Ian Macmillan

Links – Monday, March 4, 2013 Reviews – San Francisco Ballet, Program 3 - Guide to Strange Places, Beaux, Rite of Spring: Alastair Macaulay, NY Times Aimee Tsao, DanceTabs Reviews – San Francisco Ballet, Program 4 - Scotch Symphony, Within the Golden Hour, From Foreign Lands: Allan Ulrich, SF Chronicle Lauren Gallagher, SF Examiner Rita Felciano, Danceviewtimes Adelaide Review – Sylvie Guillem, 6000 Miles Away: Alan Brissenden, The Australian Reviews – Ballet Black, Egal, Dopamine, One Played Twice, War Letters: Bruce Marriott, DanceTabs Keith Watson, Metro DC Review – Iceland Dance Company, Til, The Swan, Großstadtsafari: Oksana Khadarina, DanceTabs Reviews – Sydney Dance Company, ‘De Novo’ Triple Bill: Valerie Lawson, Dancelines Deborah Jones, The Australian DC Review – Danish Dance Theatre, Love Songs: Sarah Kaufman, Washington Post DC Review – Joe Goode Performance Group, The Rambler: Sarah Kaufman, Washington Post Omaha Review – Joffrey Ballet, Age of Innocence, In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, Rite of Spring: Kim Carpenter, Omaha.com Review – Texas Ballet Theater, Voluntaries, Lambarena: Margaret Putnam, TheaterJones Preview – Faye Driscoll, You’re Me: Emmaly Wiederholt, SF Examiner Perth Review – Jean-Claude Gallotta/Steps Youth Dance Company, 3G(Trois Generations) Strut: Rita Clarke, The Australian

Chris: Thanks for expanding on your earlier post. I guess that you and I are just in two different places - an accident of history or chronology - and I can't say that you or, I imagine, the very many others like you, are wrong. Anno Domini suggests that the future will be in all of your hands rather than mine and, as you ask: "How do you stop it?" What I'm doing right now, addressing you electronically, would have seemed impossible when I was 21, so who can say what the next 50 years will bring? For now, I'm delighted to hear that your finding this Forum has added something to your daily round - we've probably got more in common than we'd think at first blush!

Chris: Your final point about where print journalism, including professional criticism, may be in 10 years or so is a question that has been addressed a fair deal over the last 2/3 years .... mainly in the prints themselves, but also in our ballet.co predecessor. It's a valid and serious issue, and only time will tell how it plays out but, for now, I wonder if you feel that matters of that kind can be adequately dealt with in 140 Twitter characters or on a Facebook page? And as for Dance as a topic, how substantially do you feel that is treated on social media? Much of what I see on Twitter appears to consist of members of the public and certain dancers locking into a self-congratulatory loop. That has its place in the great scheme of things and I don't doubt for a moment that it works well for those involved but, if the links often given to printed articles were stripped away, I wonder how much substance would remain? Just a thought .... from someone who, at a guess, is of a different generation!

Links – Sunday, March 3, 2013 Interview – Outgoing Royal Opera House Director, Tony Hall: Charlotte Higgins, Guardian Reviews – Royal Ballet, Apollo, 24 Preludes, Aeternum: Luke Jennings, Observer Jenny Gilbert, Independent on Sunday Neil Norman, Express Reviews – Tanztheater Uppertal Pina Bausch, Vollmond: Jenny Gilbert, Independent on Sunday Katja Vaghi, One Stop Arts Interview/Preview – Dance Massive Festival, Melbourne/Gideon Obarzanek: John Bailey, Sydney Morning Herald Interview – Jean Butler, Choreographer & Dancer: Claudia La Rocco, New York Times Review – San Francisco Ballet, Rite of Spring, Beaux, Guide to Strange Places: Janos Gereben, SF Examiner Preview – T.R.A.S.H., Enchanted Room, T†Bernadette: Victor Swoboda, Montreal Gazette Interview – Alexei Ratmansky on Symphonic Dances for MCB: Jordan Levin, Miami Herald DC Review – Danish Dance Theatre, Love Songs: George Jackson, Danceviewtimes

Alison: From halfway up the Amphitheatre? Well done, I must say - I'd never have expected results like those from that distance.

