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Angela

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  1. Angela
    Then I guess you must turn to the people who hired Watkin. ENB, as other ballet companies with a part-modern repertory, still hires ballet dancers with classical training. If you want pure Petipa or Bournonville dancers, you are right, and some Mariinsky dancers have tried out modern and went back to their pure style. Others did not - Vladimir Shklyarov as an example: after he danced some modern ballet works at Munich, his Lavrovsky Romeo changed considerably, more acting, more passion. I liked it very much, but the Russian audience was divided, I guess. Why did the Russian companies take in Neumeier, Cranko, Wheeldon, Clug, even very modern choreographers like Sharon Eyal, Ohad Naharin? Because they have dancers who want to try out different things. Don't you think you may have to leave it to the artists also? Many dancers want to dance modern ballet and work in both worlds, because they think like Watkin, that it makes them better artists. If ENB was a company with a pure, single-choreographer style, let's say Ashton, I would accept your points, but it has not been for years. The diversification of ballet styles started long ago, also with the Royal Ballet. And most audiences enjoy to see different styles, not only the classics. ENB won't become something like contemporary dance theatre in the Wuppertal style with Aaron Watkin, it will keep a mixed repertory.
  2. Angela
    I don't understand what's so different to Tamara Rojo's approach - she had Bausch and Khan and Forsythe and Ek pieces coming to ENB. Watkin said he will continue to do so, so where is the big change? Rojo already changed the face of the company. And where is the problem with modern BALLET for a company called English National BALLET? It's not contemporary dance, it's still ballet. Watkin had many full-length classics at Dresden, why should he get rid of them at ENB? What you talk about here has happened at Zurich, where Cathy Marston, continueing former AD Christian Spuck's programming of the last two years, got rid of the classics like Giselle or Swan Lake. No more ballet in the traditional, classic or romantic style at Zurich, or in Switzerland as a whole: it's gone. Watkin's last classic at Dresden was La Bayadère just a few months ago.
  3. Angela
    If you want to see the seat map of the Opera House/Nationaltheater, just go to one of the opera performances on sale right now, directly on the home page right. The ballet is on holiday already. https://www.staatsoper.de/en/ Possibly one that's not already sold out, then you will see the seating plan. There are always seats left for personal, telephone and online booking. They sell first by mail/email three months before, then by phone and online two months before the performance. It's not that hard to get ballet tickets, the house is huge. Of course you get the best tickets when you book two months before exactly. It's right on the homepage https://www.staatsoper.de/staatsballett - scroll down and click on "Die Ballett-Saison 2023-24" - they just forgot to translate the headline 🙂
  4. Angela
    Roster changes at Hamburg Ballet: Karen Azatyan, Alessandro Frola and Matias Oberlin were promoted to principals. John Neumeier also appointed Olivia Betteridge, Charlotte Larzelere, Ana Torrequebrada and Louis Musin to soloists. Patricia Friza, Yaiza Coll, FĂ©lix Paquet and David Rodriguez are leaving, also the corps de ballet dancers Borja Bermudez, Giorgia Giani, MariĂ  Huguet and Ricardo Urbina. For next season, Hamburg Ballet welcomes the previous "aspirants" (apprentices) Ghanima Choffat, Anita Ferreira, Lin Zhang, Gabriel Barbosa, Alfie McPherson and Javier Monreal as corps de ballet members, as well as Lormaigne BockmĂĽhl and Joao Vitor Santana from the Bundesjugendballett. Pepijn Gelderman will also join the company; after graduating from the Hamburg Ballet School, he danced with the Bundesjugendballett and then joined the Latvian National Ballet. New apprentices: Eleanor Broughton, Abbey Haller, Hannah McCloughan, Kallum Morris, Tibor Perthel and Caspar Sasse from the School of the Hamburg Ballet.
  5. Angela
    Find an interview with Emilio Pavan about his farewell here Philip Hedges will end his career to study literature in the US. Emma Knowlson will leave for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo. Also joining: former apprenticies Marina Mata GĂłmez and Soren Sakadales, and Jasmine Henry who is in the company since April already. Yana Zelensky left at her own request with the end of this season, the company stated.
