Sunday, May 5

[dirac]

A review of Australian Ballet by Chantal Nguyen for The Sydney Morning Herald.

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The best way to describe Stephanie Lake’s Circle Electric for the Australian Ballet is through analogies.

It feels like a banal hour of channel surfing. You watch a series of dissatisfying, self-indulgent scenes unrelated to those you’ve just watched and will watch after. There is little cohesive meaning or comprehensible structure between them. The only difference is that when channel surfing, you can leave the room.

 

[dirac]

A review of New Chamber Ballet by Leigh Witchel for dancelog.nyc.

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Secret Place was an apt title, but Magloire’s work often has that intimate quality. Much of the dance happened on the floor. The ground work gave it the feeling of picnicking en plein air. It felt as if we were looking at an old-fashioned image of domesticity, a scene imagined by Manet, Renoir or Ingres. As Arlene Croce said about Emeralds, this was a man imagining the interior of a private, feminine world.

 

[dirac]

Stevie Wonder and Misty Copeland will speak at the Peabody Conservatory graduation ceremony this year.

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The institute is bestowing its highest honor, the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Music and Dance in America, to both artists. Johns Hopkins University also plans to present Wonder with an honorary doctorate at its May 23 commencement ceremony.

 

[dirac]

Janek Schergen talks about the importance of Choo San Goh's work to the Singapore Ballet.

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But a video will never replace a teacher—especially one who was in the room when they were created. “That’s why I've been carrying that burden for a long while now,” Schergen says of being the caretaker of Goh’s ballets. The truth, he confesses, is that he’s getting tired. Schergen is perhaps the only one who can bring Goh’s ballets back to the stage, and the task is both daunting and “tinged with [the] sadness” of a dear friend long gone. But part of the reason why Schergen keeps going is to keep the ballets alive with his company in Singapore. “I don’t want them outside. I want them here with these dancers. Because this is Singapore, this is the Singapore Ballet,” he says. 

 

[dirac]

The Charleston Ballet presents "Breaking Boundaries."

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The Charleston Ballet showcased a variety of different dances, from the traditional to the more unusual, including a reimagining of a the century-old ‘Triadic Ballet.’ Strawn credits this variety with the ballet’s current and former artistic directors, who helped keep this long-running ballet connected with modern audiences.