Katherine: I'm delighted to hear of someone having set to Palestrina! If you can recall the motet used, I'd love to know, as I've often wondered how well 16th century polyphony might be used for choreography. In particular, I feel that Thomas Tallis's 8-choir, 40 voiced 'Spem In Alium' offers lots of opportunity over some 11 minutes - progressive entries and exits, a steady pulse, two general pauses, and a massive finish.

I can remember the Hippy Hippy Shake .... ..... and its Middle Eastern cousin, The Sheik of Araby ..... (Got no pants on!) http://500motivators.com/motivate/me/stop-that-this-thread-is-getting-very-silly/

To add a little context to Kathy's remarks, I thought I'd count the ads in the March Dancing Times that arrived this morning for Ballet Schools and Performing Arts-type colleges in the UK offering vocational-level training. I made it 29 in all, from the Royal Ballet School outwards, generating (at a guess) at least 500 graduating youngsters looking for dance-related jobs each year. And any such a number must lie well beyond the ability of the ballet/dance companies and the West End to absorb it. It will be of no comfort at all to those involved today to know that it has long been like this. Kathy, I wish your son, and all those like him, all the very best in the weeks ahead. They have chosen a hard road to follow.

It will be behind the paywall, if online, but I see that today's Times has picked up on this interview - he is certainly made to sound very upbeat about the future.

Alastair Macaulay reviews the final two performances for the NYT in a piece available via today's Links. In describing Zenaida Yanowsky's Marguerite he has chosen le mot juste that I feel characterises so much of what she does: 'intelligent dignity.'

Looks a bit chilly in Gwalia, where they set their scene! I hope one of the tour venues might be somewhere in my direction - I had a super experience of R&J in a small-company setting in Cathy Marston's version in Bern some four years ago, and I'd happily try another. A cast of thousands is not needed to capture the drama.

I am having to create a bit of room in my study/workroom for other things and, to that end, I've decided that it's time to part with my stack of specialist, quarterly "Early Music" journals. They run from the November 1987 issue to that of November 2001. Is there anyone - or anyone who knows anyone - who might be interested in acquiring these? They would be available free to anyone who could collect them from here - ie an address in Bishop's Stortford, just off the M11, across the motorway from Stansted Airport. I'm hoping not to have to recycle them!

Lightening the mood somewhat, I hope, but certainly 'Car Trouble' related is this video collage to be found sitting alongside Luke Jennings' Observer piece in this morning's Links. Difficult to be sure that they're real and not computer-generated: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/feb/15/russian-roads-dash-cams-video

Margaret: With your permission, the 'M&A' has been tidied-up. There are a number of features in the Forum software that we don't fully understand, with some still appearing after a year's experience, sometimes due to a software update. (Indeed we're having to use a workaround to finish the Today's Links postings thanks to an inadvertent bug introduced in the last update .... that they have promised to fix next time!) At any rate, I'm not clear about your 'paragraph marker' reference - personally, I just use two Return Key strokes ..... .... as here.

Margaret: The software package for the Forum prevents editing (by other than Moderators) after about 30 minutes, and that's probably what has caught you. Your first edit after just 2 minutes was fine, as you found.

Will this help?: Edited to add: Once you have the Reply toolbar icons showing, you'll find one slightly left of centre with a chainlink and a small plus sign. (Hover over it and 'Link' should appear.) You need to press that icon symbol, when a small window will appear, containing a space into which your copied URL should be pasted, followed by pressing 'OK.' Your Link should then appear in the Reply space in blue and, if it does, go ahead and 'Post' and that should be that.

Links – Saturday, February 16, 2013 London Reviews – Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Two Cigarettes in the Dark: Sarah Crompton, Telegraph Judith Mackrell, Guardian Jann Parry, DanceTabs Zoë Anderson, Independent Lyndsey Winship, Evening Standard Vera Liber, British Theatre Guide Review Gallery - Dave Morgan, DanceTabs Video Preview – Birmingham Royal Ballet, Aladdin: BBC News Design of new Mariinsky Theatre causing uproar: Stepan Ivanov, Russia Beyond The Headlines Auckland Preview – Royal New Zealand Ballet, Made to Move Triple Bill: Bernadette Rae, NZ Herald Utah Review – Ballet West, Cinderella (Ashton): Kathy Adams, Salt Lake Tribune NY Review – Pacific Northwest Ballet, Concerto Barocco, Apollo, Agon: Robert Johnson, NJ Star-Ledger Rehearsal Gallery – Pacific Northwest Ballet, Romeo et Juliette: Stuart Isett, Wall St Journal Sara Mearns - Where Ballet And Fashion Meet: Huffington Post DC Review – Washington Ballet, L’Amour (love, baby) Bill: Sarah Kaufman, Washington Post London Reviews – Resolution! 2013: Josephine Leask & Laura Warner, The Place Hinged, RainMan Camilia Gutierrez & Fionn Cox-Davies, Accomplices Ceselie Kvernland, (parentheses) The Nonsuch Dancers, Rexesexus: Tudor Dirty Dancing NY Review – Ronald K. Brown/Evidence: Brian Seibert, NY Times Canadian Preview – National Ballet of China, Raise the Red Lantern: Victor Swoboda, Montreal Gazette Sydney Preview – Rafael Bonachela/Sydney Dance Company, Emergence: Elissa Blake, Sydney Morning Herald London Review – Dan Canham, Wild Card: Erin Johnson, One Stop Arts Interview – Lionel Blair, Dancer & Entertainer: Nick McGrath, Guardian

From Today's Links, in translation from Izvestia, it appears that the Bolshoi will replace McGregor's Rite with a diifferent, new version by Tatyana Baganova. (The box to the left has the former still coming to London, but I suspect that's simply an error.) And the same line is being maintained on the McGregor production, that there was/is no problem with it, and that it is simply postponed until Mr Filin is fit again. So it appears that they will proceed with a new, rushed version without Filin, who is somehow indispensable to the McGregor version. Odd and odder? I leave that to you. http://rbth.ru/arts/2013/02/14/bolshoi_theatre_prepares_for_rite_of_spring_anniversary_22863.html And should we place any weight on the concluding remark that Mats Ek has not been 'scared away' from continuing with a new commission, and that he is 'a brave man'? In the Bolshoi context of recent weeks, can we parse those remarks for clues on the McGregor case?

Links – Friday, February 15, 2013 Interview – NYCB Principal, Sara Mearns: Marina Harss, DanceTabs NY Reviews – Pacific Northwest Ballet, Concerto Barocco, Apollo, Agon: Alastair Macaulay, NY Times Apollinaire Scherr, Financial Times Marina Harss, DanceTabs Leigh Witchel, NY Post London Reviews – Royal Ballet, Ashton Bill: Gerald Dowler, Classical Source Jane Simpson, DanceTabs Vera Liber, British Theatre Guide Neil Norman, Express Hanna Weibye, One Stop Arts ….. and, unusually, Editorial comment on Ms Rojo: Guardian Feature/Interview – Bolshoi Ballet, Acting Director Galina Stepanenko and Rite of Spring anniversary: Yaroslav Timofeyev, Izvestia via Russia Beyond The Headlines SF Review – Hamburg Ballet, Nijinsky: Allan Ulrich, SF Chronicle NY Review – New York City Ballet, Sleeping Beauty: Gia Kourlas, NY Times London Review – Hubert Essakow, Flow: Jann Parry, DanceTabs Feature – Sacrificing childhood to ballet: Maya Krylova, Russia Beyond The Headlines 16-shot Photo Essay – Bolshoi Swan Lake: Nate Rawlings/Yuri Kozyrev, Time Lightbox (Hover to right/left of pics, or use small button near top right) London Review – Tango Fire: Louise Levene, Telegraph London Review – Dancing around Duchamp: Zoë Anderson, Independent London Reviews – Resolution! 2013: Lyndsey Winship & Maddy Morgan, The Place 70/30 Split, Content part 1 Luisa Lazzaro, Oh Vacuum Coco Danse, Setback Feature – Miami City Ballet in 2013-14: Jennifer Kay, Miami Herald NY Review – Trajal Harrell, Used, Abused, and Hung Out to Dry: Brian Seibert, NY Times Chicago Review – Joffrey Ballet, American Legends Quad Bill: Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune Sydney Preview – Larissa McGowan/Sydney Dance Company, Fanatic: Elissa Blake, Sydney Morning Herald

