Music and Dance

[John F]

Apart from Smitty, we don't seem to have many ballet enthusiasts in CMG, or if they're here, they're keeping quiet about it. But the coming season of American Ballet Theater has unusual musical as well as dance interest, as announced in the NY Times.

Alexei Ratmansky, one of today's top choreographers, has already created a lively and sometimes hilarious Shostakovich ballet, known variously as "Bright Stream" and "Limpid Stream." Now he will be doing more of the same, with three ballets to Shostakovich symphonies: the 9th, the 1st, and the chamber symphony arranged from the 8th string quartet.

Add to this revivals of the Agnes de Mille choreography for which Aaron Copland composed "Rodeo," and short ballets by the witty Americans Mark Morris and Twyla Tharp, and it looks like a ballet season even for those who can live without "Nutcracker" and "Swan Lake."


June 28, 2012
New Ratmansky Work to Have Debut at American Ballet Theater’s Fall City Center Season
By FELICIA R. LEE

American Ballet Theater’s 2012 fall season at New York City Center, which runs from Oct. 16 to 20, will include the premiere of a new work by Alexei Ratmansky, the company’s artist in residence, Ballet Theater said.

Set to Symphony No. 9 by Dmitri Shostakovich, the ballet, which will have its world premiere on Oct. 18, will be the first of three new one-act ballets by Mr. Ratmansky to Shostakovich. All three will be presented as an evening-length program during the company’s 2013 spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House. The three works will feature scenery by George Tsypin and costumes by Keso Dekker.

The season will also celebrate the 70th anniversary of Agnes de Mille’s “Rodeo” and will feature a performance of the work on Oct. 16. First presented by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo at the Metropolitan Opera House on Oct. 16, 1942, “Rodeo” features music by Aaron Copland and scenery by Oliver Smith. A revival of José Limón’s “Moor’s Pavane,” set to music by Henry Purcell, is also on the lineup. Based on Shakespeare’s “Othello,” the ballet was first performed by the company in 1970.

The City Center season will also feature performances of Mark Morris’s “Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes,” Twyla Tharp’s “In the Upper Room”’ and Antony Tudor’s “Leaves Are Fading.”

[lennygoran]

Apart from Smitty, we don't seem to have many ballet enthusiasts in CMG,

Well I like the ballet in Gioconda! Regards, Len [rapidly pirouetting off the stage]

[Agnes Selby]

[quote="John F"]Apart from Smitty, we don't seem to have many ballet enthusiasts in CMG, or if they're here, they're keeping quiet about it.

My husband and I subscribe to the Australian Ballet and have for many years,
even while we lived in Philadelphis in order to keep our excellent seats
at the Sydney Opera House. It may be of interest, the Australian Ballet
began when the Moscow Ballet Company was unable to leave Australia during
World War II and after the war they opted to stay in Australia.

[John F]

The Australian Ballet began when the Moscow Ballet Company was unable to leave Australia during World War II and after the war they opted to stay in Australia.

I'd no idea! But then, I'm learning more and more about the wide influence of Russian ballet companies and dancers. In a biography of Diaghilev, I've found that the original Ballets Russes was the Imperial Russian Ballet from Petersburg, during its summer break. Only when Diaghilev got in bad with the administration of the Imperial Theaters, and was no longer allowed to use their dancers, did he recruit his own company - mostly but not all Russian émigrés - which could perform all year round.

[Len_Z]

The ABT Met season is coming to an end and I must confess that I have attended just five performances this year, which is about half of what I used to see the previous years. Paradoxically, this season is absolutely the best in recent memory, so please do not judge it by my rather modest attendance record:)

Just last night I had the privilege of witnessing one of the most memorable Swan Lakes of my life - with Polina Semionova and David Hallberg as Odette/Odile and Prince Siegfried. They were both breathtakingly sublime, with Semionova reaching what I thought was the new height of her career, from which she is bound to leap into eternity.

The other performances that I have also seen this year are La bayadere with Veronika Part/Marcelo Gomes and another one with Semionova/Hallberg; Onegin with Vishneva/Gomes/Osipova; and Romeo & Juliet with Cojocaru/Kobborg.

Does all of the above make me a rabid balletoman? I don't know, but I sure hope so

[John F]

Glad to hear from you. Chances are you shared the Met auditorium with an old friend of mine who goes to ABT two or three times a week - it isn't enough just to see the ballets, she wants to see as many of the dancers as she can. Like you, apparently, she prefers "La Bayadere" to "The Bright Stream," while for me it's the other way around. Chacun a son gout!

[Auntie Lynn]

I have worked for our local troupe for 32 years. They do all of the above plus everything else. The company has tremendous depth. They are currently on tour (got rave reviews in Hamburg - and everyone knows those Germans can't dance unless it's oom-pah-pah). And they are just about the only performing arts organization on the Left Coast that finishes every season in the black. And they are playing to about 96% capacity most performances...