Category: Dance News

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LET’S HAVE AN "ELOQUENTLY VIOLENT" MAYERLING FOR ABT, MR. MCKENZIE

 

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!

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ABT OPENS AT BARD

 

…to rave reviews, particularly Benjamin Millepied’s latest:

“Receiving its world premiere performance, Benjamin Millepied’s “Everything Doesn’t Happen at Once” was a knockout.  Contrary to its title, there was a lot happening all the time, as the full compliment of 24 dancers often filled the tight performance space with a busy but ordered beauty.  Solos and lifts popped up like little tornados.  A sensual pas de deux featured Stella Abrera and Marcelo Gomes.  Near the conclusion, lines of dancers moved in a militaristic lock step.

During the final movement Daniil Simkin – a 22 year-old blonde Russian – stole the show. As the other men flung him up and about, he balanced in their raised hands and posed like a bare-chested god. And in solos that went by in a flash, Simkin seemed to tumble in midair, as strong as a gymnast yet light as a bird.

To the kinetic music of David Lang and the stark but effective lighting of Brad Fields, Millepied’s choreography was propulsive and contemporary. After making a strong impression with a new work at SPAC last summer, Millepied showed an even steadier hand here and with a larger compliment of dancers to boot.  Move over Christopher Wheeldon, Millepied is now the ballet choreographer to watch.”

ABT begins its four-day NYC season at Avery Fisher Hall this Wednesday. Can’t wait!

 

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BILLY ELLIOT’S STEPHEN HANNA RETURNS TO NEW YORK CITY BALLET

 

Stephen Hanna is returning to NYCB this winter season. Apparently he’s going to be listed as a guest for the upcoming season, but he’s resuming his principal rank. He leaves the Billy Elliot Broadway cast at the end of this month.

I’ll be excited to see him on the NYCB stage again, especially since the Billy Elliot production, ridiculously, didn’t give him enough to do.

 

His Billy Elliot replacement hasn’t yet been determined.

 

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FRANCIS MASON, DANCE WRITER, DIES AT 88

I’m so sad to hear of this. I didn’t really know Mr. Mason, but over the last couple of years, he’s been seated next to me at many dance performances. I knew who he was because so many critics would stop by our row and greet him. He was the most lively man. I remember sitting next to him last year when then new ABT wunderkind Daniil Simkin danced Flames of Paris with Sarah Lane, and after Simkin completed an astounding series of barrel turns, Mr. Mason whistled, raised his eyebrows and shook his head, letting out a little laugh. I remember thinking, okay if this man, who’s apparently been around a while and seen a lot, is impressed by this guy, Simkin is officially impressive.

I also remember seeing Mr. Mason not long ago at a Cedar Lake installation performance. A young woman slid off our bench and began stretching and several of us kind of looked at each other, obviously wondering whether she was a dancer and part of the performance but too shy to ask. Mr. Mason took one look at her, and got up and called out to her, “Are you part of the performance?” (She wasn’t, she laughed.)

I feel like I just saw him and he looked perfectly healthy, although with elderly people I guess you never know — it can be any little thing that causes death. I’m actually shocked he was 88; I thought he was in his early 70s — probably because he was so active and sprightly.

And active he was, as you can see from the obituaries. I was just recently introduced to the excellent critical journal he edited, Ballet Review, one of the many things he did.

It’s just so sad thinking that you just saw the person and, now, that’s going to be the last time you ever saw them. I thought the same with Clive Barnes.

Here is James Wolcott’s obituary, and here Alastair Macaulay’s.

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RIP PATRICK SWAYZE

 

Oh this is so sad. I really thought he was going to beat pancreatic cancer, he’d beaten it for so long already.

Most of the videos of Dirty Dancing (which Twitter reports was the number one trending topic earlier today) have had their YouTube embedding disabled, but go here to see the final scene, which still makes me cry.

On November 2, Swayze was to receive the Rolex Dance Award at America Dances! presented at City Center by Career Transitions for Dancers. He will now receive the award posthumously and there will be a celebration in honor of him that evening.

