“The web of intrigue around Russia’s Bolshoi Theater continued to grow over the weekend after Anatoly Iksanov, the theater’s general director, told Russian television that he doesn’t believe that the mastermind behind the January acid attack on Sergei Filin, the ballet company’s artistic director, has been found.”
Category: dance
Les Ballets Trockadero De Mumbai: Drag Troupe Takes Up Traditional Indian Dance
“Lavani is a folk dance, traditionally performed by women for men. The popularity of Bin Baykancha Tamasha (or Performance Without Women) and other female-impersonation groups in Mumbai suggests that the city may slowly be getting comfortable with flamboyant expressions of male sexuality.”
Sergei Filin And The Complex, Terrible Society Of The Bolshoi
“Sometimes an institution has an uncanny way of embodying the society to which it belongs. … So it is at the pinnacles of Russian dance. Since the nineteenth century, the country’s two principal stages–the Mariinsky, in St. Petersburg, and the Bolshoi, in Moscow–have acted as microcosms of imperial Russia, Soviet Russia, and, now, Vladimir Putin’s Russia.”
Want To Know If Ballet Is ‘Elitist’? The Crowd Will Tell You
The blog Ballet News wanted to know what its fans thought about ballet and elitism, so it asked on Facebook.
Dancer Behind Bolshoi Acid Attack Speaks
Bolshoi Ballet principal Pavel Dmitrichenko: “Yuri Zarutsky, he was constantly saying, ‘Come on, I’ll go over there, I’ll solve your problem, I’ll knock him around … I admit that, absolutely. When I learned what had happened, I was just in shock, and I didn’t believe that this person who suggested beating him up just went and poured acid on him.”
Is This The Woman Who Inspired The Bolshoi Acid Attack?
Angelina Vorontsova, 21, variously described as the girlfriend or common-law wife of attack mastermind Pavel Dmitrichenko, airs her frustrations and grievances with Bolshoi Ballet director/attack victim Sergei Filin in a rehearsal and interview conducted in February.
Why Do Russians Take Ballet So Seriously?
“It’s equal parts history, national pride, and hero worship. Russians of all social strata have long been obsessed with dancing” – going back to the medieval period.
What’s Good About Bunheads? It Depicts Ballet As More Than Cutthroat Torture
“Recent portrayals” of ballet in the popular media – Black Swan, Breaking Pointe – “have focused too much on the obstinacy, ambition, and perfectionism that fuels the enterprise of becoming a dancer. What makes it art, meanwhile, gets ignored.” But Bunheads “has found a way to bring ballet’s relevance – the meaning of the steps, the dancer’s feel for the movements – subtly but clearly to the fore.”
Alberta Ballet To Create Second Joni Mitchell Work
“The reclusive Mitchell will reteam with Alberta Ballet artistic director Jean Grand-Maître to create the new piece, which will feature a libretto, set design and soundtrack by the celebrated singer-songwriter.” The as-yet untitled work will premiere in May 2014.
Meet BalletMet Columbus’s New Artistic Director, Edwaard Liang
“I see myself as kind of a psychiatrist to dancers. … That being said, I think I am a bit of a taskmaster. I know what I want, and I don’t settle for less. I am driven to excellence. I have learned to adapt my personality to the dancers. My volume may go up a bit, but I never yell.”