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I've just finished watching the live stream and am a little confused by the final apotheosis. It looked as if the souls of Nikiya, Solor and Gamzatti are headed for paradise together. Gamzatti, the murderess or accomplice to murder, is worthy of this? Hopefully I have got it all wrong but then who is the third person?

Bewitched (by Lucia Lacarra), bothered and bewildered am I.

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I've just finished watching the live stream and am a little confused by the final apotheosis. It looked as if the souls of Nikiya, Solor and Gamzatti are headed for paradise together. Gamzatti, the murderess or accomplice to murder, is worthy of this? Hopefully I have got it all wrong but then who is the third person?

 

No, you've got it right, according to the summary in the programme we see "Solor, Nikija and Gamzatti united in the image of eternal light". That is the end to the love story, some sort of transcendental menage à trois.

 

Question: what's the Outrageous Hats award??

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At Stuttgart Ballet, the story ballet "Krabat" by Demis Volpi broke all records with an attendance of 40.000 in one year, a huge success for a new creation. The premiere was in March 2013, the piece had 24 sold-out performances until last week and a "Ballet in the Park" live screening in front of the Opera House. "Krabat" is based on a youth book by Otfried Preussler, with music by Peteris Vasks, Philip Glass and Krzysztof Penderecki. The story tells about a young apprentice at a mill in the 18th century who gets involved with black magic and is rescued by the love of a girl. The production was supposed to be a ballet for the younger audience (not for children), but eventually everybody wanted to see it...

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The next season is online at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden (scroll down on the left). The dance performances are:

 

- Hamburg Ballet in October with Neumeier’s Shakespeare Dances and his Giselle

 

- the Mariinsky in December with Raymonda, Swan Lake, Nutcracker and a Gala with Concerto DSCH/Ratmansky, Infra/McGregor and Scotch Symphony/Balanchine

 

- Norwegian National Ballet in February with Cygne/Daniel Proietto, Lamentate/Jo Strømgren, Resin/Alexander Ekman, Vespertine/Liam Scarlett

 

- Sasha Waltz in June with Orfeo 

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Next season at Dresden Semperoper Ballet:

 

- "Tristan and Yseult", a creation by David Dawson with music by Szymon Brzoska

- "Impressing the Czar" by William Forsythe

... and a wide repertoire with classics like Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Dawson's Giselle, Romeo and Juliet by Stijn Celis, Double and Triple Bills. The company will be touring to St. Pölten/Austria, Barcelona and Antwerp. Polina Semionova is listed as a guest principal.

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Hamburg Ballet Kameliendame casts for the 18th of May are finally available on the company web-site:

 

Matinee

 

Marguerite Gautier: Laudere, Armand Duval: Revazov
Manon Lescaut: Agüero, Des Grieux: Trusch
Prudence Duvernoy: Ríos, Gaston Rieux: Ballone
Olympia: Chinellato, Count N.: Tselikov
Mr. Duval: Franconi, Nanina: Vracaric, The Duke: Clark

 

Evening

 

Marguerite Gautier: Alina Cojocaru as Guest, Armand Duval: Riabko
Manon Lescaut: Azzoni, Des Grieux: Bubenícek
Prudence Duvernoy: Heylmann, Gaston Rieux: West
Olympia: Chinellato, Count N.: Tselikov
Mr. Duval: Jung, Nanina: Vracaric, The Duke: Franconi

Edited by annamicro
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Darrel Toulon, Ballet Director and chief choreographer at Graz, Austria, will leave the opera house after next season. His successor is Jörg Weinöhl, a longtime dancer with Martin Schläpfer in all his companies at Bern, Mainz and Düsseldorf, now a freelance choreographer. The company at Graz has 20 dancers.

 

At a press conference yesterday at Munich, new Ballet Director Igor Zelensky said that he will move to Munich with his family, and that he wants to learn German. No news about his plans yet. As Munich has already a problem with Valery Gergiev, designated chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and under attack for supporting Putin's political positions, of course Zelensky was asked about the Crimea crisis. He said he hopes for a negotiated solution, and that art can save the world.

