Angela

Casting for the live stream of Alice from Munich: Madison Young as Alice, Jakob Feyferlik as Jack, Shale Wagman as White Rabbit, António Casalinho as Mad Hatter.

Thank you, Naomi. I just can't get over the fact that the Finnish name for Swan Lake is Joutsenlampi 🤣🤣🤣

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Cast for the world premiere of Christian Spuck's new ballet "Bovary" at Staatsballett Berlin on 20. October: Emma Bovary: Weronika Frodyma Charles Bovary: Alexei Orlenco Léon, Lover Alexandre Cagnat Rodolphe, Lover: David Soares https://www.staatsballett-berlin.de/spielplan/stueck-detail/stid/bovary/67.html#a_146

The cast for the free live stream of Christopher Wheeldon's Alice from Bavarian State Ballet/Munich: Madison Young as Alice, Jakob Feyferlik as Jack, Shale Wagman as White Rabbit, António Casalinho as Mad Hatter. all casts here: https://www.staatsoper.de/en/productions/alices-adventures-in-wonderland

Alina will dance Aurora in Neumeier's Sleeping Beauty with Hamburg Ballet at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden: Oct 6 and 8, both with Alexander Trusch

Wow. I know this should not shock me and she is free to choose whereever she wants to dance, but... wow.

I'm sure that would have happened if she was on the superstar level like, let's say Cojocaru, Osipova, Nunez, Semionova. She is not. Whenever I was in Munich, ballerinas like Madison Young, Maria Baranova or Lauretta Summerscales caught my eye, not so much Zeisel, to be honest. She acted against her contract, that is not a witch hunt. I'm sure there were offers from the company management to enable her to stay. I fear it will be hard for her to find a job that quickly, given how tall she is. Sabine, I'm sure we are all sorry for the Russian dancers, and I miss my annual Mariinsky visits at Baden-Baden soo much. Some of them cheer for the war, but most of them want to pursue their short dance careers as successful and happy as possible - of course they stay where they are, they all have parents or children, they have homes and an employment. I'm sure they miss the works by Balanchine, Neumeier, Cranko, Maillot, Clug, Spuck, Naharin, Eyal, whoever, because they will be stuck with the old classics in the next years, given the lack of variety in Russian choreographers. I talked to a European choreographer who wanted to withdraw the rights for his piece immediately and then realized that it wasn't possible. In the end he said: maybe it's a good thing that they can dance these works for another year or two. Russia had opened up since Glasnost, and very much the ballet world; look at someone like Ratmansky, who was a part of both worlds. Putin and his propaganda machine now consider every Western choreographer or dancer who still works in Russia as a supporter of the regime; check the Russian articles about the Prix Benois, for example. That's why so many Western dancers or a director like Laurent Hilaire left so quickly after the war started. It is very hard for artists to maneuver through this political situation, I can see that. We all thought the Cold War was over, and here we go again.

Fiona, it's a bit difficult to demand that hearsay should be removed when your next sentence begins with "I've since heard".

According to the press release, Prisca Zeisel has left the company, they did not throw her out. If they wanted to terminate her contract, they could have done it right after the Crimea galas, because she broke her contract. But there were was a dialogue and there were negotiations: "After several exchanges with the management of both the Bayerisches Staatsballett and the Bayerische Staatsoper, Prisca Zeisel asked for the termination of her contract at the beginning of the season. The management of the house has complied with this request." (link) There may have been conditions by the company, maybe she could have apologized and they would have accepted and let her dance Paquita, but she chose otherwise. The wording may have been chosen to protect Zeisel's reputation and help her find a new job.

I'm sure they rehearsed Paquita before the holidays in June or July, so it may well be she was cast in the role before the gala incident happened at the beginning of August. Maybe they gave her a chance to apologize and stay in the company?

And she may rethink the terms of her employment contract. All guest performances usually have to be approved by the company management, if in Berlin, Tokyo or elsewhere. Which is normally no problem, if it doesn't interfere with the Munich performances. It seems, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, that she did not even ask, but they found her name on the affiche for the gala. Then they told her not to go, but she went anyway. It's not like she didn't know what she was getting into.

Thank you, Alison. I forgot that about the Zeisel happenings at Munich.

