observations 12/16

Busy, busy week coming up. Consult your calendars daily.

✅ Tomorrow night, December 17th, marks the premiere performance of the online production company Live Arts Global which you can access at the YouTube channel through December 19th: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBmqDqr7kmEm_iwdKE_20Vg/featured . An idea spawned by Melanie Hamrick, Christine Shevchenko, and Joanna DeFelice, Live Arts Global is sure to help fill the artistic void as we await the reopening of our theaters. 

We're slightly confused by the Facebook info that shows the program will be available from tonight December 16 at 5PM Eastern through December 19th at 5PM; but this could make tonight's NYC Blizzard Watch all the more exciting! Here's the lineup:

The Nutcracker Grand Pas de deux 

Crystal Serrano & Aran Bell

Choreography / Lev Ivanov

Music / Tchaikovsky 

 

After The Rain 

Unity Phelan & Calvin Royal III

Choreography / Christopher Wheeldon

Music / Spiegel im Spiegel by Arvo Pärt

 

Romeo and Juliet Balcony Pas de deux 

Christine Shevchenko & Aran Bell 

Choreography / Kenneth Macmillan 

Music / Sergei Prokofiev 

 

On the Subject of Grace 

Antonio Douthit-Boyd & Kirven Douthit-Boyd

Choreography / Geoffrey Alexander

Music / Chopin No. 19 in E minor, Op 72, No.1

 

Flower Festival 

Sara Lane & Daniel Ulbricht

Choreography / August Bournonville

Music / Edvard Helsted 

 

Dying Swan 

Christine Shevchenko

Choreography / Michel Fokine

Music / Camille Saint- Saens, Carnival des Animaux

The Dying Swan is licensed with kind permission of The Fokine-Estate

 

Don Quixote Pas de deux 

Christine Shevchenko & Julian Mackay 

Choreography / Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky

Music / Ludwig Minkus

 

✅ Coming up on Friday night, December 18th, is the premiere of the Disney+ documentary series On Pointe which follows the goings-on at School of American Ballet. While not free, it's not expensive -- about $7 for one month for the whole Disney+ channel which includes some dynamite programing from National Geographic.

 

✅ Then on December 23rd, the premiere of Nutcracker at Wethersfield will stream for free through December 26th here: https://www.nutcrackeratwethersfield.com/stream

 

🐼 For those of you who are keeping track, last week's weigh-in showed our fluffy little cub Xiao Qi Ji up around 13.4 lbs. He's not exactly fast on his feet yet, but we've been impressed with his effort.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Rachel Perez]

For anyone that is interested - there is also an interactive "Twitch" chat (going to have to figure that one out) featuring Kathryn Morgan, Lauren Lovette, Megan Fairchild and Ashley Bouder during a livestream of the Wethersfield Nutcracker on the 20th. https://www.nutcrackeratwethersfield.com/stream

[Haglund]

Thanks, Rachel. What an odd thing thing to incorporate into this event. I hope those four confine their comments to intermissions. Don't think folks would want to listen to their color commentary while trying to watch the performance. "I" "I" "I" "I" "I" "Me" "Me" "Me". Jeesh, 'tis not the season to talk about oneself.

[M]

Sarah Lane is sublime. Her performance in Flower Festival should be held up against ABT’s The Future Starts Now to act as a neon sign that screams ABT has lost its mind. Why in the world she was let go....there can be no justification. I’m glad I was able to see live performances of Corella, Carreno, Kent, Ananiashvili, Jaffe, etc...and I remember seeing Movado ads featuring dancers from ABT and think how classy, mysterious, alluring they were. None of this overly sexualized, self gratifying art porn that’s being dealt out today like a bunch of free skittles. Such a shame.