The Lesson
“Why did you quit?” and “Why did you give up?” were some of the responses that Shelby Elsbree, former dancer with Boston Ballet, heard upon announcing her retirement from the stage earlier this year.
Plus
Latest
- Tout
- BOOKSHELF
- DANCE FILM
- EVENTS
- FEATURES
- FIELD NOTES
- INTERVIEWS
- OPINION
- OTHER
- PHOTOGRAPHY
- REVIEWS
- TALKING POINTES
A Southern Genée
International ballet competitions have become a somewhat necessary evil in the ballet world. Brought to popular culture’s attention by movies such as First Position, they are, by all accounts, high impact events. Artistic directors from world-famous ballet companies line the judging panels to the watch ballet’s rising stars train, perform and compete. The competitors, usually between 15-18 years of age, are devoted individuals, likely type-A personalities, who have already put in years of training. But the exposure of such competitions is priceless. Best case, these young men and women will secure a scholarship to a company school or generous cash...
Plus
The Loveliest Nutcracker
For us ballet diehards, the annual “Nutcracker” marathon performs double duty, filling companies’ coffers for the “real” season, and giving rising talents a chance to step out as one of those myriad Sugar Plum Fairies in a mid-run matinee.
PlusForward Momentum
There is no doubt that this year will go down as one of the strangest—and possibly saddest—in memory, at least politically speaking. And since the political is personal, with 2016 offering dashed dreams in terms of breaking the glass ceiling, the tragedy of Aleppo and the onslaught of so-called fake news, many of us, thankfully, continue to be consoled by art, with this writer particularly under dance’s spell for salvation.
Plus
Swing Time
I grew up watching Lucky and Penny spin about the dance floor. I knew their every line, and, more importantly, their every move, and their every move’s lines. Studied on a Beta video and later a VHS, their moving forms were so familiar to me. And perhaps through my repeated viewings I’d hoped for some sort of talent transference through the screen to me lying in Cobra on the floor, my chin resting in my hands. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, as John ‘Lucky’ Garnett and Penelope ‘Penny’ Carrol, in George Stevens’ Swing Time (1936), were my idols in Primary...
Plus
A Freudian take on Swan Lake
Nureyev’s take on “Swan Lake” (1984) is often said to be tricky, narcissist, untidy. It is all that, to some extent, but it’s also one of the most mature, intense versions of the crowd-pleaser that has gone free from emotional stirring around the world. In Nureyev’s version, the psychological depth, ingrained in the Prince’s psyche, is reminiscent of the choreographer’s dark side. And when you watch men waltzing holding hands like women traditionally do in Romantic ballets, it feels close to what could have been in Tchaikovsky’s imagination. Part of his sorrow came from his attraction to men, which he...
Plus
A Hollow Spectacle
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender Is the Night charts the turbulent romance between a woman beleaguered by psychosis (Nicole) and a man fixated on saving her (Dick)—a relationship modelled on the author’s marriage to Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald. Drama erupts: there’s incest, alcoholism, corruptive wealth and more, much of it arising from Dick’s dual role as Nicole’s husband and her psychoanalyst. Factor in the heady setting—a glam expat resort in 1920s France —and it’s rich material for a stage production.
Plus
A Note on Movement
“A dancer’s intelligence,” writes critic Edwin Denby in “A Note on Dance Intelligence” (1944), “isn’t shown by what intellectual allusions she can make in costume or pantomime, or, if she is a choreographer, in her subject matter. It is shown by how interesting to look at she can make her body the whole time she is on stage.” When dancers deliver “interesting” movements, he explains, they can create different visual and, in turn, emotional experiences for audiences.
Plus
Dreamscapes
“The Peony Pavilion,” a 16th-century play written by Tang Xianzu during the Ming Dynasty, is one of the most famous love stories of Chinese literature. Originally performed as a 20 hour-long Kunqu opera, the National Ballet of China have created a considerably condensed version that has become one of the key works in their repertoire.
Plus
Kylián's Liturgy
A newsworthy ballet director, Aurélie Dupont has remained quite vague about her artistic projects for the company since she took office, after Benjamin Millepied’s quick resignation.
Plus
Rising Stars of the Erik Bruhn Prize
Winning this year's competition for the Erik Bruhn Prize, hosted by the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto, were two dancers from San Francisco Ballet, soloist Angelo Greco, 23, and corps de ballet dancer, Natasha Sheehan, 17. Together they performed a captivating pas de deux from “Giselle” for the classical repertoire, and danced a contemporary duet choreographed by fellow company member Myles Thatcher.
Plus
Love-struck Pirates
Admirers of the classic ballets will welcome Ivan Liška’s restoration of Marius Petipa’s “Le Corsaire,” which made its North American premiere on Boston Ballet this past month at the Boston Opera House in Boston, MA. Boasting the drama of “Swan Lake” and the comedic wit of “Coppélia,” “Le Corsaire” takes to the stage with brilliant gusto, striking technique, and adventurous flair.
PlusFeatured Reads
Teenage Angst and Institutions
Watching Matthew Bourne's reworked version of the “star-cross'd lovers,” I was briefly reminded of Veronica, played by Winona Ryder, in the dark 1988 comedy by Daniel Waters and Michael Lehmann, Heathers, and her line, “my teen angst bullshit has a body count.” Yes, this is the darker side of Bourne's repertoire,...
Plus
The Me of Today
The choreographer Alexei Ratmansky reflects on the war in Ukraine, the connection between geopolitics and ballet, and joining the house of Balanchine.
Plus
Beneath blue California skies, manicured trees, and the occasional hum of an overhead airplane, Tamara Rojo took the Frost Amphitheater stage at Stanford University to introduce herself as the new artistic director of San Francisco Ballet.
Plus
America, F**K Yeah
After a week of the well-balanced meal that is “Jewels”—the nutritive, potentially tedious, leafy greens of “Emeralds,” the gamy, carnivorous “Rubies,” and the decadent, shiny white mountains of meringue in “Diamonds”—the New York City Ballet continued its 75th Anniversary All-Balanchine Fall Season with rather more dyspeptic fare.
Plus
Acosta Danza’s Choreographic Soup
An “Ajiaco” is a type of soup common to Colombia, Cuba, and Peru that combines a variety of different vegetables, spices, and meats.
Plus