There's an explanation now for her leaving on the website, with many pictures https://www.staatsoper.de/en/inhalte-staatsballett-home/translate-to-english-prisca-zeisel-verlaesst-das-bayerische-staatsballett

Christopher Wheeldon's Alice from Munich, free https://www.staatsoper.de/en/productions/alices-adventures-in-wonderland Livestream of the performance of 15.10.2023, 19.30h CET on STAATSOPER.TV Video-on-Demand for 24h on 28.10.2023, 10.00h CET on STAATSOPER.TV

According to a press release from Bavarian State Ballet, principal soloist Prisca Zeisel has left the company at her own request at the beginning of September. This was caused by a guest appearance at a ballet gala in Sevastopol at Crimea during the summer break. Bavarian State Ballet only found out about this planned guest engagement shortly before the start of the theater holidays. The theater management then informed Zeisel that the performance would take place without the consent of the Bavarian State Opera. Zeisel has decided to dance in Sevastopol anyway (the gala was with Sergei Polunin and former Munich principals Jonah Cook and Ksenia Ryshkova, who had left for the Stanislavsky Theatre in 2022). After several exchanges with the management of the Bavarian State Ballet and the Bavarian State Opera, Prisca Zeisel asked for her contract to be terminated at the start of the season. The management of the house complied with this. And another detail from an article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung yesterday: Zeisel was supposed to dance the Paquita Grand Pas for the opening of the season, an evening called "Blickwechsel". Casting for Christopher Wheeldon’s "Alice" at Munich: Laurretta Summerscales and Madison Young as Alice, with Jakob Feyferlik, Jinhao Zhang and Julian MacKay as Jack. António Casalinho and Shale Wagman will dance the Mad Hatter, Wheeldon will come to Munich to work with the cast. There is a free live stream on Sunday, October 15th on 19.30 CET, Video-on-Demand for 24h on 28.10.2023 starting 10.00 a.m. CET. https://www.staatsoper.de/en/productions/alices-adventures-in-wonderland

Vienna State Ballet will stream Nureyev's DQ live on Saturday Sept 16th at 19.00 CET, the dancers are Liudmila Konovalova, Davide Dato, Ketevan Papava, Brendan Saye and Olga Esina. https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/en/season-tickets/detail/event/998405178-don-quixote/ The stream is free, you have to register here: https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/ Normally the streams stay online for 72 hours.

Richard Cragun was a wonderful Onegin, and one of the best American dancers ever. A virtuoso who did totally effortless triple tours en l'air, a great partner and the perfect fit for Haydée in height, strength and interpretation. His Onegin was not haughty or arrogant, more lost in thought and full of ennui. He was my definitive Onegin for many, many years, but on the other hand, Adam Cooper (whose jumps were mediocre and who was a bad partner for Rojo) brought a kind of repressed aggression to the role, something sinister and a psychological depth that was very new. There are moments I still remember from the few performances I saw back then in London. What a great, great actor! And ever since I learn more about this fascinating Pushkin (and Cranko) character with every new interpretation, mainly that there is not definitive interpretation - there are several ways to dance Onegin, and only few dancers like Cooper understand the character from the start, most of them need some performances or even some years. I adored Jiri Jelinek at Stuttgart, I still love Jason Reilly and Friedemann Vogel, Oliver Matz was great in Munich and much later Vladimir Shklyarov. I would have loved to see more Russian dancers in the role, Zelensky, Mukhamedov or Malakhov, they never did it. Among my big disappointments in the role, just because they were such famous names, I count Rex Harrington, Manuel Legris (who walked past Tatiana's window after he disappeared through the mirror, aaargh!) and, I know you will hate me, Johan Kobborg. Vladislav Lantratov broke the fourth wall and looked directly into the audience several times, that was strange. As for Tatianas, it's very hard to get somewhere near Haydée's interpretation. And still, there are so many honest and deeply emotional ballerinas who draw you into the performance every time you see the ballet. Cranko created two of the most challenging roles for dancers, I think.

That's funny because on the Zurich website of their gala in September they call themselves "Berlin Tanz Kompanie". I hope they find a suiting name...😀

Some more dancer news from Germany and Austria: More new dancers at Berlin State Ballet, the new director Christian Spuck hired 24 new dancers (the others were mentioned here) new soloists: Martin ten Kortenaar (from Dutch National), Haruka Sassa (from Royal Swedish Ballet) new demi-soloists: Shaked Heller (from Stuttgart Ballet), Fiona McGee (from Vienna State Ballet), Kalle Wigle (Royal Swedish) new corps de ballet dancers: Gustavo Chalub, Filippo Pagani, Blanka Paldi, Giovanni Princic The American demi-soloist Timoor Afshar has left Stuttgart Ballet to become a soloist at Vienna State Ballet.

