Today is George Balanchine’s birthday. Thank you to Toni Bentley for reminding me with her sweet email and link to the beautiful video below:
Pasha Gets His Own Show!
With my move, I didn’t have time to keep up with it, but this season Pasha Kovalev was a professional dancer on the British TV show Strictly Come Dancing (which our Dancing With the Stars is modeled on). He danced with British celeb Chelsea Healey (photo above).
It’s just been announced that he and another pro dancer from that show, Katya Virshilas, will get their own tour this spring. They’ll be performing in various theaters in England. Local dancers will join them, but they’ll be the headliners. Hope it’ll eventually come to the U.S.
Makes me so happy to know that Pasha’s doing so well with his career. I wonder what Anya Garnis is up to these days. I don’t know of Virshilas. Any of my ballroom peeps familiar with her?
Yulia Zagoruychenko Auctions Championship Dress to Help Fellow Dancer With Lung Cancer
World Latin champ Yulia Zagoruychenko (whom this blogger adores, as everyone here knows) is auctioning off one of her championship dresses to help friend and fellow dancer Julia Ivleva with her cancer treatments. Ivleva is a pro standard dancer who was recently diagnosed with lung cancer in both lungs, though she’s never smoked and, like all dancers, maintains a healthy lifestyle. It really can happen to anyone… Also like many (probably most) dancers, Ivleva has no health insurance. What a nightmare. There’s lots of money in the world of pro / am ballroom dance (I mean possessed by the students), so I’m hoping people help her out. Here’s the link to Zagoruychenko’s auction. If you can’t afford the dress but wish to donate go here. If all students donated the cost of a private lesson or two, that would be a pretty big sum.
Here’s a video of Ivleva dancing with her partner Igor Litvinov:
Pasha Will Be a Pro Dancer on Britain’s STRICTLY COME DANCING
Pasha Kovalev is going to be a pro dancer on this season’s Strictly Come Dancing, the British version of our Dancing With the Stars. Apparently, he’s replacing an American dancer, Jared Murillo (whom I’ve never heard of), because Murillo, at 5’9″ is too short to partner most of this season’s taller ladies. Pasha’s only 5’10” but that seems to make all the difference. Go Pasha! Hmmm, wish I had access to British television…
(Photo above taken by me, when he and Anya first appeared in Burn the Floor on Broadway).
Former NYCB Dancer Sophie Flack Signs Her Debut Novel, BUNHEADS, at BEA
My apologies for my lack of blog posts this week. I spent Monday through Thursday at Book Expo America, the largest book industry trade fair in North America, held every year in NY at the Javits Center. (Nevertheless, I did manage to go to ABT’s night of premieres on Tuesday, which I’ll blog about soon.)
Anyway, I was so excited to see in the BEA program that former New York City Ballet dancer (and Winger contributor), Sophie Flack, was to sign from her debut young adult novel, Bunheads, about a teenage dancer who’s in the corps de ballet of the “Manhattan Ballet,” and who, after meeting a handsome musician named Jacob, must decide whether she wants to continue in the competitive world of ballet or strike out on her own in “the real world.” The novel will be available in October, but I picked up an advance review copy and so am reading it now. It goes without saying that NYCB fans are going to LOVE it! But I think it has a far larger audience as well.
The Bunheads signing line was rather long, and I think Michael and I were the only ones who really knew anything about the author. I heard some young women behind me say they liked ballet and really wanted to read more about it. I heard someone else in line say they loved the cover; it reminded them of Black Swan (that’s the cover on the poster in the above photo). Some were saying they took ballet as a child and were still enamored of it and were really excited to see a book out about it. Basically, for all the pessimists out there, ballet most definitely is not dead.
It was so cool finally meeting Sophie! I felt so sweaty and gross walking all over the Javits Center for hours on end, so was hesitant to have my picture taken with her. That’s why I’m kind of hiding behind her!
Also, for my ballroom readers, I noticed this book:
It’s a memoir written by an amateur competitive ballroom dancer named Patrice Tanaka (who, from the photos inside the book, looks very familiar to me and who’s danced with my former teacher, Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine, whom I’ve blogged a bit about). According to the book cover, Becoming Ginger Rogers is about how ballroom helped Tanaka to become a better partner and business person (she runs an award-winning PR agency). I picked up an advance review copy of that as well, and will write about both books soon. Click on the book cover image above to find out more about the book and Tanaka.
