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! 🙂

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/

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.

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.

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.

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... 🤪🤣

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

Lots of farewell performances at Berlin State Ballet: Dinu Tamazlacaru and Aya Okumura will dance Tatyana and Onegin on May 10 for the last time, where also Iana Balova says farewell as Olga. On the matinee of May 13, Marian Walter will dance his last Onegin for the company, his wife Iana Salenko will be Tatyana. In the evening of May 13, Evelina Godunova, Daniil Simkin and Yevgeniy Khissamutdinov will say farewell in the roles of Olga, Lensky and Gremin. The all will leave the company after this season.

Some pictures from the set of the Cranko movie at Stuttgart (text in German) - it's from the cemetery with Cranko's grave, with Cranko (Sam Riley) and Haydée (Elisa Badenes) https://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/gallery.john-cranko-film-in-stuttgart-gaensehautmomente-an-crankos-grab.ae50ece6-a896-4274-ab60-1a55c7cfb26f.html

German Dance Award 2023 - Deutscher Tanzpreis 2023 Malou Airaudo, Josephine Ann Endicott, Lutz Förster and Dominique Mercy - four out-standing personalities, former dancers in Pina Bausch's ensemble - receive the German Dance Award 2023. Dance educator Peter Appel will receive the Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award. Sophie Neises, a performer with a visual impairment, is honored for outstanding development in dance. The German Dance Award honors distinguished individuals in the field of dance in Germany. At the end of March, the jury (chaired by Dr. Patricia Stöckemann) selected the award winners for 2023. The German Dance Award 2023 for Malou Airaudo, Josephine Ann Endicott, Lutz Förster and Dominique Mercy is endowed with 4 x 5,000 €. The honors for Peter Appel and Sophia Neises also come with a grant of €5,000, respectively. On Saturday, October 14, 2023, the German Dance Award 2023 will be presented at the Aalto Theater in Essen - Germany’s most prestigious honor in the field of dance. The jury has selected the winners from numerous proposals submitted by associations, institutions and dance professionals. Malou Airaudo, Josephine Ann Endicott, Lutz Förster and Dominique Mercy were collectively nominated. The jury has endorsed this recommendation and will award the four dance professionals with the German Dance Award 2023. "From the very first years, they shaped the work of Pina Bausch and the Tanztheater Wuppertal by virtue of their personality and their unconditional commitment to a dance aesthetic that broke with existing conventions and generated a new way of thinking in and through dance. [...] Beginning in Wuppertal, all four have spread their radiance into the world and continue to be sought-after dance personalities. [...] The German Dance Award 2023 honors their life's work and tireless, in-dividual dedication to dance until today.” The jury honors dance educator Peter Appel with an honorary award for his life's work. "His knowledge and insight into the works of the respective choreographers, his dedication and humor have accompanied renowned choreographers and have profoundly shaped and inspired generations of dancers. His lifelong devotion to dance and his pedagogical talent are honored by the jury with the German Dance Award - Lifetime Achievement.” Sophia Neises, as a dance artist with visual impairment, represents the artistic work of people with disabilities in a unique way. The honor for outstanding development in dance recognizes her impact on dance and commitment to the field of accessibility. "As a performer, she identifies herself as an artist with visual impairments. As a result of this self-de-scription, she interacts with limitations in her performative practice [...] She discovers new skills and develops contemporary forms of artistic expression together with other artists in mutual exchange and learning from each other. [...] This creates new aesthetic approaches not only in dance and per-formance, but in contemporary culture and society as a whole.” The award ceremony will take place as part of a dance gala on Saturday, October 14 at 6 p.m. at the Aalto Theater in Essen. The detailed program will be published in summer. Advance sales for the event will begin on June 10 via the Ticket Center of Theater Essen. The dance gala will also be available as a live stream.

Only in Mid-June, as far as I heard, nothing official yet. Stuttgart State Theatre is always the last 🙄

A movie about John Cranko is in the making at Stuttgart and Cologne. He will be played by British actor Sam Riley who is married to a German actress and speaks German, as Cranko did very well (but has no blue eyes). As the movie has many ballet scenes, the roles of Cranko's dancers will be played by dancers of Stuttgart Ballet - Elisa Badenes as Marcia Haydée, Rocio Aleman as Birgit Keil, Jason Reilly as Ray Barra, Marti Fernandez Paixa as Richard Cragun, Friedemann Vogel as Heinz Clauss, Henrik Erikson as Egon Madsen etc. Other parts like Opera Intendant Walter Erich Schäfer were cast with German actors like Hanns Zischler, Louis Nitsche or Lucas Gregorowicz. If I find out who plays Ninette de Valois, Kenneth MacMillan or Peter Wright, I'll let you know. The movie was written and is directed by Joachim Lang.

