Haglund's Heel

observations 4/29

Mariinsky TV is currently running it's Petipa Gala from 2018. On Thursday, it will present a 2016 performance of Giselle with Diana Vishneva and Mathieu Ganio, guest from Paris Opera Ballet.

Right now:

Marking 200 years since the birth of Marius Petipa. Gala Concert

The Seasons
one-act ballet

Music by Alexander Glazunov
Choreography by Konstantin Keikhel
Musical Director: Valery Gergiev
Designer: Sergey Illarionov
Lighting Designer: Konstantin Binkin
Video Designer: Maria Feodoridi, Maxim Malovichko
Librettist: Natalia Chumina

Performers:
Yekaterina Chebykina and Roman Belyakov

II act from the ballet A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Music by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Choreography by George Balanchine
Production Design by Luisa Spinatelli
Lighting Design by Sergei Lukin

Performers:
Titania: Anastasia Kolegova
Oberon: David Zaleyev
Puck: Vasily Tkachenko
Helena: Zlata Yalinich
Hermia: Yana Selina
Lysander: Yuri Smekalov
Demetrius: Alexander Romanchikov
Hippolyta: Anastasia Matvienko
Theseus: Vitaly Amelishko
Pas de deux: Oxana Skorik and Konstantin Zverev
Soprano: Lyudmila Dudinova

III act from the ballet The Sleeping Beauty
Music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Choreography by Marius Petipa (1890)
Set design by Matvei Shishkov
Costumes by Ivan Vsevolozhsky
Musical Director: Valery Gergiev
Choreography staged by Sergei Vikharev

Performers:
Princess Aurora: Alina Somova
Prince Désiré: Xander Parish
The Lilac Fairy: Ekaterina Kondaurova
The Diamond Fairy: Valeria Martynyuk
Carabosse the Wicked Fairy: Islom Baimuradov
Princess Florine: Maria Shirinkina
Bluebird: Alexei Timofeyev

Mariinsky Orchestra
Conductor: Valery Gergiev

© 2018 Mariinsky Theatre • Telmondis • Mezzo

 

On Thursday:

Adolphe Adam

Giselle

fantasy ballet in two acts
Libretto by Vernoy de Saint-Georges, Théophile Gautier and Jean Coralli
Choreography by Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa

Giselle: Diana Vishneva
Count Albrecht: Mathieu Ganio (Opéra de Paris)
Hans: Igor Kolb
Myrtha: Yekaterina Ivannikova
Classical duet: Renata Shakirova and Philipp Stepin

Mariinsky Orchestra
Conductor: Valery Ovsyanikov

© 2016 Mariinsky Theatre • Telmondis • Mezzo

 

 

observations 4/24

Coming up on Saturday on Mariinsky TV –– Sleeping Beauty!!

Princess Aurora: Alina Somova
Prince Désiré: Vladimir Shklyarov
The Lilac Fairy: Kristina Shapran
The Diamond Fairy: Sofia Ivanova-Skoblikova
Carabosse the Wicked Fairy: Igor Kolb
Princess Florine: Oxana Skorik
Bluebird: Alexei Timofeyev

 

 

NYCB Digital Spring Season

Coming up from NYCB on their website, YouTube channel, and Facebook page:

April 21 8PM -- Allegro Brilliante w/Tiler Peck and Andrew Veyette filmed on January 18, 2017

April 24 8PM -- Rotunda (Justin Peck) w/Sara Mearns, Miriam Miller, Sara Adams, Claire Kretzschmar, Brittany Pollack, Unity Phelan, Gonzalo Garcia, Andrew Scordato, Adrian Danchig-Waring, Daniel Ulbricht, Jovani Furlan, Gilbert Bolden III filmed on February 26, 2020

April 28 8PM -- Apollo w/ Taylor Stanley, Tiler Peck, Brittany Pollack, and Indiana Woodward filmed on January 22, 2019

May 1 8PM -- Ballo Della Regina w/Megan Fairchild and Anthony Huxley filmed on May 12, 2016; After the Rain w/Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall  filmed on May 12, 2016

Each performance will be available online for 72 hours. NYCB intends to present performance videos each Tuesday and Friday for six weeks.

Other podcasts and Instagram programing described here.

Hopefully this is a first, though very small step toward NYCB acquiring full use rights to its corporate product. The near-disaster of the recent 25th Anniversary Disney on Broadway stream in which a musicians' union tried to derail re-streaming of the benefit concert raised public anti-union sentiment considerably. It's past time for the unions to get out of the way when it comes to digital rights. Some NYCB dancers are currently giving digital classes wherein they teach and espouse Balanchine Technique. Are these dancers paying anything to the Balanchine Foundation or SAB or NYCB for permission to offer that technique and those exercises to students online? It's doubtful.

