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Bruce

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  1. Bruce
    Lots of news from RNZB this morning... In 2015 Liam Scarlett is doing a new 'full-length' Midsummer Nights Dream for RNZB - using the Mendelssohn score and with designs by Tracy Grant Lord (among others she did their excellent R&J). It premieres on 20 August 2015 in Wellington. Details: http://www.rnzb.org.nz/shows-and-events/the-vodafone-season-of-a-midsummer-night's-dream/about/ Also in 2015 RNZB are touring England and Scotland with the Kobborg/Stiefel Giselle. Can't find any dates but suspect Autumn 2015. It's an acclaimed production and look forward to seeing it. The news is in this press release about a new Director: http://www.rnzb.org.nz/news/news/new-ad-and-2015-season/ Finally they have a new director, following the departure of Ethan Stiefel - Francesco Ventriglia. He has been Director of MaggioDanza in Florence since 2010. Lots of blurb about him in the press release: http://www.rnzb.org.nz/news/news/new-ad-and-2015-season/
  2. Bruce
    For DanceTabs page on World Ballet Day Live! I just did a quick sweep of what each of the companies is saying... Australian Ballet blog Bolshoi Ballet – nothing as yet Royal Ballet page National Ballet of Canada page (pdf) San Francisco Ballet page San Francisco Ballet Kickstarter to raise money for World Ballet Day The Australian Blog gives timings of who is on when, but of course it's all in Aus time! The SF Kickstarter page is looking for $30,000 to cover their costs. They also rather jumped the gun - I found the page yesterday afternoon - well ahead of when announcements were due to be made. It may even have been up since the 3 September! The interesting omission is New York - no disrespect to Nat Ballet of Canada. A shame that for whatever reason NYCB is not involved. I mention them particularly, though ABT would have been good instead, because they represent such a different ballet tradition with their emphasis on shorter works. But this is a wonderful initiative as is and I really look forward to see it all unfolding on the day.
  3. Bruce
    I think most (UK) companies have an annual appraisal process in place that gives such feedback. And I'm sure that most directors feel that all their dancers are capable of more challenging roles - but there are not enough roles/performance slots to challenge everybody. You back the brighter stars. Most directors see most shows their company give. To varying degrees they are in the studio for rehearsals and class etc and they will also talk to ballet staff about dancers and who might do what in future rep. Directors don't lack inputs on the performance of dancers I think.
  4. Bruce
    I've just released Paul Arrowsmith's review of the Lambert book: http://dancetabs.com/2014/08/book-constant-lambert-beyond-the-rio-grande-by-stephen-lloyd/ Good reading!
  5. Bruce
    It may be todo with this: http://www.zdnet.com/internet-hiccups-today-youre-not-alone-heres-why-7000032566/
  6. Bruce
    This thread has turned into a sad place. Assoluta and others who might feel similarly: A company cannot be run by fans and claques. The director chooses who does what and inevitably we all see some of our favourites not preferred. That's life and will never change. Starting a guerrilla war, sniping from behind anonymous accounts and talking down other dancers is no way forward and based on what we are seeing here probably does harm to the prospects of those you seek to be preferred. I'm certainly starting to associate her name with a lot of ceaseless moaning rather than recalling her dancing. If Stepanova herself truly feels she could do much better then she should do what Parish did and dancers have always done - look to move company and be better valued elsewhere. Thoughts on swan Lake and dancing is what this thread should be about and I can't be alone in hoping we get back to it...
  7. Bruce
    Forgive me but before I wrote I looked at all the links I could find in TodaysLinks and didn't see one where Stepanova is called up as an 'unworthy' partner. I see great things said about her and some less great things. I have seen some great things written about Parish and some less great things. If I have missed the reviews that said she was unworthy (there was a plural used, so not just one review) then my profuse apologies to all.
  8. Bruce
    I have press contact around this London visit and am not aware of press being 'fed' any particular messages re certain dancers. In any event the London critics tend to be pretty independent minded. I truly think they commented on what they saw and not on what they didn't see. Of course taste is different for all of us, so people pick up on things differently. "Some were even wondering why Xander was given such an unworthy partner." I've not seen this - can you point us at the press reviews where this specific point was clearly made? Understand you feel passionately about the accusations you make but to some they read as Highly Critical in nature.
  9. Bruce
    I had in mind the people who may be interested in applying for the role of Artistic Director.
