Ian Macmillan

Links – Wednesday 18 January 2023 Obituary - Lupe Serrano, former American Ballet Theater Principal: Claudia Bauer, NY Times Reviews – Royal Ballet, Sleeping Beauty, London: Zoe Anderson, Independent Debra Craine, The Times Siobhan Murphy, The Stage Teresa Guerreiro, Culture Whisper Alastair Macaulay, Slipped Disc Joy Sable, Jewish Chronicle John Groves, LondonTheatre1 Reviews – Not Standing (Alexander Vanturnhout & Axel Guerin), Through the Grapevine, London: Donald Hutera, The Times Richard Maguire, Reviews Hub Matthew Paluch, Gramilano Feature - San Francisco Ballet offers a festival of brand-new dances: Janos Gereben, SF Examiner Feature - Magical Snow Queen debut for Scottish Ballet’s Rishan Benjamin: Scott Begbie, Press and Journal Feature - The story of a forbidden romance - Hanover State Opera Ballet in Israel: Neria Barr, Jerusalem Post News - BalletMet's Dorothy and the Prince of Oz returns: Staff, Ballet Herald News - Dutch National Opera and Dutch National Ballet present Messa Da Requiem: Stephi Wild, BWW NL

Well, David Jays is first up with a decidedly cool review in today's Standard - see Links. "Decorous but dull."

Links – Tuesday 17 January 2023 Review – Royal Ballet, Sleeping Beauty, London: David Jays, Evening Standard Reviews – English National Ballet, Swan Lake (Deane), London: Graham Watts, Bachtrack Louise Levene, Financial Times John O’Dwyer, Seen and Heard Review – Hong Kong Ballet, Romeo and Juliet (Webre), New York: Jerry Hochman, Critical Dance Review – Vertigo Dance Company, Pardes, New York: Karen Hildebrand, Fjord Review Preview - Seeta Patel Dance, The Rite of Spring, London: Teresa Guerreiro, Culture Whisper Preview – Sydney Festival: Meryl Tankard & Dancers, Kairos: Nick Galvin, Sydney Morning Herald Feature – Farewell and thanks to Stomp: Alastair Macaulay, Blog Feature - Spice Girl Mel C leaps into modern dance: Lyndsey Winship, Guardian Feature - This Is Australia: First Nations dancers remake Childish Gambino’s This Is America: Sian Cain, Guardian News – British dancer one of those killed in the Nepalese plane crash: Ian Begley, Daily Mail (and elsewhere)

Links – Monday 16 January 2023 Reviews – Hong Kong Ballet, Romeo and Juliet (Webre), New York: Gia Kourlas, NY Times Nadia Vostrikov, Ballet Herald Review – Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Memoria, Roy’s Joys, Revelations, New York: Leigh Witchel, dancelog.nyc Review – Gibney Dance, J’ai pleuré avec les chiens, New York: Siobhan Burke, NY Times Review – Sydney Festival: Australian Dance Theatre & Others: Geraldine Higginson, Dance Australia Preview – Circa, Sacre (Rite of Spring), Vancouver: Shawn Conner, Vancouver Sun Preview – Shaun Parker and Company, KING, Touring: Staff, Dance Australia Book Review – Cranko, The Man and his Choreography by Ashley KIllar: Karen Van Ulzen, Dance Australia Exhibition – Matisse designed a ballet, watch it at Philadelphia Museum of Art: Juan Michael Porter II, Philadelphia Inquirer News - Lithuania bans Russian ballets: Norman Lebrecht, Slipped Disc News - Miro Magloire to present new Chamber Ballet at Mark Morris Dance Center in February: Blair Ingenthron, BWW Dance

Links – Sunday 15 January 2023 Reviews – English National Ballet, Swan Lake (Deane), London: Joy Wang X.Y., SeeingDance Aliya Al-Hassan, BWW UK Vera Liber, BTG Review – Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Curriculum II, New York: Candice Thompson, Fjord Review Review – Stephanie Lake Company, Manifesto, Sydney: Rebecca Whitton, Australian Stage Catchup Review – ZviDance, Migrations, New York: Leigh Witchel, dancelog.nyc Feature – Hong Kong Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet in the USA: Belinda Robinson, China Daily Preview - San Francisco Ballet’s next@90 new works festival: Claudia Bauer, Pointe Magazine News – Choreographer Miguel Gutierrez awarded New York Live Arts Residency: Rachel Sherman, NY Times And as there’s always a newcomer out there: ‘The Sleeping Beauty’: A Guide To Tchaikovsky’s Fairy Tale Ballet: Jeremy Nicholas, Yahoo! Entertainment

