<P>photo by Sandy Connon<P>Matz Skoog, currently AD of the Royal New Zealand Ballet has been appointed AD of English National Ballet and will take over in September 2001.<P>I rarely get things like this right, but of the names mentioned initially, he seemed the most likely, given his background. Here is what they say about him on the RNZB site:<P>Artistic Director Matz Skoog has a distinguished background as a dancer, teacher and director, spanning almost 30 years in the profession. <P>Born in Stockholm, he trained at the Royal Swedish Ballet School and at the Vaganova school and the Kirov Theatre in Leningrad. <P>After graduating, he became a member of the Royal Swedish Ballet, later joining English National Ballet (formerly London Festival Ballet). He has also been a member of the world-renowned contemporary dance company Netherlands Dance Theatre. <P>His strong, versatile technique, musicality and easy stage presence quickly established Matz as an outstanding dancer, gaining him far-reaching international recognition.He has enjoyed a professional career that has seen him perform as a leading dancer in the finest dance companies in the world and work closely with many of the greatest artists in the world of dance. He is now using this comprehensive experience in his position as Artistic Director of The Royal New Zealand Ballet. <P>Now in his second term as Director, Matz continues to look to the future and to develop the Company and its repertoire for the enjoyment of audiences throughout New Zealand. <BR> <P>Here is the link to the ENB press release:<P><A HREF="http://www.ballet.org.uk/ballet/cgi-bin/page.cgi?section=news" TARGET=_blank>http://www.ballet.org.uk/ballet/cgi-bin/page.cgi?section=news</A> <P><BR>Looking through the attractive RNZB website (why can't the RB site be half this good!!), it is interesting to see the current rep, which has a mix of old and new, perhaps reflecting the breadth of his own experience as a dancer and AD. The past 3 years has seen new work and new to the company by Kylian, Graeme Murphy, Balanchine and Bournonville.<BR> <A HREF="http://www.nzballet.org.nz/" TARGET=_blank>http://www.nzballet.org.nz/</A> <P>He certainly has a challenging task at ENB, where he will be called upon to run a major company on roughly half the subsidy that the RB gets. Derek Deane's solution has been to perform his own versions of the classics to the exclusion of much else and lack of satisfaction for the dancers. When he has planned to do other things the money has not been there to carry out the plans. On the other hand in order to run a company of the size of ENB, bums on seats are required. The current situation does seem to be trying to square the circle. It may be that radical solutions will be required, as they were for Ballet Rambert in the 60s. <P>I've occasionally exchanged e-mails with Matz Skoog regarding 'Swansong' (he was in the original cast), the theme of dance and human rights and Rambert's school lecture/discussions on the work and my impressions from this brief contact have certainly been positive. <P>If you want to see him in action, then the Festival Ballet (now ENB) original cast version of Christopher Bruce's 'Swansong' has Skoog as the guard on the left in the interrogations. <P>I'm sure we all wish him congratulations and best wishes on his appointment. <P>What's the view from down under on his impact at RNZB?<P><BR><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited December 22, 2000).]

First comment from the London press on the appointment of Matz Skoog from Jeffrey Taylor in The Evening Standard:<P> <A HREF="http://www.thisislondon.com/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=346207&in_review_text_id=290406" TARGET=_blank>http://www.thisislondon.com/dynamic/news/story.html?in_<BR>review_id=346207&in_review_text_id=290406</A> <p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited December 22, 2000).]

Here's a link to an interview with Matz Skoog by Bruce Marriott of ballet.co.uk. Skoog comes over very well:<P> <A HREF="http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_98/dec98/interview_matz_skoog.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_98/dec98/interview_matz_skoog.htm</A> <P>I particularly liked this part, but then I would wouldn't I:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>But why should ballet not go on and evolve and develop. Why this desire to see ballet unchanged and remaining untouched when other art forms actually move forward? ..... there seems to be this paranoia that ballet should not develop. If some other art forms had been restricted to the same degree as dance has been, they'd be dead. I'm a great one for moving forward! I come from a very traditional background and most of my career has been spent in traditional ballet and I wouldn't change that for the world. But at the same time my real interest lies in the creation of new work - to see new dance emerging. And seeing the classics evolving - I think that's very important." <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited December 22, 2000).]

I do like the quote Stuart pulled from the article by Bruce Marriott of ballet.co.uk - the "But why should ballet not go on and evolve and develop." one. His comments are right on for some of the questions I've had about ballet lately. <P>Are there previous threads on "What Is Ballet's Future?" that I can refer to? It seems sometimes looking at what people would like can tell a lot about what IS.

That makes good reading grace.

As ENB celebrates its 50th Anniversary, an article by Debra Craine about the problems that the Company faces - basically running a top quality large Company on a grant level 50% of that of the RB.<P>I think that this is not fair, but then neither is the split between ballet and modern in my view. In no way should a bigger slice of the pie go to ballet. If anything it should be the other way round.<P> <A HREF="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,62-64841,00.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,62-64841,00.html</A>