A month after Haglund first reported it on this blog, Freed of London has confirmed that Alessandra Ferri announced that she will come out of retirement to dance with the Royal Ballet in Wayne MacGregor's new full-length ballet based on Virginia Woolf's texts. The Royal Ballet has scheduled Woolf Works for eight performances during May 2015. Regardless of what ends up on the stage, this is going to be a whopping big event in London when this beloved artist returns to her first home. Whopping big.
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Another ABT guest artist has dropped into the Discount Dunk Tank with a big splash. If you really want to help ABT stab its own dancers in the back by playing into its sales pitch that anyone who comes from some place else is always better than the company's own dancers, here is your chance. Kevin Jackson's appearances in Manon on June 4th matinee and June 6th are now going for as low as $27 on Goldstar.com. There are other Manon performances with equally weak sales which are not on Goldstar, but ABT doesn't want the added embarrassment of having one of this year's newest imports recalled for a faulty ignition.
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The Royal New Zealand Ballet is not only losing its AD when Ethan Stiefel moves home to the U.S., but it is losing its longtime ballet mistress. After 28 years with RNZB in various capacities, Turid Refheim, is leaving. The RNZB's executive director hinted in an interview with The New Zealand Herald that applications for Stiefel's job have come from both America and Europe. But now it looks like they need both an AD and a ballet mistress. A short way across the Tasman Sea, the Australian Ballet also needs a replacement for its longtime and highly respected Associate Artistic Director, Danilo Radojevic, whose departure coincided with his wife's retirement from the company. Maybe this could turn into a Down Under version of the old-time sliding puzzle.
How well are the imports' shows selling compared to homegrown dancers' performances? I know Bolshoi is already anxious about upcoming Giselle not selling well. That's the word on the down low anyways. They've got people on board to make sure both DC and NYC engagements are not perceived as failures because it would be an embarrassment if Bolshoi doesn't sell out, it's the national company unlike Mariinsky with lower expectstions. By the way there's an interesting write-up in Washington Post yesterday about Mr. Filin.
I do feel sorry for RNZB, the AD position coming from outside the country, from Europe and US, has the feel of someone wanting the AD position but only using it as stepping stone to more lucrative and glamorous positions in Europe. But then again if someone with no company or school ties or experience running a company can land position as AD of oldest company The POB, then anything is possible so long as the person has right social connections.
Posted by: Genna | May 18, 2014 at 12:06 PM
I didn't mean to imply that there were no NZers as AD candidates; there may well be. There may be Australians interested, too. How lucky they would be to get Danilo Radojevic to come down from Sydney, if they could.
A quick look at the Met's site shows that neither Tereshkina/Shklyarov/Boylston nor Smirnova/Muntagirov/Seo are selling as well as Vishneva/Gomes/Murphy or Part/Whiteside/Abrera (although the Part performance is a weekend matinee; so perhaps, not a good comparison).
Posted by: Haglund | May 18, 2014 at 12:23 PM
I apologize as this is completely unrelated to this post, but I had to ask in case you had some insight. I read that Simone Messmer won't be returning to San Francisco Ballet? It is mentioned, but not elaborated on in this article: http://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Tribute-to-retiring-S-F-Ballet-s-Smith-and-5472328.php
Thanks in advance :)
Posted by: wr | May 18, 2014 at 02:43 PM
Hi, WR. Thanks for stopping by H.H.
I only know what you know, but I have my eyes and ears peeled for any new info. I hope Simone left SFB because she found a principal contract or a better opportunity somewhere or is coming back to NY -- or all three.
We'll just have to wait and see. She is an extraordinary and very gifted artist, that's for sure.
Simone, Jared, Yuriko, Sascha, Joe Phillips, Roddy Doble - all only recently have defected due to the lack of opportunity and the absurd, nonsensical promotion of much lesser talented and accomplished dancers - not to mention the imports of garbage. McKenzie has never appreciated the wealth of talent that has come through ABT's doors, and he has needlessly wasted dancers going back to the mid 1990s. It is all such a tragedy.
Posted by: Haglund | May 18, 2014 at 04:15 PM
Unlikely Danilo Radojevic will go for RNZB job as his wife Lucinda Dunn starts in January 2015 as director of the Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy and Sydney Youth Ballet - full time and in Sydney. Daughters are still very young.
Posted by: Anna | June 03, 2014 at 12:34 AM
Also I forgot to ask - are you going to see Kevin Jackson in Manon? :-D
Posted by: Anna | June 03, 2014 at 12:36 AM
Hi, Anna.
I had read about Lucinda's new position at the Pearson academy. But Danilo has to do something with his time, and he's still way too young not to be fully engaged in a challenging artistic endeavor. He will "draft high" in the professional ballet league where there are an unusual number of high-ranking director spots open.
At this time, it doesn't look like I'm going to make it to Kevin Jackson's Manon.
Posted by: Haglund | June 03, 2014 at 08:23 AM