dirac Posted October 20 Share Posted October 20 Q&A with Cathy Marston. Quote Is that why you decided to create a dance from Ian McEwan’s “Atonement?” Marston: I wanted to make this ballet for 20 years. Ian McEwan published it in 2001, and I’m a big fan so I bought it and it immediately grabbed me. I had the feeling that these characters and this plot would translate into movement. It’s so strong with intense emotions – love, loss, regret, anger, jealousy – all of the things that dance speaks about best. The other thing that attracted me is that there are moments which are intimate and then there are sweeping scenes. The story plays against the backdrop of the Second World War, so you have scenes of soldiers, nurses and civilians that really lend itself to a ballet company where you want large scenes and emotions conveyed through waves of people, and then you want it to reduce and just see two or three people intimately together. This story offers all of that. Link to comment
dirac Posted October 20 Author Share Posted October 20 Ballet Palm Beach holds a fundraiser. Quote Hosted by Brandie Herbst, Erin McGould, and Stefani Daddono, guests will gather in The Colony’s East Garden for refreshments, then enter the ballroom for a brief ballet performance, pointe shoe demonstrations, and mingling with fellow Ballet Palm Beach supporters. Admission includes hors d’oeuvres and an open bar, and proceeds will benefit the company’s Pointe Shoe Fund. Link to comment
dirac Posted October 20 Author Share Posted October 20 Dance Magazine looks back at Mikhail Baryshnikov's first cover story. Quote While he became—and remains—a household name, his professed goals in 1974 were simpler: “I must dance roles with heart, with feeling, whether they are in large or small ballets,” he told us. “I will hope that choreographers in the West will be interested in me as a dancer, enough to want to make ballets for me.” Link to comment
dirac Posted October 20 Author Share Posted October 20 Montgomery Ballet plans more touring within its home state. Quote Not every community can afford to support its own ballet company, and not everyone can make it to Montgomery. That’s why Mitsios wants to bring performances to them. “We are actually booked right now in four cities, with two or three more in discussion,” Mitsios said. “People are seeing our success in Selma and Greenville, and they’re asking for it.” Link to comment
dirac Posted October 20 Author Share Posted October 20 A preview of Hong Kong Ballet's "The Butterfly Lovers." Quote Choreographed by Hong Kong Ballet’s choreographer-in-residence, Ricky Hu Songwei, and his wife, Mai Jingwen, this show brings to life the tragic romance of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. Link to comment
dirac Posted October 20 Author Share Posted October 20 The Bolshoi Ballet will perform in Shanghai. Quote The 250-member strong team will present four performances of Spartacus, one of the company's most celebrated repertoire from Oct 17 to 19, and the Ballet Gala on Oct 21. The performances will be accompanied by the Bolshoi Orchestra. Link to comment
dirac Posted October 20 Author Share Posted October 20 The Birmingham Royal Ballet brings "Black Sabbath: the Ballet" to the U.S. next year. Quote During the performance, the guitarist joins dancers onstage to be lifted or become part of the choreography. A silver, winged devil that mimics Black Sabbath’s logo stands on an overturned car, watching over all the performers throughout the ballet. “I think it’s going to pique some interest of people that we probably never touched before,” Cross said. “It gives us the ability to reach our traditional dance audience (and) people who love classic rock and roll.” Link to comment
dirac Posted October 20 Author Share Posted October 20 A review of American Ballet Theatre by Gia Kourlas in The New York Times. Quote The program, however, opened on a tepid note with Bond’s “La Boutique,” a ballet for 26 dancers set to music from “La Boutique Fantasque,” as arranged and orchestrated by Respighi, after Rossini. In 1919, Léonide Massine created a one-act ballet to this music about a toy shop that came to life; Bond has made a plotless ballet with tutus and an emphasis on elegant classical technique. Bond’s low arabesques are pretty, the mood is pleasant. If only this ballet would move. The dancers acted as if the stage were small. Link to comment
dirac Posted October 20 Author Share Posted October 20 A review of the National Ballet of Ukraine and the Shumka Dancers by Mary Cargill for danceviewtimes.com. Quote wenty four dancers from the National Ballet of Ukraine and the Canadian based Ukrainian folk dance troupe Shumka are on a grueling three-week, seven-state, sixteen-city tour to raise money for the war effort. The gala format (including a Don Q pas de deux) showed off their dancers and was generally upbeat, with many in the audience clapping along with the infectious folk rhythms. The dancing, despite what must be a difficult adjustment to new stages at almost every stop, was thrilling, especially the go for broke folk dancing, yet nuanced, as the dancers, even in the brief, out of context pas de deux, shaded their interpretations clearly. There were no sets, but the imaginatively chosen projected photographs set the mood; a misty graveyard for “Giselle”, a rocky cliff for “La Bayadere”, rippling water for the “Dying Swan”. (The 3-D glasses handed out helped bring the sets to life.) Link to comment
dirac Posted October 20 Author Share Posted October 20 A review of American Ballet Theatre by Ivy Lin for Bachtrack. Quote Kyle Abraham’s Mercurial Son was polarizing. The people I ran into either loved it or hated it. I’m in the “hated” camp. The music was the biggest problem. Grischa Lichtenberger’s electronica score was loud and abrasive, without much of a percussive, danceable beat. If you want to see ballets that use electronica music that is danceable, watch any of William Forsythe’s works. Link to comment
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