Josette

I’m thrilled about The Dante Project and The Winter’s Tale and hope to stay on in London after these to see a couple of Nutcrackers and the Ashton triple bill. 

I’m seeing the first cast three times and the second cast once. 

I am assuming and hoping to see Marco Masciari as the Jester this Friday, as he stood out as an exceptional  talent in The Dante Project back in October of 2021 and in the recent Woolf Works.   

I'm flying in from L.A. and will see the three weekend shows and am so excited for the weekend, having seen all these wonderful comments and photos!   

I did not see Chris Saunders in Orange County where Like Water for Chocolate premiered a few weeks ago.  I did see Chris Wheeldon, Ed Watson, and composer Joby Talbot.  I also know from a dancer with the San Francisco Ballet that Wheeldon went up to San Francisco to take some rehearsals for his Cinderella   In March.  

4 hours ago, Ian Macmillan said:

And have a look at the Bay Area Reporter piece in Wednesday's Links for a comprehensive look at the Thomas Adès album.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.  In April of 2022, the Los Angeles Philharmonic performed The Dante Project three times, Dudamel conducting brilliantly. Adès was in the audience.  I attended it twice

and had the opportunity to thank him for the music, which I love.  

2 hours ago, FionaE said:

Separately is Tamara Rojo planning a return to the stage in Marguerite & Armand?   She is older than Fonteyn was  when it was created.  So perhaps not.  

No, according to Tamara Robo in her interview with Christiane  Amampour on CNN this week.   (You should be able to find it easily online.) This afternoon I saw an absolutely splendid performance of Romeo and Juliet in San Francisco with extraordinary acting and dancing by Misa Kuranaga as Juliet and Joseph Walsh as Romeo and outstanding dancers in all ‘secondary” roles.  From this afternoon’s performance I would say that the company is going in the right direction with high standards.  

Irek Mukhamedov is portraying one of the Virgils.   

PatC, I attended three of the Paris Mayerlings as well.  I also just learned a few days ago that the Royal Danish Ballet is performing The Dante Project in November. 

I’m going to the first four performances of The Dante Project in Paris, after three Cinderellas in London with one Bejart program sandwiched in on April 30.  I bought my tickets months ago when the booking periods opened.  

Correction to my post above. The Dutch National Ballet is performing  Frida in L.A. on July 14-16, 2023, and not in June. 

5 minutes ago, Ginny said:

Interesting mix, and I think it's exciting!  I hope it will be a success.  I, for one, am thrilled to see the Marguerite & Armand and Song of the Earth.  English style in SF - yay! 

 

I wonder how long they will wait to decide on what Encore A will be?  Interesting to take the "wait & see" approach, perhaps? 

 

What does anyone know of Broken Wings (the Frida Kahlo piece)?  I am unfamiliar.  

When I saw the "British Icons" program to be performed in early February with Marguerite and Armand and The Song of the Earth, it made my day!  Surely Yuan Yuan Tan will be Marguerite and it is being programmed for her.   My mother took me to see Marguerite and Armand with Fonteyn and Nureyev when I was a child, and, yes, it made an everlasting impression on me. I remember vividly certain portions of that wonderful experience. 

Broken Wings was premiered with Rojo as the lead with ENB in 2016.  Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that the full-length ballet, Frida, premiered by the Dutch National Ballet in 2020, evolved from Broken Wings. Interestingly,  Frida will be performed at the Los Angeles Music Center on June 14-16, 2023, by the Dutch National Ballet.  There are three performances, and I am attending all three.  Annabelle Lopez Ochoa is the choreographer. Maia Makhateli danced Frida at the premiere and I am hoping that she will be dancing it in Los Angeles, as I have been watching her online since pre-Covid and am happy to finally see her on stage.  We were told at a donor brunch in fall of 2022 that Olga Smirnova would also be dancing it in L.A. 