  6. Angela
    May I quote what Alastair Macaulay wrote just one month ago: "I’m inclined to think that, when Cranko choreographed full-length ballets, he made trash: certainly 'Onegin' trashes both its Pushkin source and (as Balanchine remarked in no uncertain terms) its Tchaikovsky score." I have to admit, I was shocked. You may not like Onegin, but it's become a world wide classic, danced by all big companies on the planet, which in my opinion forbids to use a word like "trash" without insulting many dancers who crave to dance these roles, many ballet directors and a huge audience. Cranko's Romeo from 1962 was also an important example for most Western versions of the Prokofiev ballet. Mr. B also wrote some nasty things about Cranko, whereas Cranko loved Balanchine's work.
  7. Angela
    Today is the 50th anniversary of John Cranko's death, he died on June 26th, 1973 in a plane on the way from the USA to Ireland. For this occasion there was a commemoration talk in Stuttgart with his remaining "Initials" Haydée, Keil, Madsen and other companions from back then, where Reid Anderson said that he had just home come from Toronto, where he had selected the dancers for Onegin at NBoC. And then he said that Onegin will also be back at ABT, the Royal Ballet and in Paris. Just to let you know. For the big Cranko Gala on Friday there seem to be no guests invited and we will see a choice of his ballets in chronological order. Rumours say it will last up to five hours.
  8. Angela
    Speaking of smaller theatres: the Aalto Theatre in Essen has also two new ballet directors, the dual leadership seems to be the new fashion in Northrhine-Westphalia. Essen is just some 20 kms from Düsseldorf/Ballet on the Rhine, and also 20 kms from Dortmund and from Wuppertal, so four big companies of 30+ dancers on a rather small space. At Essen, ballet manager Marek Tůma and ballet master/choreographer Armen Hakobyan will succeed ballet director Ben van Cauwenbergh from season 2024/2025. Marek Tůma from Brno in the Czech Republic is a fomer solo dancer and has been working als deputy ballet director and ballet manager since 2008 at Essen. Armen Hakobyan from Erewan/Armenia was also a solo dancer with van Cauwenbergh, he is ballet master since 2018 and started to choreograph in 2010. They want to continue Ben van Cauwenbergs’s classical repertoire “and give more space to contemporary dance in its diverse forms of expression”, they say. Aalto Ballet Essen dances Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake or Cranko's Onegin.
  9. Angela
    Sabine, I know exactly what you mean, nevertheless people don't have to go 200 kms to see dance, if it's ballet or modern - dance is part of their theatre experience, not only plays, opera and concerts. That's how it should be. And to be honest, I have seen some performances in smaller town theatres that were not only "remarkable", but full-blown, striking artistic events. My last point: so many jobs for dancers in Germany... 🙂
  10. Angela
    Cologne, one of Germany’s biggest cities, did not have a ballet or dance company for more than 20 years, just a small contemporary company for some years and touring companies. Which is astonishing, as in Germany even very small towns have dance companies in their town theatres. From 2017, Cologne was in a cooperation with Munich for Richard Siegal’s “Ballet of Difference”, a Forsythe style, flamboyant and virtuoso/modern company. Now they will reopen their renovated opera house and plan to re-establish a dance company there. Just not Siegal, who was very successful in Cologne and on tour; the subsidies for his Ballet of Difference will be cancelled after this year. Cologne plans to search internationally for a new dance director; good luck, as there are so many companies looking for directors in Germany or Austria right now.
