Wednesday, April 5

[dirac]

Daniel Lee of Burberry will create the costumes for Wayne McGregor's new piece.

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The one-act work is set to a commissioned score by the Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir, with lighting design by Lucy Carter and set design by the late Cuban-born American artist Carmen Herrera, who died last year, aged 106.

 

[dirac]

The Birmingham Royal Ballet presents "Cinderella."

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Principal ballerina Céline Gittens demonstrated this with her awe-inspiring footwork and agile movements. Her acting was excellent too as she did a convincing job of creating distinction between the almost shy and naïve Odette and the coquettish and confident Odile. The choreography reflected this contrast too as when we are introduced to Odette; her movements are softer and she is mostly led by Prince Siegfried. The same cannot be said for Odile, who is bold in her pirouette’s and jumps and leads the smitten prince across the dance floor.

 

[dirac]

A defense of Balanchine and ballet by Gia Kourlas in the Critic's Notebook of The New York Times.

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A dancer’s mind is just as important as her body; the one guides the other. To dance fully without hesitation, without self-consciousness, sets the stage for dancing of power and flow — to witness such unforced abandon is one of ballet’s greatest gifts. It’s almost as if the mind and body conjoin in a spiritual melding that manifests as a feeling: sensation woven into silken motion. Dancers, in such moments, are celestial beings. Manners and decorum are stripped. It’s not about beauty or grace. The feminist case for ballet is right there onstage: It’s freedom. In his choreography, Balanchine made a space for women in particular — and for each woman — to be free.

 

[dirac]

A preview of Boston Ballet's new "La Mer."

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“It’s all about the layers,” says Nissinen, noting the international team of collaborators brought in for the work. Linning’s choreography is complemented not only by Debussy’s luminous “La Mer” and “Sirènes,” performed live by the Boston Ballet Orchestra and the Boston women’s vocal group Lorelei Ensemble, but also by multi-channel electronic soundscapes by Cypriot composer Yannis Kyriakides. Dutch visual artist Heleen Blanken uses unique software to create digital video scenography she hopes will evoke an awe of nature and our role in the natural world, bringing audiences “close to something wild and alive,” as she describes it. Dramaturg Peggy Olislaegers, Linning’s longtime creative partner and artistic adviser, guided the work’s contextual arc, and Japanese costume designer Yuima Nakazato created more than 80 costumes, including one that appears to dissolve onstage, leaving the dancer cloaked in darkness.