• Mere Mortals - an evening length work by choreographer Aszure Barton with music by Floating Points
• Helgi Tomasson's Swan Lake - performed in February-March, and encored in April-May to close the season.  Apparently there will be a guest performer, as yet not announced. 
• Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream - costumes and set designs by  Christian Lacroix, as created for the Paris Opera Ballet
• British Icons:  Ashton's Marguerite and Armand; MacMillan's The Song of the Earth
• Dos Mujeres - Arielle Smith's Carmen, plus Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's Broken Wings
• next@90 Curtain Call:  Yuri Possokhov's Violin Concerto (Stravinsky), Nicolas Blanc's Gateway to the Sign, and Danielle Rowe's Madcap   (these were premiered at the outset of this 2023 season)
• An Encore program, to be announced
• And of course, before all of the above, Tomasson's The Nutcracker from December 13-30, 2023

More details:  23–24 SEASON - San Francisco Ballet (sfballet.org)

On 25/06/2022 at 17:21, miliosr said:

Chapter 16 of La Nijinska begins with a recounting of the Los Angeles ballet scene as it existed in the early 1960s. .... There were also many other distinguished ballet teachers in Los Angeles at that time, including Stanley Holden, David Lichine and Tatiana Riabouchinska, Eugene Loring and Carmelita Maracci.

 

As Garafola notes, though, nothing came of Balanchine's proposed 'Ballet of Los Angeles' and it had collapsed by 1967. (Subsequent attempts by some of Balanchine's most fervent apostles to establish a Balanchine-derived ballet company in Los Angeles have also met with either failure or indifference: John Clifford's Los Angeles Ballet (1974-85) and Ballet of Los Angeles (1988-91), and, currently, Colleen Neary's Los Angeles Ballet.)

 

 

 

 Stanley Holden, upon retiring from the The Royal Ballet, settled in Los Angeles in 1969 after a brief teaching stint with John Hart in San Diego.  Stanley directed the Los Angeles Music Center Dance Academy for about one year, with the opening on February 2, 1970, after he auditioned about 450 applicants for 50 openings, of which I was one who was accepted.  I am still in touch and have remained close friends with several of his original Dance Academy students of that time (I had lunch with one today).  He opened Stanley Holden Dance Center in 1972 on Pico Boulevard in the Rancho Park area of West L.A.  I bring this up because Stanley was not teaching in L.A. in the 1960's.  His students and everyone adored him.   

Melissa Barak, former dancer with New York City Ballet and Los Angeles Ballet, and then director of her own Barak Ballet in L.A., took on the directorship of Los Angeles Ballet this current season. Colleen Neary and Thordal Christensen are not the current directors of Los Angeles Ballet.   

29 minutes ago, Fonty said:

Just another thought.  I am astonished that Morera has never danced the lead role in Cinderella before, I hadn't realised.  What a good thing she is finally getting a chance, even if she will never dance it again.  

I agree, as Morera has all the qualities - including her wonderful musicality, inner strength, and gentleness - that will make for a fully-realized performance.  I am grateful that I will be there for her performance on April 29. 

Returning to the topic of The Royal Ballet’s 2023-2024 season:

The Winter’s Tale. 

Rojo had said earlier in the year in an interview that the 2024 season would be announced in March, which came and went without a word.

The company is currently rehearsing for ten performances of Helgi Tomasson's Romeo and Juliet and one would think that next season's offerings would be announced before the season ends on April 30, 2023.  I will be there on opening night in eight days and seeing all four casts on April 21-23. 

Perhaps of interest to some of you is that Aaron Robison and Isaac Hernandez will both be dancing Romeo. Aaron Robison is dancing two performances with beautiful Nikisha Fogo, former principal dancer with Vienna State Opera Ballet when Manuel Legris was director; and then Aaron will dance the season's last performance with Yuan Yuan Tan as Juliet. Y-Y Tan is the company's prima ballerina, who hasn't danced a full-length role since pre-Covid, when Neumeier's The Little Mermaid was performed (and she danced it with Aaron Robison).  Isaac Hernandez will dance two performances with SFF principal Dores Andre, who (as discussed elsewhere) is leaving SFB with SFB principal Max Cauthorn to join Ballett Zurich under Cathy Marston's direction.

35 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

Could this have anything to do with the fact that this is a co-production with the National Ballet of Canada? Not sure why it should, but just thinking aloud.

I would not think so.  But your comment does make me wonder whether it is being screened/streamed in Canada.    

10 hours ago, oncnp said:

 

Not going to do well in the US as the ROH has chosen not to do any licensing over here. 

