Waltz is about big ideas in 'Continu' but if you don't pick up on them there is not a lot of choreography to keep you going.
Archive - September 2012
The highlight of the program was the seldom-performed Divertimento from “Le Baiser de la Fée”. It is a deceptively shadowy work, a fairy tale in the guise of a conventional divertissement.
"It’s very lonely out there... I mean, it would be nice to have some sort of mentorship with regard to what it takes to be a choreographer."
To be honest I don't think her first announcements are a landmark in repertoire terms - but it was never going to be unless some ballet fairy deposited a few extra million in the company coffers to allow instant change.
This is the third mounting of the work since its première in 1976 at the Avignon Festival, where it quickly became the stuff of legend. What was this strange, endlessly-repetitive, oddly compelling work?
Nothing in contemporary dance is more guaranteed to provoke controversy than the Place Prize, now returning for its fifth edition, organised by the excellent team at The Place...
And the four Finalists are: h2dance (Hannah Gillgren and Heidi Rustgaard), Riccardo Buscarini, Rick Nodine, Eva Recacha. Congrats to all, more details in the press release.
This is a fascinating story... an important one. Gallea relates the growth, and eventual decline, of the company – known originally as International Ballet Caravan and later as Alexander Roy Ballet Theatre – with an amazing amount of detail...
Soledad Barrio makes every moment look improvised. You watch, you wait, and you hold your breath.
What is there to say about Orpheus, except that it seems to slip deeper into the recesses of time? I’ve read that at the première, the critic and poet Edwin Denby was so moved by it that he sat dumbfounded during intermission, unable to stand. It is difficult to imagine such a reaction today.
The evening certainly demonstrated the admirable qualities of the SFB dancers: their hard-working, good-humoured, go-for-it approach and the range of different talents in the company. The goodwill they generate in the audience is remarkable. Here’s hoping they come back for a return visit soon.
As the 50th anniversary season draws to a close, it is clear that things have come full circle. The company began with a Swan Lake in 1962; it celebrates this major milestone with another.
36 pictures by Dave Morgan...
The choice of programme was something of a curate’s egg – disappointingly so in view of the company’s rich repertoire – but two out of the four works were excellent and the dancing was spectacular.
Dave Morgan spends a day with San Francisco Ballet, armed only with his camera...
When it was announced that Mark Morris would choreograph a new piece for Philadelphia’s Voloshky Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, the collaboration sounded promising.
San Francisco’s second programme was better balanced than the first, with contrasting works created for the company within the past two years.
I saw the first cast led by Jin Yao, the top ballerina in the company. Her acting was superb, and her dancing too had a warm glow throughout.
I loved the way the SFB dancers were so confident with the choreography (of Divertimento No 15), at ease after an understandably tense start.
36 pictures by Dave Morgan...