Ian Macmillan

Links – Saturday, 28 November, 2015 Review – Mariinsky Ballet, Sylvia, St Petersburg: Elena Kushtyseva via Ismene Brown Feature – Behind the scenes at Scottish Ballet’s Cinderella: Angela McManus, Herald Review – National Ballet of Canada, Romeo and Juliet (Ratmansky), Toronto: Martha Schabas, Globe and Mail Review – Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Nutcracker (Wright), Birmingham: Roz Laws, Birmingham Mail Reviews – Russell Maliphant Company, Conceal/Reveal, London: Judith Mackrell, Guardian Mark Monahan, Telegraph Hanna Weibye, Arts Desk Lyndsey Winship, Evening Standard Vera Liber, BTG Tour Review – Rambert, Transfigured Night, Dark Arteries, The 3 Dancers, Edinburgh: Kelly Apter, Scotsman Tour Reviews – English National Ballet, Romeo and Juliet (Nureyev), Manchester: Georgina Wells, BTG Gill Potts, Oldham Chronicle Webchat – Carlos Acosta, Tuesday 1 December: Post questions here, Guardian Diary – Next week in New York: Staff, NY Times Video – Learning ballet in a Rio favela: Frederick Bernas, Guardian Interview – Leila McMillan on Flying Low technique: Carmel Smith, Londondance News – British Dance Edition, 2016, in Wales: Carmel Smith, Londondance Review – Whitirea Dance Graduates, Behind Closed Doors, Wellington: Sam Trubridge, Theatreview

Links – Friday, 27 November, 2015 Review – National Ballet of Canada, Romeo and Juliet (Ratmansky), Toronto: Michael Crabb, Toronto Star Interview – Javier De Frutos, his craft, and doing bonkers: Lyndsey Winship, Evening Standard Gallery – Russell Maliphant Company, Conceal/Reveal, London: Foteini Christofilopoulou, DanceTabs Preview – Robert Battle/Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Awakening, NY: Gia Kourlas, NY Times Tour Review – English National Ballet, Romeo and Juliet, Manchester: Charlotte Dobson, Manchester Evening News Documentary – Bolshoi Babylon: Laura Bleiberg, LA Times Review – David Morales & Others, Lorca Madly in Love, NY: Brian Seibert, NY Times Preview – Kevin Ormsby & Chris Walker, FACING Home: Love & Redemption, Toronto: Michael Crabb, Toronto Star News – 2016 Keir Choreographic Award Finalists: Staff, The Age Plus, a Boston Ballet bonus: Surviving “Nutcracker”: How two local Dance Dads get through the nuttiness: Jody Feinberg, Patriot Ledger

I would not normally mention this but, should anyone want a view from someone there at the time in 1961 - my wife was a member of the Company and danced in the original production. I mentioned the gay, Fire Island, subtext notion to her last night. Her reply would not meet our Acceptable Use Policy, but could be summarised as 'fanciful in the extreme.'

Links – Thursday, 26 November, 2015 It’s Thanksgiving, so ‘tis clearly the season: Feature – New York goes Nuts – Take Your Pick!: Gia Kourlas, NY Times Feature – Boston Ballet’s MD Jonathan McPhee, the Nutcracker King: Jeffrey Gantz, Boston Globe Review – Joffrey Ballet, The Nutcracker (Joffrey, last performances), DC: Sarah L. Kaufman, Washington Post Preview – José Mateo Ballet Theatre, The Nutcracker, Boston: Karen Campbell, Boston Globe Feature – The Bay Area goes Nuts too: Staff, SF Examiner Meanwhile, elsewhere: Feature – Dance for Parkinson’s & English National Ballet: Jann Parry, DanceTabs Feature – Miami City Ballet at 30: Robert Gottlieb, NY Observer Feature – Sylvie Guillem’s Last Dance: Elizabeth Zimmer, Playbill Arts Review – Twyla Tharp, 50th Anniversary Program, NY: Marcia B. Siegel, Arts Fuse Preview – Scottish Ballet, Cinderella (Hampson), Edinburgh: Staff, Evening News Feature – Harrison James, Soloist at NBC: Michael Crabb, Toronto Star Review – China National Peking Opera Company, Warrior Women of Yang, London: Graham Watts, Londondance Review – Basel Ballet, Tewja, Basel: Sarah Batschelet, Bachtrack Review – Matthew Bourne/New Adventures, Sleeping Beauty, Salford: Georgina Wells, BTG Review – Gabriel Missé & Guillermina Quiroga, Tango Triple Bill, NY: Alastair Macaulay, NY Times Reviews – Complexions Contemporary Ballet, NY: - Chronicle: Gia Kourlas, NY TImes - Mixed Bill: Andrew Blackmore-Dobbyn, Bachtrack News – Dance London Inspires! Awards: Carmel Smith, Londondance Feature – Misogyny, metaphor, or a cheeky nod to ballet’s carnal past? Brian Schaefer, Out

