aileen Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 I see that this company is coming to Sadler's Wells for the first time this Autumn. Does anyone (Anjuli, perhaps) know anything about the company? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 They're performing in NY currently and there was a good and relevant preview piece in the NY Times last week. Sounds like a company that Luke Jennings might approve of! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 I knew the name was familiar. They featured in the film The Adjustment Bureau as the company with which Emily Blunt danced, I think: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1385826/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 Thanks, John and Alison. Alison, did you see the film? Was it any good and did you see much of the company? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 I didn't, so can't help you out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 The company was founded in 2003 by Nancy Walton Laurie, heiress to the founder of Wal-Mart. As far as I know the company is mainly privately founded, it aims to bring those modern choreographers to New York who are regarded as important in continental Europe – people that until then often earned the label „Eurotrash“ in America, like Ohad Naharin, Angelin Preljocaj, Stijn Celis,Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Crystal Pite, Jodie Gates, Jacopo Godani etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted May 22, 2012 Author Share Posted May 22, 2012 Angela, are those choreographers still regarded as "Eurotrash" in America? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Well, certainly not by every writer, but you can still find the label in some reviews - writers like Robert Gottlieb and Clement Crisp liked to use it until recently, Gottlieb for example declared Nederlands Dans Theatre "the very heart of Eurotrashland". I guess younger critics don't use it any more. And Cedar Lake surely works against this kind of prejudices. By the way, Crystal Pite is Canadian and Jodie Gates is American - no Eurotrash there . Sorry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowan Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 I'm really taken aback to hear of this "Eurotrash" label referring to dance; I've never heard of it before. It's derogatory, isn't it? Or isn't it meant quite like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Yes, very derogatory, very silly. In dance it's anything created in Europe that doesn't appeal to some sort of prissy British sensibility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 It's a term mainly used in American reviews, Arlene Croce was the first to take it over from opera, she used it in 1984 for Béjart and Kylián. NDT for example still has a problem to be accepted by some British critics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Yes, very derogatory, very silly. In dance it's anything created in Europe that doesn't appeal to some sort of prissy British sensibility. Or an accurate description of some of the rubbish that gets an outlet elsewhere. As a working description in conversation its been used for many years now - if not a term to be used by the faint hearted in print! There really ought to be a Wikipedia entry for "Eurotrash" in a dance context, though few would agree on what was in and what not! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Is it me, or is the term Eurotrash (when applied to people rather than that tv series) somewhat bordering on the racist? Imagine a similar term applied to non-caucasian persons from other continents and you will see what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Some out there may recall Mr Crisp defending the need for the occasional 'hatchet job' last year and, in that piece, he gave his personal view on "Eurotrash" - NOT referring to people, but to certain types of choreography that do not appeal to him: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/380d5122-bdb1-11e0-babc-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1vhguHMKO You will need to scroll down to beneath the main article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 @ taxi4ballet: American dance critic Jack Anderson wrote: "In retaliation, I wish European audiences unhappy with American dances would pronounce them"Yankeejunk."" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 I see that this company is coming to Sadler's Wells for the first time this Autumn. Does anyone (Anjuli, perhaps) know anything about the company? Well, gosh, I just saw this. No, I don't know anything about the Company, sorry. As for using terms like "Eurotrash" - I don't think trash of any kind is specific to any particular part of the globe. I think trash is an equal opportunity - opportunity. I have been to a performance by the Nederlands Dans Theatre in which we walked out because they had spotlights amplified and reflected in mirror headgear worn by the dancers and sweeping across directly into the audience. Absolutely unbearable for the eyes. But the next time I went to a NDT program I saw one of the best contemporary pieces I've ever seen "Walking Mad." I don't think it is a good idea to look over a broad landscape - such as Europe or America - and make sweeping statements proclaiming such a vast area as either trash or treasure. Each performance, each production, each dancer should be critiqued on its/his/her own product/performance. And, to remember that any such critique is but a snapshot in time. Everyone has a day of pitfalls, pratfalls, and pearls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim b Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 well i love le parc anyway so if he is representative of eurotrash (? stems from the name of the original tv programme), bring it on - by the way, saw a little bit of enb with flawless being rehearsed the other day and it had a flavour of le parc for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Is it me, or is the term Eurotrash (when applied to people rather than that tv series) somewhat bordering on the racist? Imagine a similar term applied to non-caucasian persons from other continents and you will see what I mean. I think you'd have a point if the term was applied to people. But I have never seen it so applied - its about dance on stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Point taken Bruce, I still don't like it though. I'm not fond of derogatory terms like this. Speaking as a blonde Essex girl with German ancestry, I've had far too many unpleasant generalisations thrown at me in the past and it's not nice to be on the receiving end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Here's a fine definition (or better some of them) of the word, which was used for people in the beginning (like "White Trash" in America), but in ballet/opera/musical theatre it's only used for productions, not for people. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=eurotrash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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