Haglund's Heel

Corella Ballet coming to NY City Center in April!

The New York City Center Theater has a mobile box office set up in a trailer outside the theater to handle ticket sales during the renovation.  Signs posted along the wall of the theater indicate the dates on which tickets will go on sale for various events.  Tickets for the Corella Ballet's performances on April 17 - 20 go on sale September 12 - according to the signs, although there is no mention of the performances on the City Center website yet.

This is such good news!  On Saturday, April 21st CB will be in Purchase with a rep program that includes Bruch Violin Concerto by Clark Tippet.  On April 27th, they open a Detroit run with Swan Lake.  Wow, either program - or both - at City Center would be phenomenal.  Imagine finally being able to see Herman Cornejo as Prince Siegfried.   Imagine finally seeing Bruch Violin Concerto again after such a long time.  Imagine being able to see Angel dance in New York more than once during ABT's season.  The CB website promises a lot of new repertory for the coming year as well.  No matter the program, it will be such a fabulous series of performances and so good to see Angel back in New York.

Hopefully, we won't have to wait long for the details.  But in any event, don't wait to buy tickets which will go on sale next week.

Corella Ballet in Tippet's Bruch Violin Concerto

Hard to believe that more people haven't viewed this clip.

The Corella Ballet Castilla y León is handsome in Clark Tippet's gorgeous choreography – on what appears to be a too small stage.  Such gorgeous music and costumes, too.  The clip below is from 2 1/2 years ago during the company's first year.  It has been performing Bruch Violin Concerto regularly since then.  It  looks so good that it could become a signature piece for them like Serenade has been for NYCB and T&V has been for ABT.

Imagine how fabulous this ballet would look on the George Balanchine Stage at Lincoln Center.  How great would it be to see the Corella Ballet fill in a few of the blank dates made available by NYCO's departure?!

 

 

 

Heads up: Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon in the U.S.

Look what the Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon is bringing to the U.S. over the next several months:

 

Bruch Violin Concerto – by Clark Tippett and one of Haglund's favorite rep pieces

Clear – by Stanton Welch

Solea – by Maria Pages

DGV – by Christopher Wheeldon

 

Who gets to see all of this?

 

Los Angeles       11/5 thru 11/7

Santa Barbara    11/8

New Orleans       05/14

Seattle               05/19 thru 05/21
Charleston          05/27 thru 05/29

New Yorkers will be thoroughly enjoying Angel and Carmen in Solea this week during the Fall for Dance season at New York's City Center, but it would sure be nice to someday see the whole company in Bruch Violin Concerto.

Herman Cornejo – Siegfried, everywhere but here

Haglund would like everyone to be aware that Herman Cornejo is once again performing the role of Siegfried in the Corella Ballet's Swan Lake in Madrid tomorrow night and Saturday night.  What's it going to take to put the feathers on Xiomara Reyes and bring those two together for what we know would be a major night of ballet theater next spring at the Met?

Corella Ballet – Spanish Television Coverage

Spanish television is covering the Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon's trip to New York.  Here is a clip of some of the dancing taken from YouTube via rtvcyl.es which reports on the company's great success on opening night.

Also, the Associated Press attended Corella Ballet's Opening Night at City Center.  Jocelyn Novek has a positive and unusually lengthy review that is rapidly being picked up by publications all over the world.  She loved the Maria Pages' pas de deux for Angel and Carmen Corella:

But the general atmosphere at City Center was one of excitement and affection. And it all came to a head just before the second intermission, with a rousing standing ovation for "Solea," a flamenco-infused pas de deux for Corella and his sister, Carmen, a former ABT soloist and now a principal in his company.

Much of the appeal of "Solea," choreographed by Maria Pages to flamenco music by Ruben Lebaniegos, was the obvious affection between brother and sister, who had never danced together before. As Corella ruefully told a small audience two nights earlier in a panel discussion, "Carmen is very tall" _ too tall for him to partner her in standard works.