 Yes, and I am not at all happy about this.  The closest cinema from my home (Los Angeles) where I can see Cinderella is 1570.3 miles away.    The last ballet I saw in a cinema was during the pandemic and it was the O'Sullivan/Sambe Romeo and Juliet, and it was wonderful.   Pre-pandemic, I had seen Coppelia, The Sleeping Beauty, R & J twice with Gary Avis as Tybalt, Fille, Anastasia, Rhapsody, The Two Pigeons, Manon, and had even driven as far as San Diego (six-hour roundtrip) to see Coppelia  (Nunez/Muntagirov/Avis) and The Sleeping Beauty with Fumi Kaneko.   Fortunately, I will see three Cinderellas at the end of April in London. 

On 05/04/2023 at 16:31, miliosr said:

Big news out of San Francisco this afternoon . . . 

 

San Francisco Ballet announced on Instagram that, "principal dancers Dores Andre and Max Cauthorn are heading to Ballet Zurich under the direction of Cathy Marston following SF Ballet's 2023 Season."

 

I certainly didn't expect this news! Cauthorn leaving creates yet another vacancy in the male principals roster following the departures of Ulrik Birkkjaer and Benjamin Freemantle, the contract non-renewal of Julian Mackay, and the retirement of Tiit Helimets. San Francisco Ballet has picked up Isaac Hernandez but they're still down four male principal dancers.

Yes, it is an interesting development, though a good move for Dores Andre as to the types of work she excels in. She gave an excellent performance in Marston’s Mrs. Robinson last season.
 

Max Cauthorn is exceptional both as dancer and actor. Last season he was remarkable as James in La Sylphide, coached by Ulrik Birkkjaer, and as Siegfried in Swan Lake when Aaron Robison injured his thumb during Don Quixote and could not perform. This season, the sole full-length role for Max is Prince Guillaume in Wheeldon’s Cinderella. He would have been a wonderful Romeo. 

 I don’t recall Ben Fremantle, another exceptional SF dancer who rose through the ranks, being cast in a principal role in any of the

full-length ballets, except Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid, as the Sea

Witch (or however the character is named), in which he was brilliant and

resulted in his he being promoted to Principal status. 
 

 Birkkjaer had been planning to retire from the stage a few years earlier than he actually did last year, for which I am grateful, as I saw him dance his last James in La Sylphide. He was a joy to watch. 
 

I do wish Dores and Max much fulfillment in their new city and ballet company. 

On 24/02/2023 at 01:58, Jan McNulty said:

 

Oh what a shame.  Do you know what Tiit will be doing?

 

I have very fond memories of Tiit's performances when he was at Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Tiit portrayed Cinderella’s Father in the first several performances last weekend in Wheeldon’s Cinderella.  He had performed it during the pre-Covid  performances as well. He also staged/coached Yuri Possokhov’s Firebird in March for Oregon Ballet Theatre. Tiit is still listed as Principal Dancer of the San Francisco Ballet in programmes and online. 

I'm watching the competition online and all couples have danced their classical pas de deux.    Pantuso and Ikaraishi were wonderful.  She is an absolute delight and very expressive with a beautiful effortlessness. He is jaw-droppingly brilliant and seemingly totally happy to be dancing for us. 

10 hours ago, Sim said:

As I mentioned somewhere upthread, I was also hugely impressed with Masciari.  

He is an amazing talent, and so intense. 

Though she is obviously not the focus here, no one would ever think to slight Haydee, truly a great and singular ballerina, whom I was fortunate to have seen many times.  Returning to Seymour, whom I saw a handful of times, I have loved seeing all the films and photographs of her in the past week week, reminding me of her uniquely beautiful curved line and movement, her musicality, and her natural dramatic gift, and how I wish such gifts were cultivated in dance students instead of the accumulation of more multiple pirouettes, stiff port de bras, and 180-degree extensions.  

Mandy Kent and Sabine0308, thank you for your report on Neumeier's Midsummer Night's Dream!  I saw it danced by the Hamburg Ballet in San Francisco (Alina Cojocaru danced but the entire cast was superb) in 2014 and found it fascinating.  You've convinced me to book a trip to Munich (a city I fell in love with many years ago) for next year to see Shale Wagman and the Bayerisches Staatsballett. 

Fumi Kaneko and William Bracewell were beautiful. The Vision scene, my favorite, was utter heaven.  

Osipova gave an astounding performance tonight.