toursenlair

article in :Flanders Today": http://www.flanderstoday.eu/art/royal-ballet-flanders-parts-company-assis-carreiro

I'm in Toronto and Winnipeg is a 2 1/2 hr flight away so probably not. Though I expect they'll bring it on tour to Ottawa next year and I might be able to catch it then.

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet (them again) will be premiering this ballet this fall: Commissioned by Artistic Director André Lewis, Going Home Star – A Story of Truth and Reconciliation explores the world of Annie, a young, urban First Nations woman adrift in a contemporary life of youthful excess. But when she meets Gordon, a longhaired trickster disguised as a homeless man, she’s propelled into a world she’s always sensed but never seen. Not only do they travel the streets of this place but also the roads of their ancestors, learning to accept the other’s burdens as the two walk through the past and toward the future. Together, both Annie and Gordon learn that without truth, there is no reconciliation. The story is by Canadian novelist Joseph Boyden, whose novels Three Day Road and Through Black Spruce I recommend highly. (In case you're unfamiliar with Canadian terminology, "First Nations" is what we used to call "Indian" (ie North American Indian). There is a short trailer on the RWB site: http://www.rwb.org/75thseason/lineup The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is a commission of inquiry into the residential schools which many Aboriginal children were forced to attend.

Nijinsky made quite a stir with Jeux (1913 if I remember right) which was set in contemporary times. But otherwise the Ballets Russes at that point were very much into ancient Egypt/Greece, prehistoric (Rite of Spring) and "olden-days" (Petruskha) Russia.

Still haven't made it into the 21st c., though, which is the original topic of this thread.

I don't think there's any guarantee they're both dancing in NY with the Mikhailovsky as Osipova is scheduled for some RB performances at the same time.

In really important news, the Royal Opera House has announced they will be serving afternoon tea: Severn & Wye smoked salmon blini Salt beef, cornichon and sweet mustard sandwich Free-range egg and cress sandwich Cucumber and cream cheese sandwich Traditional and fruit scones with Dorset clotted cream and strawberry jam Pistachio éclair with praline grains Opéra Gâteau Mandarin and kumquat amandine Banoffee macaron ROYAL OPERA HOUSE AFTERNOON TEA £37.50 WITH A GLASS OF R DE RUINART CHAMPAGNE £47.50 £37.50 does not seem like a trifling (ha!) amount to me, unless of course I apply Bruce Wall's approach to exchange rates. How much can an egg and cress sammie set Covent Garden back? But I guess if you call a gherkin a cornichon, it raises the price dramatically. Does this seem overpriced to y'all? And in other news, should the Royal Opera House really be serving a champagne by the name of "Ruin art"?

you can see the list of competitors who have made it this far here: http://www.varna-ibc.org/site/?page_id=1710〈=en

Bruce we here on this side of the Atlantic only wish the exchange rate worked the way you did it the first time!

The International Ballet Competition in Varna can be watched live online on 26, 27, 29 and 30 July, 2014 starting at 8 pm European time BNT World website at the link: http://tv.bnt.bg/bntworld/

Weell... http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/theatre-reviews/wheres-the-dark-heart-of-the-handmaids-tale/article14914559/#dashboard/follows/ Didn't see it myself. Here's a quote from the article: "In truth, the work is short of conflict, drama, passion and tension. ... The Handmaid’s Tale is attractive to watch, but it is bland and anemic in terms of substance, despite the company’s great talent."

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet did a ballet based on Margaret Atwood's "A Handmaid's Tale" last year.

or maybe because you don't have to pay royalties to the author...

Not sure about the RB, but it's absolutely standard for the National Ballet of Canada to do a 7:30 Friday, 2:00 Saturday, 7:30 Saturday and 2:00 Sunday all in a row for all of their programs, and they have a much smaller company than the RB so more dancers have to be in every performance. So it's not that amazing. Well, I mean it's generally amazing what dancers do anyway, but this kind of schedule is not that amazing in the ballet world.

gag me.

