Haglund's Heel

New SAB documentary series

We're looking forward to On Pointe that begins streaming on December 18th on Disney+. Director Ron Howard has captured some compelling footage for the official trailer. 

The best line in this trailer comes from the mom of a Nutcracker kid. She observes with resignation, "I looked at that calendar. It's about to get real."

 

observations 11/24

Folks, we've got something for everyone to do Wednesday night. The Royal Danish Ballet will live-stream its sold out premiere of Hubbe's third crack at La Sylphide. Never dull and always danced impeccably, the Royal Danish Ballet's La Sylphide will  leave us so full that we won't care about tackling the turkey the next day.

https://kglteater.dk/xtra/forestillinger/forestilling-sylfiden/

https://kglteater.dk/en/whats-on/season-20202021/ballet/la-sylphide/

https://m.facebook.com/events/3702134356486177?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A%223%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&aref=3

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Hate to have to say it, but oy, with the exception of one piece, what an embarrassment ABT dealt itself last night in proclaiming what its future will look like. ABT Today: The Future Starts Now is still available for viewing on YouTube.

 

Here we go again - dancers wanting to make the dances all about themselves and wanting to feel good about what they are doing. It’s the Me Forever movement, the Me in the Center of It All movement, the How Me Feels Is What’s Most Important movement, and the Me is Bigger than the Dance movement.

 

Touché by Christopher Rudd zeroed in on the problem with its pandering to the hyper sexual angst & exhibiting of Calvin Royal and João Menegussi. The goal wasn’t just to normalize gay sex, but to normalize public sex. You know, give the ballet audience the staged soft porn that they might watch on Netflix. Close-ups of hands going for crotches seemed to be the new advanced ballet technique. The requirement of a ballet master who drills dancers on technique has been replaced by the intimacy coach — yes, folks, intimacy coach Sarah Lozoff was hired to help the dancers convey their sexuality on stage. Oy, what would Tudor say...

 

How often in classical ballet have we seen a woman reach for a man’s balls? How often in a classical ballet have we seen a man sexually reach for a woman’s crotch? We can recall that absurd moment in Liam Scarlett’s pathetic choreography where Whiteside bounced Copeland’s tits up and down. That served ABT well, didn’t it? Time-honored classical ballet treats intimacy and sexuality through its technical vocabulary, not through the 21st century vernacular. Rudd’s creation held nothing of value in terms of ballet. Just like intimacy is a euphemism for sex, his gymnastic-like manipulative choreography was a euphemism for and a mis-characterization of ballet.

 

The most embarrassing part of the program, however, was Pam Tanowitz’s film DAVID. Hallberg finally tipped the balance from having a stage-made career to a media-made career. For years, he has offered little in the way of stirring stage performances. Yet, he has not been able to tear himself away from the public’s presumed admiration. He came to everyone’s attention early in his career by way of pristine, beautiful work in classical ballets and valid interpretations of time-tested, time-honored choreographies such as Jooss’ masterpiece of German Expressionism, The Green Table. But injuries and the advance of time made it all too much of a challenge to continue. His bet that the public would love him as much if he would simply point his lovely feet in their faces and wave his long arms seems to have paid off, if not with a win or place, but with a show. Thankfully, Haglund has strong memories of Hallberg’s performances in Theme and Variations opposite Michelle Wiles and Gillian Murphy when the dancing was tough but glorious.

 

Indestructible Light by Darrell Grand Moultrie offered Dancing With The Stars choreography that would never make it past the final cut. Fabulous Duke Ellington music makes for fun social dancing in the club, but here it came off as a football game's “Half Time Show” where everyone was trying too hard to show that they were having a good time. 

 

The most watchable dance/film of the evening was Gemma Bond’s CONVIVIUM performed by Thomas Forster, Katherine Williams, Carlos Gonzales, and Breanne Granlund. The music by John Harbison employed violin, clarinet, and piano.  Unlike the other choreographers, Bond has a wide ballet vocabulary which she can use for sourcing her ideas. Interesting chains of movement, creative organization, and good use of the dancers’ individual talents all helped this chamber piece succeed. However, the ballet came across as being an excerpt of a much larger work. At the outset, we were shown deep dramatic expressions by the dancers without knowing what their deep concerns were. Whenever Katherine Williams throws a scowl on stage, it generally means something. Here, we weren’t given any clues as to why she was emoting. Ditto with Tom Forster at the beginning. Obviously something had occurred prior to our arrival at the ballet which caused him to be distressed, but we didn’t know what. Truthfully, we didn’t care; we were just happy to see him dancing.

 

We’ve been following around Carlos Gonzales for three years while waiting for McKenzie to notice his talent. He’s another one of those immediately-likeable Spaniards with blazing confidence and skill to back it up. In Bond’s piece, he was only one-quarter of the ensemble but he managed to catch our eye half of the time.

 

While we admired aspects of CONVIVIUM, we think it’s time for Bond to abandon her small chamber ideas and get to work on something big with much bolder music, a corps de ballet, quartets, trios, solos, and PdD. And why not?

 

 

observations 11/23

Meet Xiao Qi Ji (SHIAU-chi-ji).

