observations 7/10

Tonight at 8pm Lincoln Center at Home begins streaming its wonderful staged production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel with the New York Philharmonic. The performance features dancers Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild and stars Kelli O'Hara, Nathan Gunn, Stephanie Blythe, Jessie Mueller and Kate Burton. The dancers are, of course, superb but, honestly, Stephanie Blythe steals the show as Nettie singing You'll Never Walk Alone.

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SAB's Workshop digital performance continues until Monday July 13th at 7pm.

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Only $13 on Etsy.

Comments

[yukionna]

Also, MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet starring Matthew Ball and Yasmine Naghdi.

[CAH]

See the extensive streaming listings under Haglund’s July 1 and July 8 posts.

Below are new additional listings posted today:

Ballet Arizona and the Phoenix Symphony will stream one act from their production of Napoli, on three successive Sundays, July 12, 19th, and 26th. Presumably, each of these will be available for 24 hours only, as in the past. Each of these will be posted on the Phoenix Symphony’s YouTube page.

Jacobs Pillow – Virtual Festival – free streaming but ticket needed to participate
https://www.jacobspillow.org/calendar/

11 Biographical Dance Documentaries to Stream
From Misty Copeland to Margot Fonteyn, from Bob Fosse to Pina—the lives of the men and women who created your favorite dance pieces are just as dramatic and riveting as anything they choreographed or performed.

A Ballerina’s Tale
 - Ballet superstar Misty Copeland offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it's like to be the American Ballet Theatre’s first African-American principal dancer. From her discovery of dance at age 13 to her impact today, this documentary explores Copeland’s effect on the classical world of dance and its growing acceptance of those who don’t fit the traditional mold.

Ballet Now
 - Hulu’s documentary follows Tiler Peck as she curates a Ballet NOW program from The Music Center, becoming the first woman asked to do so. Watch as, within a week, NYCB veteran Peck draws from ballet, tap, hip-hop, and clownery to produce the event.

Bob Fosse: It's Showtime!
Take an in-depth journey through the life of famed Broadway choreographer Bob Fosse. His angular, sultry, and stylish dance moves changed the world of musicals both on stage and on the screen. Now, his life and lasting impact are shared in this documentary.

Bobbi Jene - 
The winner of Best Feature, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing from the Tribeca Film Festival’s 2017 Documentary Competition, the doc tells the story of dancer Jene, a dance superstar in Israel who decides to leave the world-renowned Batsheva Dance Company to return to the U.S. and create her own work.

Cunningham
 - The late choreographer Merce Cunningham takes center stage in this 2019 film. The Alla Kovgan-helmed documentary features never-before-seen archival footage of Cunningham interviews, as well as site-specific recreations of some of his most famous dance pieces.

Dancer
 - At 13, Sergei Polunin joined London’s prestigious Royal Ballet. Seven years later, the dancer became the company’s youngest principal in its history—but celebrity and self-destruction almost ruined Polunin’s career. Now, the star looks back on his greatest performances and how the life of a dancer can be so all-consuming that it threatens the love of dance itself.

Dancing Across Borders - 
On a trip to Cambodia, director Anne Bass met dancer Sokvannara Sar, who was brought the American stage in 2000. The documentary chronicles Sar’s development as a dancer and brings into focus the cross-cultural questions of the dance world.

Margot - 
Follow the journey of Margot Fonteyn, one of the greatest ballerinas of her generation. Released almost 15 years after her death, the film captures the success and tribulations of the dancer, including her marriage to Panamanian revolutionary Roberto "Tito" Arias, her late-career partnership with Rudolf Nureyev, and her retirement at the age of 60.

Pina
 - Wim Wenders creates this tribute to Pina Bausch, the German performer and choreographer and stalwart of modern dance. The documentary features members of Bausch’s company performing the pioneer’s works in unconventional and visually stunning locales.

