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Advertising
Information
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DEC
2004
in this
issue
______
|
interviews
 Back to Basics, Back to
Bournonville: Frank Anderson, Artistic Director of the Royal
Danish Ballet
by Kate
Snedeker
II think it's very important
that Bournonville's alive...sometimes you have to look at these
things as if the choreographer was alive.
read more...
 Steps Revealed - Francia Russell
Takes It From the Top: Francia Russell, Artistic Director of
Pacific Northwest Ballet
by Dean
Speer and Francis Timlin
I didn't ever expect to become
a teacher or balletmaster - that was Mr. B's idea. Had I known, I
would have paid closer attention to classes and how things were
rehearsed and put together.
read more...
Le Yin, Principal Dancer, Pacific
Northwest Ballet
by Dean
Speer and Francis Timlin
Becoming an artist is different
from becoming just a dancer. It's such a short career that we
need to make the most of it when young.
read
more...
company
focus
 
Image
Gallery
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Features and Forums
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Nederlands Dans Theater I - 'Symphony of Psalms,'
'Click-Pause-Silence,' 'Walking Mad': Ahead of the
Curve
by Mary Ellen Hunt
March 25, 2004 -- Cal Performances, Berkeley,
California
I have a hunch that maybe, just maybe, the introspective and
quietly shrewd Jiri Kylian is always just a few small steps ahead
of the avant-garde of dance and, for that matter, us.
read more...
Nederlands Dans Theater II -
'27"52',' 'Dream Play,' 'Shutters Shut,' 'Subject to Change'
by Petra Tschiene
May 28, 2003 -- Sadler's Wells/ London
The company consisting of 14 young dancers
aged between 17 and 22 is the 'junior' wing of NTD and gives its
members a chance to mature as artists through a varied repertory
and new creations by both well established as well as up and
coming choreographers.
read more...
Nederlands Dans Theater II - 'Indigo Rose,' 'Sad
Case,' 'Minus 16'
by Mary Ellen Hunt
April 26, 2003 -- Stanford Lively Arts in the Memorial
Auditorium, Stanford University, Palo Alto,
California
Some
performances you just enjoy so much that you want to keep rolling
them around in your mind, like rolling a nice wine around on your
tongue.
read more...
Nederlands Dans Theater: Jorma Elo - 'Pneuma,' 'Z/na,' and
'Claude Pascal'
by Maria Technosux
May-June, 2003 -- Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam
Why do we need to chase the dancers? Why isn't the dance enough?
Dancers don't hold still for their portraits. We can't be
present everywhere to cover everything at the same time, so why
even bother?
read more...
Miguel Oliveira and Parvaneh Sharafali on the programme 'Drift,'
life on stage, and searching for eternal balance
By Jules Houben
One new programme, three ballets,
two world premières, three choreographers. At the time of
this interview, performances of the NDT II programme 'Drift' are
still in full swing for Miguel Oliveira and Parvaneh
Sharafali.
read more...
An Interview with Brigitte Martin: Original "Visions Fugitives"
dancer, repetiteur, and former NDT dancer
by Jules Houben
June, 2003
'I remember that when the rehearsals began for "Visions
Fugitives," there was a certain lift that just would not work for
my dance partner at that time.
read more...
Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) 2003-04
Season
Nederlands Dans Theater - US Tour 2004
NDT2 - UK tours 2003, 2004
Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) III
Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) II
Nederlands Dans Theater - Latest: New Artistic
Director
NDT2 in London 2002
NDT I at Sadler's Wells 2002
NDT in Edinburgh and elsewhere
Reviews: NDT1 & NDT3 (in Australia)
NDT 3/R. Wilson - Luxembourg - 10 et 11 novembre
2004
NDT III video-"Don't Stop Now"
NEDERLANDS DANS THEATER III - Chaillot 13, 14 et 15 mai
Nederlands Dans Theater-Palais Garnier, mai
2003
|
in our forums
|
Coming
up...
