Photos top to bottom: Angel and Carmen Corella in Solea, Herman Cornejo and Adiarys Almeida in Sunny Duet, and Corella Ballet cast in Christopher Wheeldon’s DGV. All photos by Rosalie O’Connor.

Last night Corella Ballet Castilla Y Leon made their U.S. debut. It was one of the best evenings I’ve had at the ballet since ABT ended their Met season last July. Angel Corella (beloved ABT principal and founder of this company) is known of course for his bravura dancing, his ability to form a character on the stage even in the few storyless ballets ABT does, his passion, his charisma, his sweetness, his charm, but mostly of course his virtuosity. And even though he himself only danced in two pieces last night (with only a small duet in the Wheeldon), the whole evening had that same overall brilliance. It’s like he managed to find a company of dancers exactly like himself. I don’t know how he did that because I thought there was only one of him, but even the corps members seemed to have all of those qualities.

The night began with Angel’s own String Sextet, his first piece of choreography, set to Tchaikovsky’s String Sextet “Souvenir of Florence.” It was very allegro, very fast-paced, with lots of brilliant partnering — a ballerina would spin at lightning speed into her partner, they’d go into assisted pirouettes or a supported arabesque penchee (with the ballerina’s legs always in a perfect split), another would jump into her partner’s arms and he’d catch her in a variety of positions. Kazuko Omori and Yevgen Uzlenkov completely blew me away, as did all of the couples but those two in particular. It’s like, where did he find these people and how did I not know they existed?! Omori is a brilliant allegro dancer but she also had the qualities of an adagio ballerina, with lots of expression in her upper body. Then, in the third movement, Joseph Gatti blew everyone away with his bravura, Angel-esque solo replete with jetes and fouettes and crazy high tornado jumps. The crowd went wild for him, as expected. Both the duets and solos and the ensemble parts were equally captivating. Toward the end everyone did a fish dive in unison and it’s so sweet. It was like all the best parts of classical ballet — or at least my favorites

Next was Walpurgisnacht, by Leonid Lavrovsky, which reminded me of the Corsaire pas de trois between Ali the slave, Conrad the pirate, and ballerina. Again the beautifully expressive, lightning-footed Omori and high jumping Gatti starred, and the stunning Kirill Radev danced the part that reminded me of Conrad. He had this series of scissor jumps but the splits were forward-facing, straddle position, rather than long-wise, like usual. And then he’d do these multiple pirouettes with these seemingly impossible held-out endings. The crowd was nearly screaming with applause, which doesn’t often happen in New York.

Then was Sunny Duet, from 1973, by Vladimir Vasiliov and Natalia Kasatkina, danced by our Herman Cornejo and Adiarys Almeida. Everyone applauded for Herman when he took the stage This ballet was sweetly romantic, like man in adoration of his woman, with Arabian / Bayaderesque styling. Herman really blew me away last night with his partnering. The pdd began with this extended overhead lift where he looked up at her for what seemed to be minutes, in the end making it into a single-handed lift. I’ve always thought he was a brilliant soloist but that he had some trouble in the partnering, but not last night! He was also very dramatic, and, at one point, where they go into their bravura solos, he played off of her, giving her this “oh yeah, well this is how I feel!” look before doing a bunch of crazy turns or jumps. The original, archived music, by Arno Babajanyan, was played on tape. There was a note in the program stating, “The company is committed to the revival of worthy pieces that have had an important influence on classical ballet. The piece will be performed as it was originally created by the legendary Russian choreographers Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasiliov. The artists will be performing to Arno Babajanian’s archival recording, as this specially commissioned score no longer exists.”