But the two were perfectly matched in "Solea," both for their Latin good looks (this family sure has the right genes) and their infectious joy in dancing.

Just under eight minutes, "Solea" began with the Corellas sitting back to back on a dark stage. What unfolded was an intriguing melding of flamenco and classical ballet. A few flourishes of the pointe shoes became the equivalent of flamenco shoes tapping. Each dancer clapped as the other leaped or turned _ ballet moves to a flamenco beat.

At the end, the two laughed as the audience roared.

And Wendy Perone was positively blown away by Solea.  From her Dance Magazine blog:

I was choked up from the start, and the piece sustained that sibling connection so beautifully that I was in tears by the end. Everyone else must have felt the same, ’cause they gave it a roaring standing ovation, midway through the program.

Corella Ballet – AC Voltage at Maximum

NY City Center was the bright spot on the planet last night as a near capacity crowd turned out to welcome the Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon on its New York debut.  No doubt about it – Angel Corella is still at peak demand in the dance capital of the world. 

Not quite two years old, the Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon brought a debut program of works mostly unseen in New York, including Corella’s first choreographic effort, String Sextet; three gem gala-quality pieces:  Walpurgis Nacht by Leonid Lavrovsky, Sunny Duet by Vladimir Vasiliev and Natalia Kasatkina, and Solea by Maria Pages; and Christopher Wheeldon’s DGV: Danse A Grand Vitesse.  The program choices allowed us to focus on the performances and dancers without engaging in the nitpicking comparisons to other companies’ presentations - as New Yorkers tend to do. 

It would be a mistake to dwell on the merits of the evening’s choreography because the true importance of this company’s visit to New York was to show that Spain is indeed well on its way toward building its first classical ballet company.  Spanish classical dancers no longer need to leave home in search of an outlet for their talent.  Rather, the world’s talent has begun to gravitate toward Spain.

The evening opened with Angel Corella’s String Sextet set to Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir of Florence.  Corella has thrown his dancers a challenge that as time goes on will extend their limits, sharpen their technique, and see them acquire a Corella-stamp, so-to-speak.  Some opening night jitters were evident and one could sense the dancers’ adrenalin nearly pouring over the edge of the stage.  All of sudden, Joe Gatti appeared on stage and electrified the audience with his AC-like voltage, charisma, and “watch this!”  panache that was, well, gotta say it, Corella-imbued. 

The tutus for String Sextet were stylish, if a bit impractical, and tended not to compliment some of the smaller dancers who looked overwhelmed in the high collars and sleeves.  However, stylishness garners points in New York.  The yellow and white tutus in particular were sharply elegant.

The middle section of the evening opened with Lavrovsky’s Walpurgis Nacht to the familiar music of Gounod.  Once again, Joe Gatti “Mr. Watch This!” was brilliant in the technical challenges that included multiple pirouettes brought to a dead stop on releve and some very fierce jumping.  Kazuko Omori, who was one of the dancers in String Sextet for whom the costume did a disservice, soared in a little red tunic that revealed shapely legs and lovely lines.   Kirill Radev completed the trio with his own bursts of brilliance and clearly is a soloist who is destined to make a major impact with this company.

Sunny Duet (Vasiliev & Kasatkina) was performed by Herman Cornejo and Adiarys Almeida in its original 1973 form to Arno Babajanian’s archival recording.  A program insert noted that the specially commissioned score no longer exists.   The warm reds of the backdrop and dancers’ costumes were gorgeous.  The pas de deux - sensual, imaginative - with stunning and sustained lifts.  What a treat to see this revival.  And it is always a treat to see Herman Cornejo on stage - whenever, wherever, in whatever.

The third pas de deux was Maria Pages’ Solea for Carmen and Angel Corella.  You think New York doesn’t miss Carmen Corella?  Think again.  She was gorgeous. 

Pages created the solea to commissioned flamenco music that included some very complex rhythms and vocals.  Angel and Carmen began seated next to one another on chairs in the center of the darkened stage and proceeded to engage in a choreographic competition among brother and sister that melded flamenco with classical ballet.   Wonderfully unique.  Wonderfully personal for these two dancers.  Just delicious for the audience to see them dancing together on the New York stage.

