Category: dance

In 1972 a young reporter visited the elite training school for the Kirov Ballet. Now, all these years later, after the collapse of the USSR, the reporter returns to find… that the quality of training has stayed more or less the same…

Montreal’s Les Grands Ballet has often seemed more “worthy” than exciting. But a new artistic director has the company focusing on “new European choreography, in addition to dances by familiar names, and the repertory would be performed by dancers chosen as much for their personal qualities as for the requisite technical skills.”

Toronto’s “fFIDA now calls itself the fFIDA International Dance Festival, but seems to have forsaken its origins as a festival for professional independents from Canada and abroad. Between the dancers still in training, the recent graduates of dance schools and the choreographer/teachers, much of what goes up at the festival looks like a recital.”

Maina Gielgud has resigned as artistic advisor to Houston Ballet. She said she resigned in early July because her situation “had become increasingly ambivalent and uncomfortable. Last season, despite a number of attendant problems, including the threat of canceling my version of Giselle, I still hoped that for 2005-2006 there might be some way of establishing a viable relationship.” She said her views and artistic director Christopher Welch’s “have diverged rapidly in relation to the long-term goals, vision, ideals, management style and methods of directing a classically based ballet company. … It has been increasingly difficult to understand where his vision lies, what his goals are’.”

Last week Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre announced it was cutting live music from its performances. What does this mean for the company’s artistic fortunes? Most major ballet companies use live music…

The musicians union representing Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre orchestra musicians is filing unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board over PBT’s decision to use recorded music during the 2005-06 season. “We believe their decision to go with recorded music should have been negotiated with the union before the decision was made.”

“Still unsettled after a series of directorship changes, still reinventing itself as a successful Western-style enterprise, still reeling from the hostile reception that greeted last year’s radically modern presentation of “Romeo and Juliet,” the Bolshoi remains the Bolshoi — arguably the most majestic ballet company in the world — and the troupe is determined to remain a force even on its home turf here in Moscow, where it will be performing on secondary and borrowed stages for the next three years.”

The editors of one of Pittsburgh’s two daily newspapers are underwhelmed by the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s decision to replace its live orchestra with recorded music, and accuse the organization of shoddy business practices and arrogance. “Subscription sales started in February. But when the board decided in June to roll tape, it did not tell the public until August. And there still is no official refund policy for victims of the bait and switch. This, after customer outrage last year terminated the Premiere Circle Seating program. The board had choreographed an extra licensing fee for subscribers of $150 to $250 for the privilege of keeping their choice seats.”

Cuban ballet is at an extraordinarily high level. “The question is how such a small, impoverished country can produce such a huge quota of talent. Acosta claims it’s all due to the national temperament – the music on every street corner, the heat, the vibrancy, the instinct for rhythm. Cubans dance as soon as they can walk. But the primacy of ballet also has everything to do with the vision of Cuba’s prima ballerina, Alicia Alonso, and its president, Fidel Castro.”

The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s decision to drop its live orchestra in favor of canned music for the upcoming season has been greeted with dismay from all sides. Musicians, dancers, and subscribers alike agree that the move will cheapen the company’s performances, and PBT officials can only say that they believe the move was an absolute last resort to keep the troupe within its $6.4 million budget. All sides are leaving the door open to the orchestra’s return, even for only a part of the 2005-06 season, if a late infusion of cash can be found.