The Prix de Lausanne 2010 Finals are being live-streamed on the PdL website here. Just watched Aaron Smyth knock out an outstanding contemporary solo! The young men this year, as a group, are so much stronger than the ladies.
Leanne Benjamin and Edward Watson danced the PdD from Manon. Who needs lighting and scenery when you have those two. Haglund is in love with EW's gene pool.
Congratulations to Cristian Emanuel Amuchastegui from the Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy for taking the top prize this year!
Update 2/2/10The video of the Finals is now available for viewing on the PdL website in several 10 minute increments.
Houston ballet will probably keep him but ABT shoud try to sign Cristian. He is outstanding
Posted by: jose | February 01, 2010 at 03:35 PM
Hi Jose. I thought he was very, very good, but I felt that he and the other competitors – male and female – while showing reasonably strong technique, were limited in their artistry. It would be nice to see these competitions place more emphasis on theater and character within the variations - maybe require a dramatic element in addition to the classical and contemporary scores.
Posted by: Haglund's Heel | February 01, 2010 at 04:35 PM
"Haglund is in love with EW's gene pool"
I know what you mean... What about his "infinity arabesque"? Who needs to see triple turns when a dancer has that kind of line?
And on that note, his Mayerling is out on DVD early March we hear!
Best,
TBB
Posted by: The Ballet Bag | February 04, 2010 at 08:26 PM
Looking forward to that DVD release. The earlier Mayerling DVD with Mukhamedov and Durante had lots of wonderful close ups that left one breathless.
Speaking of Mukhamedov, Haglund noticed another Mukhamedov on the roster at the Dutch National Ballet. Is Sasha his daughter? http://www.het-nationale-ballet.nl/index.php?m=company&ssm=hnb_dancers_eleves
Posted by: Haglund's Heel | February 04, 2010 at 11:15 PM