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
Lincoln Center
Bolshoi Ballet’s Italian dancer, Jacopo Tissi, on his first year in Moscow and dancing Diamonds at the Lincoln Center
Last August, young ballet dancer Jacopo Tissi, resigned from the La Scala Ballet to accept the offer a contract with the Bolshoi Company. As I wrote last September, it’s not something that happens every day. Like all Russian companies, the Bolshoi has few dancers from outside the ex-Soviet borders in its ranks. However, Makhar Vaziev, the Company’s current director, who was … [Read more...] about Bolshoi Ballet’s Italian dancer, Jacopo Tissi, on his first year in Moscow and dancing Diamonds at the Lincoln Center
Renée Fleming to perform world premiere of Kevin Puts’ song cycle, Letters from Georgia
Letters from Georgia is based on the letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and the work will be premiered at Eastman Theater in Rochester on 12 November and then at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall on 14 November. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts wrote the cycle especially for, and in close collaboration with, Renée Fleming using O’Keeffe’s letters, written mainly to … [Read more...] about Renée Fleming to perform world premiere of Kevin Puts’ song cycle, Letters from Georgia
Sabrina Brazzo & Co take their all-leather ballet to the Lincoln Center
Tonight, at the Lincoln Center in New York, a new Italian ballet will take to the stage which features almost only leather costumes. When the piece made its début in Milan two years ago, I wrote: A Nabucco or Norma with leather costumes wouldn't raise an eyebrow, but a ballet? Boots and belts maybe, but tutus and frocks? This was the conceit behind The Cloak of the … [Read more...] about Sabrina Brazzo & Co take their all-leather ballet to the Lincoln Center
Zakharova’s charity gala money is refused by Kiev school
Culture connects people, and it is a thread which can't be broken by political tensions. When the Malaysia Airlines Boeing was shot down over the Ukraine last year I was on tour with the Bolshoi in New York. I watched the news and listened to the comments by American politicians about Russia and, frankly, it was scary. Every day we were expecting problems at the Lincoln Center; … [Read more...] about Zakharova’s charity gala money is refused by Kiev school
Behind every great woman is a great man: the man being conductor Fabio Luisi and the woman his photographer wife Barbara
Barbara Luisi was, no is, a violinist, but her passion for photography has taken over and her hobby has become her major activity. Though she begun studying the violin at 9 in her home town, Munich, she also started photography at a relatively young age, experimenting with her first Leica at 17. Luisi worked with orchestras such as the Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre du … [Read more...] about Behind every great woman is a great man: the man being conductor Fabio Luisi and the woman his photographer wife Barbara
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
American Ballet Theatre attorney guilty of siphoning off union dues
An attorney for a small, independent union of ballet dancers and stagehands pleaded guilty Thursday to falsifying reports about more than $350,000 in checks he wrote to himself, his law firm and his ex-wife, from the union account. Leonard Leibowitz faces up to 1 year in federal prison at his Oct. 14 sentencing. Leibowitz represented the Independent Artists of America, a … [Read more...] about American Ballet Theatre attorney guilty of siphoning off union dues
The Royal Shakespeare Company boots the bunny in NYC
More than two years ago, the esteemed Royal Shakespeare Company earned rave reviews for its production of "As You Like It," which included a scene where a dead rabbit is skinned and beheaded on stage. The moment was meant to underscore Shakespeare's description of the no-nonsense nature of country life. Apparently, New York audiences are a bit more squeamish than their … [Read more...] about The Royal Shakespeare Company boots the bunny in NYC
Apollinaire Scherr on the Bournonville style
In Scherr's Financial Times review of the Royal Danish Ballet's performances at the Lincoln Center, she gives a highly original account of what constitutes August Bournonville's choreographic style: Instead of bravado jumps and turns for the men and displays of leg for the women, lads and ladies alike skimmed the stage in flickery jumps punctuated by a foot’s swipe of the … [Read more...] about Apollinaire Scherr on the Bournonville style