Saturday, May 4

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A story on the new documentary about George Lee, who originated the role of "Tea" in Balanchine's Nutcracker.

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Lin leaned on the skills she acquired during her 31 years as a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer and located the dancer, originally known as George Li, a month later in Las Vegas.

“He said to me, and this broke my heart,” Lin recalls of their first conversation, “ ‘I’m nobody. I was not a big ballet dancer. I was in “The Nutcracker,” but I’m nobody. So why are you interested?’ ”

 

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A review of the Royal Ballet in "The Winter's Tale" by Mark Monahan in The Daily Telegraph.

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The Winter’s Tale is the most important British ballet so far this millennium. Its arrival in April 2014 thrillingly proved what Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (also by prodigious choreographer Christopher Wheeldon) had strongly suggested three years earlier: that the phenomenon of the brand-new, full-evening, neo-classical dance-work had never looked more alive or exciting. 

Teresa Guerreiro's review of "The Winter's Tale" for CultureWhisper.

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Lauren Cuthbertson reprised the role of Hermione, originally created on her. With her faultless elegant technique, she was the epitome of innocence wronged, and in Act III (pictured top) of the gentle forgiveness that brings about Leontes’s redemption.

Calvin Richardson debuted as Polixenes, a vigorous performance as the breezy antithesis of the broody Leontes, which will surely develop in further outings.

 

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Review and preview of the Australian Ballet's new program.

Limelight

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It comes down to this: Études is about how ballet is built and what it looks like; Circle Electric is about what meaning there is in dance and how it makes you feel.

They are two radically different works, one made in 1948 and the other more or less yesterday, put together by The Australian Ballet’s artistic director David Hallberg to illustrate the broad church that is 21st century ballet.

Australian Arts Review

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Lake’s unique choreographic style will be on display, combining precision and virtuosity with poeticism, wit and theatricality. Circle Electric marks a historic moment for Lake, as she collaborates with her largest cast of dancers to date, following a debut on The Australian Ballet On Tour program in 2023.

 

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A review of the Laureates of the XVIII Russian Open Ballet Competition Arabesque 2024 gala concert by Ilona Landgraf in her blog, "Landgraf on Dance."

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Nadezhda Rudakova and Pavel Kuznetsov presented the award ceremony for which the jury and dancers gathered on stage. Many young talents were called forward more than once to collect certificates, medals, and bunches of flowers. Notably, prizes were also given “for the spirituality of dance” (awarded to Aleksandra Kozlova, Krasnoyarsk, Russia), “for purity of technique and artistry of performance” (awarded to Kira Hoshikawa, Japan), and “for fidelity to traditions of the Russian ballet school” (awarded to Suh Lynn Im, South Korea). Especially warm-hearted was the award presentation to Lyubov Kunakova (Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia), an honored artist and the people’s artist of the RSFSR, for coaching Svetlana Savelieva for the competition. Savelieva (St.Petersburg, Russia), winner of the first prize in the senior group, was the second to last to perform in the gala. Her variation of Kitri from the dream scene of Don Quixote was perfect.

 

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 Minnesota Dance Theatre gives what may be its final performances.

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In January, it was announced that the art form’s local capitol, the Cowles Center, would close the area’s foremost performance space devoted to dance, the Goodale Theater, at the end of March. Then the dean of Twin Cities dance troupes – the 62-year-old Minnesota Dance Theatre founded by the legendary Loyce Houlton – said that it would “pause” from performing in May to concentrate exclusively on its educational offerings.

 

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Photo gallery from Dance Arts Los Alamos' "The Tales of Don Quixote."

 

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The Royal Opera House makes various moves to deal with a major funding gap.

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Later this year, Wybrew-Bond will offer businesses the opportunity to sponsor a series of short documentaries about the Royal Ballet and Opera planned for release on websites and social media channels. Episodes could feature the day in the life of one of its star performers, says Wybrew-Bond. 

 

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A review of New York City Ballet's gala by Ivy Lin for Bachtrack.

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The first world premiere was Justin Peck’s Dig the Say, starring everyone’s favorite supercouple, Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia. The music by Vijay Iyer sounds very modern, and the curtain rises to Mejia wearing a costume (by Humberto Leon) that looks like athleisure-wear. Mejia and Peck are competing with a big red ball that they throw against the back wall stage. The pas de deux was playful and a bit precious. At one point, Mejia throws the ball into the wings, but Peck “bounces back” into his arms. It’s a cute joke. I don’t know if I would have repeated the same joke four times but …

Mary Cargill reviews NYCB for danceviewtimes.com.

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The choreography was a bit jokey—the first section of the music is entitled “I carry the ball” and the two tossed a ball to each other, letting their partner have a chance to show off; finally Mejia threw the ball off stage, only to have Tiler Peck fly back out—the move is repeated three times, then was never seen again; it seemed a gimmick, not a theme. Tiler Peck played with the music, shimmying to the rhythms and scooping into the syncopated melodies; she really does seem to be able to make music visible.  Mejia got to go all Bolshoi, with flying leaps, phenomenal turns a la seconde, and a final show-off one handed lift.  It was an energetic romp which the gala audience enjoyed very much but it had little structure or depth, and they gave the choreography more than it gave them.