  10. Bruce
    I suspect we will never fully hear about it all - the 2 sides of the original contract will agree on terms for Carreiro's leaving and as part of that agree not to argue in public. Ultimately it's happened, won't be undone, and everybody needs to look to the future. But I suspect the board, or whoever is in charge of hiring a new AD, will have to be prepared to answer some very, very, tough and searching questions about their attitude to senior management - having seen 2 directors leave in unfortunate circumstances.
  11. Bruce
    Interesting artcicle and always good to see more information out there, but I doubt very much it was informed by Carreiro's take on what she has been about as AD. It feels like part of one side of an argument.
  12. Bruce
    Sad I missed her and I envy you seeing here for the first time - she is from another world.
  13. Bruce
    One person's partisanship is another persons reality of course. His has been a big homecoming and he featured prominently in the pre-season publicity, then slots on BBC radio and TV and the first 2 photoshoots have featured him prominently too - all unprecedented for a soloist level dancer I think. I truly don't see his partners have been done down to boost his reputation particularly but, for my taste I thought the reviews of him in Romeo were rather too kind. In Swan Lake he was more credible and enjoyable. The partisanship angle has additional spice because of the RB position. Did RB really screw up in allowing him to languish undeveloped or not? And that's connected with RB routinely being accused of importing stars rather then growing them. In their various ways I think reviewers have sought to be fair to Parish and those on stage with him. If he had done a Vasiliev and wowed everybody senseless it might have been different, but I think there were nuanced things to say about what he did on stage and the interesting context around it all. It's certainly been big news for all of us! And he still has Apollo to do...
  14. Bruce
    I just wanted to draw attention to Jann Parry's review (just gone live!) of the Xander Parish and Yulia Stepanova matinee performance: http://dancetabs.com/2014/08/mariinsky-ballet-swan-lake-stepanova-parish-cast-london/ For those who think my choice of words rather harsh(!) I think you will enjoy Jann's review.
  15. Bruce
    I also saw Xander Parish and Yulia Stepanova at the matinee yesterday. Xander looked much more more comfortable in it then what I saw of him as Romeo - such a beautiful classical line. Overall I thought it was a typical matinee where you test younger dancers and they did fine - no disgrace, no revelation. They both looked beautiful at times but it's also early days and it could be dutiful too, with steps too fussed over. I thought she looked the most comfortable - amazing given, in RB hierarchy terms, she is a first artist only 5 years out of school. But the thing I enjoyed the most was the corps - meticulously together and all the same height - really mesmerising. It's a fine production that works. It struck me how amazing it is that the Mariinsky can put on such a matinee and please the audience. If RB went to Japan and looked to put on a soloist and a first artist as the leads in Swan Lake I thing there would be an awful lot of very unhappy fans. It says a lot of the Mariinsky's strength in depth that they can do this. Overall I find it interesting how the critics have generally been appreciative of Parish as Romeo whereas fans views I've heard have been more mixed - some impressed, some not. It's rather a reversal of what I'd normally observe. Be interesting to see what is said about lac, in print, here, and in what can often seem more candid conversations. It's certainly a ballet that plays to his strengths.
  16. Bruce
    Two reviews that may be useful re Concerto DSCH Alastair Macaulay on the premiere in 2008: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/arts/dance/31here.html Laura Cappelle saw Le Scala Ballet dancing it in 2012. Laura compares to MacMillan's Concerto, which uses the same music: http://dancetabs.com/2012/05/la-scala-ballet-marguerite-and-armand-concerto-dsch-milan/ Mariinsky open their Swan Lake run tonight - looking forward to seeing Stepanova and Parish tomorrow.
  17. Bruce
    Thank you Ian! The Lavrosky R&J is both fascinating and very creaky. Although I didn't see the opening Vishneva/Shklyarov cast, most seem agreed that they elevated it into something eminently moving. I don't think that happened in what I saw of the Parish and Tereshkina performance and we decided not to stay for a very late night and the last act. I couldn't see any rapport between them as partners and Parish seemed rather awkward when they were together - I've never seen such a passionless kiss for example. For me there really was a feeling of her being the Mrs Robinson and he Benjamin, uncomfortable at where he was. His ballet journey is incredibly newsworthy and we all like to get behind the overlooked underdog. But we need to be realistic - he is 28 and the equivalent of a Soloist in level at the Mariinsky. It remains a long way to get to the top. He's made amazing strides since leaving RB and I look forward to seeing him in other rep while the company are in London. On his own he has the most equisite line that's for sure.
