Sabine0308

There has been established a very interesting cultural festival in recent years in the middle of the Swiss mountains, called Origen Cultural Festival. I admit I've never heard of it before but it must be well known among dancers/choreographers. Some present their new choreographies there. From the website: "Origen – Rhaeto-Romanic cultural bridging between North and South The name Origen is Rhaeto-Romanic and means genesis, origin, creation. Accordingly, the programme of the festival is a commitment to the cultural power of a trilingual region which thrives on cultural exchange. The cultural organisation Origen is responsible for the annual Origen Festival of Culture and primarily dedicates itself to the promotion and production of professional contemporary opera. Origen has its own opera house: Riom Castle was converted into a theatre and inaugurated in 2006. Origen does not understand itself as an alpine ghetto of a dying language, but as a vivid testimonial to a lively language community who dares embark on cultural adventures again and again." http://www.origen.ch/Aktuell.1994.0.html?&L=4 Part of the annual program is dedicated to dance, from what I've seen mostly dedicated to contemporary dance. The performances happen either in a red tower (very impressive) or in the Riom castle. This year, the lineup was very impressive, check out the program, choreographers and dancers here (among them Juliano Nunes, Xander Parish and other Mariinsky dancers, Jonah Cook, Shale Wagman, Ksenia Ryshkova): http://www.origen.ch/TANZ.2035.0.html?&L=0 Would be a great location to travel to!

Wonderful interview! I'm very sad that I never saw her in a live performance. At least, videos are available. I admire her tremendously. 💓

Oywey. Antonio is a great talent, I'm not so convinced by what I saw of her...I wish her all the best.

I read somewhere that Margarita Fernandez is Annarella Sanchez' daughter, is that true? So they are both coming from this school?

There's certainly no need to "defend" Shale Wagman, just this much about Munich: he was hired at a time when literally no company was hiring new dancers (headline: Corona). And further, his promotion after only one performance speaks for itself😀. I'm curious about Antonio. As I read in an interview, the Royal Ballet London was his 1st choice, but new contracts are probably still not given there because of Corona. Let's see how long he stays in Munich.

Beautiful words Mandy, so true❤❤. See you in Munich!!

I'm not sure if her height is an issue 😉

Congratulations to Shale on his promotion to soloist. 🍾💐❤

Great news and is there a single reply which doesn't say "FINALLY"...saw her in La Sylphide along side Shale Wagman in 2019 and she was sooo etherical and gracious. Hope to see her perform again.❤❤

I saw the live stream yesterday as well, and agree with you on Christian Spuck's piece...some ideas for duets and single movement were beautiful but it left me cold. I had no idea what it was about before he explained it in the interview...and I don't like this. I mean when I don't get what the story is about from the choreo itself. I don't consider myself an expert so might be clueless about a story but at least I want to FEEL something. Here, I didn't. But GOECKE!! I loved that piece. The story of 2 people, married or not but certainly in a relationship. Fighting, loving, struggling and forgiving- it was all there and spoke to me from the beginning. BEFORE I saw the interview with him. The body language Goecke creates is certainly not an easy one to understand but if you do, it's magic. Both dancers were incredible. Crugs choreo was ok, nothing special and the Forsythe was the thrilling end to an interesting, diverse evening. I liked that every single dancer got a little flower bouqet. And their Faces!! You could literally see them screaming: YES WE'RE BACK ONSTAGE! Was happy to see how much the audience cheered and demanded many curtain calls. So well deserved. ❤❤❤

I always roll my eyes when press releases are not released in English the same day. I mean they do run an English version of their website, and rightly so but...arrgh.😁

As you can imagine, I am relieved. Finally a name!!! Press release to follow.

Arrgh...this is worse than the Staatsballett Berlin's yellow/pink stuff which was a pain in the eye during Waltz/Oehman times. What's more important is a smooth and working navigation for a website, not color blocking.😨

There's an online masterclass with principal dancers, among them Iana Salenko from Staatsballett Berlin. Since many years, she gets her Pointe shoes from Freeds London. Still, she pretty much builts them up again and here she explains how: https://www.dance-masterclass.com/iana?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dance-masterclass.com%2Fa%2F2147487245%2F2fspMUqN

Here's an Interview with Shale, when he had joined Bavarian Staatsballett earlier this year: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1534214445?i=1000521525788

For those of you who are curious about Shale and "The Blizzard", it's available as VOD until tomorrow, so hurry😀. For 9,90 Euros. https://operlive.de/schneesturm/ Here Shale is dancing alongside Jonah Cook (Vladimir)

A little update: Shale had his debut in Munich on April 17, when Andrei Kaydanovsky's new full-length ballet "Der Schneesturm" premiered. Online of course. Shale danced 2 roles, The Priest and a lover of the main character Marja. Short but very impressive appearances I must say. So Igor Zelensky assigned him to begin with rehearsals for Sharon Eyal's "Bedroom Folk" which is part of the triple bill evening "Paradigma". Yesterday, Shale got a 4 hours notice prior show to step in for Nick Losada who felt sick. If you are familiar with the piece then you know that 4 hours to finish learning this piece with all the required "internal counting" (so you wouldn't screw the next move😀) is quite a challenge. He says he enjoyed it!😀 I hope to see him soon and can't wait what the new season has to offer him, when the classics are back.

Staatsballett Berlin is currently scheduled to give three gala performances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on June 5, 6 and 23. They will also conquer Berlin by ship on river Spree on June 10.😉

I'm shocked and sad...I was hoping to meet her here in Berlin, we were in contact last year when she planned again a travel to Germany for ballet enthusiasts. Sadly, this went south due to Corona. I also enjoyed reading her newsletters, written with so much insight and love for ballet. May she rest in peace, my condolences to her family .😢

There is a Podcast on dance called "A body's language" and in November 2020, they had David Hallberg as incoming Artistic Director speaking about his transition from a dancer to incoming director. Of course he speaks about his performances, and I loved especially the memories he had with Romeo&Juliet and Sleeping Beauty. Available here, no registration required. https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/a-bodys-language/id1555671551

Very happy with the results for #226 Luca (3 prizes, among them scholarship no. 2) and Winner No. 218 Casalinho, and the 2 winners for contemporary - well deserved. I'm okay with the other prizes with one exception: the Nureyev prize went to #118 Maciano????? I'm not an expert but really...compare his dancing to Shale Wagman's performances 2018 and tell me who did deserve this "prize for exceptional artistry". 🙄 Also a bit disappointed that Gulio Diligente (Italy) didn't get a scholarship but well.

I agree, I had Maia Rose on my list as well. But yes, I find that a lot of students are very close in their very good level, so I'm sure it was hard to pick. Also, I am pleased to see so many very good male students this year. I already mentioned Luca, also Gulio Diligente and Rui Cesar Cruz (giant leaps!) catched my eyes. Good luck to all of the finalists! As for "no Americans among the finalists: #231 Ashley Coupal is from Canada (which is on the North American continent 😉) and she dances at the Orlando Ballet School. Maybe this is kind of comfort.🤗

OMG have you seen #226 Luca Abdel Nour? So elegant!!! From Tanzakademie Zurich (director Oliver Matz, former principal dancer in Berlin❤).

Well I'm sure Zelensky hired him for a reason and made a smart move, aware of his height but moreso of his amazing talent. I can't wait to see him.