Angela

Raimondo Rebeck was appointend the next ballet director at Badisches Staatsballett Karlsruhe today, starting with season 2024/25. He follows Bridget Breiner who leaves for Ballet on the Rhine, replacing Demis Volpi there, who leaves for Hamburg Ballet. Rebeck was a principal dancer at the Berlin State Opera and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, he then continued as ballet master, choreographer, teacher, coach and director of the NRW Junior Ballet at Dortmund. His deputy director will be Kristína Paulin, born in Bratislava and for many years a member of Hamburg Ballet. She is now a choreographer and will also be the new choreographer in residence at Karlsruhe.

Vanartus, it's the German theatre system. Most opera houses, where also the dance companies normally are located, get subsidies from their town AND from their land, for Cologne that would be the town of Cologne and the Land Northrhine-Westphalia. But not all, the smaller ones are financed by their town only or mostly. We have so many theatres in Germany, because in the old days, each king, duke or count had his own court theatre, they later developed into town theatres or (the big ones) into state theatres, were rebuilt or renovated. Now no town wants to give up its theatre, it's a part of the town culture. 

In the range of 100 km around the Ballet on the Rhine at Düsseldorf you'll find six or seven smaller dance companies, even a bigger company at Dortmund, where they just staged a new Swan Lake with Iana Salenko and Dinu Tamazlacaru as guests. You have official, subsidised dance companies between ca. 10 and 30 dancers in Dortmund (ballet), Gelsenkirchen (modern ballet), Essen (ballet), Wuppertal (dance theatre), Cologne (whatever), Krefeld (modern ballet) and Osnabrück (modern ballet), and I'm almost sure I forgot one. Hagen, Münster, two more. So the Land Northrine-Westphalia could say: Okay, we'll drop some smaller companies and give the money to the Ballet on the Rhine, but then all other towns would protest or overtake the subsidies for their theatre alone. And "theatre" means opera, playhouse, dance, the famous "Dreispartenhaus" in Germany.  It may seem odd if you know the British system, but on the other hand, we have lots of theatres, lots of performances, even if they are on a smaller scale - and lots of jobs for dancers.

https://www.zhdk.ch/en/news/jason-beechey-appointed-head-of-dance-at-zhdk-6899

News from the Palucca School / Dresden and the Tanzakademie / Zürich:

Prof. Jason Beechey, Rector of Germany’s only independent university of dance, will change to the Zurich University of the Arts in summer 2024. As of 1 August 2024, he will assume the newly created position of “Head Dance” at the university in Zurich.

Dresden, 25th October 2023. A native Canadian, Jason Beechey has been Rector of the internationally renowned Palucca University of Dance Dresden since 2006. The University will celebrate its centenary in 2025. Beechey is a professional dance teacher with 30 years of teaching experience. His vision of a progressive and future-oriented dance education has characterized the Palucca University of Dance Dresden over a period of almost two decades. With a focus on each individual and the idea of breaking through the traditional barriers that have existed between classical ballet, modern/contemporary dance and improvisation, Beechey developed a common and comprehensive approach to dance. This has led to, among others, a complete revision of the curriculum and a new orientation of the study programmes as well as the establishment of a permanent Health Team at the University. Furthermore, Beechey established a world-wide network for dance with renowned partner institutions. He has initiated numerous international exchange programmes as well as the Apprentice Programme with the Semperoper Ballett and other theatres throughout Germany.

The Zurich University of the Arts, with roughly 2000 students, is one of the largest art universities in Europe. The institution is currently the only establishment for professional training in classical ballet and modern/contemporary dance in Switzerland. As of next year and continuing to the end of 2026, the Department of Dance will undergo a restructuring. Jason Beechey will take on this task as “Head of Dance” seeing in it a new challenge: “For me, this is an extremely inspiring and exciting opportunity to create a completely new era of dance both at Zurich University of the Arts and in Switzerland” says Prof. Beechey.

“It has been an unbelievably inspiring 18 years of learning, growing, and building up a team and a network which has vested Palucca University of Dance Dresden with a strong international presence and a clear profile. It has become a beacon of the progressive dance education of our time. I am very grateful to every single person that I have met, who I have worked with and from whom I have had the privilege of learning. It has been rewarding to have been able to experience so many wonderful moments together. I would like to celebrate all that we have achieved together and I am very much looking forward to the continuation of a close relationship with Palucca University of Dance Dresden in my new role as Head of Dance at the Zurich University of the Arts. As a global dance community, we shall work together in order to ensure that dance education can be relevant, inspiring, inclusive, safe, and exciting, also for the coming generations.“ - Jason Beechey, 25 October 2023

https://palucca.eu/en/current-events/news/press-releases

Due to the situation in Israel, the Batsheva Company had to cancel its tour through Germany and Austria in November.

1 hour ago, capybara said:

Did anyone see this  position advertised?

😉

2 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Eg it would be great for Wiener Staatsoper to nurture one or more in house choreographers

They just tried do to so with Martin Schläpfer. It did not work for Vienna.