The final offering of the evening was Wheeldon’s DVG:  Danse A Grand Vitesse to Michael Nyman’s score MGV: Musique a Grande Vitesse.  The music was originally commissioned to celebrate the opening of a new line of the TGV - the French high-speed rail service.  Nyman’s minimalist rhythms invoke images of the high-speed train cruising the French countryside.  It surges with energy that unfortunately isn’t represented in the choreography.  But Haglund is not going to p&m about the choreography except to say that it’s one more example that illustrates Wheeldon has lost touch with the vocabulary of his craft and is depending too much on quirky hand and arm movements and cheerleading routines.  Someone should pass him Gail Grant under the table just to remind him that the ballet vocabulary is a lot richer than he currently remembers.

That said, the dancers embraced DVG wholeheartedly and seemed inspired by the challenges of the pretzel pas de deuxing.   However, it’s not a piece that shows off the strengths of  classical dancers.  A contemporary classically-based piece that would have done that is Clark Tippet’s Bruch Violin Concerto which is in the Corella Ballet’s repertory.  In fact, former ABT principal Cynthia Harvey said in a recent interview that the piece has never looked better than as recently performed by this company.  That is a tremendous compliment.  And that is something which we need to see.

But for now, don't miss the Corella Ballet at City Center through Saturday evening.  We will only get to see Angel perform twice this spring with ABT at the Met – a criminal act of negligent scheduling by Kevin McKenzie – so see him now.  He is dancing wonderfully.

Haglund bestows this winged Pump Bump Award on the Corella Ballet which has clearly taken flight.

 

© Copyright 2010

Countdown to Corella - Part 4 - Casting

Here is the link to the NY City Center casting which is posted on the Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon website.

Countdown to Corella - Part 3

Angel Corella has been Haglund's drug of choice for a long time.  As soon as he steps on stage, you recognize that he is in another state of being – one filled with intense light and energy – and it's where you want to go – fast.

The Corella Ballet Castilla Y Leon, which opens at NY City center this Wednesday, March 17th, will close each program with Christopher Wheeldon's DGV - Danse a Grand Vitesse.  Wheeldon created this work for The Royal Ballet in 2006 to Michael Nyman's score MGV – Musique a Grand Vitesse.  Nyman's music was originally commissioned to celebrate the inauguration of the Paris-Lille Train à Grande Vitesse – TGV Service in the early 1990s.

TGV, of course, is France's high speed electric rail service that rockets passengers along at around 200 mph.  In 2007, a test TGV train set a train world speed record of 357 mph. 

True to its inspiration, Nyman's music accelerates its pulsating rhythms to exhilarating levels.  You feel it charging through your nervous system, and you don't know where it's taking you and you don't care. 

Angel at 357 mph?  Save me a window seat.

A YouTube clip of the first 2:41 of the score. 

March 17th - Be there or be square.

Countdown to Corella - Part 2

Angel Corella will present his first choreographic effort during the Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon's performances at NY City Center beginning March 17th.  Haglund was curious about the music which inspired Corella to create String Sextet.  So, he fished out two YouTube clips of Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence.  Within seconds, the ear picks up the sunny vivacity and intense energy that have always characterized Corella's own performances.  The second clip, in particular, has the emotional peaks and valleys and forceful conclusion that are marks of his dancing.  One can nearly see his hair flying.

Part 1:

Part 2:

March 17th.  Be there or be square.

Countdown to Corella

Unless you've been holed up with Punxsutawney Phil  or Staten Island Chuck these past many weeks, you have to share Haglund's wide-eyed and bushy-tailed excitement and anticipation over Angel Corella's visit to NY City Center with his Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon beginning one week from today  – March 17th.

