May 2020 was to have been a special month for the American Ballet Theatre – the time to celebrate its 80th anniversary. American Ballet Theatre – known as Ballet Theatre from 1939 until 1957 – was founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant and its first performance was on 11 January 1940. Chase was its director, together with Oliver Smith, from 1945 to 1980. Mikhail … [Read more...] about American Ballet Theatre: Together Tonight – an 80th Anniversary YouTube celebration
Kevin McKenzie
ABT dancer who hauled a homeless man off the subway tracks is awarded the New York State Liberty Medal
American Ballet Theatre dancer Gray Davis has been awarded the New York State Liberty Medal. It is the highest civilian honour bestowed by a Member of the New York State Senate. The medal is in recognition of Davis’s daring rescue of a 58-year-old homeless man who had been pushed onto the subway tracks on 3 June 2017. Davis told The New York Times soon after, At … [Read more...] about ABT dancer who hauled a homeless man off the subway tracks is awarded the New York State Liberty Medal
Herman Cornejo answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ Edition
Q&A When did you start dancing? I was 8 years old. It was a normal day when my sister's teacher, Wasil Tupin, saw me at the door. I was enjoying the music and watching my sister dance to the rhythm, and he invited me to come to class the next day. Why did you start dancing? Music took my attention from the start and I felt the need to express myself through … [Read more...] about Herman Cornejo answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ Edition
Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev’s presence scuppers the Mikhailovsky’s New York plans
The Mikhailovsky Theater scored a coup last fall by luring Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev from the Bolshoi, and it was to have brought them to the United States this summer for a run of shows at Lincoln Center, said Arts Beat. Now those plans have been scrapped because American Ballet Theater has exercised a no-compete clause involving the pair. Osipova and Vasiliev also … [Read more...] about Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev’s presence scuppers the Mikhailovsky’s New York plans
Who is Rothbart? An evil Mephistopheles or “a large lump of diseased moss”?
Swan Lake's Rothbart is an extraordinary important character; his power and evilness must be believable if we are to empathise with poor Odette. Yet often the role is almost laughable in its insignificance or its hammy "baddie" acting with lots of cape swishing. The La Scala production for a few years - the Vladimir Bourmeister choreography with Roberta Guidi di Bagno's … [Read more...] about Who is Rothbart? An evil Mephistopheles or “a large lump of diseased moss”?