From Luxury Daily - I have to keep up, you know - I bring you "Max Mara performs pas de deux in parkas for winter transition": http://www.luxurydaily.com/max-mara-performs-pas-de-deux-in-parkas-for-winter-transition/

Links – Wednesday, 25 November, 2015 Reviews – Twyla Tharp, 50th Anniversary Program, NY: Robert Greskovic, WSJ Martha Sherman, Danceviewtimes Joel Benjamin, TheaterScene Reviews – Ballet Hispanico, If Walls Could Speak, NY: Brian Seibert, NY Times Lauren Wingenroth, DanceTabs Feature – Dance This Week (Nut allergy sufferers beware): Alastair Macaulay, NY Times Review – Aakash Odedra Company, Murmur 2.0, London: Sarah Kent, Londondance Feature – Miyako Yoshida on Syivie Guillem: Ayako Takahashi, Japan Times Feature – Pacific Northwest Ballet, A new Nutcracker (Balanchine & Falconer), Seattle: Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times Review – Devi Dance Theater, Somapa Thai Company & Others, Sita, Gentle Warrior, DC: George Jackson, Danceviewtimes Feature – Sebastien Ramirez, Choreographing for Madonna: Lyndsey Winship, Guardian Preview – Rambert, Dark Arteries, Edinburgh: Mary Brennan, Herald Review – NordDance with various companies, Edinburgh: Kelly Apter, Scotsman Review – Dance Rites Competition, Sydney: Martin Portus, Daily Review

Sim: Agreed - and it didn't help that I was introduced to it via a night on one of the very uncomfortable seats at the top of the Coli. (Whereas ENO's previous Lady MacBeth of Mtensk seemed to overcome the seating on another night.)

See Links, 27 October - Mr Vaziev due to take over from Mr Filin at the Bolshoi next March. I assume that's the reference.

He's the Man in the Moon - it's all his domain - he can't possibly be an alien when he owns the place, so he's naturally acclimatised to the dearth of O2. Simples?? Or maybe he's a former Dr Who in retirement? All things are possible to such chaps and, indeed, to their human sidekicks.

Scheherezade, Geoff, MAB: It's taken time, but we now have an Opera and Music area on a trial basis - so use it or possibly lose it!

Good Lord, has there really been some debate over this? Forgive an elderly chap and grandad, or have I got the storyline all wrong? Young girl busy with a telescope, presumably looking to see what she can see, spots something odd on the moon - turns out to be an old man, looking lonely - she organises a way of his being able to see her (park the science, it's a fairy story), a method of communication. And folk are in a tizz over this - really?

Just in from a catch-up showing of Thursday night's performance. Viscera - OK, but it won't surpass Ken MacMillan's Concerto; Faun - excellent, and a treat to see it again; Tchai PDD - enjoyable. Acosta's Carmen - I'd certainly see it again. I had no difficulty whatever with the mix of genres, and what a pleasant surprise to hear so much of Bizet in Spanish. The tavern group numbers and the fortune-telling scene struck me as particularly effective.

Links – Saturday, 14 November, 2015 Preview Features - National Ballet of Canada, The Winter’s Tale, Toronto: – Jealousy that can ‘seep into you like a poison’: Martha Schabas, Globe and Mail – Chris Wheeldon on NBC, Winter’s Tale & Toronto dining: Staff, CBC News – Jurgita Dronina, National Ballet of Canada’s new Principal: Michael Crabb, Toronto Star News – Carlos Acosta bows out from the Royal Ballet: Miranda Bryant, Evening Standard Carmel Smith, Londondance Review – Sylvie Guillem, Life in Progress, NY: Gia Kourlas, NY Times Review – Phoenix Dance Theatre, Until.With/Out.Enough, Tearfall, Bloom, London: Graham Watts, DanceTabs Review – Kyle Abraham, The Quiet Dance, Absent Matter, The Gettin’, NY: Lauren Gallagher, DanceTabs Review – Akram Khan Company, Kaash, Seattle: Alice Kaderlan, Seattle Times Diary – Next week in London: Judith Mackrell, Guardian Tour Review – Russian State Ballet of Astrakhan, Don Quixote, Guildford: Margaret Willis, DanceTabs News – Richard Alston to receive honorary degree: Georgia Snow, The Stage Video Extracts – Scottish Ensemble & Andersson Dance, Goldberg Variations: Guardian