At State Ballet Hanover, where Marco Goecke was fired after attacking a critic, his previous company manager and deputy director Christian Blossfeld has been appointed the new Ballet Director. He had been acting Ballet Director since Goecke's contract was terminated. Blossfeld studied at the Staatliche Ballettschule Berlin, he was a solo dancer with Leipzig Ballet and the Ballet on the Rhine. Since 2019 he has been Assistant Director of Staatsballett Hannover, he is not a choreographer like Goecke. The Opera Director Laura Berman appointed him yesterday until the season 2028/29. Goecke's works that had been on the program so far will also be shown in the coming season.

I don't know if this counts as promotion, but Polina Semionova was hired as a principal by Vladimir Malakhov right from the Bolshoi Academy; she had just turned 18, I think, and never spent a day in the corps de ballet.

Vienna State Ballet next season https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/en/staatsballett/season-202324/wiener-staatsoper-premieres/ https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/en/staatsballett/season-202324/volksoper-wien-premieres/ https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/en/staatsballett/season-202324/

That was my first experience with this piece when I was 14 years old, exactly that scene. I decided never to go to the ballet again if it was that heartbreaking. I could endure Romeo and Juliet, but that was too much. Today I cry at other scenes from Lady of the Camellias - for example when the piano music at the very end, when she dies, comes from behind the stage and not from the orchestra pit any more... Or when des Grieux comes in after the black pdd and rushes trough Marguerite's dream in search of Manon... I'm sorry, back to the non-tearful, but boring Jewels 😉

At Berlin State Ballet, Arshak Ghalumyan will end his career as a dancer and become choreographer, he already has enough commissions for the next years.

According to reports in Austrian newspapers, Ballet Director Martin Schläpfer will leave Vienna State Ballet in 2025, when his five year contract ends. Opera Director Bogdan Roščić said they will be looking for a new AD from 2025/2026. Schläpfer said, he won't accept a management position or direction any more, which means he will concentrate on choreography. Schläpfer is 63 years old now.

"In a way, the German did the Australians a favour." I don't think so. Hallberg was extremely proud of Kunstkamer, it was a "momumental" success with Australian audiences, as he says in this video, his dancers loved it. And it brought him back to stage in a totally different style than what he did before. I'd really love to know if this was his decision or if there was pressure from the sponsors or even critics, as there was in the Netherlands - I'm sure we'll never know. So it's back to the same old classics again for London, instead of trying something new, something really, really exciting.

I know people who go grocery shopping in Germany every few weeks, which is about 70 kms to drive, one way.

If you can afford to live there 🤪

Spuck's oeuvre is full of full-length ballets - Lulu, Leonce and Lena, Woyzeck, Anna Karenina, Orlando, for Berlin he has announced Madame Bovary next season. He did also some classics: Romeo and Juliet, Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty. And full-length works without a story: Winterreise, Monteverdi, Messa da Requiem, and choreographic operas like Helmut Lachenmann's The Little Match Girl.

In what are they different? Spuck is also a specialist in story-telling ballets based on modern-classical style, maybe a bit more abstract and with a preference for German literature. Different would be Forsythe, van Manen, Goecke or Sasha Waltz - short works, no stories, abstract, contemporary. Zurich Ballet pays the dancers very, very well, as I have heard. Which is necessary as living in Zurich is incredibly expensive.

With Emily Molnar, NDT has a new director since 2020. Her predecessor was Paul Lightfoot, one of the choreographers of Kunstkamer. Instead of keeping some of the Lightfoot/León works that made the huge part of the repertoire of NDT in the years before, as it was announced previously, Molnar decided to throw them all out, NDT is currently not showing pieces by Lightfoot/León. It is not very likely that NDT will show Kunstkamer in the next years, and that Australian Ballet was granted all the rights including touring rights for a certain time by the four choreographers. As Kunstkamer, which premiered in 2019 as farewell production of the Lightfoot/León period, should have been touring to Paris, London and other cities in 2020, which was all cancelled due to Covid, we may assume that the music rights for these countries were cleared already back then. So the only conclusion might be that Australian Ballet feared that London critics or audiences might reject Kunstkamer because of the Marco Goecke affair at Hanover; in the Netherlands, the Dutch critics forced NDT to cancel his works, and also some European companies did. Others continue to show his works, like Bavarian State Ballet, Zurich Ballet, Gauthier Dance (at least one piece, they cancelled others) and of course Hanover State Ballet. This also deprives London of the opportunity to see David Hallberg who had a very fascinating role in Kunstkamer - I assume he won't be in Jewels.

Zurich Ballet wil stream Christian Spuck's Romeo and Juliet for free from May 13 to May 20 on their website. It's a farewell gift to the audience as Spuck is leaving Zurich for Berlin State Ballet. I suppose it's the official recording from 2019 with Katja Wünsche and William Moore. https://www.opernhaus.ch/en/spielplan/calendar/nachtkino-romeo-und-julia/