Next was Solea, choreographed by Flamenco dancer and choreographer Maria Pages, and performed by Angel and his sister Carmen. I was happy to see Carmen back onstage; I was sad when she left ABT. This was an absolutely beautiful combination of ballet and Flamenco, though I often see Paso Doble in what people call Flamenco, being a ballroom person — still not sure of the difference… For example, at one point, they would come at each other, she swirling her long skirt about, cape-like, he coming at her like a matador — that’s Paso — but instead of rushing toward each other, hips thrust forward, they’d do chaine spins — she on pointe, spinning right past each other, balletically. Then they’d approach each other again, she’d retreat quickly back with supercharged bourrees. I love it! I’ve always wanted to see a Paso Ballet, but most ballroom dancers don’t seem to know how to choreograph such a thing, even if they have extensive ballet background. Then, during the Flamenco taps (which you can hear in the recorded music), Angel would do his trademark lightning fast fouettes, or else entrechats, or just crazy fast footwork; and she’d do the same on pointe. Flamenco taps on pointe! And each of them had the perfect Flamenco styling. And there was a kind of back and forth “competition”, which I guess is called “Bulerias” in the world of Flamenco, which was kind of like a set of “variations” or solos in ballet, with him doing the trademark jetes around the perimeter of the stage and she responding with her own thing. And at the end, they came together and she stood behind him and he wrapped her arms around him. Sweet. Audience gave them a standing ovation.

Last was Christopher Wheeldon’s DGV: Danse a Grand Vitesse, which was I think the most intense, spellbinding Wheeldon ballet I’ve ever seen. It was premiered in 2006 by the Royal Ballet and was nominated for an Olivier Award. Set to music by Michael Nyman, which was commissioned by the French railway company TGV in 1993 to commemorate their opening of a new high-speed train line, there were several large pieces of twisted metal in the background — between which the dancers would weave in and out from time to time. The music had a very “locomotive” rhythm to it and the whole thing — both music and movement — had a kind of eerie feel to it. Movement was trademark Wheeldon — very modern, lots of angularity, sharp jagged lines, unique partnering. Women were often carried overhead and upside down with their legs in a split or sideways with their knees bent outward and toes together, creating an intentionally awkward shape. At times the music would stop completely while the dancing continued — creating some of the most intense moments. This is the first time the piece has been performed outside of the Royal, the program notes say, and, with its intensity, it was a perfect choice for this company.

So, the evening was a celebration of classical ballet, fusing classical ballet with traditional Spanish dance, and contemporary ballet, which seems to be what this company is about. Excellently done!

There’s one other piece on the program, Epimetheus, which will show Saturday afternoon. It’s by a young choreographer / dancer with the company, Russell Ducker. Will report back as soon as I’ve seen it!

Former Royal Ballet ballerina and current American Ballet Theater mistress Georgina Parkinson has died of cancer. She was 71. In addition to her work with ABT, she was apparently coaching Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis for their dance roles in the upcoming film, Black Swan.

Photo above, by Ruby Washington, of Parkinson rehearsing, it appears, Gillian Murphy and Ethan Stiefel, taken from the NY Times.

The Royal Ballet in London recently opened their fall season with a revival of Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling (MacMillan of course is a SLSG favorite choreographer). It’s based on the true story of the apparent suicide / murder in 1889 of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and his lover Baronness Mary Vetsera whose bodies were found in Mayerling, Rudolf’s hunting lodge. Prince Rudolf, sole son of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria, was heir to the thrones of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia.

Londoners seem to be loving the ballet. From Neil Norman’s Daily Express review:

“Like John Cranko and Michael Corder, MacMillan choreographs for full-blooded men. There is never any doubt about the masculinity and virility of his creatures. The brothel scene that opens Act II reeks of cigar smoke and a sense of political unease is brilliantly conveyed by the huddled quartet of officers who periodically grab Rudolf to whisper into his ear.

“As the tragedy slides inexorably towards its conclusion, Rudolf’s entanglement with his young mistress, Mary Vetsera (Maria Galeazzi) drives him into a paroxysm of violent frustration. Watson’s tortured solo as he clutches his head and writhes in a kaleidoscope of movement had me clutching my kneecaps until my knuckles were white.

“The denouement is terrifying. As Watson duets with Galeazzi in unhinged passion, the stage seems to smoke with some of the most eloquently violent moves in classical ballet. It really doesn’t get much better than this. If you don’t have a ticket, do something dangerous to get one.”

A few other reviews are here, here, and here. For a full list of reviews see here.

And this from our friends over at the Ballet Bag, which whom I was chatting on Twitter. They told me they think our Marcelo Gomes would make an excellent Prince Rudolf. I think maybe David Hallberg would as well — may give him a chance to get all of that aggression out of his system :)

Here’s a photo they posted of the Royal’s excellent Johan Kobborg in the role.  

