Arky

I’ll do my limited best with putting across the flavour & essentials of this interview with Sylvie Guillem. For clarification I’ll add the odd notes in brackets. It was recorded on the occasion of her being “awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 8th International Festival of Contemporary Dance (Venice, 8 > 24 June 2012). The decision was made by the Board of Directors of the Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, upon recommendation of the artistic director for the Dance sector, Ismael Ivo. The awards ceremony for the Golden Lion will be held during the Festival, on 20 June in the Sala delle Colonne at Ca’ Giustinian, the headquarters of the Biennale In the past, the award for Lifetime Achievement has been won by Merce Cunningham (1995), Carolyn Carlson (2006), Pina Bausch (2007), Jirí Kylián (2008) and William Forsythe (2010”. [http://www.labiennale.org/en/dance/news/12-05.html)]. Sylvie [born 1965]arrived at dancing by chance. She was a keen gymnast, and did sport and dance as well. Aged 11 she went with two other girls to the Paris Opers Ballet School “to try to be more feminine” and not just strong gymnasts. Gym was freer than dance, an athletic game, even though there were competitions it wasn’t serious, whereas dance was very serious and at first she did not enjoy it. At the end of her first year in the annual performance at the back of the stage, not doing much, she suddenly realised that performance & dance was what she wanted to explore. She decided to continue to see where it would lead’. She’d never seen a ballet on stage, but then she saw Coppelia and saw how the dancers needed to think about their work and put across feelings to the audience. Ballet & POB School was for her! [sylvie became a member of the corps de ballet at 16, in 1981, & in Dec. 1984 an étoile!!] She was then asked how she came to contemporary dance and worked with William Forsythe & Maurice Bejart. She said this was due to the miracle that was Nureyev [appointed Director POB 1983] He had a very open mind/spirit and opened doors to many incredible things. She began to have much wide ranging experience very young , instead of having to wait until much older as was normal for an étoile – she had an appetite to do everything, try things on stage with her young person’s energy& passion. Rudolf was older, a fantastic example to the dancers, with lots of energy too. She began to see the importance of doing other things as well as classical balllet. Rudolf felt that all types of dance should be done & not a particular type of dance for a particular type of public. She has tried to maintain this openness right until the present time. The interviewer asked about London. There is historic rivalry between London & Paris. Did she make a choice to go to London? She left Paris with nothing. She said what she wanted, more freedom to dance outside Paris, but didn’t get it, as they said that if they did it for her, others would want the same. Even though she said she would leave, it was assumed that she would stay, as if the ballet world was only Paris . She thought that if she found something she would keep on dancing, otherwise she’s do something else. Two weeks later, the administarator from Royal Ballet visited her, having heard what was afoot, & offered the sort of contract she wanted, with freedom to do other things. So it was a choice in that sense, but not a pre-planned decision or choice. More another day perhaps!

ENBS is giving its Summer Performance at he Bloomsbury Theatre, [near Euston Square tube station] today at 1pm & 7pm, and tomorrow 13 July at 1pm. Having seen them in rehearsal last week, I'm looking forward to tthis afternoon's show. Is anyone else going or perhaps someone saw them last week at their Studio Theatre?

Alison, Looking at the cast list for Birthday Offering I now know that I have seen Alex Campbell quite recently, but without realising which dancer he was! Will do better in the future!

Congratulations to all concerned. It is great that ex-White Lodgers are included. Delighted for Beatrix Stix-Brunell, who has jumped from Artist to Soloist - a well-deserved promotion, I feel. I can see from comments above that I must look out for Alex Campbell!

Did anyone see the Birminham Royal Ballet dancing at the Birmingham Olympic torch festivities the other night?

Last night Alina & Federico were a joy in A Month in the Country; the whole cast was good. Thoroughly enjoyed Birthday Offering too. Thanks for the super pictures, Dave,

Kitschqueen 1, my granddaughter's show was great, very varied, wonderful costumes & dancing. Now we know about the ballet at the closing ceremony - according to another post Darcy will be dancing!

I still can't get in today. Any tips?

Thanks, Kitschqueen 1, I'll let you know!

Hi Kitschqueen 1, I'm not surprised that you needed a rest on Sunday after all that. It must have been a bit of a nightmare getting home through the floods Glad you and DD made it to Quarry Hill for the show & that you both enjoyed it. I'm off to see my granddaughter's end of year show on Thursday- it's that time of year! Just had a search & it did go ahead at Temple Newsam. Photos & write - http://newsfeed.leedsvirtualnewsroom.co.uk/

