When the Paul Taylor Dance Company celebrates its 60th anniversary with The Diamond Gala on Thursday, March 13, 2014 at Lincoln Center, the program will include Cloven Kingdom, Sunset, Piazzolla Caldera, and an excerpt from Airs danced by NYCB's Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild. Here is a brief YouTube clip of these two dancers performing Airs at the Vail Dance Festival over the summer. Tickets to all PTDC performances at Lincoln Center are on sale right now! A 25% discount on multiple shows is in play. Black Tuesday, Esplanade, and those over-heated bugs from Gossamer Gallants should not be missed.
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Speaking of bugs, the very sticky Gregor Samsa will be creeping and crawling around the Joyce Theater for 13 days beginning tomorrow when the Royal Ballet's Edward Watson opens in Metamorphosis, the Kafka-based choreographic creation of Arthur Pita. To celebrate the occasion, the Rocking Horse Cafe across the street will be serving up Bugs on a Pita. Free. Various sauces, extra. No, not reallllly.
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Edward Villella has choreographed an ice skating ballet for Ice Theatre of New York's performances at Chelsea Piers on October 24, 25, and 26. The Gala on October 25th will honor legendary skater Kurt Browning and his lovely wife, the National Ballet of Canada ballerina Sonia Rodriguez. More info here. After the show, you might want to swing by the Chelsea Piers Golf Club's driving range which is on the next pier and smack a few balls. The range is open for business until 11pm.
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The Joffrey Ballet has received a $500,000 challenge grant from the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation for the sole purpose of launching an endowment for the creation, production, and performance of FULL-LENGTH STORY BALLETS. Wow, that puts in high gear an engine that has been slowly but steadily revving up for the past decade or so as the Joffrey acquired more story ballets – Cinderella, The Merry Widow, Romeo and Juliet – to go with its rich repertoire of original and ecclectic works.
You know, the Joffrey Ballet could find itself once again on the cover of Time Magazine and on the covers of a lot of other magazines if it mounted the first U.S. production of Kenneth MacMillan's Mayerling. The company would do a phenomenal job. It's in their genes to do that type of work, and they have a long history of doing things first in ballet. Joffrey should seduce Edward Watson to bring his special creepy brand of Crown Prince Rudolf to the Chicago stage. The city would eat it up. Too bad Nureyev was already 40-years-old when MacMillan created his masterpiece. Rudy probably would have loved to put his own mark on that bad-boy crown prince and would be honored to have a grant in his name support the production. Haglund would take a whole truckload of folks from New York to Chicago to see Mayerling if the Joffrey presented it. Better yet, Joffrey should bring it to Lincoln Center.
If we wish for it, it will come. Mayerling.
But I want Marcelo to dance it...
Going off-tangent, is there a ballet based on Twelfth Night? I just watched 'The Bright Stream' on youtube, and all that cross-dressing made me wish for a Viola and Olivia pas de deux.
Posted by: Kit | September 17, 2013 at 12:05 AM
Kit, I want to see Marcelo dance it, too, but ABT's director doesn't have the balls or artistic ability to present MacMillan's masterpiece on the New York stage. So, unless some other company invites Marcelo to dance the role of Crown Prince Rudolf, we are not likely to ever see him in it.
Twelfth Night -- yes, Boris Eifman choreographed it. Here's a link to an entire film of it from 1986. Very, very creative. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GABbgR4KFFA
Posted by: Haglund | September 17, 2013 at 08:40 AM
Joffrey director Ashley Wheater is doing a terrific job for his dancers and the Joffrey ballet and he has exemplary taste.
Posted by: J | September 17, 2013 at 07:26 PM
Royal Ballet, *please* ask dear Marcelo to dance Rudolf...
Haglund, thanks for the link!
Posted by: Kit | September 17, 2013 at 08:19 PM
Laff of the day:
"All Martins is no crime."
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/arts/dance/new-york-city-ballet-at-the-david-h-koch-theater.html?smid=tw-nytimesarts&seid=auto
Posted by: Diana | September 18, 2013 at 11:53 AM
Hi, J.
I just observed that the Joffrey is about to premiere Stanton Welch's La Bayadere. The new half million dollar grant for full length story ballets is going to have a huge impact on the company and quite possibly a huge impact on ballet in this country. For the longest time, Chicago had trouble supporting even a bare bones ballet company. Now look. People could soon be truthfully saying that the Joffrey is America's National Ballet Company.
Posted by: Haglund | September 19, 2013 at 08:23 AM
Haglund,
I think I told you, I love story ballets, whether full length or one act. I think all choreographers should be encouraged to start out telling stories, if only for the discipline. The obsession with abstract ballets has become tiresome and encourages artistic narcissism. I hope you are right.
Posted by: Diana | September 19, 2013 at 12:00 PM
PS another asset that Joffrey has is its repertoire of Massine and Nijinska ballets. Bring 'em on. I love Balanchine but enough is enough.
Posted by: Diana | September 19, 2013 at 12:01 PM