  18. Bruce
    Of course. But I think there is a difference between having a body of knowledge and doing some quick research and presenting some things as gospel. "In recent years, the performance of dance has changed. The phenomena of dance competitions has pervaded the ballet world." I just don't think this is true. Competitions have been around for decades and I don't think things have changed particularly. Ballet performance continues to evolve as it always has and dancers become more versatile and choreography more wide ranging. I think there is a discussion around the athletism of ballet dancers these days and if that impacts certain types of ballet performance. I cetainly don't want to put anybody off saying what they think around this - especially on this forum, which is not the Huffington Post.
  19. Bruce
    My goodness Clement Crisp is particularly dismissive: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/64e0dd1c-124b-11e4-93a5-00144feabdc0.html For myself I'm glad I saw the show. We often say of great stars that they could just walk across the stage, or just stand there even, and we'd all applaud. We see far too little of her (and NYCB in general) and to see Whelan move, in anything, is a very glorious thing indeed. But I don't think it was a great idea to have the choreographers dancing as well and Beamish seemed to run away with making steps on himself. Agree with Jann Parry the last piece, by Brian Brooks, looked the most interesting. None of the others seemed keepers as such - she has yet to find her Russell Maliphant, Mats Ek or William Forsythe. But still good to see her and look forward to her return next year. Ultimatly its good to see Whelan trying different things.
  20. Bruce
    Always good to know the lens that is being applied... The author and their bio: Brittany Kottler Student at Tulane University Brittany Kottler is a senior at Tulane University majoring in English. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the online magazine, Her Campus Tulane. When she's not writing, Brittany can be found leaping in a ballet class, cheering for the Chicago Blackhawks, eating any form of carb or watching SNL. Tulane University appears to be based in New Orleans. It's not clear how much ballet Brittany Kottler may have seen, at what level the companies performed at and over what timeframe she has seen performances on stage change.
  21. Bruce
    Do forgive the first image being larger than normal - it's actualy a crop I did for Facebook and thats the only size I have to hand. And Ta for the kind words re Dancetabs BruceW
  22. Bruce
    Here are some of Dave Morgan's pictures from the shoot... Wendy Whelan in Joshua Beamish's Waltz Epoca © Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr Wendy Whelan and Kyle Abraham in Abraham's The Serpent and the Smoke © Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr Wendy Whelan and Joshua Beamish in Beamish's Waltz Epoca © Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr See more... Dave Morgan -Wendy Whelan in Restless Creature Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr Jann Parry has also reviewed Restless Creature. It starts: "It would be invidious to compare Wendy Whelan’s brave attempt to reinvent herself as a contemporary dancer with Sylvie Guillem’s far more mature achievement." http://dancetabs.com/2014/07/wendy-whelan-restless-creature-bill-london/ I look forward to seeing the show tonight!
  23. Bruce
    I went back and read the property consultants press release again this morning and that struck me. Money/managment time is already being comitted to this way forward. ENB is one of the nations touring company. When a touring company wants to do less touring its not a great sign. Be interesting to compare the number of weeks of UK touring that BRB, NB and ENB do in a season.
  24. Bruce
    Apologies - don't have the time to respond blow by blow. But... - I think over time there will be ever increasing pressure on ACE, and from within ACE, to see their money used to good effect across the whole country and not mainly for the benefit of London. - if ENB don't want to tour then let the money go to those who do. We are seeing some of that in this latest settlement. - London doesn't need 2 great and large ballet companies - it needs lots of great companies to tour to the city and show of their best. - SFB, Hamburg, Stuttgart, La Scala, Boston, Joffrey etc are great companies with international reputations. Its not where you are, its what you do. Look at what Forsythe did for Frankfurt. - if ENB were to seriously look at new home then Bristol might be best in the South (cover South Wales as well) and Manchester in the North. Manchester/Salford has the whole Media City thing and it also where ROH were thinking of having a northern offshoot. But I don't think it's going to happen. - Happy to see ENB take on the Royal artistically - but they dont have to live in the same city to do it.
  25. Bruce
    Just in case there is a misunderstanding I've been referring to the lack of announcements (or a diary date for a press conference to make the announcement) from ENB re the 2014/15 rep. I assume the following is in relation to that context... I think this applied to everybody but RB and BRB have revealed their rep plans for 2014/15 already. Here are the links in this forum... BRB (on 4 April 2014) http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/6433-birmingham-royal-ballet-2014-15-season/ RB (on 31 March 2014) http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/6441-rb-season-2014-2015/ These announcements ae roughly in line with what happens each year, though the RB announcement is a little ealier then I recall is usually the case. Norther Ballet tend not to do a big announcement (though Janet will know for sure!), but rather separate ones a few months ahead.
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