Links – Friday, 13 November, 2015 Feature/Review – Twyla Tharp, 50th Anniversary Tour, DC: Sarah L. Kaufman, Washington Post Reviews – Sasha Waltz & Guests, Sacre, L’Après-midi d’un faune, Scène d’Amour, London: Sanjoy Roy, Guardian Hanna Weibye, Arts Desk Louise Levene, Financial Times Zoë Anderson, Independent Lyndsey Winship, Evening Standard Rachel Elderkin, The Stage Vera Liber, BTG Gallery – Foteini Christofilopoulou, DanceTabs Review – Northern Ballet, The Nutcracker (Nixon), Woking: Bruce Marriott, DanceTabs Reviews – Phoenix Dance Theatre, Bloom, Until.With/Out.Enough, TearFall, London: Judith Mackrell, Guardian Sarah Frater, The Stage Gallery – Foteini Christofilopoulou, DanceTabs Feature – Lauren Cuthbertson & hazards with pigeons: Miranda Bryant, Evening Standard Feature – Peter Wright restoring Summertide at Sarasota Ballet: Carrie Seidman, Sarasota Herald-Tribune Feature – Sergei Polunin/Stanislavsky Theatre, Mayerling, Moscow: Kevin O’Flynn, Moscow Times Review – Riccardo Buscarini, No Lander, London: Graham Watts, DanceTabs Preview – City Ballet of San Diego, Requiem in D Minor and others: Marcia Manna, San Diego Union-Tribune News – Benjamin Millepied returns to LA For Dance Project performance: Jessica Gelt, LA Times Review – Ralph Lemon, Scaffold Room, NY: Deborah Jowitt, Arts Journal Feature – How to attract the Silicon Valley crowd? Mike Scutari, Inside Philanthropy Feature/Review – José Navas, Rites, Montreal: Victor Swoboda, Montreal Gazette Preview – Hanna Kiel, Armband, Toronto: Michael Crabb, Toronto Star Tour Review – Ugo Dehaes, DMNT, Antwerp: Ian Mundell, Flanders Today

I understand from colleagues that my post late last night (No 36, above), whilst garnering Likes from some, has caused offence to others. That was not my intention and, where applicable, I apologise. That said, those of us who help run this Forum are no less entitled to express views within the bounds of our Acceptable Use Policy than are other Forum members. However, if in this case a degree of unwonted vehemence has crept in, let me re-phrase things to say that, personally, I'd be happy were a temporary moratorium to emerge here on the matter of Ms Osipova. Whether it does will be a matter for users generally. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? You good folk out there, it seems.... I fear that my Latin will no longer quite stretch to rendering that reply appropriately.

Whilst Matthew Bourne was talking to RTE about his Sleeping Beauty in Dublin, he mentioned a new project for next year - all hush-hush, he says, but based on a British film about Dance. People can guess, he says, if they're old enough. I may well qualify on that score, and offer The Red Shoes as a distinct possibility. There's plenty in the Powell/Pressburger film that might appeal to Bourne's dramatic stage sense. Link here, includes a video clip of the interview: http://www.rte.ie/ten/news/2015/1112/741304-bourne-teases-next-ballet-project/

Links – Thursday, 12 November, 2015 Feature – Reviving Marguerite and Armand for Sarasota Ballet: Nick Reichert, YourObserver.com News – Sarasota Ballet for New York next August: Carrie Seidman, Sarasota Herald-Tribune News Update – English National Ballet, Giselle (Akram Khan): Carmel Smith, Londondance Review – Kyle Abraham, The Quiet Dance, Absent Matter, The Gettin’, NY: Apollinaire Scherr, Financial Times Gia Kourlas, NY Times Feature – Joffrey Ballet’s final Joffrey Nutcracker (Wheeldon in 2016), Chicago: Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times Review – Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Fase, four movements to music of Steve Reich, LA: Mark Swed, LA Times Review – Pacific Northwest Ballet, Emergence, Signature, The Calling, Sum Stravinsky, Seattle: Pia Lo, Bachtrack Feature – Choreographer Aakash Odera on Murmur and dyslexia: Playbill Arts Review – Expressions Dance Company, Carmen Sweet, Brisbane: Jill Sykes, Brisbane Times Feature – Israel Ballet’s New Season: Ori J. Lenkinski, Jerusalem Post Interview – Yu-Hsien Wu, Russell Maliphant Company: Staff, Londondance Preview – Xavier Le Roy/Kaldor Public Art Project, Temporary Title, Sydney: Andrew Taylor, Sydney Morning Herald Review – Michael Flatley’s Final Show, Lord of the Dance – Dangerous Games, NY: Brian Seibert, NY Times Speculation - Is Matthew Bourne considering a Red Shoes project for 2016?? RTE