Reset
 - Reset follows Benjamin Millepied as he prepares for his first gala as artistic director at Paris Opera Ballet (a position he held October 2014–February 2016). Prior to his stint as the leader at the French company, he was a principal dancer at New York City Ballet and worked on the film Black Swan, where he met his wife, Natalie Portman.

Restless Creature - 
Wendy Whelan broke records with a 30-year tenure at New York City Ballet. In her final years with the company, she formed Restless Creature, a collaborative project with choreographers Kyle Abraham, Joshua Beamish, Brian Brooks, and Alejandro Cerrudo—who each perform a duet with her in the program. The documentary of the same name follows the formation of this piece, including sustaining and recovering from injury and hip surgery.

UPDATED PROGRAM: Great Ballerinas meet Great Ballerinas
 
All virtual Studio 5 events will be streamed for one week on City Center’s YouTube channel.
Studio 5 | Great American Ballerinas is part of City Center’s Live @ Home virtual programming and includes
the following events.

TILER PECK WITH MERRILL ASHLEY - Thu Jul 16 at 3pm - On view for seven days through Wed Jul 22 

In the first program of the series, New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck, famous for her prodigious technique and musicality, works with former NYCB star and ballet master Merrill Ashley. Ashley created numerous roles for George Balanchine and is credited with establishing unprecedented levels of technique in the 1970s and ‘80s. Together they will explore a selection of Balanchine solos with Ashley coaching Peck live. 

SARA MEARNS WITH NINA ANANIASHVILI - Thu Jul 30 at 12pm - On view for seven days through Wed Aug 5
NYCB principal dancer Sara Mearns has become known as one of America’s foremost interpreters of the dual role of Odette-Odile in Swan Lake. She explores this classic role live alongside Georgian ballerina Nina Ananiashvili—a former principal dancer with Bolshoi Ballet and ABT, among others, and widely known as “one of the twelve greatest ballerinas of all time”

TILER PECK WITH STEPHANIE SALAND - Wed Sep 16 at 5pm - On view for seven days through Tue Sep 22
NYCB principal dancer Tiler Peck works with former NYCB ballerina Stephanie Saland on the “green” solo from Jerome Robbins’s 1969 classic Dances at a Gathering. The only female solo in the hour-long quintessential piano ballet, Saland was coached in the role by Robbins himself who also choreographed a number of roles for her in the 1970s and ‘80s.

SARA MEARNS WITH PAM TANOWITZ - Wed Sep 23 at 5pm  - On view for seven days through Tue Sep 29
NYCB principal dancer Sara Mearns works with choreographer Pam Tanowitz to explore new solo material created for her. Both artists have extended their artistic range in recent years—Tanowitz revealing her distinct choreographic voice through a witty and inventive post-modern treatment of classical dance vocabulary and Mearns expanding her repertory to include works by modern dance pioneers Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham, among others.  



MISTY COPELAND WITH ALESSANDRA FERRI - Wed Sep 30 at 5pm - On view for seven days through Tue Oct 6
In the final program of the series, Misty Copeland, the first African American principal ballerina with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre, revisits Juliet’s solo scenes in Act Three of Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet to demonstrate how a ballerina continually refines her repertory, along with international ballet star and ABT principal dancer Alessandra Ferri.

[Haglund]

Thanks much, CAH!

How interesting it would be if Sara Mearns was able to actually get inside of a studio with Nina Ananiashvili to work on Swan Lake... That could be a very good match-up of artist and mentor.

[CAH]

New Streaming Listing:
Stuttgart Ballet
https://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/
Marcia Haydee's "Sleeping Beauty"
Thursday, July 16 thru Sunday, July 19

[Haglund]

Thanks much, CAH!

[CAH]

I am almost certain the Studio 5 Series that begins today will be held in the very large studio at City Center. It is large enough for the dancer/coach/pianist/camera person & A. Macaulay while maintaining more than acceptable social distancing.

[Haglund]

CAH, this is a "virtual" program. Tiler will be in California, Merrill will be in Florida, and Macaulay will be in London.

[CAH]

ok - thanks!