Haglund's Heel

Vishneva as Madame X

Haglund would not make this up.

The Segerstrom Center for the Arts in LA  announced yesterday that Diana Vishneva will present a world premiere program November 3-6 entitled Madame X.  Marcelo Gomes will either be her Ricardo Montalban or John Forsythe - maybe both, you just never know.  Bernice Coppieters of Les Ballet de Monte Carlo and members of the Mariinsky will also star.

Murder, alcohol, blackmail, men-you-want-but-shouldn't-have, heartbreak, downfall – in short, perfect ballet material.

Stay tuned.

Madame X by John Singer Sargent

 

New Ratmansky Firebird for ABT

Sometimes wishes come true - just not in the order you want them. 

Back in November 2009, ABT teased its audience to design the 2011 season.  Haglund took it to heart here  and listed his 1-2 wishes as Mayerling and a new production of Stravinsky's Firebird that makes good dance-use of the final five-minute musical orgasm.

Well, we haven't gotten Mayerling YET (Come on, Lady MacMillan.  We truly, truly need your help on this!!!), but it seems that we will see a new Firebird by Alexei Ratmansky in 2012.  At least, that's what the local paper is reporting.  This is all assuming that Mr. Ratmansky doesn't burn out by then.  He has set an unimaginable pace for himself in choreographing new full length ballets.  He just finished ABT's Nutcracker.  Now he's in Moscow working on a new full-length ballet Lost Illusions with music by Leonid Desyatnikov for the Bolshoi.  Soon he'll be at The National Ballet of Canada working on a new full length Romeo and Juliet to Prokofiev.  Then comes the new ABT Firebird.  Throw in a few assignments for short pieces - like the one this spring for ABT at the Met, and you have a manufacturing and creative output rate that rivals Apple's.

But this is pretty exciting news.  Several years ago, many cried their eyes out when a planned production of Firebird had to be cancelled by ABT for bugetary reasons.  Can't wait to finally hear that big Stravinsky music in The Met.  How wonderful it would be if Mr. Ratmansky incorporated just an itsy-bitsy amount of the Fokine choreography into his version – otherwise, we may never see it performed again.  Odds are good that Mr. Franklin could help with the steps.

Bolshoi's Don Quixote live-stream presentation

This morning Haglund climbed aboard the M57 crosstown bus on Manhattan's West Side and road a few blocks to Moscow's Bolshoi Theater for a live (streamed) performance of Don Quixote.  The theater was packed; so was the cinema.  Thanks to the Ballet in Cinema effort by Emerging Pictures and the French company CielEcran, we were treated to spectacular live performances by Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev as Kitri and Basilio.  Everyone expected the spectacular from them and they didn't disappoint.  The surprise of the performance was how the character principals nearly stole the show. Kristina Karasyova as Mercedes, Andrei Merkuriev as Espada, Anna Leonova as A Street Dancer, and Anna Antropova as the Gypsy were like hot lava flowing through the streets of Barcelona melting everything in its path.  Mercedes' fan = sex toy.  Well, almost.  What exactly was her message when she completely bent over backwards and slapped that fan on the floor?!  Lordy, and on a Sunday morning no less. 

Osipova and Vasiliev were their own steam explosion.  Of the two, Vasiliev had the more "on" performance with easy multi-revolution pirouettes in which he changed body positions and wound down to a complete stop - finishing with a mischievous smile as if to say "I got you with that one."  Osipova's performance was her basic fill-in-the-superlative, superlative, superlative Kitri – the most athletic interpretation that Haglund has ever seen with legs and feet as sharp as a bull's horns.  In the Act II dream sequence, the arabesque line under the white tutu seemed to lack aesthetic but the top half was lovely.   Together in the grand pas Osipova and Vasiliev were dancing as one, reading each other's moves, finishing each other's sentences – truly harmonious in every way.  Vasiliev may be short, but he has paws the size of a bear and he pressed Osipova into one handed lifts like she was light as air.