Photo of Kobborg by Bill Cooper; top photo by Tristam Kenton from the Financial Times.

What do you guys think? Would an American audience take to such “eloquent violence”? Haglund thinks so, as do I — we have with his other ballets. C’mon Kevin McKenzie, give us a Mayerling!

Here’s a Sarah Crompton interview with Christopher Wheedon in the London Telegraph. Morphoses is about to open their fall season there, debuting a new ballet by Wheeldon and one by Australian choreographer Tim Harbour. At the end of the month, New York audiences will get to see those premieres.

In the article, Wheeldon talks about trying to increase ballet’s appeal to new audiences. He surmises it may be certain ballet aesthetics, such as the toe shoes, that are a turn-off, that may make ballet inaccessible. I strongly disagree though. I think people are generally awed by the toe shoes and by the beauty and immense athleticism of the art form. They’re all the more awe-inspiring when you see them up close, a thought I had recently in the Guggenheim’s tiny theater watching ABT, their studio company, and the students at ABT’s Kennedy-Onassis School of Ballet perform in a Works & Process event there.

I really think people in general are drawn to stories. That’s what I hear anyway from other dance-goers, or would-be dance-goers (who patronize theater and opera but shy away from dance). I think abstract ballets can definitely be intriguing but I think if your repertoire consists of only the kind of story-less ballets Balanchine made it’s going to suffer. I’ll be very excited to see the Alice in Wonderland that Wheeldon’s doing for the Royal.

Photo by Bruce Weber, from Vanity Fair.

So London is abuzz about the Royal’s official announcement that Christopher Wheeldon will make a full-length ballet based on Alice in Wonderland, set to premiere in 2011.

I’m excited, especially since some of my favorites of his have been his more dramatic ballets, like The Nightingale and the Rose. Thankfully, he doesn’t plan to make a children’s ballet: “A lot can be read into Alice in Wonderland. One could take the more Freudian route…” he says.

Critics expect Wheeldon to “bring a sophistication and an understanding of the darker sides of the text.”

Music will be by Joby Talbot, whose work he also used for the mysterious, poetic Fool’s Paradise, which makes me all the more intrigued.

Photo of Fool’s Paradise by Andrea Mohin, from NY Times.

Photo by Andrea Mohin from NY Times review.

Wow — exciting night Monday night when Tulsa Ballet, a small but well-regarded company founded by members of the legendary Ballet Russes and currently run by Naples-born Marcello Angelini, opened its Joyce season. The company, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, hasn’t performed in New York for 25 years and it was their first time in Manhattan. The governor and first lady of OK were there, along with the mayor of Tulsa, and other government officials. A Japanese TV station also covered the event (the troupe is very multi-national; many dancers are from Asian countries), and Oberon, our friend Susan, and I were interviewed by them outside during the first intermission. ABT dancer Arron Scott was interviewed outside as well, after the show. I desperately wanted to walk over there and listen in on what he was saying, but didn’t have the nerve…

Anyway, there were three dances on the program: Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Elite Syncopations, Nacho Duato’s Por Vos Muero, and a newish dance from 2008 by Young Soon Hue called This is Your Life.

The dance that most captivated me was the first, MacMillan’s, which I guess isn’t surprising since he’s my favorite full-length story ballet choreographer. I hadn’t seen this shorter piece though. In terms of the movement, it’s typical MacMillan with the bravura leaps and turns and inventive partnering dominated by sweeping, crazy-hard-looking lifts. But I didn’t completely understand the character of the dance. It’s set to Scott Joplin and other American ragtime music but it’s performed by what appear to be commedia dell’arte characters, dressed in almost clownish costumes. See photo above.

See also this video, of an excerpt performed by the Royal Ballet, Darcey Bussell introducing it and then performing in one of the main duets. There wasn’t a band in the Tulsa version though — the music was recorded.

You get a sense from the video what the whole was like. The choreography is comical, complex and brilliant. And the Tulsa dancers did very well with it — particularly the acting. Definitely a very lively troupe. I got the sense that this would look very different performed by a company like ABT or the Royal on the large Met stage, but I thought the Tulsa dancers did a very good job with a very (despite the humor) difficult-looking ballet.

