Angela

This is an ugly, cynical scene from the New Year's evening show on Russian State TV - does anybody recognize the ballerina in green who is sitting next to Tsiskaridze? Dear Mods: If this is too policital, please delete

Emma Ryott designed the costumes for almost all of Christian Spuck's ballets from his famous Lulu at Stuttgart until now, and often also the stage - that's why they look all the same after a while, to be honest. But Spuck never made The Seagull, I guess you mean his Anna Karenina, which he made for Zurich, before it was staged at Oslo, Bavarian State Ballet and the Stanislavsky.

We suddenly have a "Italian National Ballet" touring in Germany, the usual Nutcrackers and Swan Lakes for Christmas. Quite astonishing, I wonder if Roberto Bolle knows 🤔

Favourite ingredient? Drama, Baby.

Some more reviews, there should be no paywalls: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeirung https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/tschaikowski-ouvertueren-von-alexei-ratmansky-in-muenchen-18559840.html Frankfurter Rundschau https://www.fr.de/kultur/theater/tschaikowski-ouvertueren-in-muenchen-hamlet-muss-springen-koennen-91995976.html Kulturvollzug, a Munich theatre website https://kultur-vollzug.de/article-68011/2022/12/28/kleine-mischung-mit-groser-welle/

Here's a first review in German by the Bavarian Broadcast Company: https://www.br-klassik.de/aktuell/news-kritik/kritik-bayerisches-staatsballett-tschaikowsky-ouvertueren-alexei-ratmansky-100.html Google Translation

Alexander Jones was from the famous RBS class of 2005 which produced so many principals and soloists, most of whom ended up somewhere else than in the Royal Ballet - among them also Joseph Caley, Alexander Campbell, Thomas Forster, William Moore, Xander Parish, Laurence Rigg and Liam Scarlett. There was a discussion about this class already:

The new filming of John Cranko's "The Taming of the Shrew" will be on arte tv in the night from 18th to 19 December at 00.10 CET, and available online until 16th January. https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/104474-000-A/the-taming-of-the-shrew/ Cast: Elisa Badenes Jason Reilly Veronika Verterich Martí Fernández Paixá Alessandro Giaquinto Fabio Adorisio The DVD should be available now also.

I think most academies have a little extra money (or donors) to pay for travel costs, if their students want to take part and the teachers are okay with it. If they win it's also a price for the academy.

Some have already jobs in the companies associated with their schools, or scholarships, and sometimes their teachers recommend not to take part, because it takes a lot of time away from other things they might have to learn. Though I'm certain most students basically do want to go to competitions, I'm also certain we never see all of the best students of each year.

The professional department will be closing at the end of this school year for financial reasons, the have communicated this fact in the press. Now they fight to keep a ballet school for children and non-professional dancers. https://www.bazonline.ch/ich-bin-jetzt-jemand-der-traeume-platzen-lassen-muss-555855789454 (article in German language)

I only know his one act pieces "The Grey Area", "A Million Kisses to my Skin" or "Affaires of the Heart", and what I find very boring is his complete lack of dynamics. It's the choreography that lacks dynamic variability, not the dancers, please don't get me wrong, they have a lot do to in his pieces - but there's no slower or faster, no playing with the movement, everything looks the same, like pearls on a string. That may be different in story ballets, but having read the not-so-great reviews about Romeo at Dresden, I don't think so. It looks like the fainthearted middle way between Balanchine and Forsythe, without the structure of Mr. B and without the revolutionary elements of Forsythe. Cold.

I'm with you, UK.

The professional ballet education at Basel Ballet School will be closed due to lacking fundings from the state. Already before the accusations of misconduct were discussed in the newspapers they had a financing gap of 300.000 to 400.000 Francs, now the town of Basel denied the financial aid and the school, lead by Amanda Bennett, will have to close the professional education. As Basel and the Tanzakademie Zürich were the only two ballet schools with a state-approved degree, Switzerland suffers a huge blow in ballet education. The ballet department of Tanzakademie Zürich is still under investigation, so they might end up with no professional ballet education at all. On the other hand, Zürich has a well-known contemporary dance education.

If she does ballet? 😁 Netrebko was "absolved" by some opera houses, she was at the Arena di Verona in summer, she sang at the Vienna Opera im September, and she'll be in Germany in January, not hired by an opera house, but at a concert with her tenor husband. I guess she pretended convincingly enough that she is not a political person, I don't know.

