All – Tagged "INTERVIEWS" – Page 12

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INTERVIEWS | By Marina Harss

Christopher Wheeldon: Making Dances in a Pandemic

The last decade of Christopher Wheeldon’s career has gone by in a blur. The global nature of the ballet world means that he is constantly on the move, finishing one project even as another is taking shape somewhere else, demanding his attention. When the pandemic hit, he had two enormous projects on the way, a new evening-length ballet for the Royal Ballet in London, and a musical headed to Broadway. Both are now on hold until theaters open again. But he hasn’t been idle. In 2020, he took on several projects, most of them far less formal or elaborate than...

INTERVIEWS | By Marina Harss

Tamisha Guy: Reaching Out

When I caught up with Tamisha Guy, in mid-January, she was in the middle of a creative residency at Kaatsbaan with the company of which she is a member, A.I.M. It was her day off, and she had been on a walk around the gorgeous grounds, once home to a horse farm belonging to Eleanor Roosevelt’s grandparents. Last summer, a simple wooden stage was erected in the middle of the main meadow there, making it possible to hold an outdoor dance festival. Tamisha Guy performed on that stage with her friend and former colleague Lloyd Knight, of the Martha Graham...

INTERVIEWS | By Valentina Bonelli

Manuel Legris leads La Scala Ballet

Officially appointed director of La Scala Ballet on December 1st, Manuel Legris has been working with the company since last autumn. Thanks to him, the dancers, after many months in lockdown away from the theatre, could resume their daily training. Their discipline has been such that the troupe remains Covid-free, in spite of more than 50 cases being recorded among the chorus and the orchestra.

INTERVIEWS | By Marina Harss

Stella Abrera, on Moving Forward, Steadily and with Grit

In early March of 2020 the American Ballet Theatre principal Stella Abrera was in St. Petersburg, Russia, setting Alexei Ratmansky’s “Seven Sonatas” on the Mariinsky Ballet. She was so busy in the studio, she told me a few months later, that she was barely conscious of what was happening in the larger world around her. That is until her husband, former ABT soloist Sascha Radetsky—now director of the Studio Company—called to say he had booked her on the next flight out of St. Petersburg. Hers was one of the last flights to leave Russia in those days when the seriousness...

INTERVIEWS | By Marina Harss

Bijayini Satpathy on her Transformative Year

I’ve been meaning to do this for months, but I’m only getting around to it now. I’ve come to think of this strange expansion of time as “Covid time.” The “this” that I’m referring to is a series of check-ins with dancers and choreographers, a way to hear about what they’ve been up to during the past however-many-months since the pandemic began. Everyone has reacted differently. There are the hyper-productive artists, who have been busy creating dance videos and teaching and planning Zoom seminars. There are the depressed ones, who are just gritting their teeth and watching the months melt away....

FEATURES | INTERVIEWS | By Sophie Bress

Finding Sanctuary

Lillian Barbeito is a dancer, first and foremost. But beyond that, she’s a mover. Perhaps this is why when she has an idea, she can’t sit still. And when she devotes herself to bringing these ideas to life, she doesn’t do it halfway.

INTERVIEWS | By Claudia Lawson

Venus Rising

Patricia Barker, former star of Pacific Northwest Ballet became artistic director of Royal New Zealand Ballet in 2017. Before taking up the position, Ms. Barker, who would be the third AD of the company in a decade, had only visited New Zealand once previously for a fleeting 72 hours. Ms. Barker has since brought stability to the company and has sought to cultivate an environment in which dancers can develop as artists. In this condensed version of our conversation, Ms. Barker discusses how the RNZB has fared during Covid, supporting female choreographers, and her vision for 2021.

INTERVIEWS | By Penelope Ford

Flying Fish

Designed by Alice has been a go-to for dancers for whimsical ballet skirts, and luxurious handmade accessories such as silk scarves and scrunchies. DBA has just released a bodysuit in the signature Somefish design, a jewel-toned watercolour reminiscent of the sea. We caught up with Alice Williamson, the talent behind the label, to chat about the new line, running a business during the pandemic, and her creative projects.

INTERVIEWS | By Claudia Lawson

New Breed

From the moment Chloe Leong joined Sydney Dance Company she was a star on the rise. In her first season with the company, she won the Helpmann Award for Best Female Performance after captivating audiences in William Forsythe’s “Quintett.” In 2020, for the first time, she has turned her hand to choreography for Sydney Dance Company’s only performance to make the stage this year: New Breed. Claudia Lawson spoke to Chloe about her journey from Sydney to Barcelona to joining Sydney Dance Company, overcoming insecurities, her thoughts on choreography, and her hopes for 2021.

INTERVIEWS | By Victoria Looseleaf

Revelations with Robert Battle

To direct Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT), one of the preeminent companies in the world that was founded by choreographer, dancer, and visionary Alvin Ailey in 1958, is no easy feat. But to helm the troupe that has been hailed as “ambassador to the entire world for American culture and art” during a global pandemic, would seem like a daunting task. For artistic director Robert Battle, who took the reins in 2011 and is only the third person to lead the company after Ailey and Judith Jamison, he was more than up to the challenge.

FEATURES | INTERVIEWS | By Merilyn Jackson

Tanz im August 2.0

Despite what the world is suffering this year, two of Europe’s most prestigious international summer dance festivals commit to go forward with drastically truncated, yet vital and imaginative programs. Berlin’s Tanz im August, under the artistic direction of Virve Sutinen, and the Venice Biennale’s Festival Danza under Marie Chouinard’s curatorial leadership will open in late August and mid-October respectively. Each artistic director spoke with me via Skype and Zoom recently about the hardships and angst of redesigning their festivals during this brutal pandemic. This month, we feature Tanz im August and how they pivoted from cancellation to a ten-day online...

DANCE FILM | INTERVIEWS | By Penelope Ford

Back to Nature

Adji Cissoko, acclaimed dancer with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, was on tour in Europe with the company when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. During the lockdown period, she has been characteristically productive. We spoke to Adji recently about managing her time away from the studio, her new creative projects, and her new social enterprise as a Health and Life Coach.

Featured Reads

REVIEWS | Lorna Irvine

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,...

INTERVIEWS | Marina Harss

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.

REVIEWS | Rachel Howard

Starry Nights

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.

REVIEWS | Faye Arthurs

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.

REVIEWS | Emily May

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.