Tonya Plank's Blog, page 26

Guggenheim Announces its 2011 Works & Process Season

And it looks like there are several good dance events, including the Royal Danish Ballet with Nikolaj Hubbe, a program on how judges judge the big ballet competitions like the Youth America Grand Prix, a sneak peek at Pacific Northwest Ballet's new Giselle production, a night of Robert Wilson-curated choreography and performance art, and more ABT.

Click on the link below for their press release, containing the full dance event schedule.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET—GISELLE REVISITED

TICKETS ONLY FOR THIS PROGRAM ARE ON SALE NOW

Sun, Jan 9, 3 pm Enter via ramp at 5th Ave and 88th St; no reception

Sun, Jan 9, 7:30 pm

Mon, Jan 10, 7:30 pm

Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers will perform excerpts from Peter Boal's new staging of Giselle prior to its June 2011 premiere at McCaw Hall in Seattle. The ballet features reconstructed choreography by dance scholar Doug Fullington and Giselle scholar Marian Smith based on Stepanov notation circa 1903 and French sources from the 1840s. PNB will be the first American company in modern times to use the Stepanov notations from the Harvard Theatre Collection for a ballet production. Artistic Director Peter Boal will discuss the production with Fullington and Smith. PNB dancers Carrie Imler, Carla Körbes, James Moore, and Seth Orza will perform.

New Commissions

JOHN ZORN'S MUSIC INTERPRETED

NEW CHOREOGRAPHY BY DONALD BYRD AND PAM TANOWITZ

Sun and Mon, Feb 27 and 28, 7:30 pm

Choreographers Donald Byrd and Pam Tanowitz each create new works, commissioned by Works & Process, set to the music of composer John Zorn. Byrd, known for his beautiful yet volatile work, will choreograph a piece with his Seattle-based company Spectrum Dance Theater set to Zorn's cid played by pianist Stephen Drury. Tanowitz, known for her unflinchingly postmodern treatment of classical dance, sets a work to Zorn's Femina, written as a tribute to the rich legacy of women in the arts. Working with seasoned dancers, including Ashley Tuttle, Tanowitz draws from the sensuality, spontaneity, and fantastical imagination of the Romantic ballets for this new work. The performance will be interspersed with discussion by Byrd, Tanowitz, and Zorn, moderated by composer Charles Wuorinen.

HOW JUDGES JUDGE—YOUTH AMERICA GRAND PRIX

Sun and Mon, Mar 6 and 7, 7:30 pm

Youth America Grand Prix is America's first and the world's largest student ballet scholarship competition. Join YAGP jury members Gailene Stock, Director of the Royal Ballet School;

Franco de Vita, Director of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre; and Adam Sklute, Artistic Director of Ballet West, to gain an insight into the selection process and watch as they critique dancers' performances during an impromptu ballet competition on stage.

World Premiere

WATERMILL QUINTET

ROBERT WILSON CURATES NEW PERFORMANCES

Sun and Mon, Mar 13 and 14, 7:30 pm

See the world premiere of a collaborative work curated by Robert Wilson with five young emerging directors and choreographers. The work combines dance with performance art, theater, video, and music by composer Michael Galasso. It was created by artists Marianna Kavallieratos, Ryan Mitchell (of Implied Violence), Andrew Ondrejcak, Jason Akira Somma, and Carlos Soto, under Robert Wilson's mentorship during the summer of 2010 at the Watermill Center.

Created in partnership with the Watermill Center, a laboratory for performance founded by Robert Wilson that supports the cultivation of next generation directors and choreographers.

Made possible in part by Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

ROYAL DANISH BALLET

Sun and Mon, Mar 20 and 21, 7:30 pm

Royal Danish Ballet dancers will perform excerpts from the repertory prior to their American tour in May and June 2011. Artistic Director and former New York City Ballet principal Nikolaj Hübbe will share his vision for the company in a discussion moderated by John Meehan, Professor of Dance at Vassar College. Dancers will perform highlights from August Bournonville's The Jockey Dance, La Sylphide, A Folk Tale, and Bournonville Variations, plus Nikolaj Hübbe's new staging of Napoli, and Jorma Elo's Lost on Slow.

