Category: dance

National Ballet of Canada principal dancer Geon van der Wyst was slated to dance a number of major roles this season. But a few days before the season began, he reconsidered. “My knee was acting up. and I had made a promise to myself after my last surgery, that I would take a long and hard look at my career options if another problem developed. I feel guilty about pulling out just before the season, but the pain was telling me that it was time to stop while I still had my dignity.”

After almost 40 years as summer residence of New York City Ballet, Saratoga, in upstate New York, has pulled out of the deal. “It was a cost-cutting measure. We hope to continue to work with the company but not in a residency situation.”

New York City Ballet has a new star in the making – 20-year-old Megan Fairchild, who made her debut last week in Coppélia. She’s only been at City Ballet for less than a year-and-a-half. “Once in the company, she stood out almost immediately for her appeal and her technical prowess; she’s extraordinarily swift, strong, clear, and daring.”

Lahore, Pakistan saw its first Western classical ballet ever this weekend, as members of the Bolshoi Ballet performed. “The skilled grace of the ballerinas and the expansive power of two highly honoured singers were of a quality rarely seen at Al-Hamra.”

Frederick Ashton created the English ballet style. “Probably no other 20th Century choreographer rivals Balanchine for longevity, output and stylistic innovation. Both were born a century ago this year, both died in the 1980s and both boast incomparable legacies, masters of just about every aspect of their fields.”

New York’s annual Altogether Different festival has traditionally been a place where the latest young new experiment choreographers could show there work. But its focus has shifted, and the new generation of choreographers is wondering where the “experimental” disappeared.

The ballerina fired by the Bolshoi last year after being told she was “too fat” by the director, is suing for $1 million. She had already won reinstatement to the company from the court, but her attorney says she wants money and a public apology. “We believe that remarks made by the Bolshoi Theater director offend the honor, dignity and business reputation of my client.”

After 25 years at the helm, Francia Russell and Kent Stowell are retiring as directors of Pacific Northwest Ballet. “Arriving from Germany in the fall of 1977, Stowell and Russell found an unhappy, disorganized company, barely more than a school, plagued by internecine warfare.” They turned PNB into one of America’s top ballet companies.

Most ballet movies get it wrong about what life is like in a company, writes Joan Acocella. “The fact is that most young ballet dancers are no more obsessive, work no harder, and have no less chance of being hired by world-class companies than other young people training for a career in the classical performing arts. Nor do most modern ballets look ethereal; they are often crotchy affairs dressed in spandex and set to rock music. But in general, people don’t know about ballet from seeing it. People know about ballet from the movies.”

“This company, revered in Europe, ruled by Wisconsin-born John Neumeier since 1973, is virtually unknown to us on the West Coast, where it has never performed. And it’s not just the troupe that’s unknown; Neumeier’s ballets are in the repertories of companies throughout the globe … except in the United States.”