The corps de ballet was just fabulous in the character scenes and especially in the dream scene where lines were stunning, everyone was together, and all had beautiful unstressed expressions on their faces. 

Haglund's only complaint about the performance was the camera director's tendency to zoom in on faces while we missed the overall formations and actions on the whole stage.  Zooming in meant that when the action did start, parts were blurred – which kind of made Haglund a little queasy after a while and irritable about what he was missing.  The camera work was the worst of the three Bolshoi live-streams produced thus far by CielEcran.  It would be better to see the entire scope of the stage from about 12 rows back in the orchestra with minimal zooming in.

Crummy camera work aside, this presentation was a great treat.  There wasn't an empty seat in the cinema.  Seating was very democratic.  It didn't matter who you were - if you didn't get there early, you didn't get to pick your favorite seat.  Political favors and media clout got you nowhere.  This isn't Russia, you know.

So, thanks to the Bolshoi for such a spectacular performance from everyone.  Haglund doesn't want to leave out Anastasia Stashkevich as Cupid, Yekaterina Shipulina as Queen of the Dryads, Alexander Petukhov as Sancho Panza, Olga Kishnyova and Victoria Osipova as Kitri's friends, and Alexei Loparevich as Don Quixote – all of whom gave wonderful performances.  But the Haglund's Heel Bump Pump Award, this black lacy little character pump from Christian Louboutin, must be bestowed upon Kristina Karasyova for her steam-filled portrayal of Mercedes:

 

Erik Bruhn Prize Competition this weekend

Next week would have been the 56th birthday of Fernando Bujones, who died in 2005 of lung cancer at the age of 50.  His potentially most significant protege, Joseph Gorak, is about to compete for the Erik Bruhn Prize in Canada this weekend.  The National Ballet of Canada which hosts the competition has made a point of noting that this year commemorates the 25th anniversary of the death of the prize's namesake.  Bruhn also died of lung cancer, at the age of 57.  He and Bujones danced many of the same roles while with American Ballet Theatre, but Bruhn was closing out his career just as Bujones was asserting his brilliance, and their paths hardly had time to cross.  Each danseur was known for distinct and uncompromising clarity in technique and each excelled in allegro-intense ballets such as La Sylphide where the demands of the technique could not be allowed to over-shadow the delicacy of the story.

When Gorak was 14, he joined the trainee program at the Orlando Ballet which was directed by Bujones and shortly thereafter became a member of the company.  In a sequence of the documentary, The Extraordinary Journey of Fernando Bujones, the very young Gorak can be seen intensely focused on the barre work during class under the watchful eye of Bujones. 

Since joining ABT's corps de ballet about a year ago, after having served a year apprenticeship plus a couple of years in ABT II, Gorak has distinguished himself by executing the corps choreography with uncompromising clarity and precision - so exacting in the smallest details that one couldn't help but notice that without showing off and without straying off the mark, he was just doing the steps better than everyone else.  Not differently, just better.  Also noticeable was the light in his face when performing and his alertness to what everyone around him was doing - not unlike Angel Corella who seems to be able to engage every last dancer on the crowded stage in a production like Don Quixote.  Last year in Lady of the Camellias and later in The Nutcracker, Gorak was entrusted with a few steps outside of the regular corps work and he made them quite memorable.  The enormous talent and intensity in this young man are apparent and exciting.

This weekend, Gorak and his partner, the beautiful and talented Christine Shevchenko whose grace reminds one of Julie Kent - an Erik Bruhn Prize winner in 1993 - will perform a PdD from La Sylphide in the competition.  Whether either is awarded a prize won't really matter much in the grand scheme of things.  We already know some of what the future holds for them.

 

Guggenheim Works & ProcessRoyal Danish Ballet – Live-Stream Event

Haglund wants to get this posted right away so that The New York Times dance writers won't be disappointed when they come trampling over his blog looking for something to write about. 

Bad news:  The March 20th and 21st Guggenheim Works & Process presentations of the Royal Danish Ballet are sold out.