This article will appear in tomorrow's Links but is probably worth placing here too. The context is Russian, but I suspect that its general drift applies to vocational schools anywhere: http://rbth.ru/society/2013/02/14/agony_and_ecstasy_on_the_road_to_ballet_stardom_22869.html

Links – Thursday, February 14, 2013 London Reviews – Royal Ballet, Marguerite and Armand Bill (Rojo/Polunin): Clement Crisp, Financial Times Zoë Anderson, Independent Judith Mackrell, Guardian Lyndsey Winship, Evening Standard Graham Watts, Londondance Sarah Frater, The Stage Siobhan Murphy, Metro Gallery – Dave Morgan, DanceTabs Tamara Rojo-related feature: Louise Jury, Evening Standard … and a Russian footnote: Voice of Russia London Review – Henri Oguike & OAE: Four Seasons: Graham Watts, DanceTabs Tour Preview – BalletBoyz – The Talent 2013: Kelly Apter, Scotsman Tour Preview – Peter Quijada/Scottish Dance Theatre: Kelly Apter, Scotsman News – New Performance Lab for SE London: Carmel Smith, Londondance Reviews – Resolution! 2013: Sanjoy Roy & James Morgan, The Place Company Ben Abbes, White Room Tamar Daly & Nicolette Corcoran, Decode This Kaonashi, Fade NY Review – Ronald K Brown/Evidence, Mixed Bill: Brian Seibert, NY Times NY Review – Motionhouse, Scattered: Gia Kourlas, NY Times Chicago Preview – Thodos Dance Chicago, Light In The Dark: Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times Tour Feature – Robert Curran at Bangarra Dance Theatre: Jane Albert, The Australian News – Sergei Filin’s sight improving after operation: Reuters, Yahoo News (& elsewhere)

Amelia: I fear that your Link gives access only to the opening words of the article and that has been the case since The Times (and Sunday Times) went completely behind a subscription paywall well over a year ago - the reason for our no longer giving Times links in our daily listing. Other publications have partial subscription restrictions and we work around them as best we can. Nonetheless, I saw the piece linked in hard copy the other day, and I agree that there's no doubt he is keen to make a pile - and I'm unlikely to contribute thereto if I can avoid it.

Hopefully this link will work: http://www.standard.co.uk/arts/theatre/dancing-like-theres-no-tamara-8493169.html

Still no sign of any effect on the Company tour, but it appears that Mr Kekhman is now prevented from travelling for at least the next 6 months: http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2013/02/breaking-russian-opera-and-ballet-boss-has-passport-seized-by-bailiffs.html Hopefully, his affairs and those of the company will remain separate. If not .....

Anna: Looks like Zoe Anderson of the Independent liked them too: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/marguerite-and-armand-the-royal-ballet-sergei-polunin-and-tamara-rojo-royal-opera-house-london-8492773.html If more links appear, you're going to have to wait till tomorrow!