I also had no problems getting two 4th-row stalls for opening night Manon; all done in a matter of minutes as soon as booking opened (which means getting up at 5 am for me!)

My latest "inconsiderate audience members" story: On the weekend I was in Saratoga Springs in upstate New York, where New York City Ballet has a summer season in an outdoor theatre which Balanchine himself had input in designing. (If you ever have a chance to go there, it's a FANTASTIC experience; Saratoga is a charming spa town and the atmosphere is very informal; the park where the theatre is located is beautiful and after the final performance they have fireworks. Ballet tickets and hotels are a lot cheaper than in NY, and over the week -- two weeks next year--, they cover an awful lot of rep, so it's an opportunity to see NYCB for less). Anyway, I was seated in the second row and had a good view of the stage between the heads of the two people sitting in front of me, because the rows are well staggered. Until.... the two ladies took it upon themselves to keep putting their heads together so that they could comment on the dancing as it was going on. At this point my view of the stage became a big black blob. After they had done it four times, I thought, "Next time I'm going to insert my program between their heads!" It happened a fifth time and I still just seethed inwardly. But the sixth time, I reached forward, tapped them both on the shoulder and made a gesture with my hands to indicate keeping their heads apart. The basilisk-like glare I got from one of them would have stopped anyone in their tracks. And she kept turning round at intervals to glare at me some more (which I ignored, cuz at least I was getting a good view of the stage). Ironic that she kept sacrificing her own view of New York City Ballet's finest to look instead at MOI (I can tell you, the choice between the two options for most people would not be the one she made!). Anyway, when that ballet was over she gave me one last withering stare, but she and friend (who actually weren't even supposed to be sitting in those seats I think, because they had appeared after the first intermission) departed for other seats where they could find someone else's view to block.

Dorothee Gilbert's "injury" was a baby girl born in March. She may have been injured too, for all I know.

I think Abderakhman was Stephane Bullion.

I doubt they're abandoning Onegin; in fact they are performing it this week. The audience in Hamburg, it seems to me, is not the type who would say "Well, we've already got one ballet based on this story... been there, done that." A German reviewer, klassik.com, described the new Tatiana as "worth a trip to Hamburg".

The Hamburg Ballet premiered John Neumeier's take on the Onegin story this week, and have just released this video of rehearsals. Can't say I'm a fan of Lera Auerbach's music (for this or the other ballets Neumeier's commissioned from her (Preludes CV, Little Mermaid), which is a shame because I love his choreography. Tatjana Larina Hélène Bouchet Eugen Onegin Edvin Revazov

Ballet Henry Leutwyler (New York City Ballet) Robert Tewsley: Dancing Beyond Borders (Iris Julia Buehrle) has lots of great photos in it.

Continuing on in our "Canadians dominating the world" thread, and in honour of Canada Day today, I just wanted to share this cute bit of Canadiana (but really, most of us don't drive logs down rivers anymore): <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/upsZZ2s3xv8?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

re: promotee, Janet I don't think you can take credit it for it, unless you were around in the 18th century : Oxford English Dictionary | The definitive record of the English language promotee, n. Pronunciation: Brit. /prəˌməʊˈtiː/ , U.S. /prəˌmoʊˈti/ Etymology: < promote v. + -ee suffix1. A person who is or has been promoted. 1749 Grounds & Rudiments Law & Equity 239 Whether the king's right determines by his promotee's death?

Wednesday 9 July 2014 à 19h30 (330 pm Eastern time) Program: Les Forains (Roland Petit), Excerpts from: Bal des cadets (David Lichine) Raymonda (Rudolf Noureev), Caligula (Nicolas Le Riche), pas de deux from Appartement (Mats Ek) L’Après-midi d’un faune (Vaslav Nijinski), Le Jeune Homme et la Mort (Roland Petit), Boléro (Maurice Béjart).