After a month-long whirlwind campaign that included rolling around on his back, napping, squirming, barking, posing for the camera, and pestering his mama for a meal, the National Zoo's new panda cub finally won the name Xiao Qi Ji which means "little miracle." Nearly 135,000 votes were cast without incident. There have been no reports of voter fraud despite Rudy Giuliani's comments on Fox News this morning that there were piles of uncounted votes in the den under the straw. The bear won his name fair & square. The vote has been certified.

The Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai, standing next to official flags and a stuffed panda, welcomed the cub as the newest ambassador that will strengthen Chinese-American ties and develop cooperation between the nations.

It's a great day.

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Tonight at 7PM, ABT will present some new video works created in "bubble" settings during the pandemic. The Future Starts Now may not reveal more than what its stale, over-used cliched title promises, but we'll keep an opened mind, just for practice. Tune in tonight at 7PM at ABT's YouTube channel.

 

observations 11/14

From today's Google Doodles -- thanks to yukionna:

 

From Google:

GoogleDoodles

1.67M subscribers

 

In honor of Native American Heritage Month in the U.S., today’s video Doodle—created in partnership with Native American guest artists Lydia Cheshewalla, Chris Pappan, and Yatika Starr Fields— celebrates Maria Tallchief, member of the Osage Nation who was America’s first, major prima ballerina. Not only a trailblazer for Native American dancers, Tallchief is widely considered one of the country’s most influential ballerinas of all time. On this day in 2007, a bronze sculpture of Tallchief and four other Native American ballerinas was unveiled in Oklahoma at the Tulsa Historical Society in a piece titled “The Five Moons” by artist Gary Henson.

 

 

observations 11/11

Ticketmaster just threw a fast pitch on behalf of COVID vaccinations/testing everywhere. In order to be admitted to a performance, one will have to prove that one has been vaccinated or tested negative in the preceding 24 hours. Whose ever idea it was -- good work! Who's going to miss that U2 concert over a little pinch in the arm -- which, by the way, is far less invasive than the Q-tip lobotomy that we're stuck with at the moment.

Arms Out for the Arts, Everyone.

Stick Me for the Arts, please.

Needle Me for the Arts.

and on and on and on...

We're on our way, folks; it's just going to take a bit of time. Hang in there. Meanwhile, sign up to watch PA Ballet's digital season that begins tomorrow night.

And remember, if you're in New York, no more than 10 people gathering in private residences at one time, including on Thanksgiving Day - per the Gov today. And wear a mask. We have many choices this Thanksgiving:

 

 

 

 

observations 11/9

New Jersey Ballet's fall digital season will include a couple of stellar guest artists. Sarah Lane and Carlos Gonzalez will perform an excerpt from Paquita. NJ Ballet has been busy these past months ramping up efforts to present a season by outfitting its studio theater with equipment, state-of-the-art LED lighting, performance curtains, etc. in preparation for video production. We haven't heard about dates or platforms yet, but we'll keep an eye out for more info.

 

For the love of Pennsylvania

😘😘😘😘

Pennsylvania Ballet's 2020 Director's Choice Digital Season begins this Thursday, November 12. Available for viewing from 11/12 - 11/18 will be Nicolo Fonte's Ghost Stories to music by Ezio Bosso and Max Richter along with Andrea Miller's Evenings which is set to music by Arvo Pärt.

From 11/19 -11/25 viewers will enjoy Tilt by Helen Pickett to music by Philip Glass and Deco by Matthew Neenan to music by Stravinsky.

It's all free. All you have to do is register so that PA Ballet can send you the special links.

Let's do this for Pennsylvania. Let's do this for Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Allentown, Scranton, Stroudsburg, and Levittown.

Let's all visit Pennsylvania. Let's buy stuff made in Pennsylvania. Let's root for the Eagles, the Steelers, the Pirates, and the Phillies. We owe Pennsylvania big time. Let's not forget it.

⭐️

 

The Dance Index Project / ENB On Demand

These lovely complimentary back issues of Dance Index arrived yesterday along with information on how to subscribe to the Dance Index and how to purchase back issues. Check out this link: https://eakinspress.com/danceindex/

 

 

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English National Ballet launched its Ballet on Demand service today. One can rent titles such as Le Corsaire and La Sylphide for three day stints from around £5-7. A new digital season is upcoming (and yet to be priced) which will include five new premieres, among them Yuri Possokhov's Senseless Kindness, which is based on Vasily Grossman’s novel, Life and Fate, about a Russian family during the Second World War, and set to Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No1. This will be his first work for ENB. Haglund has enjoyed much of Possokhov's work especially RAkU and Classical Symphony.

 

 

observations 11/2

Doesn't tonight seem like a fusion of Christmas Eve and the Eve of the End of the World?

For New Yorkers voting tomorrow, here is a handy number:

Attorney General James' Election Protection Hotline:  800-771-7755 or email [email protected]

Also, the New York Civil Liberties Union will be standing by:  212-607-3300

A coalition of civil rights groups has an election protection hotline to report issues. The hotline is supported by the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the NAACP, the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, and the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights.

1-866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683)

1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (en Español)