one of the reasons why City Ballet resident choreographers Geoff Gonzalez and Elizabeth Wistrich are looking forward to the staging of “Inspiration in Motion.”