Friday, April 19

[dirac]

Grand Rapids Ballet appoints a new executive director.

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Current Executive Director Glenn Del Vecchio, who has been with Grand Rapids Ballet since 2009, is “ready for the next adventure in his journey” after 15 years of leadership, according to the organization.

 

[dirac]

Dancers at Youth America Grand Prix set a world record.

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Under Guinness’s rules, once enough dancers were there, they would have to stay on pointe for 60 seconds. Bianca was not worried. “One minute isn’t that hard,” she said. “I’m so used to doing it for longer.” Kendall Morgan, 13, from Los Angeles, said it took practice and strength to stay on pointe “and make it look good.” But like Bianca, she said she was ready. “This is something we’ve worked on since we were little,” she said.

 

[dirac]

Ozark Ballet Theater presents "CInderella."

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While preparing for their biggest production to date, David Sanders and Katie Stasse of Ozark Ballet Theater raised money to purchase a collection of Soviet-era costumes from the Kyiv National Ballet while also sewing costumes for their students at their dance studio in Bentonville. At the same time they were also searching for a professional to dance the lead in their production of Sergei Prokofiev’s “Cinderella,” based on the choreography of Vadim Fedotov.

Just a week after Sanders joined us for an interview, their Prince Charming was called away on a family emergency. And that left the couple who run the ballet school together to find not only Cinderella but her Prince Charming, too

 

[dirac]

Miami City Ballet takes "Swan Lake" on the road.

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Enchantment and calamity will indeed color the storyline when Miami City Ballet (MCB) reveals this panorama from the perspective of choreographer Alexei Ratmansky. His tending to the work’s 19th-century roots first bore heirloom fruit in 2016 with the Zurich Ballet before our local company took charge of the North American premiere in 2022. Now the production opened in Miami at the Arsht Center this week, then moves to Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Center and West Palm Beach’s Kravis Center.

 

[dirac]

Brett Sjoblom of Nashville Ballet returns to the stage after a knee injury.

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"Yes, that's terrifying, but I figured this is what I have to do," Brett said. "This is my last resort. The pain was so bad if I didn't get the surgery, I would have had to stop dancing. That was not an option. It was so excruciating, I had to call it at that point."

 

[dirac]

Sarasota Ballet closes its season with a triple bill.

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But for now, she [Jessica Lang] is focused on staging the company premiere of her “Lyric Pieces,” set to music by Edvard Grieg, which she created in 2012 in a commission for the Royal Birmingham Ballet.

A scene from the Birmingham Royal Ballet production of Jessica Lang’s “Lyric Pieces” which she created for the company. She is staging a new production for The Sarasota Ballet. ROY SMILJANIC PHOTO/PROVIDED BY SARASOTA BALLET

It is part of a triple bill that closes The Sarasota Ballet season along with Christopher Wheeldon’s 2001 “The American,” which it first performed in 2010, and Frederick Ashton’s “Sinfonietta,” first performed here in 2014.

 

[dirac]

Dancers of the Mariinsky are disinvited from the Youth America Grand Prix gala.

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But Youth America Grand Prix’s leaders removed the dancers from the program after critics said the organization was lending support to the Russian government by hosting the artists. The Mariinsky is a state-run theater in St. Petersburg led by the conductor Valery Gergiev, a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin.