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The Australian Ballet has posted more Kate Longley photos of our Stella Abrera in rehearsal for her performances of Giselle on April 13th and 15th opposite AB principal Ty King-Wall. The Aussies say on their FB page that Stella "has been breaking our hearts even in rehearsal!"
It is madness to deny ABT's audiences this Giselle:
With coach Fiona Tonkin:
With Ty King-Wall:
Photos: Kate Longley
Newspaper record and AP photo of Dance Theatre of Harlem's Lydia Abarca and Ronald Perry in Swan Lake circa 1980:
Lydia Abarca was a treasure at DTH - light and lissome, a natural faun. Her and Perry's historical accomplishments should not be ignored for the benefit of an overly ambitious, aggressive ballerina-wannabe who doesn't have the grace that Abarca had in her little finger.
This evening The Australian Ballet kindly published on their social media this lovely photo by Kate Longley of our favorite Giselle's arabesque penche. They say she's "divine". Yup, we know it to be true.
Photo of Stella Abrera by Kate Longley
Stella Abrera will be Calliope to Roberto Bolle's Apollo with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall on November 27th, 28th and 29th in a program entitled Dudamel & Bolle. Devon Teuscher and Hee Seo will dance Polyhymnia and Terpsichore. Subscriptions go on sale April 7th, and single ticket sales begin on August 23rd.
Meanwhile, Down Under in Sydney – Come on H.H. Team 6 B.A.D, what's going on down there?!
West Siders in Manhattan are very excited about the anticipated takeover of the Whitney Museum of American Art from the East Side. Our new Whitney, another curious design by Italian starchitect Renzo Piano, opens on May 1st. It certainly looks better than the Pez Candy Dispenser that Piano designed for the new NYT headquarters, doesn't it?
The museum sits between the Hudson River and The High Line in Chelsea's Meatpacking District. It will include 50,000 square feet of indoor gallery space and 13,000 square feet of outdoor exhibition space that faces the High Line.
All of the construction workers get a free year's membership to the museum.
Next up for the West Side's development is our new Culture Shed which we reported about on the blog two years ago. Since then, excitement has picked up and there is even a Wikipedia entry for it. Foundation work is already underway, and full construction will begin very soon.
The new artistic director of the Culture Shed is Alex Poots. He is the Founding Artistic Director of the Manchester International Festival in the UK and the acting Artistic Director of the Park Avenue Armory here in Manhattan.
The Culture Shed has the beginnings of a website, and now is the time to bookmark it.