Angela Posted July 24, 2015 Author Share Posted July 24, 2015 Well, it seems Germany esteems the freedom of the arts even higher than employment conditions. It's always a double-egded sword, bad for some artists and good for others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 It's always a double-egded sword, bad for some artists and good for others. At least in Germany, ADs can be open about their wishes. One has a feeling that, in the UK, all kinds of subterfuge and 'deals' come into play when new ADs want to shape a company their way and get rid of dancers who do not fit their 'mould' or are no longer able to perform at the required level. I do not really know, of course, but the 'evidence' appears to be there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 It does, doesn't it? Can you imagine someone taking over a factory, or a company or something, deciding they didn't like half the staff, getting rid of them and replacing them with new people? In the UK, I think the redundancy laws would prevent it, for a start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Yes, I get the impression that ADs in the UK try to freeze out those dancers whom they don't want any more through casting decisions. The 'German approach' is at least open and honest. It must be a shock to the system but perhaps it's better than having your self-esteem eroded over several months or years with the result that you don't have the confidence to apply for other positions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie 2 Milner Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 My son was with Munich though he left last summer (voluntarily). As long as the company gives the full notice they can do what they like. Equally the dancers have to give notice before a certain time or be fined. That of course makes it pretty miserable as once notice is given, before Christmas, they are unlikely to be used much. All very dispiriting really. I guess that is the ballet world though. Except for the odd "stars" the director has all the power, often not wielded wisely or well. Sad news about Munich but I guess the new director wants his own soloists and above. It is certainly a tough world for them all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betterankles Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Good directors usually continue to use dancers who have resigned similarly to before resignation, for the rest of the season they are employed in. Which is only fair to them and to their audience. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted August 20, 2015 Author Share Posted August 20, 2015 The winners have been announced in the annual critics' survey of Germanys biggest dance magazine "tanz": best dancers are Alina Cojocaru, mainly for her roles at Hamburg Ballet, and Vladislav Lantratov, for Maillot's Taming of the Shrew and for Onegin best choreographer: Marco Goecke, resident choreographer at Stuttgart Ballet best company: Ballet on the Rhine at Düsseldorf/Duisburg, Martin Schläpfer's company best new work: "BiT" by Maguy Marin in Lyon 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Good directors usually continue to use dancers who have resigned similarly to before resignation, for the rest of the season they are employed in. Which is only fair to them and to their audience. Quite. But sadly, it's not always the case While I can understand that a director needs to look to the future, and that someone who has tendered their resignation is not going to be that future, I've also noted cases of dancers not being cast in their existing roles, or being cast lower in the pecking order than their previous performances merited, sometimes to the detriment of the company's performances, or the dancers who replaced them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 I have no idea if anyone can receive the German/Swiss/Austrian channel 3sat outside of those three countries, but on Saturday 5th Sept they show a triple bill from Stuttgart Ballet with pieces by Marco Goecke, Demis Volpi and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. http://www.3sat.de/page/?source=/musik/182840/index.html It might be available afterswards online, but right now I can't find information about that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted September 3, 2015 Author Share Posted September 3, 2015 Some of the former Forsythe dancers - Christopher Roman, Jone San Martin, Amancio Gonzalez - have found new jobs in a new company for senior dancers over 40 which was founded in Berlin: http://dance-on.net/(no English website available yet) Different than the vast majority of German dance companies which are funded by towns and Länder like Bavaria or Saxonia, this one is subsidized by the German State, similar to the Bundesjugendballett/Federal Youth Ballett at Hamburg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Thank you, Angela. Talking of which, and getting a bit off-topic, how is NDT3 doing these days? I don't seem to have heard much of them recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 I have no idea if anyone can receive the German/Swiss/Austrian channel 3sat outside of those three countries, but on Saturday 5th Sept they show a triple bill from Stuttgart Ballet with pieces by Marco Goecke, Demis Volpi and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. http://www.3sat.de/page/?source=/musik/182840/index.html It might be available afterswards online, but right now I can't find information about that. I managed to get it on our satellite TV but it was all v modern I switched off. I wasn't surprised given the choreographers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted September 5, 2015 Author Share Posted September 5, 2015 Talking of which, and getting a bit off-topic, how is NDT3 doing these days? I don't seem to have heard much of them recently. That may be due to the fact that the company was closed in 2006, Alison Their last production was a piece by Bob Wilson, "2 Lips and Dancers and Space", it was too expensive and they had to give up. Sometimes they reunite for certain evenings, Jiri Kylian also has a brand new project called "Kylworks" with Sabine Kupferberg and other dancers + pieces from NDT III. Egon Madsen, their last artistic director who is still dancing at 73 years, also works on a new project at Stuttgart with older dancers, it's called "Greyhounds". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted September 5, 2015 Author Share Posted September 5, 2015 It might be available afterswards online, but right now I can't find information about that. Here we go, it's online for one week - I hope it's not geoblocked. http://www.3sat.de/mediathek/?mode=play&obj=53277 The Cherkaoui piece, by the way, is danced on pointe and rather "balletic" compared to what he usually creates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 Here we go, it's online for one week - I hope it's not geoblocked. http://www.3sat.de/mediathek/?mode=play&obj=53277 It is - at least as far as the UK is concerned. "Not available in your country for copyright reasons". Is this Germany getting its own back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 Maybe for the many ballet videos on Youtube that we Germans can't watch for copyright reasons?... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted September 9, 2015 Author Share Posted September 9, 2015 An article in the national newspaper Die Welt today states that Berlin is already fed up with Nacho Duato and that "allegedly" they started looking for a new director. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Italy actually! Mara Galeazzi and Friends are appearing in Milan from 30th October to 1st November: http://www.italianticketoffice.it/mara-galeazzi-friends-vert-gala-internazionale-milano-mi-287095l2371224-en.html I can't find any details of the 'friends' or the programme on this site but others may have defter fingers than I have! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanartus Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 An article in the national newspaper Die Welt today states that Berlin is already fed up with Nacho Duato and that "allegedly" they started looking for a new director. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanartus Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 Interesting article. I agree as well. Munich is better. Ballett am Rhein have a great premiere of Symphonic Variations, other companies are stronger. Berlin should at least revive the Macmillan heritage of Concerto and Anastasia (one act). They should revive Sylvia. Even Manon. They could have set up a good relationship with RB. Ah well - it'll be a good post for someone... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanartus Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 Sylvia is by Ashton in case you thought I thought in was MacM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted September 10, 2015 Author Share Posted September 10, 2015 Though I agree that ballet companies should treasure their heritage (and the classical repertoire of course), you should also allow them to find their own way with new ballets - neither Berlin State Ballet nor Munich are British ballet companies, since decades they have tried to find an own identity, to promote their own choreographers, create their own ballets. Manon for example is not so very popular in Germany, where the audiences like the Cranko ballets much more, also in Berlin and Munich. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 Maybe for the many ballet videos on Youtube that we Germans can't watch for copyright reasons?... That was my thinking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwissBalletFan Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Friedemann Vogel, Alicia Amatriain and Jason Reilly have officially been announced as Kammertänzer, the highest honour for a dancer in Germany... From Stuttgart website: The Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg will honor our Principal Dancers Alicia Amatriain, Jason Reilly und Friedemann Vogel with the national title “Kammertänzer”, the highest honour that can be bestowed on a dancer in Germany. We are very happy and proud! Congratulations to all three! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Three wonderful dancers, and they all deserve this award very much. Congratulations to them all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 I've never heard of that award before: does it date from royal times, or something? Either way, congratulations to all the dancers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted September 24, 2015 Author Share Posted September 24, 2015 It's not an award but a title or distinction, alike to the old German and Austrian honorary title of Kammersänger for famous opera singers of outstanding merit. It is bestowed by the culture minister of Baden-Württemberg (or Bavaria or Berlin - there are/were Kammertänzers in those ballet companies too, f.e. Lucia Lacarra, Vladimir Malakhov, Gregor Seyffert). In Stuttgart, it was given to Birgit Keil, Richard Cragun, Egon Madsen, Tamas Detrich and Sue Jin Kang before, and now to Amatriain, Reilly, Vogel. It doesn't come with money or a medal, but it last a lifetime. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted September 24, 2015 Author Share Posted September 24, 2015 At Berlin State Ballet, the strike situation continues to be very confused after the summer holidays: the company issued a press release against "the aggressive striving for power" of the Union Ver.di, to which most dancers have defected from their usual union. The dancers boycott any attempt of negotiations initiated by the direction. The new evening at Tanztheater Wuppertal, the first new creations after Pina Bausch's death, received very mixed reviews in Germany, most critics were disappointed with the three new works by Tim Etchells, Cecilia Bengolea/François Chaignaud and Theo Clinkard. Stuttgart Ballet has three new soloists: Ami Morita, Pablo von Sternenfels and Robert Robinson were appointed at the start of the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilian88 Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Hello everyone! I don't know if can be interesting for this section, but on the "Der Spiegel" of this week, there is an article by Samiha Shafy about Sergei Polunin and Joy Womack; speaks briefly about their lives and choices and some aspects of the world of ballet. I find it interesting! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Sounds good, Lilian88. Do you have a URL for it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilian88 Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 (edited) I read it randomly in the paper version, but online I found this: http://sergeipolunindancer.tumblr.com Edited October 27, 2015 by Lilian88 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Thanks. I've found a more easily legible version at https://magazin.spiegel.de/digital/?utm_source=spon&utm_campaign=inhaltsverzeichnis#SP/2015/44/139456110, too. Edit: Ah, it's only a teaser. Might have to do a trial subscription to read it properly. I don't remember having this problem before. I really should read Spiegel a bit more often, I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilian88 Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 The same problem I had looking for it online, I think there is only a teaser because the article is in the current paper version, maybe next week they will publish the full article... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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