Next on was Duato’s Por Vos Muero (photos below by Christopher Jean-Richard).

I also really liked this piece. The movement was modern (no pointe shoes): grounded, sharp-lined and expansive. The music consisted of popular Catalonian tunes from the 15th and 16th centuries, with a poem read (in Spanish; Duato is Spanish and his company is based in Madrid) by Spanish music star Miguel Bose (at least he was a star,  in a heart-throbbish sort of way when I took Spanish in high school and college )  The dance began on a contemporary note, with dancers dressed in simple nude leotards, then took on a historical flavor, the dancers now in dark costumes evocative of the era of the music. The themes (I think) were love and death; it was overall spiritual and mainly dark, with a few lighter moments interspersed throughout, like the one above, when two men playfully slide a woman between them, and she ends up near the edge of the stage and smiles out to the audience, resting her elbows casually on the floor, her chin in her hands. The two men lift their legs, bent at the knee, as if framing her like a picture.

The third piece, This is Your Life, is named after the American TV show (which I never saw). I have to agree generally with Gia Kourlas on this one. The characters first address the audience, telling you their stories of woe, but they’re mostly caricatures, like the flamboyant gay hairdresser dressed in a woman’s wig, and the businessman who wants to break free of his parents’ expectations and become an actor. The dancing parts are set mostly to Astor Piazzolla’s rich Tango music and much of them are Tango-based, portions of them on pointe. Normally I’d be into a ballroom / ballet mix, but the movement here, the combinations, were nothing I hadn’t seen before, and, honestly, I had a hard time getting over the stereotyped characters. This is a dance that may well get a different reception elsewhere though.

Tulsa Ballet performs at the Joyce through August 15th. Go here for more info. And go here and here for other, very different perspectives on the program.

Carlos Acosta, famed principal with the Royal Ballet in London, performing with his company during their historic visit to Cuba, his native country.

Cubans watching the performance outside the Garcia Lorca Hall, which seems to have been broadcast live on the big screens.

The legendary Alicia Alonso, credited largely with bringing ballet to Latin America and Latin America to Ballet, 88 years old now, surrounded by Acosta and Tamara Rojo (also with the Royal). Joel Carreno (Jose’s little brother), of Ballet Nacional de Cuba is on the far left. All photos from Getty Images, taken from the Sacramento Bee online.

Wow, I’ve been so busy first with ABT / NYCB season here, and now with trying to put the finishing touches on my novel (hopefully will be out by the end of the week, fingers crossed!) that I totally missed this amazing story. The Royal Ballet is currently making their first ever visit to Cuba. Thank you thank you thank you to Haglund for pointing it out. He’s been covering it (via the papers and online networks). Visit his blog to get all the updates — start here with the most current entry.

Last Thursday Alexandra Ansanelli (above, photo by Enrique de la Osa, of Reuters) gave the final performance of her career, in Cuba’s Grand Teatro. Ansanelli surprised everyone by retiring early (she’s only 28; she’s an American ballerina, much beloved by many New Yorkers, as she was formerly with NYCB. She joined the Royal a few years ago so that she could take on more classical roles). Read an interview with her in the USDaily; link also via Haglund.

And go here for a news video, “A Diplomacy of Dance,” on MSNBC — there’s some good coverage of Acosta, who is interviewed. Again via the awesome Haglund. Do read the rest of his blog; he’s got lots of stuff that I didn’t link to. Oh dear, what would we do without blogs?…

Herman Cornejo and Xiomara Reyes, photo by Gene Schiavone from Ballet.co.

Finally, Pashmina week is here!

I couldn’t find any pictures of the pashmina lifts, but watch this video — two occur around 430-440 and 528-532. By the way, that clip, from a BBC broadcast apparently, is really good — the Royal’s Darcey Bussell talks about MacMillan’s gorgeous balcony pas de deux and then it’s performed by the great Carlos Acosta and Tamara Rojo.

