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writers on dancing

Volume 4, Number 44 - Decvember 11, 2006

this week's articles

Commentary: Breaking News!
by Alexandra Tomalonis

Ballet Preljocaj
by Nancy Dalva

Darcey Bussell and Igor Zelensky
by John Percival

Tribute to Melissa Hayden
by Dale Brauner

Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE
by Alexandra Tomalonis

Letters and Commentary

San Francisco Letter No. 19
by Rita Felciano

San Francisco Letter No. 18
by Rita Felciano

Letter from New York
Lincoln Center Festival: A Tale of Two Beowulfs

by Nancy Dalva

Letter from New York
Lincoln Center Festival: San Francisco Ballet

by Nancy Dalva

Back to Bangkok —
A Letter about Puppets and People

by George Jackson

did you miss any of these?

Royal Ballet's triple bill—and some shocking news
by John Percival

Ailey Season Opens
by Susan Reiter

The Royal Ballet of Flanders
by Marc Haegeman

San Francisco Letter No. 19
by Rita Felciano

Royal Ballet's "Sleeping Beauty"
by John Percival



Commentary
Breaking News!

by Alexandra Tomalonis

The Royal Opera announced Friday that Sir Elton John will be named Resident Composer immediately, if not sooner. Spokesman Reginald Foggybrane broke the news, which stunned the opera world and caused other Rocker Knights to spit nails.

"When the Ballet appointed Wayne McGregor as Resident Choreographer, well, that was a real wake up call for us," Foggybrane explained. "We could not be left behind. We don't want to lose out on the youth movement that's desperate to see the lyric arts, if only they could relate to them.” READ MORE


Ballet Prejlocaj at the Joyce
by Nancy Dalva

In 1952, Leonard Bernstein, the musical director of the Festival of the Creative Arts at Brandeis University, commissioned Merce Cunningham to choreograph a new version of Stravinsky’s “Les Noces,” which was originally presented by Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes in Paris in 1923. The work was performed only once. It is interesting to think of though, vis a vis Angelin Preljocaj’s recent program at the Joyce Theatre, which ended with his quite ravishing version of the Stravinsky, which he calls simply “Noces,” and opened with a piece, new to New York, that was openly Cunningham-like called “Empty Moves (Part 1)." La plus ça change, and all that, and a novel coincidence. Besides which, Preljocaj studied at the Cunnningham studio in 1980, and later danced for Viola Farber, herself a great Cunningham dancer and former member of Merce’s company.READ MORE


What a waste
by John Percival

This was a pointless evening that did little or nothing for its stars or its audience. We were told repeatedly that Darcey Bussell and Igor Zelensky were performing a joint programme because they like working together, but look at what happened. The only piece in which they both appeared was Roland Petit's “Le Jeune Homme et la Mort”, and this is a ballet where the two characters are associated only dramatically rather than dance-wise. Two further problems. It doesn't really suit them, and it wasn't well mounted. Bussell tried hard to hide by her acting that she has too nice a nature for the bitch who drives her artist lover to death. But Zelensky follows Baryshnikov and Nureyev in demonstrating how stars from Petersburg can miss the essential qualities that made the very different Jean Babilee so sensational in this role created for him as the greatest dancer of his generation a full 60 years ago. READ MORE


A Tribute to Melissa Hayden
by Dale Brauner

Canadian-born ballerina Melissa Hayden was a member of the New York City Ballet from 1948 until her retirement in 1973. She also danced with Ballet Theatre, Ballet Alicia Alonso and in the corps de ballet at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Because of her late start (she began dancing at 15), her association with Ballet Theatre and her dramatic style, Hayden was not always considered a “Balanchine ballerina”, yet she created major roles in George Balanchine’s “Divertimento No. 15”, “Agon”, “Stars and Stripes”, Episdoes”, and "Liebeslieder Walzer” (just a sampling of her repertoire). She also taught 23 years at the North Carolina School of the Arts, working a total of about 6,000 students, many of whom went on to dance with New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet and other companies (according to NCSA’s estimation). So she touched a lot of people. READ MORE


Billie Who?
by Alexandra Tomalonis

It sounded like a good idea: a collaborative peformance between a singer (Nnenna Freelon) and a choreographer (Ronald K. Brown) to sing and dance about the world of Billie Holiday, using Holiday's music as the unifying device. At least this promised lots of good music. Many of Holliday's signature songs were included: "God Bless the Child," "What is a Lady?", "Now Baby or Never," "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" and about a half-dozen others. Freelon moved throughout the piece (approximately one hour, plus intermission), interacting with the dancers, sometimes seeming to be a part of Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, sometimes commenting on what the the dancers were doing, sometimes making the dancers seem imaginary, dancing out Holiday's struggles and dreams. It really was a nice idea. READ MORE

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