Haglund's Heel

UIEX – in memory of Johan Renvall

A reader has alerted us that ABT's June 20th performance of Romeo and Juliet (Seo/Stearns/Salstein) will be dedicated to the memory of former principal dancer Johan Renvall who expired last August at the age of 55. He was a standard setting Mercutio which, we are told, was his most favorite role to dance.

Here are 2-1/2 minutes worth most anyone's time to watch. It's a clip from a not-great movie, but it shows clearly some of the grace and ability that Johan possessed.

 

 

observations 10-21

We should soon be hearing from the Joyce Theater about Trio ConcertDance which we have deduced will be at the Joyce in or around the beginning of March. Alessandra Ferri, Herman Cornejo and pianist Bruce Levingston will perform at the Ford Theater on the University of Mississippi campus on February 23rd. The theater’s press release stated that the Mississippi event will be a preview for performances the following week in New York. Also, Levingston has confirmed on his website that he will be performing at the Joyce Theater. Haglund is fairly good at math; so putting the proverbial 2 + 2 together wasn’t hard. But this is still officially off of the UIEX tickertape.

The evening in Mississippi closes with Angelin Preljocaj's Le Parc. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.

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Former ABT ceo Rachel Moore is already embroiled in controversy in her new job at the Music Center in LA. The center has refused to turn over most of its financial records for a County audit. The County Board of Supervisors ordered the special audit and has thus far found multiple instances where the center has not been able to fully document how it spent money. Stay tuned.

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We were wondering how long it would take for this media angle to develop.

The latest story is that technical feats that Misty Copeland doesn’t even attempt are hurting her legs so terribly. She’s telling the press that the 32 fouettes in Swan Lake - that she does NOT do - are so painful on her left leg which had the surgery necessitated by Copeland’s reckless disregard for her own physical health over a long period of time – but she struggles through them. Not. Ever.

A real ballerina would switch to the right supporting leg for the fouettes. A real ballerina should be able to do them on both sides regardless of her preference for left or right. How many years has this whiner been yanking those knee joints inside out for every camera that she can find, and now her legs don’t function as they should. Oh gosh, such sacrifice for the art . . . .

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BAM alerted one of our Haglund’eelers that the full Mariinsky schedule should be available by the end of November which is long after ticket sales begin.

We’re not especially happy to see Diana Vishneva foisting Woman in a Room on the Mariinsky-loving ballet audience in New York. The original choreography, A Man in a Room, by Caroline Carlson, based on the art and madness of Mark Rothko, was made famous by Tero Saarinen who performed it brilliantly in New York a few years ago. Just utterly brilliantly. A customization of its themes for Vishneva sounds so bizarre. Her trend toward modern choreography always includes a caveat for us not to forget that she is really a beautiful ballerina. If she were to shave her head, remove all makeup, and then perform Woman in a Room, we’d probably pay attention; but a ballerina-version of this haunting choreography likely will have the viewer focus more on the ballerina not the content.

observations 8-1

It takes a village . . .

Of course, ABT couldn't manage to update the bio to include the title roles of Giselle and Cinderella or her principal guest gigs - although they seemed to be able to update other bios.

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While some here in Melting Gotham were celebrating the Blue Moon last night with artisan blue beer, the arty types elsewhere were putting together a Boat Ballet on the Mississippi River in Minneapolis to celebrate the Riverfront Fest. Choreographer/performance artist Patrick Scully directed the project with a $10,000 grant from the Minnesota Arts Board. The Boat Ballet "dancers" included canoes, kayaks, sailboats, paddleboards, and so forth – everyone wore life vests.

Check out this pre-event video:

 

More.

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Starz has announced that it's going to release all episodes of the new Flesh and Bone and Da Vinci's Demons onto its channel at one time so that viewers can "binge" watch the two series. We don't have any idea what is in the episodes of Flesh and Bone, but we found the titles online. The opening episode on Sunday, November 8th is called Bulling Through and the final episode carries the title Scorched Earth.

Meanwhile, E! Online has sniffed out some comments from Sascha Radetsky that suggest there could possibly be a real sequel coming up for Center Stage.

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Haglund hopes that the info whirling around in the spokes of the UIEX ticker is wrong.

We all know that a World Series without the Yankees ain't never official. Well, according to Yogi, a Met Season without Giselle ain't never official neither ever, either.

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There is ballet in this city in August, thanks to the Joyce Theater folks. The Ashley Bouder Project with some of our most favorite performers is on deck for August 8 and 9. Be there or be square.

 

 

UIEX: Mariinsky coming to BAM in January 2015

[Update: BAM website will be updated sometime on Wednesday, October 29th.]

Look for the Brooklyn Academy of Music's website to be updated on October 28th.

Tickets will go on sale to BAM patrons during the second week of November. Tickets to the general public will go on sale December 8th.

That's all we know.

 

UIEX: ABT next schmyear

ABT's 75th anniversary year looks as if it will be as tired as any other year – and more so now that important, sparkling talent has defected for lack of opportunities at this company where classical merit holds its lowest value in the 75-year history.

In addition to the new ballet by Liam Scarlett, the fall season at New York State Theater will include Fancy Free, Seven Sonatas, Bach Partita, Sinfonietta, Raymonda Divertisements, Lilac Garden, 13 Diversions, and some other things that Haglund cannot now recall.

We can expect to see a few of those short works repeated in the spring at the Met in addition to Cinderella, Giselle, R & J, a new Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadere, Swan Lake, and Othello.