Good news:  The event will be LIVE-STREAMED on the Guggenheim Works & Process website on both dates.

At 7:30 pm (Eastern Time U.S.) on Sunday, March 20th and/or Monday, March 21st, please click on this link to join the audience from the comfort of your own couch with your own wine and your own sizable sandwich:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/worksandprocess

This is going to be jam-packed with dance.  The Works & Process folks sent Haglund the following program rundown:

PANEL
Nikolaj Hübbe
John Meehan
 
CAST
Susanne Grinder (Principal)
Gudrun Bojesen (Principal)
Amy Watson (Principal)
Kizzy Matiakis (Soloist)
 
Jean-Lucien Massot (Principal)
Thomas Lund (Principal)
Ulrik Birkkjær (Principal)
Nikolaj Hansen (Soloist)
Alban Lendorf (Soloist)
Alexander Stæger (Soloist)
 
PROGRAM
Excerpts from Bournonville Variations
Music: Bournonville schools arranged by Martin Åkerwall
Danced by Alban Lendorf, Ulrik Birkkjær, Thomas Lund, Nicolai Hansen, Alexander Stæger
 
Excerpts from Lost on Slow
Music: Antonio Vivaldi
Choreography: Jorma Elo
Costumes: Annette Nørgaard
 
2nd movement
Danced by Kizzy Matiakis, Amy Watson, Jean-Lucien Massot
 
4th movement
Danced by Jean-Lucien Massot
 
The Jockey Dance
Music: C. C. Møller
Choreography: August Bournonville
Costumes: Jens-Jacob Worsaae
Danced by Thomas Lund, Alban Lendorf
 
Excerpts from A Folktale
Music: N. W. Gade, J. P. E. Hartmann
Choreography: August Bournonville
Pas de sept
Danced by Gudrun Bojesen, Susanne Grinder, Kizzy Matiakis, Amy Watson
Ulrik Birkkjær, Nicolai Hansen, Alexander Stæger
 
Excerpts from La Sylphide
Music: H. S. Løvenskiold
Choreography: August Bournonville
Costumes: Mikael Melbye
 
The Window Scene
Gudrun Bojesen, Ulrik Birkkjær
 
The Death Scene
Gudrun Bojesen, Ulrik Birkkjær
 
Excerpts from Napoli
Music: E. Helsted, H. C. Lumbye, H. S. Paulli, Ole Bull
Choreography: Nikolaj Hübbe
Costumes: Maja Ravn
 
Pas de Deux from 1.act
Susanne Grinder, Alexander Stæger
 
The Tarantella
All

There will be an opportunity for online viewers to Tweet with one another during the program @worksandprocess.  The March 20th Chat Moderator will be NYCB's Ashley Bouder, and the March 21st Moderator will be Candace Thompson of The Winger and DIY Dancer.

Don't miss this great program.

ABT casting for Moscow

Haglund has searched out a little info on ABT's upcoming trip to Moscow (March 29-31).  First, it appears that Stella Abrera is off the disabled list and back in the regular starting line-up for the Tuesday and Thursday performances of Ratmansky's Seven Sonatas - a promising sign for the spring season at the Met.  Moscow will love her.  Muscovites will also be treated to Sarah Lane and Herman Cornejo in Theme and Variations on Thursday, and Isabella Boylston and David Hallberg on Wednesday.

Benjamin Millepied's new one-act ballet, which was commissioned as a dedication to Mstislav Rostropovich, is entitled Troika.  It is set to selections from Bach's Suite for Solo Cello No. 2 in D Minor and Suite for Solo Cello No. 3 in C Major.  Costumes are by Paul Cox and lighting by Brad Fields.  The World Premiere cast on Tuesday, March 29th will feature Daniil Simkin, Sascha Radetsky, and Alexandre Hammoudi who will also dance the piece on Thursday.  The Wednesday performance will feature Blaine Hoven, Jared Matthews, and Tom Forster.  The cellist will be Alexander Knayazev who played under the baton of Rostropovich during his career.