Not the relay - Olympic Gymnasts this time! "Five-times British champion gymnast Frankie Jones has picked a routine for her Olympics attempt created by Birmingham Royal Ballet principal dancer Matthew Lawrence.Welsh-born 21-year-old Jones is the only British individual rhythmic gymnast to compete at the 2012 Olympics, and will unveil her new routine at the Rhythmic Gymnastics British Championships on 29 June in Stoke in Trent. The four days of rhythmic gymnastics competitions at the London 2012 Olympic Games in which Frankie will be competing take place between Thursday 9 and Sunday 12 August at Wembley Arena". 
[http://www.theartsdesk.com/arts-news/hopeful-olympic-gymnasts-routine-created-ballet-dancer] The ROH is very much involved too - The Olympic Journey: The Story of the Games is coming to the Royal Opera House this summer from Saturday 28 July until Sunday 12 August. BP and the Royal Opera House have joined forces with The Olympic Museum in Lausanne to create a free and unique exhibition telling the Olympic story through the endeavours of ancient and modern Olympians. This exhibition, shown in London for two weeks only, will include artefacts from athletes through the ages, audio and film, the summer Olympic Medals since 1896 and the summer Olympic Torches since 1936. [http://www.roh.org.uk/about/the-olympic-journey] There will be another interesting exhibition at the Britsh Library - Olympex 2012: Collecting the Olympic Games. 25 July – 9 September 2012. Also two talks on the 1908 & 1848 London Olympics. [http://www.bl.uk/whatson/exhibitions/olympex2012/index.html] Kitschqueen 1 - How was the weather in Leeds? Did the performance go ahead? Were you there?

The Leeds celebrations are going to keep the dancers busy, Kitschqueen 1. According to one website " 50 dancers from RJC Dance, Yorkshire Dance Youth, Northern School of Contemporary Dance and Phoenix Dance Theatre’s Youth Academy are leading the 30,000 audience in a mass particiption performance.!! Sounds like a busy evening, followed by a long lie in the next day for your dd's friends! Today Strictly Come Dancing champions Harry Judd and Aliona Vilani are part of the torch relay from Kendal to Blackpool. Just found another dancer running - on 26 June - Hollie Woodhouse, who "has studied dance and musical theatre since the age of three at a local dance school and the Northern Ballet in Leeds. Studying ballet, modern contemporary, jazz, tap, musical theatre, drama and piano she has performed in many festivals and theatre productions, including performances at the Lamproom Theatre in Barnsley". It is possible to watch the relay on line http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/

I posted details about a ballet dancer who ran with the Olympic Flame the other day in the NOT Ballet forum, but perhaps this was a mistake, as it is does involve ballet indirectly, and not many people have looked at it. Some Doing Dance contributors may know some of those involved. This is what I wrote - I have been watching the torch run through Stockton-on-Tees and spotted a runner who was clearly a dancer. He thoroughly enjoyed his run & so did everyone watching! The BBC commented on-line about him. What an inspirational story. Here is what was said: - " Kicking off his stint by delivering a high kick is James Hobley. He was diagnosed with autism at four-years-old and had problems with his legs as he tiptoe walked as a toddler. He had to wear braces on both legs and special orthopaedic boots because the tendons up the back of his legs were tight. But he made a recovery and discovered dancing, and has won a full scholarship to the Hammond Dance School in Chester. James adds split jumps to his earlier high kick to complete a snazzy little torchbearer routine" ! Kathy G then mentioned Lydia Hurst of Elmhurst. She is featured on Elmhurst’s site http://www.elmhurstd...rch-Bearer.html and has her own site http://lydiaholt.com/ where she describes the experience. She clearly had a brilliant time. Now I find that Daniel Dolan from Widnes, flew back from Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy to be a torch bearer. According to the article I found he is only the third British boy to train at Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy in 236 years. http://www.runcornandwidnesworld.co.uk/news/9744994.Ballet_prodigy_flys_home_from_Russia_to_carry_the_Olympic_torch/?ref=rss Scottish Ballet Youth Collective performed at the Olympic Torch Relay celebration in Glasgow. They can be seen on Isn’t it great that so many young ballet dancers are involved ? Are there any more?!!!

Just found Lydia on Elmhurst's own site too - lovely pictures http://www.elmhurstdance.co.uk/Olympic-Torch-Bearer.html

Thanks, Janet. Lydia's run rounds like fun, too, KathyG. I'll have to find that photo.

Just been watching the torch run through Stockton-on-Tees and spotted a runner who was clearly a dancer. He thorougly enjoyed his run & so did everyone watching! The BBC commented on-line about him. What an inspirational story. Here is what was said: - " Kicking off his stint by delivering a high kick is James Hobley. He was diagnosed with autism at four-years-old and had problems with his legs as he tiptoe walked as a toddler. He had to wear braces on both legs and special orthopaedic boots because the tendons up the back of his legs were tight. But he made a recovery and discovered dancing, and has won a full scholarship to the Hammond Dance School in Chester. James adds split jumps to his earlier high kick to complete a snazzy little torchbearer routine" !

Pherank, I played with google and found that found that according to Wiki Carolyn Carlson worked from 1974 to 1980 as Etoile-Chorégraphe at the Paris Opera Ballet. There is more about her on http://www.ccn-roubaix.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8&Itemid=2〈=en. There may be other female choreographers, I didn't investigate further. Wiki gives an incomplete listing of POB choreographers - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Opera_Ballet. http://www.operadeparis.fr/en/L_Opera/le_Ballet/le_Ballet_de_lOpera/Etoiles/Marie_Agnes_Gillot.php is Marie-Agnès Gillot's page on the POB website, which is in French & English. It has lots of interesting material on it. I see that they are doing La Fille Mal Gardee soon!