Mar 192013
 

Polyphonia by Gene Schiavone 3 700x363 1 Boston Ballets 50th Anniversary season kicks off in London

Boston Bal­let has announced its 50th anniversary sea­son, which will start with their tour to Lon­don in July at the . Pro­gram­ming for 2013/2014 includes and Cinder­ella, two cutting-edge rep­er­tory pro­grammes with Amer­ican and world premières  and Balanchine’s mas­ter­piece, . The sea­son will close with a tour to Washington’s Kennedy Cen­ter, and end with per­form­ances at the Koch Theater in New York City’s Lin­coln Center.

Artistic Dir­ector Mikko Nissinen said,

We have exhil­ar­at­ing momentum going into our 50th year. The 2013–2014 sea­son is a pivotal cel­eb­ra­tion of the Company’s dis­tin­guished past, extraordin­ary present, and excit­ing future. This mile­stone year is an oppor­tun­ity to cel­eb­rate today’s Boston Bal­let and give thanks to all the people who have helped us get here.

Lon­don has had to wait 30 years for a return visit by the com­pany. The bal­lets it has chosen to present reflect a cen­tury of ground-breaking cho­reo­graphy, from Vaslav Nij­in­sky to , and also by Boston Bal­let Res­id­ent Cho­reo­grapher, Jorma Elo. For six per­form­ances from 3 July 2013, Boston Bal­let will present two pro­grammes. The first pro­gramme high­lights the company’s diverse range and com­mand of Bal­anchine cho­reo­graphy. Fea­tur­ing Vaslav Nijinsky’s After­noon of a Faun, George Balanchine’s Ser­en­ade and Sym­phony in Three Move­ments, and res­id­ent cho­reo­grapher Jorma Elo’s Plan to B.

The second pro­gramme the com­pany brings to Lon­don fea­tures the con­tem­por­ary dynamic and ver­sat­il­ity of the com­pany, with Wil­liam Forsythe’s The Second Detail, ’s Poly­phonia, and Jiří Kylián’s Bella Figura; in fact, Boston Bal­let is the first Amer­ican Com­pany to per­form Bella Figura.

Happy Anniversary!

Photo: Boston Bal­let in Poly­phonia by Gene Schiavone

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  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px Boston Ballets 50th Anniversary season kicks off in London
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px Boston Ballets 50th Anniversary season kicks off in London
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px Boston Ballets 50th Anniversary season kicks off in London
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px Boston Ballets 50th Anniversary season kicks off in London
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px Boston Ballets 50th Anniversary season kicks off in London
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px Boston Ballets 50th Anniversary season kicks off in London
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px Boston Ballets 50th Anniversary season kicks off in London
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px Boston Ballets 50th Anniversary season kicks off in London
Feb 242013
 

Bennet Gartside and Tamara Rojo in Liam Scarlett Asphodel Meadows 365x500 Bennet Gartside answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ EditionQ&A

When did you start dan­cing?
I was prob­ably about 7 years old.

Why did you start dan­cing?
Appar­ently I was ener­getic as a child — I have no idea where that’s gone now! My sis­ter who’s 4 years older than I am, dragged me along. I kinda fell for it a little… but I fell for the girls more! I was the only boy there.

Which dan­cer inspired you most as a child?
I never really knew any bal­let dan­cers as I wasn’t spe­cial­ising in it at the time. But Michael Jack­son was my favour­ite dan­cer at the time, and I was mes­mer­ised by Fred Astaire and the Nich­olas Broth­ers. I remem­ber in the early 80’s when Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ was hav­ing its TV début.… [con­tinue reading]

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Feb 032013
 

Q&A

Beppe Menegatti Barack Obama 375x500 Beppe Menegatti answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Directors’ Edition

When did you first go to the theatre?
To see  at the Teatro Comun­ale in Florence on 10 Octo­ber 1939 for my tenth birth­day, with Gino Bechi, Fer­ruc­cio Tagliavini, Lina Aimaro and the young Giuli­etta Simi­onato as Madelena.

