Jump to content

Performances in the U.S.A.


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 172
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

  • 4 weeks later...

I compared the POB I saw these past two days with the POB I saw in 2011 and also in the 2005 video of Jewels and their company style has really deteriorated. It seems like there are no dancers like Aurelie Dupont and Clairemarie Osta anymore. You know, dancers who had that stately French style but also the delicacy and personality to really dance the classics. In 2011 I fondly remember watching Dupont and Osta back to back in Giselle. Ah, great memories ...

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I don’t believe that I’ve ever read two more enthusiastic reviews.

 

Alena Kovaleva — Diamonds

 

“Yet everything in this performance paled in comparison to the ravishing splendor of 18-year-old Alena Kovaleva in the lead role.

 

“The audience had never heard of her, but from her first moment, there was a collective holding of breath, and at the end, a wild, heartfelt ovation; really, a burst of love.”

 

Robert Gotlieb

http://observer.com/2017/07/jewels-lincoln-center-review/

 

 

“Alena Kovaleva, a member of the Bolshoi Ballet’s corps who joined the company directly after graduating from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in 2016 (last year!), assayed the lead ballerina role in Diamonds at the Lincoln Center Festival’s five-performance Jewels celebration yesterday afternoon, and delivered one of the finest portrayals I’ve seen. Ever.” 

 

Jerry Hochman

http://criticaldance.org/lincoln-center-festival-jewels-gems/

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Vail Dance Festival has just put a video on its Facebook page showing snippets from two multinational programmes over the weekend, including a tantalising short clip of Francesca Hayward and Marcelino Sambe in Rhapsody - also Marcelo Gomes, Misty Copeland, Tiler Peck, Lauren Lovett, Devon Teuscher etc etc - some line-up!

 

 

Edited by Jane S
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

They've now added another video, of the 2nd International Evening, featuring many of the same dancers in different works - Hayward and Sambe this time in the Romeo and Juliet balcony pd2 .

 

(and Lauren Lovette whose name I misspelt last time)

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Macmillan's Mayerling has had its first performance by an American company--the Houston Ballet. I'm posting about it here mostly because the premier has taken place under rather poignant and unusual circumstances as one might expect given the devastation visited on the city by Hurricane Harvey a very few weeks ago.  The company normally appears in the Wortham Center which was badly damaged by the storm, and will be closed for a while. But they found an alternative venue that seems to have been workable. They still had to cancel a number of planned performances, but the premier took place with the Mayor of the City in attendance and I think there will be three more performances. (I'm not a local, so I don't know if the Mayor usually attends Houston Ballet premiers or not.) Anyway, here is a review/report on the performance. Presumably a lot of goodwill is involved in reviewing the home-town company under these circumstances, but it sounds like a fine performance:

 

http://houston.culturemap.com/news/arts/09-23-17-houston-ballets-mayerling-surges-above-the-storm/#slide=0

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Hi, thankfully there are now more videos of American ballet companies.

I think SFB has a Cinderella, Nutcracker, Othello and Little Mermaid out.

NYCB has a Nutcracker from 2011 and a great all-Balanchine program of Walpurgisnacht/La Valse/Sonatine/Symphony in C. 

They've also released a host of vintage Balanchine programs on the vai label here:

http://www.vaimusic.com/category/Balanchine.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
28 minutes ago, Ivy Lin said:

David Hallberg and Natalia Osipova finished their Giselle performance here in the USA. Here's what I thought:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2018/05/robbins-festival-ends-supergiselle-at.html

 

You write so well, Ivy Lin, and I hope that you won't stop doing so.

I understand what you mean about 'amateur' writing being a form of conceit but I am not convinced that many professional critics are particularly experienced in ballet terms, at least, not to begin with.  I shall never forget sitting in front of two women at the ROH and hearing the older one, whom I vaguely recognised, ask the younger one, "So how did you become a critic, then?" The reply was to the effect that she was really a trainee who had been sent along that night because noone else was available. She nevertheless continued to review ballet and dance for that newspaper for many years thenceforward - and she did so rather well!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

39 minutes ago, Ivy Lin said:

David Hallberg and Natalia Osipova finished their Giselle performance here in the USA. Here's what I thought:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2018/05/robbins-festival-ends-supergiselle-at.html

Ivy Lin ... I Completely get where you are coming from… and very much admire your forthright courage In the follow-through . It speaks volumes. Would that many others had similar gumption!

 

All best wishes for your future choices and thanks for your present and past insights. They have been sincerely appreciated. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

You write so well, Ivy Lin, and I hope that you won't stop doing so.

I understand what you mean about 'amateur' writing being a form of conceit but I am not convinced that many professional critics are particularly experienced in ballet terms, at least, not to begin with.  I shall never forget sitting in front of two women at the ROH and hearing the older one, whom I vaguely recognised, ask the younger one, "So how did you become a critic, then?" The reply was to the effect that she was really a trainee who had been sent along that night because noone else was available. She nevertheless continued to review ballet and dance for that newspaper for many years thenceforward - and she did so rather well!

 

I'd add that all the book-learning about ballet in the world doesn't guarantee a good eye, which, together with love of the art form and humility, is the essential basis of good criticism.

 

Certain well-known critics fail on one or more of these counts IMO.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

While I'm at it...Here is another review by New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay on David Hallberg and Natalia Osipova's performance of Giselle, as well as the rest of the run with Sarah Lane and Misty Copeland starring as Giselle. Very interesting and enlightening remarks! Beautiful pictures as well. 

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/20/arts/dance/giselle-natalia-osipova-american-ballet-theater.html

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...