  11. Angela
    Bridget Breiner, at present time Ballet Director at Karlsruhe, and Raphaël Coumes-Marquet, at present time freelance ballet master and choreographer, will take over the direction of Ballett am Rhein at Düsseldorf/Duisburg. They will succeed Demis Volpi, who is leaving to direct Hamburg Ballet in 2024. Breiner and Coumes-Marquet share a long and successful career as outstanding soloists and dancers. Bridget Breiner, as chief choreographer, will dedicate herself in particular to the programmation and the creation of new pieces. She is American, was a principal dancer with Stuttgart Ballet, director of the small company of Gelsenkirchen and then for the 32 dancers at Karlsruhe; Ballet on the Rhine has 45 dancers. “We met for the first time in the rehearsal room of Semperoper Ballet Dresden in 2006. Since then, we have continuously expanded our cooperation and enjoy a very strong relationship of trust”, she says about her French colleague. He studied at Paris Opera School, was a principal/soloist at Monte-Carlo, Het Nationale and at Vienna State Ballet. For Coumes-Marquet, the focus will be on the diverse tasks of company management. During his time with the Semperoper Ballet, he developed many cross-genre projects, such as dance dinner, dance à la carte or dance:film.
  12. Angela
    I guess it depends on the places that are available.
  13. Angela
    Choreographer Beate Vollack, who is Ballet Director at Graz in Austria, will follow Kader Belarbi at the Ballet de l'Opéra de Toulouse from season 2023/2024
  14. Angela
    I guess the Ballets Russes origin of both pieces was the reason to combine the two ballets. Honestly, name a piece that would not look pale against Bausch's Sacre 🤔
  15. Angela
    Jeannette, the author is 80 years old. Publishing houses normally announce new books only when they are complete and ready, so it may have to do with his age or other unforeseen events. This will certainly be an important book, so let's be patient 🙏
  16. Angela
    Promotions, new dancers and leavers at Stuttgart: Henrik Erikson will be promoted to soloist. Mizuki Amemiya, Christopher Kunzelmann, Daniele Silingardi and Satchel Tanner will be promoted to demi-soloists. New in the corps de ballet: Abigail Willson-Heisel and Mitchell Millhollin from the Cranko School, former apprentices Aoi Sawano, Ruth Schultz, Emanuele Babici, Joaquin Gaubeca and Dorian Plasse. New apprentices: Lily Babbage, Farrah Hirsch, Alice McArthur, Maceo Gerard and Leon Metelsky (all from the Cranko School), and from 2024 also Prix de Lausanne winner Soo Min Kim Leavers: Matteo Crockard-Villa, Coralie Grand, Aurora De Mori, Jolie Rose Lombardo, Christian Pforr and Danil Zinovyev are leaving the company.
  17. Angela
    Stuttgart Ballet's next season is finally online: https://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/schedule/season-2023-24/ https://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/schedule/calendar/
  18. Angela
    Vienna State Ballet published the plans for next season: PREMIERES 2023/24 THE MOON WEARS A WHITE SHIRT Drittes Klavierkonzert Music Alfred Schnittke Choreography Martin Schläpfer Ligeti Essays Music György Ligeti Choreography Karol Armitage Dandelion Wine Music Pietro Locatelli Choreography Paul Taylor Vienna Volksoper, 12 November 2023 SHIFTING SYMMETRIES Concertante Music Frank Martin Choreography Hans van Manen In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated Music Thom Willems Choreography William Forsythe Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet Music Johannes Brahms / Arnold Schönberg Choreography George Balanchine ©The George Balachine Trust Vienna State Opera, 23 December 2023 DIE KAMELIENDAME Music Frédéric Chopin Choreography John Neumeier Vienna State Opera, 24 March 2024 LES SYLPHIDES Les Sylphides Music Frédéric Chopin / Alexander Glasunow Choreography Michel Fokine Eden (world premiere) Music Franz Schubert & Arvo Pärt Choreography Adi Hanan Jeunehomme Music Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Choreography Uwe Scholz Vienna Volksoper, 8 May 2024 NUREJEW-GALA Choreographies of George Balanchine, August Bournonville, William Forsythe, Harald Lander, Hans van Manen, Rudolf Nureyev & Martin Schläpfer Vienna State Opera, 29. Juni 2024 REPERTOIRE 2023/24 DON QUIXOTE, GISELLE, GOLDBERG-VARIATIONEN, DORNRÖSCHEN, IM SIEBTEN HIMMEL, SCHWANENSEE Vienna State Opera COPPÉLIA (revival), PROMETHEAN FIRE, JOLANTHE UND DER NUSSKNACKER Vienna Volksoper