Angel's company arrives in New York fresh from its stupendous success with Swan Lake in Spain in February.  It was, quite literally, front page news in Spain with a photo of the magnificent Herman Cornejo splashed all over the top half of page one of the newspaper.  (Haglund saw the link on the company's website, but can no longer locate it.)  Cornejo was, of course, Prince Siegfried, a role denied him by ABT's Kevin McKenzie in favor of a much lesser dancer (Cory Stearns) who reminds McKenzie of himself.  The artistic director of America's National Ballet Company, it seems, sees no problem in discriminating against magnificent shorter male dancers in favor of the taller, less talented, less accomplished, less everything dancer whose ordinariness McKenzie perceives to be more pleasing than Cornejo's Baryshnikov-like brilliance – a brilliance like that which McKenzie toiled under during the 1980s. 

How can ABT be America's National Ballet Company and overtly discriminate against employees based on the director's lonely and personal bias against short male dancers in princely roles?  If you're going to discriminate in that manner, you don't deserve to be America's National Ballet Company.  Congress should take away the designation.

Back to Angel – He's bringing a more contemporary program to City Center which will highlight the vitality of his dancers.  Angel will dance.  Much missed Carmen Corella will dance.  And of course, Herman Cornejo will dance.  Haglund dares to indulge in a little Tony Bennettization to predict "This could be the start of something big!"  

Once again, Gia Kourlas has put together a compelling interview for TimeOut NY.  She recently spoke with Angel Corella about a number of matters including his company's visit to NY City Center and his lack of performances with ABT during the 2010 Met Season.  Haglund, like probably everyone else, assumed that Corella was not scheduled for more than two performances at the Met by his own choice as he directed his energies toward his own company.  But oh no, we find out that Angel informed ABT that he was available for the entire season and wanted to dance more, but Kevin McKenzie only wanted to cast him for two performances.  Why cast Angel Corella, Herman Cornejo, Jose Manuel Carreno, or Sascha Radetsky when you can cast a likeness of your dull past self in everything?  Why even consider casting David Hallberg in The Lady and the Camillas when you can cast a likeness of your dull past self in the new production?  The $64,000 Question: Why on earth would anyone seriously think that the audience would rather see Cory Stearns than Angel Corella in anything?  In anything, let alone in nearly everything?

Anyway, here's hoping that Angel Corella is on course to build Spain's equivalent of The Royal Ballet.  And you know what?  We in New York who have cherished Angel Corella for so many years – we can help make it happen.

Herman Cornejo as Prince Siegfried !

We may never see Herman Cornejo as Swan Lake's Prince Siegfried in New York due to ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie's bias against short male dancers in the role.  But Angel Corella has the artistic sense and artistic vision to know that not only is it dead wrong to deny Cornejo the opportunity to dance the role, it is dead wrong to deny the world the opportunity to see Cornejo as Siegfried.

You have to wonder how much McKenzie's refusal to allow Cornejo to dance Siegfried in favor of a massive and unwarranted investment of resources in the development of lackluster performances by first-year soloist Cory Stearns has to do with his continuing resentment of Baryshnikov's treatment of him during the 1980s at ABT.  Cornejo is perfection in miniature the way Baryshnikov was perfection in miniature.  Stearns' performances are lacking in exactly the same ways that McKenzie's performances were lacking, and he is tall, lanky, and undramatic exactly the way McKenzie was. 

Basically, McKenzie has finally found a way to elevate himself over Baryshnikov and deal with his nemesis.

Cornejo has been an ABT principal dancer going on seven years and has never had the opportunity to dance Siegfried - the most recognizable role in classical ballet the world over.  It's time for McKenzie to put his differences with Baryshnikov behind him and stop making artists like Cornejo pay for his unhappiness from 30 years ago.

Here is a blurry, poorly edited clip from Angel Corella's new Swan Lake, El Lago de Los Cisnes, by his company Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon.  Sadly, it is all that we have right now.  Hopefully many more clips will turn up on YouTube.  Herman Cornejo is the perfect prince - perfect as the oh-so-short Baryshnikov was.  It is perfection that New York needs to see on the Met stage in the role of Prince Siegfried.

