The Australian Ballet has announced that David Hallberg has been appointed as its first International Resident Guest Artist. He will perform in two seasons in the coming year. This is good news that makes us happy. Aside from his obvious gratitude to TAB and its medical team for managing his physical recovery, it seems that Hallberg has formed an attachment to the Tivoli Road Bakery in Melbourne.
In our opinion, Hallberg should be opening the week of Giselles at the Met during ABT's spring season this year. A Saturday night performance on a big holiday weekend when so many people, including wealthy donors, rush out of town for the first nice weather getaway, is going to make many people unhappy. Poor planning by ABT again.
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Maria Riccetto has been nominated for a Prix Benois de la Danse for her portrayal of Tatyana in Cranko's Onegin which was set on the Ballet Nacional Sodre by none other than Marcia Haydée. Best of luck to her. We miss seeing her on stage in New York.
Meanwhile, YAGP will be celebrating BNS Artistic Director Julio Bocca with its Legends of Dance series on April 14th at Lincoln Center. Maria will return to perform along with Marcelo Gomes, Luciana Paris, Joaquin De Luz, Tiler Peck, and others. Also, there will be appearances by Nina Ananiashvili, Manuel Legris, Cynthia Harvey, Susan Jaffe, and Julie Kent, among others.
Perhaps it would be sweet to have all the honorary Australians dancing Giselle: Gillian, for the first time with ABT; David, after his long, arduous recovery; and Stella, having shown her artistry and stamina by dancing 10 Sleeping Beautys in 30 days. Of course, that would not preclude David also dancing Albrecht on opening night of Giselle.
Posted by: Angelica Smith | February 20, 2017 at 08:18 PM
That's true, Angelica. All three of them have danced as principal guest artists with the Australian Ballet: Stella in Giselle, Gillian in La Bayadere, and Hallberg in Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, Coppelia, and possibly others. It seems to be a very wonderful place to go to obtain the type of nurturing that one can't obtain at home.
Posted by: Haglund | February 20, 2017 at 09:47 PM
I see Murphy and Hallberg are performing Giselle on the first night of Oman tour. Sarah Lane and Simkin on the final day, praise be. At least they get a warm-up for the Met performance. And, natch, the Celebrina's there too.
Posted by: deanna | March 01, 2017 at 12:49 PM
Yep, that's great news for Gillian/David and Sarah/Daniil. I'm sure that it will go well for them, and it will give Daniil a chance to work on the development of his character. I'm hoping for a lot more than eye squinting and face scrunching from him.
Meanwhile the celebrina has now managed to gobble up three Giselle performances in the spring when she shouldn't even have one. I doubt that anyone in Oman will realize there's anything amiss when she can't do the hops on pointe and ends up faking her way through them on demi-pointe. Hopefully, the spring casting will be rescued so that she won't be permitted to soil on Giselle at the Met.
Posted by: Haglund | March 01, 2017 at 01:13 PM