Frankly, I've had enough of all this and would happily never see her again.

There appears to be some more detail here: http://londondance.com/articles/news/english-national-ballets-creative-team-and-partner/

Links – Wednesday, 11 November, 2015 Review – Baltic Dance Theatre, The Tempest, Phaedra, Gdansk: Laura Cappelle, Financial Times Reviews – David Michalek et al, Hagoromo, NY: Robert Greskovic, Wall St Journal Andrew Blackmore-Dobbyn, Bachtrack Michael Popkin, Danceviewtimes Review – American Ballet Theatre, Company B, Monotones I and II, The Green Table, NY: Oksana Khadarina, Fjord Review News – Miami City Ballet to visit New York next April: Jordan Levin, Miami Herald Feature – Scottish Ensemble/Dancing to the Bach-beat: Kate Molleson, Herald Review – Rambert, Love, Art & Rock’n’Roll, London: Sara Veale, Fjord Review Diary – Coming up in New York: Alastair Macaulay, NY Times Feature – Jayne Smeulders/West Australian Ballet, Cinderella, Perth: Stephen Bevis, West Australian Preview – Pacific Northwest Ballet, Emergence Mixed Bill, Seattle: Sandra Kurtz, Seattle Weekly Preview – Nina Haft & Company, King Tide, Oakland: Mary Ellen Hunt, SF Chronicle And: Misty Copeland’s name given to a road intersection: Daily Breeze

Links – Tuesday, 10 November, 2015 Feature – Real-life romance, the enemy of onstage ballet chemistry: Lyndsey Winship, Guardian Review – Royal Ballet, Viscera, Afternoon of a Faun, Tschaikovsky PDD, Carmen, London: Gerald Dowler, Classical Source Review – Australian Ballet, Symphony in Three Movements, Filigree & Shadow, In The Upper Room, Sydney: Valerie Lawson, Dancelines Review – American Ballet Theatre, AfterEffect, Company B, The Green Table, NY: Marianne Adams, Danceviewtimes Feature – Kim Brandstrup, creating Jeux for NYCB: David Jays, Playbill Arts Reviews – Ballet BC, Twenty Eight Thousand Waves, Awe, Solo Echo, Vancouver: Pia Lo, Bachtrack Janet Smith, Straight.com Review – Alonzo King, The Propelled Heart, SF: Janice Berman, SF Classical Voice Documentary Trailer – Bolshoi Babylon: Guardian Video Feature – The Royal Ballet’s Francesca Hayward as Juliet: Vera Afdjei, Reuters News – Jonathan Ollivier Tribute, 18 January 2016: Carmel Smith, Londondance Review – Mirenka Cechova, The Voice of Anne Frank, DC: George Jackson, Danceviewtimes Dancer’s Diary – Isabelle Van Den Bergh: David Jays, Guardian Review – Jérôme Bel, Ballet (New York), NY: Brian Seibert, NY Times Review – Lizt Alfonso, Cuba Vibra!, Boston: Jeffrey Gantz, Boston Globe Preview – Arko Renz/Eko Supriyanto & Melanie Lane: solid.states, Melbourne: John Bailey, Sydney Morning Herald

"Spectator Sport" - a good piece by David Jays on the audience as part of the spectacle: http://www.artsjournal.com/performancemonkey/2015/11/spectator-sport.html

Anticipating tomorrow's Links, there's a little more here: http://londondance.com/articles/news/mr-wonderful/

I don't think we've seen this before? Reuters is running a short video piece about Ms Hayward's Juliet debut" http://in.reuters.com/video/2015/11/09/rising-star-of-the-royal-ballet-delights?videoId=366242404

Jacqueline: I've not yet had a similar experience, but I'm fairly certain we've had Forum users mention and complain about similar 'single seat' restrictions in the past.