@straightenthoseknees / straightenthoseknees.tumblr.com
Also a very belated congratulations to Lauren Lovette for being promoted to principal dancer at NYCB. She is exuberant and you can feel her joy radiating from her smile and on-stage when she's on-stage and off-stage. In-person she’s really kind and super genuine. An all-around gracious dancer and thoughtful person. She’s featured in a few of the episodes of the NYCB online series “city.ballet”.
A great story about Wilhelm Burmann that I've posted before. This picture made the front page of the Arts/Culture section of the WSJ, and it's framed in the dance studio. I JUST noticed the other day, that I'm actually in the photo! In my red leotard, arms crossed, slouching in the back corner, hahahaha. Not very dancer-like ;)
Drew A. Kelley follows young dancers backstage and behind the scenes at YAGP.
Well, winter is back in season. People I saw in yesterday's class: Daniil Simkin (principal dancer at ABT), Aran Bell (First Position star and wunderkid), Jonathan Klein (new corps dancer at ABT), and one guy who looks SO FAMILIAR and it's killing me that I can't place his name. He's clearly friends with Daniil, as they were goofing off and "partnering" during center.
Anyways, it's interesting to me to see that a bunch of male dancers are lefties! Daniil, Aran, and Gonzalo Garcia (NYCB) are all lefties. How do they deal with it on stage? Do they just get to reverse the choreography on their solos?
Being a left-handed female principal ballerina seems impossible, 99.9% of choreography is all for turning to your right or traveling left to right.
"...it showcased the theatrical ardor and solid technique that Ms. Kirkland is passing on to a new generation."
Wish I could've seen this! All sold out :(
Gelsey Kirkland - former SAB student, NYCB principal, turned ABT principal by way of Baryshnikov, and former partner of Baryshnikov in the televised performance of The Nutcracker - has founded her own ballet academy and is presenting a new version of The Nutcracker.
I tried to buy tickets to the last show and it's SOLD OUT!
Here is a great inside look at her new studio and company. The great thing is that dancers can earn college credits through Pace.
Here is an article of Gelsey memorializing her former teacher and legend in his own right, David Howard (he even donated Ballets Russes posters to her studio).
I used to take Gelsey's class at Steps and I loved it. It was a great mix of the best parts of different techniques - the grandness of Russian ballet, the strength and quickness of Balanchine, and some kinesiology.
One class regular used to call David's class "truth" and Gelsey's class "beauty." I couldn't describe it any better. David's classwork was pared down, seemingly simple then you really had to work hard to execute it cleanly. Gelsey's class was like you had to be a floating flower on top and then a steel tiger on the bottom; you always felt like you were creating beauty.
Maria Kowroski and Ask la Cour perform Christopher Wheeldon's 'After the Rain' on the 57th floor of 4WTC in lower Manhattan at sunrise, overlooking the newly constructed Freedom Tower.
David Howard rehearsing Tamara Rojo
Touching obits in The Telegraph and the NYTimes. I wish they had interviewed more dancers, he has worked with so many.
Thanks to the 18-to-29 club, I saw three performances of ABT at the Met Opera House this year. Wish I had known about it earlier!
The 18-to-29 club is a pain to join (no online application, really??). You have to either fax or snail mail your application with a copy of your i.d. (and if you’re buying tickets for two, you need that person’s i.d. as well). There are also black-out dates for certain performances (usually no Sat evenings).
Orchestra seats are $30 (plus processing fees and all of those fun things). The 18-to-29 club seats are waaaay on the side, into partial view territory. When I saw Le Corsaire, I could not tell that Conrad and Medora had survived the shipwreck!
But, truth be told, there were always empty seats and we just scooched over as close as we could. It was nice to be able to see people’s faces for once, and not just be dots from the fourth partierre / balcony.
This year I saw…
1. Onegin Tatiana: Irina Dvorovenko, Onegin: Cory Stearns It was the matinee show, and I saw my future. It was a sea of elderly people with white hair. That will be me! Anyways, it was one of Irina’s last performances as this year she retired. Strange that she only had one performance, and it was right at the beginning! How bittersweet it must be to retire from the stage. I have been wanting to see Onegin for awhile, so it was a treat to see it. Lately I am more curious about neo-classical ballets like Onegin, Manon, and La Dame aux Camelias. Wish I could’ve seen more of Irina before she retired :( Cory Stearns was a very striking and handsome Onegin but he has some room to grow dramatically. Gemma Bond as Olga lit up whenever she danced with Onegin (maybe because her and Cory are dating in real life, haha). But this performance was all about Irina, who can really do no wrong. She is a fully-fleshed out dancer in many forms, and she can retire knowing she danced practically every role and then some. More than that, in interviews, she just seems like a really pleasant person and an old, caring soul (with a touch of glamour, of course). (final curtain call video)
2. Ratmansky Premiere, Shostakovich. Dancers: Stella Abrera, Sascha Radetsky, Hee Seo, Sarah Lane, Yuriko Kajiya, Christine Shevchenko (subbing for an injured Gillian Murphy), Xiomara Reyes Hrm, this was… interesting. Ratmansky choreography has a lot of intricate partnering, it gives everyone something challenging to do (no corps members sitting idly as props or repeating the same boring motif). I’ve read all of the reviews and I’m still not sure what to make of some of it. Certainly a stimulating and intellectual night of ballet. Many heavy undertones of soviet oppression. People actually making themselves look like a sickle. Costume note: unitards are never flattering, no matter how amazing a dancer’s body is! Christine Shevchenko was fierce, dancing full-out in the first piece, and fearlessly leading the last piece in the same night (whew, must’ve been tiring!). She does Ratmansky choreography well. 3. Le Corsaire Medora: Paloma Herrera, Gulnare: Stella Abrera, Lankendam: Sascha Radetsky, Conrad: ?, Birbanto: Joseph S. Phillips, Ali: Ivan Vasiliev, Odalisques: Melanie Hamrick, Kristi Boone, and ____. As my friend put it, “Le Corsaire is like soul train for ballerinas." It’s pretty campy. But it’s fun! And if Stella was dancing of course I had to see her perform. The new sets are beautiful and resplendent. The whole cast was spot-on. Paloma looks like she could do this role in her sleep. Stella was sparkling with pure and clean technique as usual. It was cute to see her dance with Sascha as Birbanto. Joseph S. Phillips is great, hope to see more of him. The crowd roared for Vasiliev’s jumps. Can’t believe I don’t remember who Conrad is, but even though it’s the main male role, I find it to be the most boring out of all of the characters! Zhong-jing fang was totally giving face as the lead pirate lady, her mime was great, she is always a very expressive character dancer. Luciana Voltolini and Calvin Royal III were also very good in their pirate dance.
Ashley Laracey and Christian Tworzyansk, here in Vienna Waltzes.© Troy Schumacher.
"The schedule at City Center includes festival debuts by the Royal Ballet, Body Traffic, Doug Elkins Choreography, Etc., and the dancers Colin Dunne and Sara Mearns. Ms. Mearns, the Royal Ballet and Ballet Hispanico will give the world premieres of works commissioned by the festival.
Additional performances include the Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, the New York premiere of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s “Faun” (2009), and the Richard Alston Dance Company, which perform the New York premiere of Mr. Alston’s “Devil in the Detail” (2006), with music by Scott Joplin."
oooh. can't wait.