There will be a new ballet/dance company at Cologne, which, although it is the fourth most-populous city in Germany and home to the German Dance Archive, has a sad history of dance companies. Once Todd Bolender was ballet director there, but somewhere in the 1970s, the ballet turned into the first contemporary dance company of a German opera house, then it was kicked out into the off-scene in 1995, the dance section was closed and the Tanzforum Köln died some years later. The dance section at the opera reopened for a few years from 2005 till 2009 for Amanda Miller's company "pretty ugly", then there were plans for a dance collaboration with near-by Bonn, then there was the Ballet of Difference with Richard Siegal, which was kicked out last year. Now they reopen their renovated opera house and start another attempt at dance. Apply here: http://buehnen.koeln/open-call

"Cologne, once renowned as a city of dance with numerous national and international successes, plans to establish dance, alongside opera and drama, as an independent artistic division at Bühnen Köln from the 2024/25 season on. For this purpose, Stadt Köln is advertising the position of a directorship in a transparent competition process, combined with a call for submission of a meaningful concept for the artistic and organizational profile of the new dance division yet to be founded. The aim of the call is to permanently establish Cologne as a creative hub for dance with international appeal."

Well, we all know that Mackenzie Brown has a fine technique; she won the Prix de Lausanne and the Erik Bruhn Prize. I adored her in the modern roles, in William Forsythe’s “Blake Works” or in Marco Goecke’s “Nachtmerrie”, she has an incredible sense of rhythm and is just a brilliant mover. Her phrasing is beautiful and she has a carefully formulated personal style. In story ballets, she has done Olga in Onegin and Bianca in Cranko’s Taming of the Shrew, also Aurora – all fine, but for my (very spoiled) taste a subtle shade too nice, too nondescript. But here she turned out to be a dramatic ballerina of thrilling intensity, I honestly could already imagine a wonderful Tatiana.

I have rarely seen the blossoming of Juliet's personality so clear: how the playful girl all too suddenly becomes a young woman, how the initially wonderful feeling of love frightens her a little, develops into a deep emotion, and ultimately, after the wedding, turns out almost frightening. Brown is a tall dancer, but she could throw herself into the part without any fear because her Romeo is such an effortless partner: Martí Fernández Paixà replaced Brown's former, currently injured partners Gabriel Figueredo and Henrik Erikson, and there was an instant, almost uncanny chemistry between them. Paixà looks like a film star from a Latin movie, but he is a Romeo of the #MeToo age, never intrusive to the young woman, but tentative, very careful and adoring from the beginning, moved by this unknown feeling like she is.

Both were even more impressive in the third act, when Romeo and Juliet wake up after the wedding. There was no sign of childish defiance or pouting in Juliet’s pleas to her parents, but real fear and an existential despair, also in the long mime scene in which she fights with her thoughts and Father Lorenzo's potion. For a debut, I found so many nuances, such an authentic interpretation quite incredible. Brown, who came to Stuttgart in 2020 and was promoted each season, was very moved at the first curtain, and also very moved by the promotion which ballet director Tamas Detrich announced on stage. She received the well-known Stuttgart ovations from the audience and also from the company. She is just 21 years old, what a career!

After her beautiful, truly remarkable debut performance as Juliet in John Cranko's Romeo, Mackenzie Brown was promoted to Principal Dancer at Stuttgart Ballet this evening.

John Neumeier has invited the Joffrey Ballet from Chicago for his next "The World of John Neumeier" festival at Baden-Baden Festspielhaus. They bring pieces by Nicolas Blanc, Cathy Marston and Liam Scarlett in September 2024

https://www.festspielhaus.de/en/events/joffrey-ballet-chicago/?date=2024-09-27-2000

The Festspielhaus published the dates for next season today, guest companies include Hamburg, Joffrey, Malandain from Biarritz, Compagnie Käfig and Sofia Nappi.

On 06/10/2023 at 08:44, Angela said:

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

For those of you who can watch Arte Concert (I don't know if it's geoblocked): there will be a live stream of the premiere of "Bovary", it should be available for three months afterwards

https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/117103-000-A/christian-spuck-bovary/

https://www.staatsballett-berlin.de/news/detail/bovary-im-livestream.html

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.

8 hours ago, Naomi M said:

Finnish National Ballet's 2022 production of Swan Lake

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

😘

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

On 12/09/2023 at 10:07, Angela said:

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

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.

1 hour ago, Sabine0308 said:

Btw I wish she had been noticed and mentioned here BEFORE  much more for her artistry.

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.

10 hours ago, FionaE said:

Prisca does not deserve this witch hunt.  

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.

1 hour ago, Sabine0308 said:

Wow, are all Russians war criminals??

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.

30 minutes ago, FionaE said:

This is hearsay … but there are many highly speculative comments above  which are derogatory to Prisca’s character.   These should probably also be removed if this hearsay is.  

 

I’ve since heard that Prisca did talk to her AD about it in advance, that she was told she was free to do as she chooses in her vacation.  

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

14 hours ago, Sabine0308 said:

What about an honest "we strongly disagree with her decision to perform in Sevastopol but thank her for her commitment to Bayerisches Staatsballett for xx years". Nobody is hurt this way.

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.

20 minutes ago, FionaE said:

Strange that she was cast in Paquita if Munich management say they knew about this at the start of the summer.  This press release is not entirely honest.

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?

9 minutes ago, FionaE said:

You may wish to reset your thinking about freedom and democracy . 

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.