  19. Angela
    I don't think Manuel Legris spoke a word of German when he went to Vienna, and they still love him there. So go ahead! 🙂
  20. Angela
    If you want to apply for Artistic Director of the Vienna State Ballet, you'll find the job description here: https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/en/staatsoper/jobs/
  21. Angela
    Guests at the International Ballet Gala at Dortmund on June 17th/18th: Misa Kuranaga and Max Cauthorn from San Francisco Ballet in Cinderella and the Tchaikovsky Pas de deux, Ksenia Ovsyanick and Dino Tamazlacaru from Berlin in Onegin, Ksenia Ovsyanick also in a solo by Maurice Béjart, Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko from La Scala in Romeo and Juliet and in Mauro Bigonzetti’s Caravaggio. Shawn Wu from Gauthier Dance in Stuttgart will dance Gauthier's “Ballet 101”, other dancers from that company will dance “Envy” from “The Seven Sins” by Sharon Eyal and “Barbalu” by Fabrizio Monteverde. Rachele Buriassi and Esnel Ramos from Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Spartacus, Buriassi also in a solo and Ramos in "Les Bourgeois" by Ben van Cauwenbergh. Ballet Dortmund will dance Wayne McGregors "Eden | Eden", also "D.A" and "Saturn by its director Xin Peng Wang.
  22. Angela
    Rudolf is a dramatic role, not a danseur noble role. Sorry, wrong phrasing: I think Albrecht is THE example for a danseur noble role, and of course Vadim Muntagirov is a danseur noble, but cast as Rudolf he becomes a dramatic dancer. In the good old times of Coralli, Perrot and Petipa, they still had type-casting (or the Russian emploi), so if Albrecht were such a villain like you suggest, he would have been danced by a character dancer, not a lyrical dancer. Of course there may be traces of doubt about his personality, but what I think is that all the beautiful choreography of the second act would be utterly senseless without believing in something like true love - from both sides, from Giselle and Albrecht.
  23. Angela
    Then why should he visit Giselle's grave in the middle of the night, with absolutely no audience to see his fake tears, instead of hunting for the next peasant girl? That's a long way for self-pity... And why should Giselle come back from her grave to rescue him, is she really two times wrong about him? What a stupid girl. Makes no sense to me. I don't see how someone portrayed by a danseur noble can ever get physically abusive, I'm sorry.
  24. Angela
    I copied it from the press release, the false date is also in the text of the Hamburg website about the Ballet Days. The correct date is in the list of performances if you scroll down. I'm sorry! But I'm not starting to check the dates which the companies publish... 🤪🤣
  25. Angela
    Some news from Hamburg Ballet: After the visits of the Bolshoi and also the Royal Danish Ballet, both were invited guests for John Neumeiers 48th Ballet Days in June/July, were cancelled for obvious or less understandable reasons, there will be a new guest company: the Czech National Ballet will show Neumeier's "A Streetcar Named Desire" in two different casts. Stuttgart Ballet will bring "The Lady of the Camellias", also with two casts. The Ballet Festival 2023 will last four weeks, as it was supposed to be Neumeier's farewell, now he will stay one season more, before Demis Volpi takes over the direction of Hamburg Ballet. Other guests include: - Alessandra Ferri will dance Romola Nijinsky in Neumeier's "Nijinsky" on 27./28. June and 6. July, replacing Olga Smirnova - Composer Lera Auerbach will play the piano herself for the performance of "Préludes CV" on 23. June. - The Ballet School invited students from Canada's National Ballet School, the École de Danse de l’Opéra de Paris and the Royal Ballet School for their performance on 13. June - Singers Klaus Florian Vogt and Thomas Hampson will be among the guests for the Gala of the John Neumeier Foundation on 29. June A new "John Neumeier Award for Choreography" will be offered for the first time on this occasion, the winner will receive 25.000 Euro and will have to do a piece for the Bundesjugendballett. No news yet about the international guests for the Nijinsky Gala XLVIII on 3. July. https://www.hamburgballett.de/en/news/hh_ballett_tage_2023.php
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