Tickets $50/$40 members/$20 Students under 25 with valid ID

New Commission

CELEBRATING DAVID DEL TREDICI

WITH NEW CHOREOGRAPHY BY LYNNE TAYLOR-CORBETT

Sun and Mon, Mar 27 and 28, 7:30 pm

Celebrating one of America's foremost living composers David Del Tredici, choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett creates a brand-new work set to Del Tredici's Grosse Tarantella.

The Young People's Chorus of New York City, directed by Francisco J. Núñez, will sing Del Tredici's Four Heartfelt Anthems. Del Tredici and Taylor-Corbett will participate in a moderated discussion.

MUSICAL THEATER

NEW YORK THEATRE WORKSHOP & PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS

THE SHAGGS: PHILOSOPHY OF THE WORLD

Sun and Mon, Apr 17 and 18, 7:30 pm

See a sneak peek of the new musical The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World prior to its New York debut in May at Playwrights Horizons, coproduced with New York Theatre Workshop.

A working-class dad has a vision of rock'n'roll destiny for his three talentless daughters, convinced that they are his family's one-way ticket out of hardship and obscurity. Based on a true story, this musical is directed by John Langs and with a book by Joy Gregory, music by Gunnar Madsen, and lyrics by Gregory and Madsen. Excerpts will be performed and discussed by members of the creative team.

AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE—ON TO ACT II

Sun and Mon, May 1 and 2, 7:30 pm

Have you ever wondered what happens to your favorite dancers after they take their final bow? Join American Ballet Theatre and a panel of distinguished alumni to explore the exciting journeys and challenges that dancers face in the second act of their careers. Current ABT dancers will perform excerpts from their upcoming Metropolitan Opera House season.

LOCATION:             The Peter B. Lewis Theater

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street

Subway – 4, 5, 6 train to 86th Street

Bus – M1, M2, M3, or M4 bus on Madison or Fifth Avenue

TICKETS:                 $30/$25 Members/$10 Students under 25 with valid ID, unless otherwise noted

Tickets on sale January 3, unless otherwise noted

(212) 423-3587, M-F, 1–5 PM or visit worksandprocess.org

Veronika Part in the January 2011 Marie Claire

Sorry, I couldn't get this magazine photo to scan very well, but, suffice it to say, SLSG favorite Veronika Part is in the January 2011 issue of Marie Claire! She's not talking about weight or Black Swan; she's featured simply because she's a muse for young designer Christian Cota. He says, "When I watch Veronika dance, I'm truly captivated by the way her body moves. It pushes me to explore my designs in a way that I haven't before."

Cota is Mexican born and studied painting in Paris and fashion at New York's Parsons School of Design. He launched his eponymous label in 2007. The magazine piece defines his style as: "Light and airy feminine silhouettes in digitally enhanced fine-art prints."

Sure is an exciting time for ballerinas right now!

Jenifer Ringer Talks About Her Weight on the Today Show

If you guys haven't seen this yet, Jenifer Ringer was on the Today Show talking about Sir Alastair's criticism of her weight, her past eating disorder, and the struggle to be thin for ballerinas in general. I hadn't known, but Natalie Portman lost 20 pounds for Black Swan!

Poor Jared Angle! He hasn't gotten anything out of this – and he supposedly sampled half the damn Sweet Realm!

Oh also, it's interesting to look at the comments in the Huffington Post post; quite different from those on Jennifer Edwards' earlier post in which many commenters supported Macaulay.

Bolshoi's NUTCRACKER Live-Streamed in Movie Theaters This Sunday

This Sunday, December 19th, the Bolshoi Ballet's Nutcracker will be live-streamed direct from Moscow into theaters all over the world. In New York, the production will be shown at 11:00 a.m. at the Big Cinemas Manhattan located at 239 E. 59th Street. Check Emerging Pictures Ballet in Cinema website to find a location hopefully near you. If there is no location near you, I noticed there's a little "request an Emerging Pictures cinema near you" button on the right side of the page. Maybe if there's enough demand, they'll get working on striking a deal with one of your local theaters!