Finally, just because I know some balletomanes who like him 😀 , here are a couple of photos of Colson Whitehead, who has a novel involving zombies (but it’s not a “zombie book,” he’s said on Twitter) out later this year. He didn’t read from that at BEA but from a humorous essay about the constantly changing “in” genres in publishing and what an author can (not really) do about it.
Google’s Martha Graham Dancer Doodle
In case you’re not online today, or don’t use Google as a search engine, someone has generously recorded and posted a YouTube clip of Google’s excellent Martha Graham doodle, in honor of what would be her 117th birthday. I don’t remember seeing such an intricately designed doodle for anyone or anything else. Do you guys? How awesome for the dance world!
More BLACK SWAN Controversy, and The Paris Opera Ballet’s COPPELIA
I’m still crazy busy but just wanted to point out two things. First, if you haven’t already heard, there’s now a storm of controversy over how much dancing Natalie Portman actually did in Black Swan. Dance Magazine EIC Wendy Perron wants more credit given to Sarah Lane, Portman’s ABT double (whose dancing I love; for image credits above, click on the photos). Portman didn’t mention Lane in her Oscar acceptance speech (though she did mention the dancers in general) but, further, there was apparently also a special effects video produced about the making of the film in which Lane’s face was never shown, though her dancing body was, and in which Lane was never credited. Lane seems not to want to say too much, says she was asked to remain silent on the issue, to not talk about the film, particularly before the Oscars. Lane gave an interview to Dance Magazine in December about her role in the movie, saying she wasn’t “looking for any sort of recognition.” Millepied of course defends his muse, saying Lane did “just the footwork.”
Lane also mentioned in that Dance Magazine interview that Maria Riccetto did some of Mila Kunis’s dancing, which I didn’t know. Both Portman and Kunis must be very petite women!
Anyway, will the controversy surrounding this film ever end? Hopefully not! It’s keeping ballet in the minds of the public, if you ask me…
Thanks to reader Jeff (who I noticed is also mentioned in Perron’s blog, linked to above) for pointing me to the controversy.
Also, this Monday, March 28th, the Paris Opera Ballet will live-stream its Coppelia, via Emerging Pictures’ always excellent Ballet in Cinema series. Curtain is Paris time at 7:30 p.m., which is 1:30 p.m. here on the east coast. In Manhattan, it’s showing at the Big Theater again. For other times and locations, visit the Ballet in Cinema website.
Okay, all I have time for now. Thanks for continuing to read my blog while I remain swamped 🙂
NYCB Wants To Monitor Its Dancers’ Social Media Posts
The dance twittersphere is currently aflutter over this Wall Street Journal article. It seems to have started with some tweets by NYCB corps dancer, Devin Alberda, gently poking fun at NYCB benefactor David Koch, at A.D. Peter Martins’ recent drunk driving arrest, and mock-criticizing one of the yellow-face characters in Martins’ Magic Flute for its racial connotations. I’ve seen some of Alberda’s blog and twitter posts and have often found him to be clever and funny but have also sometimes wondered, hmmm, is that going too far? Actually, I’ve seen blog posts (other than Alberda’s) and thought, wow, I wonder what such and such artistic director would think if he saw that. But then I don’t think any less of the company, maybe just the dancer. And since I don’t want to know more, I don’t return to that blog. So, really, no harm done there.
Anyway, NYCB is now in negotiations with the dancers’ union to attain the ability to monitor the dancers’ tweets and Facebook and other social media posts. If the union gives them the right to do so, according to the article, they’ll be one of the first performing arts organizations to have that power.
It’s an interesting issue because, on one hand, it’s never smart to publicly criticize your boss of course, but what about when arguing that a certain stereotype in a certain ballet carries racist connotations is tantamount to such a criticism? In part, it’s a free speech issue, which somehow makes the issue seem especially problematic for an arts organization. I mean, in interviews artists will sometimes speak openly about something deemed offensive in a piece they perform (opera, a play, a ballet, etc.), though usually not as snidely as Alberda. But some on Twitter are also saying companies have the right to control their “brand” and many companies do such monitoring.
