Tonya Plank's Blog, page 47

NEW YORK CITY BALLET OPENS ITS SUMMER SEASON TONIGHT

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And expect Natalie Portman to be at the gala. Well, of course she would be: her boyfriend's new ballet will premiere tonight, along with a Ratmansky premiere. And, by the way, Kathryn Morgan is to replace Janie Taylor in Millepied's. I hope Janie's not injured again…

Above photo taken from Celebrity Mound.

REBECCA KELLY BALLET

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Over the weekend I went to see my friend Taylor Gordon (dear Lord, I almost typed @taylorgordon — my writing brain is becoming Twitterfied) dance with the Rebecca Kelly Ballet in the Alvin Ailey theater. I'd never seen the Rebecca Kelly Ballet before — it's been around since the late 70s — and I was very pleasantly surprised. Sometimes with very small ballet companies (modern companies too) you see dancers of varying ability, but here, all of the dancers were very skilled. Ms. Kelly's...

OH TO BE IN ITALY RIGHT NOW…

Where Roberto Bolle is appearing naked in Mats Ek's Giselle. Seriously, from what I've read, Ek's version of the ballet looks really interesting: it's moved up to contemporary times and is set in a mental hospital.

Photo taken from OperaChic.

SWALLOW BOOK PUB PARTY

On Saturday May 8th from 7-10 p.m. I'll be having a little book launch party at the Bowery Wine Company. I guess it's not really a launch party though, since the book has been out for a few months now. But I hate cold weather and wanted to wait for warmth, especially since BWC has a nice little outdoor area. So, a book publishing party then.

I can sign books if you have a physical copy (someone asked me how authors will sign digital books if all books are digital in the future, and it's a...

WILD FIDDLEHEADS

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My friend and I went to DUMBO yesterday for an open artists' studios tour (some of the buildings that house groups of  artists' studios have a day once a month when they allow visitors inside to peruse and talk to the artists about their work). We stayed for a while afterward to explore the area a bit. We found these in a grocery store there, which I found interesting. Never had fiddleheads before. And $25.99 per pound?!!!

THE STATE OF CRITICISM, PART ONE

I'm sure I'll have much more to say on this over time, so I labeled the post Part One.

Here are a couple of write-ups from The Dance Enthusiast on the panel discussion on dance criticism two weeks ago that I took part in.

I was going to wait for the video to go up online so I could embed that or link to it but it hasn't gone up yet. I usually take notes at such things, but since I was on the panel didn't — and I feel lost doing a write-up without my notes.

Anyway, these two write-ups are good...

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE RETURNING 10 CELEBS ANNOUNCED

So You Think You Can Dance has announced its 10 returning star dancers, who'll partner this coming season's 10 contestants. They are: Twitch (big smile), Kathryn McCormick, Mark Kanemura (yay), Pasha and Anya (obviously yay), Allison Holker, Lauren Gottlieb, Neil Haskell, Dominic Sandoval, Ade Obayomi, Courtney Galliano, and Comfort Medoke. So obviously no Danny Tidwell. Interesting, there are no final winners, right? And there are several returning star dancers who didn't make it to the finals.

HONEY NOTES, TEES AND TOTES AT THE HONEY SHOP

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I recently came across this author, Maria Murnane, and her book, Perfect on Paper: the (Mis)Adventures of Waverly Bryson, when I was researching indie-published book award contests (Murnane won a load of them, before being picked up by Amazon Encore, Amazon's new publishing house).

It's a really lovely book, sweet and funny with a cast of characters who are definitely very relatable — the annoying guy who just seems to be everywhere you are, the bitchy competitive co-worker who seems intent...

MARCELO DANCING MANON PDD WITH TERESHKINA

One of my Facebook friends and blog readers found this video of Marcelo dancing MacMillan's gorgeous Manon pas de deux with Viktoria Tereshkina. I think I missed her when she toured NY with the Kirov but she is a really beautiful dancer, like a feather. I so love MacMillan — why why why can't we see more of his work here? And the music is really gorgeous as well. So I'm posting it. Happy Friday everyone!

SWALLOW IS A GOLD MEDALIST!

In Independent Publisher's Living Now Book Awards, in the category of Women's Fiction. I'm so happy! Happy Earth Day, everyone!

Also, check out the other medalists — in all the categories, but particularly in my own. Stressed in Scottsdale by Marcia Fine and Shaken and Stirred by Crystal Black Davis both look very entertaining as well as enlightening. And Stressed is set in my old neck of the woods!

Independently published and small press-published books face an enormous uphill battle both in t...