In all of this, it may be worth bearing in mind the Oxford Union debate in the 1930s in which the House voted for the motion that it would "in no circumstances fight for King and country." That was, of course, turned on its head in the five years or so from September 1939. If a similar external threat should emerge once again, I like to think that the youth of the day would respond very much as it did in both 20th century conflicts.

Sim: Amen to all of that.

Kunstkamer reviews can be found on Links pages for 5 and 7 June 2022. Very much a full evening work!

Links – Sunday 8 January 2023 Sorry folks – after carrying out a normal trawl of sources, and having applied customary editorial judgement, I conclude that there is nothing new worth listing this morning …. I suspect this may be a first. Should you want to explore the 17,800,000 results hidden in this morning’s ‘Ballet’ page on Google, feel free.

Jeannette, I gladly add to the best wishes above - but I hope you'll excuse me as, on seeing your mention of Puerto Rico, I was immediately thinking of West Side Story. "I know a boat you can get on" and all those great Sondheim lyrics. "I love the island Manhattan, smoke on your pipe and put that in!" has to be high up in the list of best lines ever, along with Cole Porter's "If the Harris pat means a Paris hat, he may."

Links – Saturday 7 January 2023 Feature - At City Ballet, Alexei Ratmansky can let his imagination run wild: Gia Kourlas, NY Times Feature - ‘M3GAN’ makes us ask (again): Who’s afraid of Dancing Robots? Margaret Fuhrer, NY Times Review – Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, New Year, Old Ballets, New York: Faye Arthurs, Fjord Review Review – La Scala Ballet, The Nutcracker (Nureyev), Milan: Graham Spicer, Gramilano Preview - Theatre Re, The Nature of Forgetting: Teresa Guerreiro, Culture Whisper Preview – American Contemporary Ballet, Astaire Dances, S Cal: Staff, Ballet Herald Interview – Mindy Aloff & her book Why Dance Matters: Marina Harss, Fjord Review Interview - Mariam Karapetyan, Prima Ballerina of Cairo Opera Ballet: Artsvi Bakhchinyan, Armenian Mirror-Spectator Style Q&A - Dancer and choreographer Léo Walk talks taste: Ellie Pithers, Financial Times Feature – A Dance critic’s Farewell: Jill Sykes, Sydney Morning Herald

Links – Friday 6 January 2023 News – Alexei Ratmansky to be Artist in Residence with New York City Ballet: Javier C Hernández, NY Times (and elsewhere) Preview - Scottish Ballet heads to London with Coppélia: Peter Ranscombe, Scottish Field Feature – Dutch National Ballet Principal Maia Makhateli juggles motherhood and dance: Marissa DeSantis, Dance Magazine Feature - Claudia Monja Is making her mark at Nashville Ballet: Lydia Murrray, Pointe Magazine Feature - Dance eases the trauma for Peru’s Shining Path survivors: Dan Collyns, Guardian Feature - Juilliard’s first black Dance Director Is making changes: Emily Leibert, Jezebel Feature - Hong Kong’s Siu Lung Fung Dance Theatre turns from social criticism to calmer contemplation: Enid Tsui, SCMP

And some of us were born during the war and, if I'm right, are beyond categorisation.

