Everyone has a dream

In a day and a half, the Royal New Zealand Ballet will premiere Liam Scarlett's brand new production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in Wellington. Tonia Looker will dance the role of Titania and will most likely sweep everyone into the dream and off their feet. She reminds us of Tina LeBlanc who was a magical Titania for the Joffrey Ballet a few decades ago. Richmond, Virginia native MacLean Hopper who attended the North Carolina School of the Arts will be Oberon.

Tracy Lord Grant has designed the costumes and sets, the latter of which include more than 4000 LED lights and over 2,000 metres of illuminated fibre optics cable to create this effect:

Here's a little promo that gives a glimpse of the costumes and movement:

 

Haglund was just thinking about how nice it would be to see Ashton's The Dream (with the old costumes and a new Titania named Stella) on a bill with Balanchine's Symphonie Concertante for ABT's spring season. Everyone would stay for the whole show and might even come back for second and third helpings. (We keep mentioning Balanchine's Symphonie Concertante because ABT is still using a photo of it on the LA Music Center's website to advertise it's July 2016 program out there without mentioning it by name. Buyer beware.)

Nobody who knows ballet wants to see that awful mis-Firebird again at the Met. Total misfire. And Seven Sonatas, as lovely as it is, isn't going to entice people to their seats, either, especially if ABT has already asked them that week to sit through all three individual ballets that make up the Shostakovich Trilogy. Yes, ABT loves Ratmansky - and the audience likes him, too - but please don't tank a week of rep just to demonstrate artistic loyalty.

Speaking of The Dream and that really funny scene with Hermia and Helena fighting, here's a clip – oh no, what a tragic mistake, sorry – this clip isn't from The Dream; it's from Ratmansky's The Golden Cockerel at the Royal Danish Ballet which will be presented this spring by ABT (see charming poem seven posts below.) We were just fooled by that Hermia-Helena look alike moment. The clip seems very Bright Streamish in places, but we will not allow ourselves to pre-judge. No, we won't. No siree Bob.

 

Comments

[Justanotherdancer]

Oh Haglund, thank you for mentioning Tina LeBlanc. She was my inspiration, I could watch her petit allégro all day long. I first saw her in Square Dance with SFB and had fallen in love with her precise pristine footwork, she is a great artist in her own right.

[Haglund]

Hi Justanotherdancer. Thanks for stopping by H.H. Yes, you're so right about Tina.

[Ellen Mason]

Haglund,

I think we need a mention of Glenn Edgerton's Oberon while we are at it. His was one of the finest I've ever seen, opposite the divine LeBlanc of course.

[Haglund]

Thanks much, Ellen!

[Georgiann]

Haglund,
Stella as Tatiana in Ashton's "The Dream" would be wonderful. She would be so lovely. That will be my birthday wish next week. (There will be a lot of candles, so maybe that will help!)

[Haglund]

Well, Happy Birthday to you, Georgiann. May all your wishes come true!

[Barbara R.]

On the PBS News Hour, they featured this clip on Miko Fogarty, about to join Birmingham Royal Ballet. If the name is familiar, you probably saw her in First Position, the documentary on the YAGP ballet competition for young dancers. I remember her brother Jules even more, since he was there only because his sister was committed (and their mother even more so). He provided a welcome element of humor among so many tense dancers.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/miko-fogarty-birmingham-ballet/

[Haglund]

Thanks much for the link, Barbara.

[SM]

I was quite surprised that in the feature on Miko Fogarty she mentioned race as some sort of excuse for not having a “ballerina body”, which quite frankly I see as a “code word” for any type of shortcomings (artistic, physical, technical). She is of European and Japanese descent. There are dancers from both ethnic groups (and many other ethnic groups for that matter) that have beautiful bodies ideally suited for classical ballet. By the same token, all ethnic groups have people that don’t have the bodies. If she feels she does not have a “ballerina body” then blame her parents. Like it or not, genetics plays a role in what you look like. Is this the future Haglund, that any shortcomings will be blamed on race? She says she had to work really hard because she is of European and Japanese heritage, but in the same breath she says that it’s a European art form. Is it the Japanese side that held back? (Tell that to Juriko Kajiya who is absolutely gorgeous). Believe me, there are plenty of European/Caucasian/White girls who do not make it as classical ballet dancers. What can they blame? I realize Miko is young, but this line of thinking is disturbing.

[Haglund]

SM, I think you hit on it when you said she was young - and perhaps not particularly wise when speaking to a media that sought her out while specifically looking for ways to report on an ethnicity/race-angle in ballet in a negative way - because it has gotten so much press courtesy of Misty Copeland's ongoing fictional account of her victimization. Miko is going to a company that has a high number of dancers with Asian backgrounds that span all levels. Using ethnicity as an excuse will not fly for very long where she is going.

To circle around closer to the original post, when Tina LeBlanc was rejected by ABT's training program because of her size, she didn't waste time making public excuses for herself. She simply went forward and made a brilliant career with the Joffrey and SFB.

[melponeme_k]

I'm just not feeling The Golden Cockerel. But I guess if Abrera is in the lead, I will give it a chance.

The casting for the Christmas Nutcracker was announced for CA. I was happy to see that Sarah Lane still has a lead in it. Lane, Gorak and Hammoudi(being groomed as Abrera's partner)are the only soloists in the bunch. I wish ABT hadn't left New York for the holiday season.

I enjoyed watching Miko Fogerty dance in First Position and her determination at so young an age. But I'm surprised she mentioned race in regards to her body shape. It just has nothing to do with race and I can see Copeland has opened a can of worms on this subject.

[Haglund]

And the first review of RNZB's new Midsummer Night's Dream is in and it's powerfully positive: http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/71315193/the-magic-never-lets-up-in-royal-nz-ballets-a-midsummer-nights-dream

The final PdD of Titania and Oberon "is sensual, beautiful, intoxicating."

Good to hear.

[Lisa Co]

Miko also mentioned Misty as a role model - because she doesn't have a ballet body but is now a principal. I have to say this all made me cringe. And from the segment it was pretty clear Miko now has a publicist (and doesn't everyone, lol). I hope this young gIrl gets more mature and less cynical in the ensuing years.

[Haglund]

Hi, Lisa.

Hopefully someone who Miko trusts will say "Stop making excuses for yourself and get on with the work."

Misty Copeland is not a positive role model for anyone. I often wonder if her "mentor" Susan Fales Hill would like her own young daughter to climb up on a piano and grind her bare ass in front of a man's camera. I wonder if ABT supporters like David and Julia Koch would like their young Julie to do the same or to pose nude for a photographer and then distribute the pictures to thousands of underage Instagram users. I wonder if Hill and the Kochs want their daughters lying about victimization and making excuses for themselves in order to beat out other, better individuals in their fields. I wonder if Hill and the Kochs want their daughters to be total ingrates to those who helped them and paved the way for them.

Misty Copeland, a role model? You've got to be kidding. Not in life and certainly not in ballet.