The whole year looks like it has been designed to force upon us ad nauseam one old, retiring dancer – and we're not talking about Herrera who was so kind to announce that her retirement would be next year. So the 75th anniversary will include little celebration until it's all over – and of course, we can expect to see much company-hype of opportunities given unmeritoriously.

 

UIEX: new Liam Scarlett ballet for ABT this fall

The Unofficial Information Exchange (UIEX) picked up a street tip about a new Scarlett ballet for ABT's 2014 Fall Season. There are more tips swirling around but they're still too "iffy" even for the UIEX to let fly.

 

UIEX: ABT guest artist developments

The Unofficial Information Exchange (UIEX) has received two tips that ABT will add two more guest artists to its spring season.

Denys Nedak of the National Ballet of Ukraine will arrive to dance we-don't-know-what-yet. The Honored Artist of the Ukraine has danced the role of Solor in Natalia Makarova's production of La Bayadere, and there is now a need to find a replacement for Cory Stearns. It is extremely doubtful that Mr. Nedak is a better choice than any one of a half dozen of ABT's outstanding dancers (particularly Jared Matthews), but Haglund didn't plan on seeing the Stearns/Semionova/Seo cast anyway; so he would pass this up regardless.

As a sidebar, there is a petition over at Whitehouse.gov to allow Ukranians to enter into the United States for 90 days without the requirement of Visas. If you want to sign that petition, go here.

Why doesn't ABT invite a bunch of the Ukranian corps dancers to come here so that our own dancers can move up into soloist and principal opportunities? Since there are oodles of corps dancers around the world who already know Makarova's staging of La Bayadere, why not hire them instead of importing principals? ABT should be hiring outsiders at the bottom ranks, not the top.

McKenzie would never hire these guys (Nedak, Jackson, Lendorf) as permanent soloists, let alone permanent principals, but he brings them in as guest artists and holds them over the heads of the company's hard working, starving-for-opportunities, enormously talented dancers. No wonder the dancers are so demoralized. When is ABT going to get an artistic director who can actually coach the company's dancers in principal roles instead of depending on the rest of the world's directors to do his work for him?

NYCB's Andrew Vyette will also make a guest appearance in we-don't-know-what-yet, but with Cory Stearns out, there is a need for someone to dance his two performances of Theme and Variations. Maybe Andy will bring along his orchestra, conductor, costume and a few corps members to help out, too. Hey, maybe he'll even bring along Bouder. No objections to that.

 

UIEX: new Osipode of the ongoing Osipodrama

The Unofficial Information Exchange tickertape is whirling around again.

Will ABT follow the unprecedented generosity and guidance of the Royal Ballet and offer full or partial refunds when it fails to present Osipova and Vasiliev in the Don Quixote and Le Corsaire PdDs this week in Tokyo? When does ABT plan on telling the Tokyo buying public that they're not getting what they paid for – at curtain time?

It will be interesting to see how ABT frames this latest example of its foolish reliance on ballet's Gold Medalist in Unreliability. (Polunin took the Silver.) Let's look at some possibilities:  (a) Natalia is still recovering from her concussion and she shouldn't fly around in Don Q or Le Corsaire - even though she was back on the stage in full force in London, or (b) Natalia and Ivan aren't getting along and don't care to dance with each other, or (c) Ivan is too tired from his super gala at the Mikhailovsky last week and doesn't want to make the trip, or (d) Sorry, no speaky Japanese.

More material for Flesh and Bone.

Update 2/24:

They chose version (c). Vasiliev is in poor health and can't make the trip. Osipova will bourree around in the solo from Manon Act II instead. lol. She's the victim again. Applause, applause. Report.

 

UIEX Update – NYCB reality TV series for real

LAST AUGUST, the H.H. Unofficial Information Exchange (UIEX) tickertape was whirling around chasing its tail in a frenzy after getting a tip on Sarah Jessica Parker's new idea to produce a reality TV show based on NYCB.

Well, folks, once again, the UIEX is the first ballet news source to get to the market with the official word.

TODAY, AOL announced at its 2013 Digital Content NewFront event that in conjunction with its mandate to conquer online video content through its ON Network, it will develop 15 original unscripted shows one of which will be Sarah Jessica Parker's City.Ballet - "covering the cut-throat world of the New York City Ballet." 

Man oh man, this is exciting. Tonight at the first performance of NYCB's fabulous spring season, Haglund will keep both eyes peeled for any of that cut-throat business that we just know is going on. Anyone who thinks hanging around the water cooler will get you an earful hasn't hung around the rosin box.  Cut-throat through and through.

 

UIEX: RNZB bringing Giselle to NYC!

Whoa, this almost got by old Haglund. 

We knew that the Royal New Zealand Ballet planned to take its new Stiefel/Kobborg production of Giselle to China next year, but now it seems that there is a trip to NYC planned also.  In a filmed interview for TVNZ,  AD Ethan Stiefel and the director of the new RNZB feature film, Toa Fraser, spoke about filming the production while the company tours New Zealand "before heading to China and New York next year."  

The interview includes some brief footage of Gillian Murphy in Acts I & II (watch the huge lift by Qi Huan's Albrecht) and, of course, what would an interview with Stiefel be without footage from Center Stage - except this footage shows Radetsky!

Who could possibly be surprised that Stiefel is bringing RNZB and its Giselle starring Gillian Murphy to NYC?  Well, possibly Kevin McKenzie who has never given her the chance to dance the title role in her 16 years with ABT.  There's nothing like having your bad decisions shoved in your face in the center of Manhattan.