· NextWave at BAM
· Interviews with Kaori
Nakamura and Jonathan Porretta of PNB
· Holiday reviews
· More reviews
· More interviews
· More
features
|
|
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features
 Alicia Markova: An Appreciation - 1910-2004
by
Leland Windreich
December 2, 2004
Her participation in the brilliant epoch of Serge Diaghilev's
Ballets Russes enabled Markova to begin a remarkable career in
which she was instrumental in establishing ballet as a popular
institution in Great Britain and the United States.
read
more...
Dance on Screen Festival 2004 -
Open Forum
by
Cerise
November 7-14, 2004 - The
Place, London
As the Open Forum prize
winner came to collect her flowers, she was as quietly spoken and
unassuming as when she had earlier introduced her dance film,
billed second at the event.
read more...
Sam Taylor-Wood - 'New
Work'
Exhibition
review by Ramsay Burt
November 2004 - White Cube,
London
"Strings" was filmed in a
dark, claustrophobic, classical interior whose high ceiling,
Corinthian columns, burgundy carpet, gilt and crystal
chandeliers, and gilded stucco mirrors suggests a stately home or
gentlemen's club - it is in fact the Crush Bar of the Royal Opera
House in Covent Gardens where Putrov is a principal
dancer.
read more...
|
Click here for our November
Dance Umbrella feature
Mark Morris Dance Group - 'The Hard
Nut': Post-modern Charm
by Julia
Skene-Wenzel
November 13, 2004 -- Sadler's Wells,
London
The Stahlbaum's Christmas party introduces us to
the world of 1960s suburbia, including a fireplace on TV, a
silver Christmas tree with electric candles, three children, a
maid and plenty of guests with afros, miniskirts and
flares.
read
more...
Mark Morris Dance Group - 'The
Hard Nut': Boring Through the Holidays
by
Lyndsey Winship
November 2004 -- Sadler's Wells,
London
Morris has taken E.T.A. Hoffmann's original
Nutcracker story and relocated it to late 60s America, complete
with fantastic comic book-style sets by Adrianne Lobel.
Unfortunately, like the comic strips it apes, the action is
purely two-dimensional.
read more...
Mark Morris Dance Group - 'The
Hard Nut': Making It New
by Ana
Abad-Carles
November 12, 2004 -- Sadler's Wells,
London
The party scene is a hilarious parade of party
stereotypes that, though dressed in the fashion of the day,
easily find their parallels in any party taking place
nowadays.
read more...
Arc Dance Company - 'The Anatomy of a
Storyteller': The Dark Side
by
Lyndsey Winship
November 11, 2004 -- Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House,
London
There was a palpable frisson in the auditorium at
the Linbury on Friday night, but it wasn't so much the
anticipation of Kim Brandstrup's new work for Arc Dance Company,
based on the life and work of Hans Christian Anderson, but more
the fact that Pop Idol Will Young was in the
audience.
read
more...
Ijodee Dance Company and Raiz Di
Polon - 'Duas Sem Três,' 'Ori' (Head)
by Thea
Nerissa Barnes
November 10, 2004 - The Place, London
During the Dance Umbrella post show talk 10
November 2004 at The Place, Adedayo Muslim Liadi of Ijodee Dance
Company was asked why his dancers were not costumed in African
fabrics. Liadi proclaimed that this is "contemporary dance" not
"African dance".
read more...
Siobhan Davies Dance Company -
'Bird Song'
by
Elizabeth Schwyzer
October 31, 2004 -- Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House,
London
Davies chose to set "Bird Song" in the round, a
physical structure that reflects the radiating structure of the
choreography itself.
read more..
Philippe Decouflé - 'Solo':
Decouflé's Magic Isle
by
Ramsay Burt
October 28, 2004 -- The Place, London
Philippe Decouflé's 'Solo' was surely the
most magical work in this year's Dance Umbrella. It was a clever
combination of old-fashioned showmanship and state-of-the-art,
real-time video special effects devised in collaboration with the
video artist and dancer Olivier Simola.
read more...
|
editors' picks
Los Angeles
·
Long Beach Ballet Arts Center - 'The
Nutcracker'
December 18-19, 2004 - -Terrace
Theater, Long Beach Performing Arts Center
David Wilcox's traditional holiday ballet returns to the
Performing Arts Center with guest star Pacific Northwest Ballet's
Patricia Barker.