Others are saying Twitter and blogs are good for ballet because it’s such a rarefied, insular art form, it can only help for the public to have greater access to dancers’ daily lives via these popular platforms. But if the blogs and tweets are monitored, then it seems like they’re controlled, and not authentic. I’ve read dancer blogs before where it’s obvious a dancer is just a PR spokesperson for the company, and I don’t take them seriously at all. I usually read once or twice then never return. And it also makes me think the company’s using the dancer. So, maybe, if the posts are going to be heavily monitored, it would have the same effect on the public as not allowing them at all.
And what about dancers attacking critics? And what about the whole system of patronage, which ballet largely operates under? What if a dancer says something that has the potential to anger a patron?
Very complicated issue. Any thoughts? It’s a good article.
Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Will Receive National Medal of Honor From Obama Today at 1:45
Today at 1:45 p.m ET, Ella Baff, director of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (which is an excellent summer festival – loved it the year I was able to go), will receive the National Medal of Honor from President Obama. It will be live-streamed on the White House’s website, here.
Other recipients include James Taylor, Harper Lee, and Meryl Streep. Does this mean Harper Lee will make a rare public appearance to receive her award as well?
Click on the link below to read the entire Jacob’s Pillow press release with info about the festival, the award, and prior recipients.
Above photo of Flamenco Revolution performing on the Pillow’s Inside/Out stage, by Kristi Pitsch.
Moonlight on the Beach
Happy President’s Day everyone! I’m spending the week in South Carolina at my cousin’s timeshare – I needed a few days away from New York and the ocean is my favorite place. (If I ever have money, I’m definitely buying a beach house somewhere. I could never be one of those New Yorkers who buys a country home up in the mountains. I don’t understand those people. Who wants to risk a run-in with a bear or coyote or jaguar? Not to mention deal with permanently cold temperatures…) Anyway, the light from last night’s full moon on the ocean was gorgeous. My iPhone is not so good at taking pictures at night, so you’ll have to take my word for it 🙂
The condo’s wireless connection is a bit off and on, plus, it’s unexpectedly nice weather here – 71 degrees today, plus I’m supposed to be working on my novel, so I don’t know how much time I’ll have to blog. But here are a few items of interest:
Roberto Bolle makes his Hollywood debut;
John Epperson talks about his role as “Jaded Piano Player” in Black Swan; and
Our friend Benjamin Millepied is now getting hounded by the tabloids for working too hard and not paying enough attention to Ms. Portman
Also, here are some photos I just received of the magnificent Sara Mearns debuting as the Siren (opposite Sean Suozzi) in Balanchine’s Prodigal Son a couple weeks ago at NYCB:
Finally, if you haven’t seen Natalia Osipova dance yet, next Sunday, March 6th, will be your chance. She’ll be dancing Kitri in Don Quixote with the Bolshoi, in a performance that will be live-streamed direct from Moscow via Emerging Pictures’ Ballet in Cinema series. NY performance time is 11:00 a.m., at the Manhattan Big Theater, and she’ll be dancing opposite Ivan Vasliev. This is the role that made her famous, and she owns it, so try not to miss it if it’s showing at a theater near you. Check Emerging Pictures’ website for times and locations.
Okay, that’s all for now. Happy holiday everyone!
Jenifer Ringer to Appear on Oprah
NYCB announced today that Jenifer Ringer (the subject of Sugarplumpgate if you’re not a regular NYCB dance-goer) will appear on Oprah Winfrey this Thursday, February 17th. She’ll appear as part of an episode called “Fascinating Lives.” In addition to being interviewed, footage of Ringer in rehearsal and performing Jerome Robbins’ I’m Old Fashioned will be shown. The show will air at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday, on ABC. Click on the link below to read the press release.
Cory Stearns Promoted to Principal at ABT
ABT has just announced via Facebook that Cory Stearns has been promoted to principal dancer. Above, as Romeo in photo by Rosalie O’Connor.