Here is an excerpt of the scene with the tribal dance and the "blackbodying", which is actually a "greybodying" to show that the figure is not real, but a haunting stereotype. When Othello and Desdemona first meet, he has a vision of Botticelli's Primavera of her, and she sees this African tribal dancer - until they get to know each other as real persons. That's how Neumeier works, by having shadow figures, doubles, Alter Egos, it's his way to tell a story, to give the figures depth and a psychological background. "Othello" is one of Neumeier's most modern pieces, with loud cries by the soldiers, flashbacks, parallel scenes, and a very, very sadistic Iago.

https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/news/the-paris-opera-announces-news-of-etoile-dancer-francois-alu-leaving-the-ballet

The Copenhagen Ballet terminated the collaboration with choreographer John Neumeier after dancers criticized "racist stereotypes" in his "Othello" version and demanded changes. Their director Nikolaj Hübbe then put Neumeier's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" on the program where at the general rehearsal there seem to have been discussions between Neumeier and the dancers about "Othello". According to the newspaper "Politiken", the trouble were so loud that Hübbe was summoned. He explained to Neumeier that he shouldn't insult the dancers, but him, because he was the only one who took "Othello" out of the program. Then he showed him the door. According to ballet critic Alexander Meinertz, Hübbe "detonated a suicide bomb" by terminating the collaboration, because Neumeier's works always sell perfectly at Copenhagen. They dance many of his works, he has often been to Copenhagen. Neumeier uses a sort of black tribal dancer who dances through the bad dreams of some of the figures to show what ugly cliché exists about Africans and how very different Othello is from that stereotype. Obviously the dancers did not understand his metaphor or did not want to understand it. An article in Danish - please use Google Translate https://www.berlingske.dk/aok/samarbejde-mellem-den-kongelige-ballet-og-stjernekoreograf-afbrudt-paa An article in German https://www.fr.de/kultur/theater/was-othello-nicht-tanzen-soll-91931918.html

and here in English😉

Marcelo Gomes appointed as artistic company manager to the Semperoper Ballett for the coming season Dresden, 18 November 2022. The Intendant of the Saxon State Opera, Peter Theiler, has appointed Marcelo Gomes, principal and ballet master of the Semperoper Ballett, as artistic manager to the company for the duration of the 2023/24 season. Following Aaron S. Watkins’s move to the English National Ballet in London, the position of artistic director of Semperoper Ballett will be filled in the 2024/25 season. Until then, Gomes will take over the artistic responsibilities for the Semperoper Ballett, working closely together with company manager Adi Luick, who will continue to look after organisational matters. Born in Manaus, Brazil, Marcelo Gomes began his dance training in Rio de Janeiro at the age of five. After his highly successful dance studies in the USA, he went for one year to the ballet school of the Opéra National de Paris and was subsequently invited to perform with top companies around the world. In 1997 he joined the American Ballet Theatre, where he was promoted to soloist in 2000 and two years later to principal. Marcelo Gomes has thrilled audiences at all of the world’s leading dance venues with his numerous guest appearances and own choreographies. His extraordinary artistic achievements have brought him many awards and accolades, including the Prix Benois de la Danse. He made his debut at the Semperoper in the 2018/19 season as Prince Siegfried in Aaron S. Watkins’s »Swan Lake« and as Oberon in Frederick Ashton’s »The Dream«. In the 2020/21 season, Marcelo Gomes joined the company of the Semperoper Ballett as principal and ballet master.

For not showing Kylián's works there is a reason: Clement Crisp hated them, Kylián received bad and even hateful reviews whenever a work from him was on a bill, and other critics followed Crisp. Kylián wrote a text about it: http://www.jirikylian.com/visuals/text/critics_criticism/ I fear that at a time some 20, 30 years ago, everything coming from the continent was regarded as "Eurotrash" by some wise English critics. That was a long time ago, but apparently it had vast consequences for the repertoire of British companies.

https://www.operaballet.nl/ballet/hans-van-manen/repertoire/four-schumann-pieces That was almost 50 years ago. I'd say it counts as an early work. Van Manen has made over 80 pieces since that, how many of them have entered the repertoire of British companies? definition: the upholding or maintenance of tradition, especially so as to resist change - and that's what I meant, the lack of curiosity and openness, the disinterest in surprises or new styles. There are so many ways to make ballet, on pointe or not; it's not either Ashton or Kylián, the beauty lies in the fact that both can be very wonderful and right.

With all due respect - most ballet companies over here on the continent would die for a new work by Mats Ek. He is one of the most important voices of modern ballet with his flexed feet, always creative, always imaginative. His modern Giselle in 1982 was a revelation at the time! He rarely does new works any more, and you have one now in London. Please cherish this artist! It took the British ballet audience 40 years and the death of an important dance critic to become aware of Jiri Kylián's genius, his important role for modern dance in Europe, and you only just started to see his pieces. You still have to discover Hans van Manen... I don't know how Tamara Rojo managed to get all these fabulous, important choreographers who made new creations for her, and I'm sure there are many people who treasure these works. But sometimes I despair about the traditionalism of the English dance audience.

Stuttgart Ballet preparing a new Nutcracker by Edward Clug - the Snow Flakes