· Matthew Bourne's
'Nutcracker!'
December 15, 2004 - January 2, 2005 -- Royce Hall, UCLA
Bourne's alternative take on the holiday ballet arrives in the
nick of time to Los Angeles.
·
Debbie Allen Dance Academy
-
'Dreams'
December 15-23, 2004 - -Macgowan Hall Freud Playhouse, UCLA
An original dance musical by Debbie Allen, benefiting the
children of the Debbie Allen Dance Academy & all Outreach
Programs with music by Mariah Carey, Osama Rabani, Diane Louie
and more.
Chicago
·
Joffrey Ballet -
'Nutcracker'
December 15 - 26, 2004 - Auditorium Theatre,
Chicago.
The holiday favorite from Gerald Arpino.
New York
· New
York City Ballet - Winter Season
January 4 - February 27, 2005, New York State Theater.
The company's winter repertory features a number of mixed-rep programs
including all-Balanchine programs..
· Les
Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo - Mixed Repertory
January , 2005, The Joyce Theater
The Trocks present two mixed rep programs, including "Go for Barocco."
San Francisco Bay
Area
· San Francisco Ballet - 'The Nutcracker'
Dec 17-31, 2004, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco
Helgi Tomasson unveils his all-new production with designs by
Tony Award winner Marty Pakledinaz and awe-inspiring sets by
Michael Yeargan.
· Smuin Ballet - 'Christmas Ballet 2004'
Dec 15-26, 2004, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San
Francisco
Smuin Ballet celebrates the tenth anniversary of their 'Nut'
alternative with special guests throughout the run.
Southern California
·
New Shanghai Circus
December 26 - 30, 2004 -- Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts
What could be better after Boxing Day than the Chinese circus?
London
· The Royal Ballet - "Cinderella"
Various dates from 15 Dec to 14 Jan - Royal Opera House
The classic fairy tale performed as part of the Ashton 100
celebrations.
· Duckie - C'est Barbican!
Various dates and times: 14 December to 9 January - Barbican,
The Pit
The all-singing, all dancing, shameless adult only Christmas
show is back at the Barbican.
Copenhagen
·
Royal Danish Ballet - Five Mixed Bills including 'Fancy Free,'
'In the Night,' 'Vers un Pay Sage,' 'Far From Denmark,' 'La
Sylphide,' 'Etudes' and 'The King's Guard on
Amager'
December 17 to January 9 - Royal
Theatre
Pick and mix from a rich variety of ballets old
and new.
· The Nutcracker Hip-Hop
Style
15-31 December - Tivoli's Concert Hall
Steen Koerner's modern interpretation of
the old Christmas classic features dancers form many countries,
each with a different style of dancing.
Rome
· Rome Opera Ballet - 'Swan
Lake'
January 5, 7, 8, 9 - Teatro Costanzi
The successful Samsova's production is back again.
· Boris Eifman Ballet
Theatre - 'Red Giselle'
December 29 - Teatro Costanzi
This is the first visit in Rome of the interesting Russian
company.
· Russian
Festival
Olga Pona Contemporary Chelyabinsk Dance Theatre -
'www.faces.ru,' 'Waiting'
December 12, 13 - Petrassi Hall
· Tatyana Baganova
Provincial Dances Yekaterinburg
'Maple Garden,' 'Little Wedding'
December 20, 21- Petrassi Hall
Two contemporary dance companies perform
in the festival, which includes several aspects of the Russian
culture, at the 'Music park'.
|
|
reviews
 Matthew Bourne's 'Nutcracker!'
by
Toba Singer
November 28, 2004 -- Zellerbach Auditorium, Berkeley,
California
In between, there is much in the way of concept
to delight. Most of it consists of social commentary that
delivers British noblesse oblige the flogging it so richly
deserves.
read more...