Anyway, last night’s debut cast at ABT was Marcelo Gomes and Diana Vishneva in the leads. It was excellent. The audience collectively rose to its feet right after the curtain went down on the two lovers, dead in the crypt, and hardly anyone sat down or left until after the final curtain call. And a significant amount of people didn’t even want to leave then, after all the lights came up. I don’t think I’ve ever seen quite that kind of crowd reaction before. Diana was the best I’ve ever seen her (she’s really growing on me). The end was a bit melodramatic and overdone, but that aside, her performance was brilliant — perfectly and passionately danced and in character throughout. And the bourrees Marcelo is always perfect. He’s the lifting king in this very lift-heavy ballet. And he’s of course very romantic and passionate to boot He’s never not completely made my night at ABT. He kissed Diana on the lips during curtain call; audience went “awwwwwww!”

Herman Cornejo danced Mercutio, and, believe me, there’s no one better for that part. No one! Audience went wild over him, nearly as much as the leads. Veronika Part replaced Stella Abrera as Lady Capulet. It’s not a dancing role but a very serious acting one. I’ve never seen a more tragic Lady Capulet. I really felt her horror at Tybalt’s death. I almost cried with her. Isaac Stappas was a very good Tybalt, very virile, very threatening, but ultimately vulnerable. And Carlos Lopez was a very good Benvolio — he landed all of his jumps very well

And 95-year-old Frederic Franklin played Friar Lawrence (and got loads of applause for it when he first appeared onstage — for a minute I thought they were going to have to stop the music so he could take a bow!) Above photo of Franklin, with Marcelo Gomes as Romeo and Julie Kent as Juliet, from Liverpool Daily.

So the rest of the week: Marcelo will dance Romeo once more, on Wednesday night, with Paloma Herrera as Juliet. Tonight (Tuesday) and Saturday night Roberto Bolle dances with Irina Dvorovenko (a must-see performance). Wednesday and Saturday matinees are David Hallberg and Gillian Murphy. And Friday night are Herman Cornejo and Xiomara Reyes in the leads. Thursday night’s performance should be special: the young Hee Seo and Cory Stearns are making their debuts in the roles, and, according to the Playbill, there is also to be a little celebration that night in honor of Franklin, who will again play Friar Lawrence.

Pretty amazing to still be onstage at 95!

At a celebration earlier this year, from Liverpool Daily Post (sweet article too).

Photo by Andrew Testa, of Franklin dancing in the 1940s, from Judith Mackrell’s Guardian column.

For ABT’s schedule and ticket info, go here.

Yesterday I had one of those crazed balletomane days where I went to both matinee and evening performances of Sylvia at ABT. Cast for matinee was the esteemed Diana Vishneva as Sylvia, forever-a-heartthrob Ethan Stiefel as Aminta, the shepherd in love with her, Jared Matthews as Orion, the evil hunter, and Craig Salstein as Eros, or Cupid.

Michele Wiles as Sylvia, photo by Rosalie O’Connor, from ABT’s website.

Second cast, which, with the exception of Vishneva was overall far better, was Michele Wiles in the lead, Roberto Bolle as Aminta, Cory Stearns as Orion, and Daniil Simkin as Eros. In the second cast, Kristi Boone also stood out as Diana, the goddess of the hunt and of chastity, and both goats Misty Copeland and Craig Salstein; Carlos Lopez in the first cast was a good goat (feel a bit funny saying that). Both Terpsichores I saw really magically devoured the stage quite well: Simone Messmer and Veronika Part.

Roberto Bolle as Aminta, photo by Johan Persson, from BalletCo.

Anyway, this is my first time seeing a full-length Frederick Ashton ballet and now I’m curious to see more. It reminded me a bit of Midsummer Night’s Dream, with the gods and nymphs and the love unrequited and then requited theme and the mystical, enchanting, dream-like quality of it all.

Here’s the story: scantily-clad Aminta the shepherd is in love with Sylvia, one of goddess Diana’s nymphs who, at the top of the ballet has just led a very successful hunt. She and her fellow huntresses celebrate their victorious hunt. Then, having renounced love, Sylvia taunts the god Eros, who, painted in silver and wearing a leaf fig over his private parts, spends the first act standing atop a pedestal. (This is a very fun ballet.) Evil Orion is also in love with Sylvia and seeks to possess her.

Continue reading ‘TWO SYLVIAS: ROBERTO BOLLE & MICHELE WILES AND DIANA VISHNEVA & ETHAN STIEFEL’