Check the Bolshoi's website for further details on broadcast times in other countries, like France. And see Haglund's Heel for casting.

I can't wait – this is the first ballet I'll see live-streamed!

Benjamin Millepied in TIME DOESN'T STAND STILL

According to Filmmaker Magazine, Benjamin Millepied will be starring with French actress Lea Seydoux in a short film called Time Doesn't Stand Still, directed by Asa Mader. It's to premiere in its entirety in 2011, but go here to see a video. Do we think Millepied is a good tango dancer?

Above photo taken from here.

Roberto Bolle & Robert Wilson's "Perchance to Dream" Scared the Crap Out of Me

My friend, Oberon, told me about this exhibit – a video installation by Robert Wilson showcasing Roberto Bolle, showing at Center 548 in Chelsea, as part of Milano New York Isaloni. So I went to check it out yesterday.

Scared the absolute crap out of me! I don't really want to say too much or it will ruin the mystery for people who go, but I'll just say, definitely go see it – I've never really seen a gallery exhibit, or even a museum exhibit quite like this before. Just try not to go alone. I think that's partly why I was so spooked. It's very dark in there; the first room is lit only by the small amounts of light emanating from some x-ray-like photos of light bulbs.

At the beginning there's some nice classical music playing, but then the sounds get more ominous, and at points become quite harsh.

The second and fourth rooms really scared me the most – the rooms with three-dimensional art depicting scenes both classical and apocalyptic. Some of the three-dimensional art – well, it just looked too real… I'm not even sure if I saw the entire exhibit because I was just too nervous to go to the very end of the second big room and see if there was anything around the corner. It's like a dark maze after you enter the first room. I almost couldn't find my way out. I think if there are more people, though, if would be obvious where the entrances and exits were. As I was exiting, there was an art critic speaking with the curator and the critic said she thought this exhibit was really compelling and should be expanded to a museum, but then said the danger of doing that would be to diminish its mystery precisely because it would be more crowded.

Anyway, another thing that startled me – I kept forgetting it was a video installation because many of the projections looked like still photos … until Bolle would move ever so subtly. It's like the moving eyes in the portrait effect… And I never realized how doll-like he can look…  And, had I not seen Black Swan, there are additional associations I probably would not have made but…

I've said too much! Just go see it! I do hope they someday expand it into a larger project.

For now, it's at Center 548, which is at 548 W. 22nd Street in Chelsea. It's only showing through December 18th so hurry.

I'm Interviewed at Independent Publisher, Along with Evil Wylie!

I'm interviewed today at Independent Publisher magazine, the people who gave me my IPPY gold medal. This is the first interview where I was asked more detailed questions about how autobiographical the psychosomatic disorder aspect of Swallow was, and so I talked a bit about that. It's funny because when the writer, Nina L. Diamond, was asking me questions about my own experiences with the disorder and how closely they paralleled Sophie's experiences with it, I really had to think back. I think when you really get into a novel and you start creating your own characters and filling out the details of their lives and creating situations for them that will increase the conflict and the dramatic tension of the novel and will lead to a fuller arc for both the characters and the overall plot, then you really distance yourself from what actually happened. And then, when asked, you have trouble remembering what actually happened! So, I kind of stuttered a bit on that.

Also in the same issue, Diamond interviews the writer known as Evil Wylie (and also Emperor Franzen). Fun to be in the same issue as he!

Gillian Murphy Critical of "Black Swan"

Apparently, Gillian Murphy gave an interview to the L.A. Times in which she called Black Swan unrepresentative of the ballet world and said she was a little disturbed by its intentionally overdone darkness. She says in her experience the lecherousness of the artistic director is fake (thankfully!) as is the competitiveness within the company, though she admits it's competitive to get into a big company in the first place. I would have thought it would be competitive within a company as well, but from the time I've spent around ABT and NYCB dancers (and from reading their blogs) it does seem that the dancers are very supportive of each other. And the support doesn't seem false, like it's forced whenever outsiders are around, but genuine. Look at how everyone came to the support of Jenifer Ringer over Macaulay's snarky comment about her weight.

