Sabine0308

Press conference of Staatsballett Berlin has been cancelled until further notice. It was set for this Wednesday March 4. Mr Oehman alone will present the new season to the SBB Friends on Friday, this also was originally set for Wednesday after the press conference. I am not going since the new program will be online on Friday afternoon. Oehman is leaving anyway, he is not going to announce a new director (haha), and I can read. 🙄

Manuel Legris appointed director of the Ballet Teatro alla Scala ▶ https://www.buzz.dancechanneltv.com/news/manuel-legris-appointed-director-of-the-ballet-teatro-alla-scala

This is ongoing for some time already and it's about time that it is investigated. I am sad about the accusations and it's hsrd to believe. I always valued Gregor Seyffert as wonderful and innovative dancer at Komische Oper Berlin and producer of awesome dance projects with his own company. I hope this doesn't cause serious damage for the school and its future.

Today was the last day of the "Tanzolymp" festival in Berlin. It's a nice event for young dancers, pursuing a career in ballet or not but dancing their hearts out. The jury is quite impressive with lots of former principal dancers. Iana Salenko danced the "Dying Swan" solo at the closing gala performance. From the website www.tanzolymp.com: "The International Dance Festival TANZOLYMP is held in Berlin on annual basis under the motto “Dance as a global language“ and gives participants the opportunity to meet other young people from all over the world in master classes, seminars and competitions. The main aim of the Festival is to support and increase the popularity of dancing. Besides an international exchange exploring the different forms of dance aesthetics and artistic styles, the Festival will provide an insight into the spectrum and variety of dancing".

Anastasia Lukina debuted as Giselle the same night.

To broaden their horizon and to learn and make friends outside of their bubble? From my understanding, PdL is not just about the competition but also about meeting students and (former) dancers and choreographers from allover the world without the need to travel to all these countries. It's a week with intense experiences.

@Buddy there was supposed to be a girl from Vaganova but she wasn't there. So there was only a boy from Vaganova, Vladislav Hodasevich (from Belarus). I have no idea why there weren't more dancers from this renowned school, maybe they didn't apply or were not selected. I was surprised, to be honest.

Dance Europe Magazine posted the names today on instagram. I could not copy from Insta so here is a screenshot:

@LinMM I cannot insert the link here but will email you the list.

This is what I meant. If they always call it verbally artistic prize, then they made a mistake in 2019 and 2020 with the captions. Screenshots from YouTube, sorry for the bad quality but I had to reduce the size of the picture here.

I checked 2018 and 2020. In 2018, as already said, the prize was given for exceptional artistry, and this is what the caption said under Shale's name. In the following years, they called it the same onstage but the caption said "best young talent".

Ah Yes I remember the slight confusion in 2018. well maybe they change the description every year. I think it's funny to call it "for best young talent" because they all are young (junior and senior) and the best young talent would be the winner of the gold medal, imo.😀

Congratulations to all of them! I am especially happy to see Lin Zhang among the winners, as she captured my heart with her "Giselle" and a freaky "Rossini cards". Marco as 1st winner is no surprise. For the third year in a row, a student from the Academie de Princesse Grace Monaco has won the Prix. And always has it been highly deserved. What a great school!! It was very endearing that he dedicated his prize to Kotomi Yamada who broke her toe during the Prix week and could not make it into the finals. Ava Arbuckle won the Nureyev Prize which surprised me but now I see it was for being the best young talent and at age 15, she did indeed a marvellous job. I wonder if the Nurejev Prize changed its "header"? Because I know Shale Wagman won it for great artistry back in 2018. Looking forward to see them hopefully onstage some day.💖

No 406. I also like no. 421 M. Holeleu from Romania. Favorite girl is 307 Lin Zhang. A very cute Giselle and her "Rossini" was really freaky! C. Pires from Portugal did a very unique Chroma. Wishing all of them good luck tomorrow of course.

I'm sure Marco (from APG) will make it to the finals. Another great talent from this school. ❤

Yes, I liked this interview as well. Very true what he said. Now I am sorry for Kotomi Yamada ( from Academie Princesse Grace), she can no longer participate, she broke her toe! 😢

Happy to read that you enjoyed Iana Salenko. She is such a hero imo!! So small yet so strong going in her work. I saw short clips from last night and she was gorgeous. As for Daniil, I am surprised that his partnering disappointed you/lacked good connection to Iana. They have danced together so many times! I like his spectacular and controlled turns, and the jumps, yes, but always think he could radiate more.

I love Gauthier but I can hardly imagine that he would accept the job. Not in case Waltz remains at the SBB for sure. He does not represent classical ballet. I quote him from 2 weeks, I paraphrase from memory: when I was 30 I thought 'no more white pants'😀😀 . So he founded his own company with huge success. I would love to have someone like him in Berlin, he is so cool and enthusiastic...has a wonderful way to connect with the audience.

If I may chime in as a Berliner...Berlin is flooded with very small independent dance companies. I don't know how they survive but they do, somehow. Overall, Ballet is not much acknowledged in the city, from officials, as far as I see it. But if Facebook is an indication for the majority of ballet lovers here, than they are more classical oriented. And no, there is no "backlash" against classical ballet, just the point that we want both classics and contemporary. And this is exactly what I wish too. The current repertoire is a good mixture.

I hope they continue to show both classical and contemporary performances. The Nutcracker is beautiful and truly a Christmas gift each season. It is also a good opportunity for the balletschool students to go onstage. I am not such a fan of Bayadere with so many gestures and pantomime, but the production is gorgeous and tradition must be kept. The contemporary pieces this season brought back many young people (in the audience) and I liked most of the pieces very much. I agree regarding Evelina Godunova, I also like Ksenya Ovsyanik. I wrote to the Berlin senator for culture, urging him to involve this time the dancers into the evaluation process for a new AD.

The website still lists Sleeping Beauty as postponed, I keep my fingers crossed.

From the New York times: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/25/arts/dance/staatsballett-berlin.amp.html&ved=0ahUKEwjP-L7n4J_nAhWNsKQKHe5hDi8QyM8BCFUwCQ&usg=AOvVaw0iED_PTjR6UVg_7u1nn8Y5&ampcf=1 The original press release in German doesn't say anything about Waltz staying longer than until the end of 2020 though, just mentioning further conceptual works, whatever that would mean with a new director...

Iana Salenko from Staatsballett Berlin will there be for sure. She posted this in her instagram story.

The company made a statement today and I wholeheartedly support their request, no their demand, to be involved in the evaluation process for a new director this time. I keep my fingers crossed.

I am shocked and appalled. I feel so sorry for the dancers, after all the hassle and struggle in recent years season 2019/20 was so fresh with some contemporary pieces and also included great classical performances. The performances sold well. Oehman's and Waltz' statement is actually pretty ridiculous because it makes me scream " if everything is so great and perfect, then WHY DO YOU LEAVE"?! I read about a rift between them, but of course nobody will ever go public with the truth. So they let the company down, after a few months. And we haven't seen a single piece from Waltz yet (will be shown soon). I am angry, yes. And I wish all the best for the company. I keep my fingers crossed for a good outcome from this disaster.