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SLAVIK KRYKLYVYY AND ANNA MELNIKOVA COMPETE IN US NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

 

Argh, I knew I should have gone to the U.S. National Championships this year. My favorite male Latin dancer, Slavik Kryklyvyy, and his new partner, Anna Melnikova, just competed in the Open to the World category in Florida. They placed second, behind Yulia Zagoruychenko and Riccardo Cocchi. I can imagine what an exciting comp that must have been though. Here’s a short video of Slavik and Anna’s Cha Cha round. Go here to see more competition videos of the champs in each category.

 

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CITY CENTER'S NEW STUDIO 5 SERIES

New York’s City Center is beginning a new series of informal conversations with dance artists, curated by Damian Woetzel. So far there are three talks scheduled. The first is going to be on October 26 with Wendy Whelan, the second on December 14 with Alvin Ailey’s Matthew Rushing, and the third on March 15, 2010 with Angel Corella. All talks are at 6:30 p.m. and are in the upstairs studio 5. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased starting September 8th (looks like the first, with Wendy Whelan, is already sold out).

Each talk will be accompanied by performances and demos by the artist and his or her colleagues. Wendy Whelan will be discussing her work with NYCB and Morphoses and the talk will include performances by her and some of her selected guests; Matthew Rushing will speak about Alvin Ailey and he and others from AAADT will demonstrate excerpts from some of his roles; and our beloved Angel will be talking all about his new company, Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon and there’ll be demos by him and his company’s members.

Very cool!

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STAND IN LINE FOR FALL FOR DANCE TICKETS AND LET MONICA BILL BARNES ENTERTAIN YOU

 

I think this is pretty funny. Fall For Dance tickets go on sale this Sunday, September 13th, at 11:00 a.m. In the past crowds have been known to line up beginning at 4 a.m. (this festival is popular), and the line’s been known to wend its way practically all around midtown. Well, this year, festival participant Monica Bill Barnes (above, on the left), a modern / experimental dancer and choreographer, is going to entertain the queued-up crowd from 10-11 Sunday morn. She and her dancers can be rather amusing.

 

These pics are from a site-specific performance of hers I saw last summer downtown and wrote about here.

Also, during the festival there will be three free, open-to-the-public talks in City Center’s Studio 5 (which is upstairs, I think on the 5th floor). All three talks will be about the legacy of the Ballets Russes (in honor of their centenary this year).

The first, on September 23rd at 6:30 p.m. will be a discussion with three original members of the legendary troupe: Frederic Franklin, Raven Wilkinson and Eleanor D’Antuono and will be moderated by Robert Greskovic, author and dance critic for the Wall Street Journal.

The second, on Sept. 25th, same time, will be about how BR’s collaborations with clothes designers, painters, and musicians of the day created lasting change for the dance world. Panelists include Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, Juliet Bellow and Simon Morrison and the moderator is Lynn Garafola, a dance historian at Barnard.

The third, on October 3rd, same time, will be about BR’s influence on today’s choreography. Panelists are choreographers Nicholas Leichter, Robert Johnson, Mark Dendy, and Virginia Johnson and the moderator is Wendy Perron, the editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine.

Speaking of Ballets Russes, one final reminder: if you haven’t yet seen the fantastic exhibit at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, at Lincoln Center, you only have until September 12th to do so. They’ve got videos of Baryshnikov dancing Balanchine’s Prodigal Son, of Anna Pavlova, of Fokine’s Les Sylphides, of Branislava Nijinska’s Les Noces, of original BR choreographer Leonid Massine instructing Joffrey dancers on reconstructing his Parade, they’ve got original costumes and poster designs by Picasso, letters and diary entries by Diaghlev, etc. etc. etc. Definitely worth seeing.

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MICHELE WILES + SEBASTIEN MARCOVICI THIS WEEKEND IN MIAMI

 

 

This is a most interesting pairing, and one I hadn’t thought of before. One of my NYCB favorites, Sebastien Marcovici, and ABT’s Michele Wiles will dance the Black Swan pdd this weekend in Miami at the International Ballet Festival. It’ll be their first time as a partnership. Apparently, they both take class with David Howard here in NY and he thunk it up. Wish I could be there… There’s a lot going on this weekend.