Why did you want to work in the theatre?
In Florence we give out presents for the Epi­phany. When I was six there was a won­der­ful gift for my brother, a model theatre, but I though “This is mine!” It was large, more than a metre wide with 32 dif­fer­ent sets. We had to use it for fire­wood dur­ing the war.

Which per­formers do you remem­ber most from your child­hood?
Charlie Chap­lin, Eduardo De Fil­ippo, Tit­ina De Fil­ippo, and Jean-Louis Bar­rault.… [con­tinue reading]

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Jan 202013
 

Q&A

Thiago Soares Gramilano 500x333 Thiago Soares answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ EditionWhen did you start dan­cing?
I star­ted age 15.

Why did you start dan­cing?
When I joined the Centro de Dança Rio it felt right, and I felt like I had found some­thing that I had been look­ing for until then.. and I thought that to keep going would take me somewhere.

Which dan­cer inspired you most as a child?
My first idol in dance was Fernando Bujones.

What’s your favour­ite role?
John Cranko’s One­gin.

What role have you never played but would like to?
Armand in Asthon’s Mar­guer­ite and Armand.

Who is your favour­ite cho­reo­grapher?
If there was a way to go back in time I would love to work with two people: Ken­neth Mac­Mil­lan and John Cranko.

[con­tinue reading]

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Nov 092012
 

is releas­ing a series of behind-the-scenes videos. Here the company’s Bal­let Mas­ter in Chief, , talks proudly of his dan­cers and all the col­lab­or­at­ors who make a per­form­ance hap­pen, with back­stage glimpses filmed by Nick Bentgen.

We are the largest bal­let com­pany in Amer­ica; we dance more per­form­ances in the course of a year than any other bal­let com­pany earth; we have close to 200 bal­lets in our entire rep­er­toire! That requires a tre­mend­ous amount of con­cen­tra­tion from every­body… Some­how it is a fant­ast­ic­ally smooth run­ning machine.

A num­ber of things sep­ar­ates the New York City Bal­let, one of the most import­ant things is that the music is always the pre­dom­in­ant factor. So with everything we do, music is our guide.… [con­tinue reading]

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Oct 172012
 

Igor Yebra Igor Yebra answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ Edition

Q&A

When did you start dan­cing?
When I was 13 years old.

Why did you start dan­cing?
Because I liked it and in my house it was some­thing nor­mal to see bal­let; although first I wanted to be a foot­ball or bas­ket­ball player!

Which dan­cer inspired you most as a child?
Fred Astaire, Ant­o­nio Gades and Vladi­mir Vasiliev.

Which dan­cer do you most admire?
Fred Astaire.

What’s your favour­ite role?
Those where I have to think and make the pub­lic think.

What role have you never played but would like to?
Leonardo in Bodas de San­gre [based on Lorca’s play Blood Wed­ding] cho­reo­graphed by Ant­o­nio Gades.

What’s your favour­ite bal­let to watch?
At the moment The Merry Widow because I’m work­ing on it, and at this time of crisis in the world what could be bet­ter!… [con­tinue reading]

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Sep 142012
 

Maria Kochetkova Joan Boada Wheeldon Within The Golden Hour The all embracing San Francisco Ballet brings its eclecticism and passion to LondonSan Fran­cisco Bal­let launch their Lon­don sea­son at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre this even­ing, and until Septem­ber 23 they will be present­ing three mixed-bill pro­grams. That’s 10 works over nine per­form­ances, fea­tur­ing works by George Bal­anchine, Edwaard Liang, Mark Mor­ris, Ash­ley Page, , SF Bal­let chief , as well as their Cho­reo­grapher in Res­id­ence Yuri Possokhov.

Tomas­son is pleased to be back in London,

Lon­don is a favour­ite tour des­tin­a­tion for our Com­pany and we’re delighted to be return­ing after eight years. We are priv­ileged to work with some of the best cho­reo­graph­ers in the world and some of their new works provide a won­der­ful show­case for our dan­cers’ broad ranges and abil­it­ies. I think Lon­don audi­ences will enjoy the diverse and excit­ing works that we’ll be present­ing, almost all of which are UK premières.… [con­tinue reading]

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