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Last week I saw two performances of the Vienna State Ballet of the mixed 'Masters' bill. Their performance of Suite en Blanc was careful and exposed their weaknesses, unlike performances I have seen by Paris Opera Ballet and ENB which were technically exciting. They were much more comfortable in Christe's Before Nightfall, an angst ridden piece of Dutch contemporary ballet in Van Manen/Kylian style. The final ballet, Petit's L'Arlesienne, was superbly done, with Ioanna Avraam moving as Vivette, her first attempt at the role, and both Kirill Kourlaev and the veteran Denys Cherevychko finding the stamina, technique and emotional depth to convince as Frederi.

If anyone is planning to see Mayerling at Vienna in the autumn I recommend the Kaiserhof hotel, where we stayed, as it has portraits of Franz Joseph and Sissi and an extensive family photo display of Rudolf and his family. Very atmospheric for the Macmillan ballet- and quite close to the theatre and serving brilliant breakfasts!

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Nacho Duato receives bad reviews in the Berlin papers for his press conference yesterday: „A weak performance“, „Ambition looks different than this, and an awakening, too“, „We could have heard these answers ten years before from Malakhov“, „Berlin will never be a dance capital this way“. The papers complain that he has luxurious conditions written in his contract, where it is not fixed how many creations he has to make in one season, and that his first season bears no surprises at all.

One article notes that principal dancers Rainer Krenstetter and Wieslaw Dudek are leaving the company, six new dancers will be hired, two from the Mikhailovsky (no names).

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  • 2 weeks later...

Next season at Hamburg Ballet - the main surprise is a new "Napoli" production by Lloyd Riggins

 

... sorry, not the main surprise, the only surprise... :)

 

I've not seen many of those ballets, so I'm happy with the season :-) and also with Alina Cojocaru confirmed guesting (hoping she will have decent partners...).

The "main surprise" (even if not a surprise at all) is for me at page 94 of the brochure. Unfortunately. :-(

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So the page 94 of the brochure must be referring that two names of current principals are gone? 

 

Exactly, even if I didn't notice the first one (a big big artistic loss, but more natural) and I was referring only to the one I knew is leaving: a sort of personal tragedy for me!

Not trying to be misterious, but I cannot find anywhere else this new, so i don't know how official it is.

Due to recent incredible anticipations, I don't trust that much in Hamburg Ballet Brochure attention to confidentiality ;).

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Do you know where Thiago Bordin is going, annamicro, or did he end his career? I guess he was off/injured a lot in the last years. I guess we can dare to mention the names, now that the brochure is out in the open B)

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Do you know where Thiago Bordin is going, annamicro, or did he end his career? I guess he was off/injured a lot in the last years. I guess we can dare to mention the names, now that the brochure is out in the open B)

 

As Naomi wrote (thanks for the link) Thiago Bordin is joining NDT. He is not ending his career, but he is stopping dancing classical ballet and that's for sure a pity (I had the news after watching his magnificent Lenskij and that sublime solo! :wub: ). His plan is to dance for 5 years more (I hope he will change his mind about this since he is just 31) and then have a career as a choreographer. A huge loss for Hamburg Ballet: even if Alexander Trusch is growing well, Thiago Bordin and Sascha Riabko were by far the technical and artistical top of the company, IMO.

Anyway, good luck to Thiago, not only a wonderful dancer and artist but also the most adorable person.

It's funny that he is leaving from Gemany soon after having become a German, it happened just...yesterday! :)

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On Facebook, tours are mentioned including to Venice, but I couldn't find anything about that in the link to the full season. This could well be because my German is practically non-existent, although I tried to search very carefully...Which page should I be looking at, please?

Thank you.

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  • 2 weeks later...

At Dresden Semperoper Ballet, Artistic Director Aaron Watkin has extended his contract until 2018.

 

Next season at the Ballet on the Rhine in Düsseldorf/Duisburg: Seven new works by Hans van Manen, Terence Kohler, Young Soon Hue, Marco Goecke, Amanda Miller and of course by AD and chief choreographer Martin Schläpfer. Also Balanchine’s Serenade, Moves by Jerome Robbins, a Flamenco ballet by Brigitta Luisa Merki and Rättika by Mats Ek.

 

Next season at Ballet Dortmund: a full evening ballet after Thomas Mann’s "Magic Mountain" by Dortmund AD Xin Peng Wang, new works by Demis Volpi and Jiri Bubenicek, who will create a ballet after Jane Campion’s movie "The Piano". Also Benjamin Millepied’s pdd "Closer" and two big galas.

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