But apparently Dancing on My Grave presents another story. Maybe things have really changed since then.

Interestingly the article mistakenly calls Murphy British (as if they're trying to present her as uppity toward Hollywood). She's American though, and has never seemed the least bit snobbish, imo.

Above, Gillian with Ethan Stiefel in Swan Lake (as the white swan! ); photo by Fabrizio Ferri, from here.

The Royal Ballet's Nutcracker

Yesterday I was invited to a pre-screening of a filmed version of the Royal Ballet's Nutcracker, which will be shown later this month at cinemas in New York and around the country by Emerging Pictures' Ballet in Cinema series. Check their website for local schedules.

The Royal Ballet version was very good, albeit different from what I'm used to (which, as a New Yorker, is basically Balanchine's). The Royal's was directed and choreographed by Peter Wright (after Ivanov), the orchestra conducted by Koen Kessels, and was originally shown at the Royal Opera House in Convent Garden in December 2009.

The biggest difference between this and Balanchine's is that Clara and the Nutcracker Prince dance all throughout the second half, the Land of the Sweets (here called the Sugar Garden). They participate in the Arabian dance, the Russian dance, the Chinese dance, and the flower dances. The dancer who dances Clara (unfortunately, I don't have a full cast list and didn't get her name from the quickly scrolling credits at the end of the film, so I don't know her name) was older – not a child – and she was a really beautiful dancer. Very fluid, light, willowy, with an innocence in her movement. Very child-like (in a good way, because it was called for here). At first I didn't like that they danced throughout because I thought at points it almost looked like they were making fun of the various styles of dance. But then I realized, no they weren't doing that at all; they were playing and having fun, like children would, and like audiences composed heavily of children would want to see them do, and would want to do themselves. The Nutcracker Prince's name I do have – Steven McRae, and he was very good.

The Sugar Plum Fairy and the Prince were danced brilliantly by Miyako Yoshida and McRae. The ending pas de deux was a traditional one and it was danced just about the best I've ever seen it. Yoshida in particular was really stunning. She's a small dancer but has a lot of power – particularly in her developes -  her leg just seems to shoot up there! Her assisted pirouettes and her fouettes done in a diagonal line were also stunning. She's a fast, spirited dancer with great clarity in her lines, which were never over-extended and which she always finished with zest. But even with all the demanding athletics of that pas, she didn't turn into an Olympic performance; she remained sweet and princess-like. It was really magical. It's a performance I could have watched over and over again.

Drosselmeyer, the magician, really blew me away too. He is a main character here – he doesn't just appear at the beginning to present the toys and give Clara her nutcracker doll; he acts as a guide all throughout the second half, bringing Clara and her prince on a tour through the Sugar Garden, presenting the various national dances to them. He's clearly in charge of Clara's dream, although at the end, there's a little twist on that. You'll have to see the production to find out what it is And Drosselmeyer was portrayed very well by Gary Avis. It's not a dance role, but requires a big stage presence and Avis really came through on that. He received lots of applause at the end and took all the curtain calls with all the main dancers.

The only thing I have to say – and this is not at all bad – but did Macaulay ever review dance in the U.K.? He was a theater critic for most of his career there, right? Because if he ever reviewed the Royal, I'd think he would have had to remark on the weight of some of the dancers. Some of them made Jenifer Ringer look like a twig. Not that they danced badly because of it. I think for a while I'm always going to be thinking "hey, she's bigger than Jenifer Ringer, she's bigger, she's way bigger"…

Anyway, if anyone reading this is in the U.K. and / or has seen this production, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Photo taken from the Ballet in Cinema website.

Sneak Peek of ABT's New Nutcracker

The Guggenheim just sent me the above video, which is of their Works & Process event a few weeks ago that I'd attended and written about a bit here, featuring excerpts of ABT's upcoming Nutcracker at BAM. It starts December 22nd – getting excited!

Also, yesterday I attended a screening of the Royal Ballet's Nutcracker, as part of Emerging Pictures' Ballet in Cinema High Definition film series in theaters across the country. I'll write about it soon. They put on a very good, very different Nutcracker!