Haglund may sound a little like an angry shareholder.  The fact is when shareholders begin voicing their anger over wasting of resources and less than maximum return on investment, executive management usually turns a deaf ear and obstinately continues down its own path.  Then the shareholders begin dumping the company's stock, the company's value plummets, major talent defects, and the board of directors starts whispering  change-in-control.  Hopefully, McKenzie will come to his senses before any of that happens at ABT.

Angel Corella in Vanity Fair

Mosey on over to the March issue of Vanity Fair to see Laura Jacob's Spotlight on Angel Corella and his company, Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon.  Angel talks about how he did not want to leave Spain when he was a young dancer but needed the opportunity to show the world what he could do.

Haglund remembers being in David Howard's morning class in April of 1995 when Angel had just arrived at ABT as a soloist.  During the break between barre and center, Wes Chapman, then an ABT principal with world class pirouetting abilities, munched on his breakfast muffin, as he usually did between barre and center, while deflecting questions about Angel.  "I haven't seen him yet," he said.  Someone probed, " I heard he can do nine pirouettes!"  There were aahs and whistles.  "I haven't seen him yet," said Chapman munching a big enough bite so that he could not talk.

We all soon learned that oh, Angel was so much more than nine pirouettes.  A generous performer, eager to please, eager to surpass your expectations, Angel has always been the dancer who dares you not to fall head-over-heels in love with whatever he is dancing.  He has maintained that infectious spirit during his 15-year career with ABT and now seems to be happily passing on that spirit to his young dancers in his own young company.

It looks like we're only going to get to see Angel dance twice with ABT during the Met season.  However, he will be performing with his own company when it takes up residence at City Center on March 17th.  He'll also be presenting his first choreographic effort.  The green beer will wait, people.  Let's have a massive and vocal turnout for opening night.

Big Steps

It’s good to see that Herman Cornejo is finally getting the chance to dance Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake.  Who’s giving him that chance?  Not Kevin McKenzie. 

Angel Corella’s new El Lago De Los Cisnes, a Petipa/Ivanov based production with Corella’s own adaptations, will debut for his company, Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon, during the last week of February in Spain.  Cornejo, a principal with that company, will dance the premiere with principal Adiarys Almeida.  Here’s an art photo of the two by Manuel los de Galanes taken from the company’s website. 




Come to think of it, Cornejo’s most frequent partner at ABT, Xiomara Reyes, does not dance Swan Lake with ABT  even though she has experience dancing Odette/Odile with the Royal Ballet of Flanders.

So who is getting the opportunity to develop a Prince Siegfried this year?  soloist Cory Stearns:  someone who has never been tested with the Swan Lake Pas de Trois; someone whose Von Rothbart is under-developed and peters out at the end.  When the company takes Swan Lake to Chicago in April, Chicagoans will be denied the opportunity to see one of the most magnificent Siegfrieds in the company, David Hallberg, while they are served up two helpings of Cory Stearns.  Hope they appreciate that.

*          *          *

It’s good to see that Sascha Radetsky is finally getting the chance to dance Basilio in Don Quixote.  Who’s giving him that chance?  Not Kevin McKenzie.

Radetsky has returned to the Dutch National Ballet, where he spent last season as Principal, to dance the role of Basilio in Alexei Ratmansky’s Don Quixote for three performances.  During the fall, he partnered Paloma Herrera  in the Don Q. PdD in Singapore.  Unfortunately, his progress in ABT’s Don Q. seems to have rolled to a stop with his fiery, cape-snapping Espada.  Here is Fabrizzio Ferri’s image:

So who is getting the opportunity to develop a Basilio this year?  soloist Cory Stearns:  someone who has never danced Espada; someone who was supposed to debut his Basilio in China during ABT‘s fall tour but had to withdraw suddenly due to illness or ill-preparedness or both.  Two other principals and two soloists had to step in to save the day. 

You gotta wonder.  You just gotta wonder.