 Pacific
Northwest Ballet - 'Nutcracker'
by
Dean Speer
November 26, 2004 -- McCaw Hall, Seatlle
Thirty seven shows are spread among a rotating
cast for 187 roles that are filled by the nearly 50 Company
members and zillions of children from PNB's School (actually,
it's more like 220 from the School and 40 Professional Division
students).
read more...
Paul Taylor Dance Company -
''Klezmerbluegrass,' 'Dante Variations,' 'Promethean Fire':
Promethean Pilot Light
by
Dean Speer
November 19, 2004 -- Meany Hall, Seattle
The 2002 "Promethean Fire" is
derivative of himself. It was the (strange) experience of
watching a paint-by-numbers dance of his own movement
vocabulary.
read more...
Kirov Ballet - 'Romeo and Juliet':
Palpable But Not Felt
by
Catherine Pawlick
November 18, 2004 -- Mariinsky Theatre, St.
Petersburg
One begins to think perhaps the choreography is
to blame, for this Lavrovsky version just seems more tame
compared to MacMillan or Cranko's versions, no matter how you
slice it.
read
more...
Royal Ballet - Ashton Centenary
Program: Royal Return of Ashton
by Ana
Abad-Carles
November 13, 2004 -- Royal Opera House, London
The Awakening Pas de Deux from "The Sleeping
Beauty" dates from the Ashton and de Valois's production in the
sixties. It is a shame that it was taken out of the ballet in the
eighties and that it has not been inserted back where it
belongs.
read more...
Cincinnati Ballet - 'Seeking
Velocity,' 'Just You And Me,' 'Carmen': Blue is the Color of the
Cursed
by S.E.
Arnold
November 12-14, 2004 -- Aronoff
Center, Cininnati, Ohio
The light of "Seeking Velocity" radiates from the
clear respect Morgan has for the art of
ballet.
read more...
Rambert
Dance Company - 'Swamp,' 'A Tragedy of Fashion,' 'Elsa Canasta': Making
Connections
by Kate
Snedeker
November 10, 2004 - Edinburgh Festival Theatre,
Edinburgh
Jumping back more than half a century, "A Tragedy
of Fashion" looked at life, love and loss in the
1930s.
read more...
 Pacific Northwest Ballet - 'The Four
Temperaments,' 'Prodigal Son,' 'Symphony in C': The Joy of
Ballet
by Dean
Speer
November 4,6, 2004 -- McCaw Hall, Seattle
Newly-minted principal Noelani Pantastico was
sizzling in Second Variation (Sanguinic). Steely strong attack
and quicksilver. One of the press reports said that she "bobbled"
and that's not true.
read
more...
Boston Ballet - 'The Taming of the
Shrew': Marriage: The Human Stain
by S.E.
Arnold
November 6, 2004 -- Wang Centre, Boston
In contrast to the cursed love that fixes the
daily rhythm of Odette's metamorphosis from human to swan to
swan, the quiet committed love of marriage discovers in the
fox-like Petruchio and shrew-like Kate their
humanity.
read more...
 Bolshoi Ballet - 'Raymonda': Working the
Art
by Toba
Singer
November 6, 2004 -- Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley,
California
The ballet was staged by Yuri Grigorovich. He has
polished the work to a brilliantine gloss. Costumes are
extravagantly built for ease of handling, fluidity, and richness,
with the colors perfectly engineered to mark the music, and
enhance the character work.
read more...
Bolshoi Ballet - 'Romeo and
Juliet': Marriage of Old and New Lacks Innovation and
Cohesion
by
Rebecca Hirschman
November 5, 2004 -- Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley,
California
Simply put, this "Romeo and Juliet" is no ballet.
Probably the most disappointing aspect of "Romeo and Juliet" is
the fact that dance itself (whether it's ballet or modern) failed
to make an appearance.
read more...
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de
Montréal - 'Minus One': Authentic Illusions: In the Manner
of Ohad Naharin
by
Denise Sum
November 4, 2004 -- Hummingbird Center, Toronto
Although the various pieces were created
independently, in "Minus One" they form an integrated whole. I've
often considered the recycling of one's own material a major faux
pas and a precursor to the drying up of
creativity.
read more...