Links – Thursday 5 January 2023 Obituary – Denis Vieira, Dancer: Graham Spicer, Gramilano Review – National Ballet of Ukraine, Giselle, Paris: Laura Cappelle, Financial Times Tour Review – Matthew Bourne/New Adventures, Sleeping Beauty, Plymouth: Kate Maltby, The i Preview – Royal Ballet, Everyone Keeps Me, New Tanowitz Work, London: Teresa Guerreiro, Culture Whisper Feature - The Stage 100 of 2023: Opera and Dance: Staff, The Stage Diary - 10 Chicago dance shows for winter 2023: Lauren Warnecke, Chicago Tribune News - Violinist steps in at last minute to conduct LA Ballet’s Nutcracker : Laurie Niles, Violinist.com Book Review - La Nijinska: Choreographer of the Modern, by Lynn Garafola: Alastair Macaulay, NY Review of Books And, Did you know about the ballet for House Speaker causing mayhem in Washington DC? Sky News Australia

Links – Wednesday 4 January 2023 Preview - Acosta Danza, Spectrum – Mixed Bill, London: Teresa Guerreiro, Culture Whisper Preview - New York City Ballet announces 2023 Winter Season featuring a World Premiere by Justin Peck: Chloe Rabinowitz, BWW Tour Review – Varna International Ballet, The Nutcracker, Manchester: David Cunningham, BTG Preview – Risa Jaroslow & Dancers, Talking Circle, Oakland: Lou Fancher, SF Classical Voice Dance Watch – Portland Area in early 2023: Jamuna Chiarini, Oregon Artswatch (Keep scrolling!) Book Review – Cranko: The Man and his Choreography, by Ashley Killar: Jonathan Gray, Gramilano Advice - How to prepare successfully for ballet auditions: Cherilyn J Lee, Ballet Herald (essentially US-oriented)

Links – Tuesday 3 January 2023 Obituary - Bruno Vescovo, former principal dancer with La Scala Ballet: Graham Spicer, Gramilano Tour Review – Scottish Ballet, The Snow Queen, Glasgow: Allan Radcliffe, The Times Preview – Ballet Folk, The Tears of Jenny Greenteeth, London: David Mead, SeeingDance Long Interviews – Adam Cooper, Sarah Wildor, Matz Skoog, Tory Dobrin: Ismene Brown/Vyne Theatre via YouTube News – Joseph Toonga, breaking Royal Ballet stereotypes with hip-hop: Staff, BBC News News - Meet Nobuhiro Terada, Ukrainian National Ballet's new Artistic Director: Theo Farrant, MSN Euronews Diary - London Dance, Winter 2023: Teresa Guerreiro, Culture Whisper

I'm guessing we have convergent Twitter timelines - I picked that up for tomorrow's Links earlier today.

Links – Monday 2 January 2023 Feature - Ukraine war: Dancers fight culture war against Russia: Kate Vandy, BBC News History - Tamara Geva: A ballet pioneer in the USA: Sebrena Williamson, The Collector Streaming - Royal Opera House/Royal Ballet: Teresa Guerreiro, Culture Whisper News – National Ballet of Cuba appeared in gala revolution performance: Staff, Xinhua

I shall be wishing Cathy Marston all the very best as she takes over as Director in Zurich later this year.

Links – Sunday 1 January 2023 A guid New Year tae ane an’ ‘a An’ mony may ye see. An’ during a’ the years tae come, O happy may ye be. Feature - Reliving memories of Rudolf Nureyev’s 1968 The Nutcracker production for The Royal Ballet: Jim Pritchard, Seen and Heard Feature – Portland, 2022: Dance in the rear view mirror: Jamuna Chiarini, Oregon Artswatch Dance Diary – December 2022: Michelle Potter, ... on dancing In Memoriam 2022 - Singers, Dancers, Actors, Writers, Directors: Graham Spicer, Gramilano

Dave: Thanks, much appreciated.

I recall seeing Joseph Ratzinger's name regularly mentioned as an influential adviser to the Vatican II Council in the early 60s. At that time, he was of a more liberal mind than later on when, as I understand, he reacted against the developments in Europe of the later 60s. Requiescat in pace.

Dave: Is there any chance that our page length could be extended beyond 30 posts? Or is that a built-in Invision thing? (This is all to do with the back checks we do on taking over Links. The page turn on 31 day months is then a nuisance.) Just asking!

The Nut and Four Realms turned out to have very little to do with dance or ballet, apart from a couple of minutes of Misty Copeland before the credits. I won't be rushing to see it again.

CCL: That was it - the Lauridsen setting, at the Coliseum, with a choir and Zen - and going by the footnotes, it was earlier than 2012. QED, I think. My thanks all round.