More than a few of the dancers live in a style that many of their ticketbuying fans could only dream about. Some dancers make so much money that they won't even qualify for a stimulus check and continue drawing their NYCB wages and benefits during New York on Pause. So when we hear cries of poor from the big dance world in New York during this particular crisis, let's put it into perspective. Where is the real need right now?

https://www.foodbanknyc.org/donate/

https://www.cityharvest.org/

https://www.newyorkcares.org/ways-to-give

Stay safe.

observations 4/17

In a few hours, life will get immeasurably worse – if you are Gregor Samsa.

The Royal Ballet will stream on its website the acclaimed Arthur Pita choreographed production of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis starring Edward Watson. We saw this at the Joyce Theater about seven years ago and were gobsmacked by its brilliance.  This theatrical performance will stick in your mind like molasses under the fingernails. Trust us.

7:00pm BST (2:00pm EDT) on the Royal Ballet's website.

 

observations 4/13

Mariinsky TV's generous offering for Tuesday 4/14:

 

April 14th Tuesday

19:00-21:00

Boris Asafiev The Fountain of Bakhchisarai choreographic poem in four acts with prologue and epilogue Music by Boris Asafiev Libretto by Nikolai Volkov based on the poem by Alexander Pushkin Choreography by Rostislav Zakharov (1934) Set and costume design: Valentina Khodasevich  Conductor: Boris Gruzin Prince Adam: Andrei Yakovlev Maria: Anastasia Matvienko Vaslav: Xander Parish Ghirei: Roman Belyakov Zarema: Viktoria Tereshkina Nurali: Grigory Popov © 2017 Mariinsky Theatre • Telmondis • Mezzo

Happy Easter

Stay home. Block the door for those who try to go out.

Stay focused. Stay safe.

 

 

 

observation 4/11

The Stuttgart's Mayerling is available on their website and on YouTube right now for a limited time only.  It is Kenneth MacMillan at his most brilliant and perhaps 20th century theater ballet as well.

 

 

observations 4/9

Estonian National Ballet will stream its 2017 performance of the Eduard Tubin/Marina Kesler ballet, “The Goblin” on the opera's Facebook page for free on Saturday, April 11th. It will remain on the Facebook page for a week for everyone to watch for free. There is some confusion as to the time of the initial broadcast. The FB page says noon, but a media announcement said 7pm. Estonia time is GMT +3.

Also on the company's FB page is a preserved video of company class from World Ballet Day with Jared Matthews teaching and Linnar Looris providing color commentary in both Estonian and English. The class content is very David Howard-ish -- not a bad thing at all.

 

observations 4/8

Miami City Ballet's costume department is also making face masks for hospital workers. (Tulsa Ballet was the first). Meanwhile, ABT has postponed its gala by five months. Their suggestion: Instead of buying a new dress or tuxedo, give to the ballet. Let's all jump on Zoom and have a virtual vomit.

Mariinsky TV is running Lavrovsky's Romeo and Juliet (premiere 1940) today. Three different Romeos and Juliets will dance as will two different Tybalts and Mercutios.

 

Nina comes through

Ballet companies across the globe -- except for New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre -- are digging into their archives to bring out videos of past performances to share with the deeply isolated world. All of the videos are not necessarily high quality, but they can be appreciated none the less.

Yesterday's transmission by the Bolshoi Ballet of the premiere performance of Marco Spada provided an incredible lift. It is still available on the Bolshoi's YouTube channel.  This brilliant production with choreography, costumes, and scenery all by the genius Pierre Lacotte of the Paris Opera Ballet is one of the most outstanding new productions in this century. Created in 2014 with Hallberg, Obraztsova, Chudin, Smirnova, Tsvirko, it was originally livestreamed in cinemas worldwide. The Bolshoi has exclusive rights to it for seven years which will conclude some time next year. (We forget where we read that, though.) How great it would be to see this brilliant choreography on the Met stage.

Meanwhile, Nina Ananiashvili's State Ballet of  Georgia has just uploaded to YouTube a video of Nina's Farewell Performance of Don Quixote in 2008. Those of us who remember well Nina's performances of Kitri will see plenty of glimmer of greatness from the old days in this ballerina's performance at age 45. Who else but Nina could manage several tutu changes in the final act and four Basilios...

"N-i-i-na Assol-u-u-ta! N-i-i-na Assol-u-u-ta!" Did you hear it from the left side orchestra at the Met? There was a reason.