The annual critics' survey of Germany's dance magazine "tanz" produced these results: Best production: "Ophelia's Got Talent" by Florentina Holzinger, Volksbühne Berlin Best choreographer: Marcos Morau from Spain, new Resident Choreographer at State Ballet Berlin Best dancer: Jason Reilly from Stuttgart Ballet Best online event: the streams by NDT Their yearbook is about the year 1973 when 50 years ago John Cranko died in June, and a few weeks later, Pina Bausch and John Neumeier took over their respective companies in Wuppertal and Hamburg – a pivotal year for dance in Germany.

I always sought the artistry first in a dancer, I thought all the training, accuracy and calmness was just the means to make an artist - if he or she dances Petipa, Ashton, Forsythe or McGregor. But I understand now better how you watch ballet, more like the French I guess - elegance, correctness, accomplishment. I also hate horses, maybe that's the problem. And I like modern ballet, which seems to be an ever bigger problem here... 🙃 I was talking about the PdL or YAGP winners, young dancers who can choose a company because they have different offers. I only know the students from the John Cranko School really well enough over the years, and there are some who join the company at Stuttgart and are in modern pieces right from the start, because they want to be. There are many students who like to do modern works also! Of course young dancers want to show off their classical technique, but it really changed in the last years, they come from school and bring all the expression, the rhythm feeling, the interest for modern ballet. I honestly think Muntagirov's pureness of style is an exception, not the rule.

I think it's very unfortunate to compare dancers to horses. And classical ballet to dressage. Do you want to suggest that the poor dancers feel obliged to say they like modern ballet? Don't you think they are free to speak? A point that I really, really miss here is that most dancers love to create new works. Doing only repertory and the classics means you always dance roles that so many other dancers have danced before, you "fill in", you try to be as good as someone else was before. Working with a choreographer, taking part in the creation of a ballet and a new role must be a great gift for dancers, if you read interviews - take Alina Cojocaru and John Neumeier, take Edward Watson, look at all those Russian divas like Vishneva or Zakharova or Osipova who invited modern choreographers (whatever you may think of them) to create new works for them. Yes, I know, they may be to old for Odette/Odile, but there is also the possibility to explore new ways of expression outside of the classical syllabus. What a challenge, what a shock was Forsythe back in the 1980s, 1990s with his deconstructed ballet, do you really think Sylvie Guillem and Laurent Hilaire hated what they created in Paris with him? Maybe it's a challenge for some dancers to talk on stage, to do surreal things - but they are artists, not dressage horses. And they are much younger than we are, maybe they think differently; how can you insinuate that they are forced to do modern ballet, that they hate what they do? I really understand that some dancers like Muntagirov want to keep their pure classicism (also Lopatkina was one of them), but there are others who can do both, who can do a fine Giselle or Albrecht and something modern next week. Lots of young dancers chose a company where they can do both, maybe that's also a reason for Kevin O'Hare to offer them both opportunities in his company. Look at the variations at the Prix de Lausanne, how many of the young dancers are great in classical AND modern.

No he didn't. I just checked the list of works in Ashley Killar's new biography, no Faun except for the mentioned "L'Après-midi d'Emily Wigginbotham", which was set to music by John Lanchbery and seemed to be some kind of parody with a faun mask in a museum - maybe it was a photo of that you saw? Cranko used Debussy music for "Brouillards" (piano music), "Children's Corner" (or Morceaux enfantins) and for his very last piece "Green" (Fantaisie pour piano et orchestre), but never the Faune music.

Hi Ianlond, if you book on September 4th right at 10.00 CET, I'm pretty sure you will get tickets. Either by phone or by online booking, which sometimes opens a few seconds or even minutes after 10.00 CET, don't panic. They like SEPA paying if you are German/in Germany, but they accept credit cards, no problem. As NiniGabriel said, it works much faster if you already have an account at Staatstheater Stuttgart. I don't know how it is in other countries or cities, but people tend to forget about ballet and theatre during the summer holidays, normally the booking starts slowly and gains momentum with the first performances only. The last Remember Me evening one week ago was so sold out, my friends who were looking for tickets had to go home. There was a big poster for Jason Reilly's 25th anniversary with Stuttgart Ballet at the end, flowers and some confetti, by the way.