 Birmingham Royal
Ballet - 'Such Sweet Thunder' Program: The Duke in the
Underworld
by Rosie
Waters
October 28, 2004 -- Sadler's Wells, London
The programme opened with the endlessly perky
"The Nutcracker Sweeties," Bintley's rollicking interpretation of
Ellington's variations on pieces from "The
Nutcracker".
read
more...
Akram Khan - 'Ma'
by
Ramsay Burt
October 26, 2004 -- Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry
kram Khan's "ma" represents a progressive shift
from his previous pieces. With "Rush" and "Kaash" he developed
his movement style through his "confusion," as he calls it, of
the classical Indian and contemporary dance styles in which he
trained.
read more...
Ralph Lemon - 'Come Home Charlie
Patton': Dancing Around the Color Line
by Holly
Messitt
October 26, 2004 -- Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, New
York
Near the beginning of Ralph Lemon's "Come Home
Charlie Patton," the third part of Lemon's Geography Trilogy,
this time evoking images of lynchings and the civil rights
movement, Lemon appears in a documentary film focused on him
wading through a southern swamp.
read
more...
Boston Ballet - 'Rubies,' 'Distant
Light,' 'Divertimento No. 15'
by S.E.
Arnold
October 23, 2004 -- Wang Theatre, Boston
Whether in the meeting of dance to music or dancer
to dancer, "Divertimento" exemplifies unlabored agreement and
civility; each of the three male and five female principals, for
example, bore out in turn their refined abilities as soloist and
partner.
read more...
 Eugene Ballet - 'Incidents and Accidents,'
'Slipstream,' 'A Midsummer Night's Dream': Sense and
Sensibilities
by Dean
Speer
October 23, 2004 -- Hult Center for the Performing Arts, Eugene,
Oregon
While not quite modern dance, "Slipstream" has a
contemporary modern dance "feel" to it.
read more...
Royal Ballet - 'Requiem,' 'Les Noces,'
'A Wedding Bouquet'
by
Lyndsey Winship
October 4, 2004 -- Royal Opera House, London
In the Requiem Triple Bill, the Royal Ballet
present two weighty works, MacMillan's "Requiem" and Nijinska's
"Les Noces," and one farcical novelty, Ashton's "A Wedding
Bouquet".
read
more...
 National Ballet of Canada - 'Chacony,' 'there, below,' 'Apollo,' 'The Four
Seasons
by Toba
Singer
September 30, 2004 -- Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley,
California
... kneeling and standing, he is like an
indigenous supplicant, a corsaire absent a vessel with which to
navigate, and so he spirals out of his dug-in heels, sending
bursts of energy into the vortex of the web outside of him from
the web of anguish within.
read
more...
Letter
from the Editors
The holidays have begun in earnest with Clara visiting the land of sweets in "The Nutcracker." In this issue, we celebrate the festive season with reviews and featured picks of different productions of this classic favorite as well as a gift guide for the balletomanes and dance fans in your life.
Our Company Focus this month is on Nederlands Dans Theater, with an expanded gallery and a list of past and current articles and discussion topics.
After reading our articles, we encourage you to voice your views and opinions and to read the comments of others from all over the world in the CriticalDance forum.
As always, we love to hear what you think. Please post
your comments in our
Magazine Feedback Discussion Topic in the forum. And, if you want the magazine delivered right to your
inbox, subscribe!
The Editors of Ballet-Dance
Magazine
P.S. If you're enjoying this issue
of Ballet-Dance Monthly, please forward it to a
friend!
|
|
· Tocororo -- A Cuban Tale
· Balanchine 100 Centennial Catalogue
· The Sleeping Beauty - Dutch National
Ballet
· Cinderella -- Sadler's Wells
Ballet
· Washington Ballet Holiday Cards 2004
· Getting Closer: A Dancer's
Perspective
· The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky (Audio
Cassette)
· The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky -- A Film
by Paul Cox (DVD)
· Jazz Dance: The Story of American
Vernacular Dance
· Swinging at the Savoy: The Memoir of a
Jazz Dancer