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OCTOBER 2002
Monday October
29
DANCE
10, SONGS 10 (IF YOU LIKE BILLY): The Twyla Tharp/Billy Joel Broadway
collaboration continues to get respectful reviews. Joan Accocella: "At this
point, Tharp needs no arguing for as a choreographer. She is the most inventive
dance-maker of her generation, and her crossing of classical ballet with popular
forms, which in other hands might have been tendentious ('We'll show those
ballet snobs')—and, come to think of it, was a little tendentious, once, even in
her hands—has by now yielded her a full, eloquent, and unself-conscious
language." The New Yorker 10/28/02
ON THE
LINE: Three years of intense training for Australia's top young dancers
culminates with a single event - a pas de deux exhibition that could make their
careers. "Watching closely is David McAllister, the Australian Ballet's artistic
director. He has between three and five places available for next year. On stage
tonight are 14 talented young dancers, all desperately wanting one of them. The
dancers know that most of them will miss out." The Age
(Melbourne) 10/29/02
MACMILLAN
CHARGES ROYAL INCOMPETENCE: One of the reasons Ross Stretton was forced out
as director of the Royal Ballet was because Sir Kenneth MacMillan's widow was
ready to withdraw rights for his work. She says Stretton was just a small
problem compared to the general incompetence of the Royal's management. "We are
talking about a huge business at Covent Garden, about people's livelihoods.
Though I don't have any argument with the Royal Ballet's professional managers,
unfortunately, in dance terms, the Opera House has had at its helm a bunch of
amateurs." The Telegraph (UK)
10/29/02
Sunday October
27
ABT,
BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER? It was only a year ago that the future of the
American Ballet Theatre seemed decidedly uncertain, with lawsuits and backstage
infighting overshadowing what should have been a period of celebrated artistic
growth within the company. But these days, with a new management team in place
and cooler heads prevailing, the ABT is reintroducing itself to the American
dance scene, with a well-reviewed New York production celebrating the diverse
music of Richard Rodgers and George Harrison. Chicago
Tribune 10/27/02
Friday October
25
IF IT WALKS LIKE A
DUCK... The Twyla Tharp/Billy Joel project now on Broadway is playing in a
theatre theatre, writes Clive Barnes. "But if it looks like a ballet, sounds
like a ballet, feels like a ballet and dances like a ballet - it is a ballet,
the first full-evening Broadway ballet, at least since Matthew Bourne's Swan
Lake a few years back got Broadway's feet wet. No praise can be too high for
the dancing." New York Post 10/25/02
- THE MOVEMENT
BEHIND THE CLICHES: Ben Brantley writes that Tharp's choreographic dynamic
"keeps you engaged through what, baldly described, sounds like a snoozy series
of clichés — the kinds of things regularly sung about, as a matter of fact, in
Top 40 pop ballads of the 1970's. Yet Ms. Tharp and her vivid team of dancers
unearth the reasons certain clichés keep resonating and, more important, make
them gleam as if they had just been minted." The New
York Times 10/25/02
ABT'S NEW BEATLES HIT:
"American Ballet Theatre's tribute to George Harrison, Within You Without
You, given its world premiere at City Center last weekend, is not the first
Beatles ballet, but it is the most ambitious. What could have been a gimmick has
emerged as a signature piece for ABT." New York Post
10/25/02
Tuesday October
22
IS
DEREK DEANE RIGHT FOR THE ROYAL BALLET? Who will be the Royal Ballet's next
artistic director? "Typical wish-lists can be broadly divided into three
categories: superstars, old boys and wannabes. Big names such as Mark Morris,
Mikhail Baryshnikov or ABT's Kevin McKenzie might have international cachet but
the house's arcane management structure and its reputation for ancestor worship
might prove hard to bear." So what about cheeky former English National director
Derek Deane? The Telegraph (UK) 10/22/02
TWYLA'S
LABEL PROBLEM: So just what do you call the new Twyla Tharp/Billy Joel
collaboration that's hit Broadway? It's not really a musical. Not strictly dance
either. Is it art? A pop entertainment? "I just think dance is very grand. And I
think it's very, very capable - dance can express anything. So you tell me if
it's art." New York Magazine
10/21/02
Monday October
21
STRIVING
TO THRIVE: Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal is one of Canada's major
dance companies. But it's currently in reduced circumstances, and most of its 35
members have been with the company only a few seasons. "Depending on how one
looks at it, Les Grands can be thought of as either the most versatile or the
least consistent of Canada's major ballet companies." Toronto Star 10/19/02
SOUTH
CAROLINA'S NEW BALLET: South Carolina's Greenville Ballet has changed its
name to South Carolina Ballet, and has ambitious plans to grow a professional
resident company. "For now, the company will work with guest artistic directors
and professional dancers. However, by the 2003-04 season, South Carolina Ballet
hopes to have its own corps of professional dancers in place." Greenville News (SC) 10/19/02
Sunday October
20
THE
NEW CLASSICS: Remakes of old ballets are an enduring tradition. But "the
newest ballet remakes, created by a generation of mostly European
choreographers, are different: They want audiences to remember the originals.
Many of them prove daring about nudity and sex. Others put classically trained
dancers through deliberately anti-classical moves to blur the line between
ballet and modern dance. But the biggest change may be their sense of historical
precedent. These ballets build on the past and acknowledge it every step of the
way." Los Angeles Times
10/20/02
Friday October
18
DANCING
ON SCREEN: "The art of the dance film, a marriage of two art forms as old as
the first moving pictures, grows more innovative by the year. No longer a simple
matter of turning a camera on a stage performance, dance film and video makers
borrow from music videography, from animation and computer-generated film
techniques, and from stage technology to create choreography not only seen
through the lens but created by contemporary audio-visual capabilities."
Toronto Star 10/18/02
Wednesday October
16
STAR
POWER: Dance is a hard sell to a wider audience. Maybe what's needed is some
compelling star personalities... The Telegraph (UK)
10/16/02
Friday October
11
WHO OWNS
DANCE? Once a dance is created, its recreation often depends on the memories
or records of those who were there at the creation. But who owns the work once
the choreographer is gone? "Questions revolve around whether choreographers in
fact own their own dances and even wanted those dances to be seen after their
deaths." The New York Times 10/10/02
Wednesday October
9
ROYAL
BALLET REMAKES ITS SEASON: After ousting Ross Stretton from the top job at
the Royal Ballet in London, the company has dramatically remade its schedule for
the current season, dropping ballets and changing soloists. The Guardian (UK) 10/09/02
ALBERTA
BOUNCES BACK: A year ago, Alberta Ballet was staring at a $460,000 deficit
on a $6-million budget. As anyone in the arts world knows, the past year has
been an even worse one financially than the year before. So it was a big
surprise last week when Alberta Ballet announced it "has not only eradicated the
deficit but even managed to post an accumulated surplus of $44,500." The
financial feat has not been accomplished without some pain, however...
National Post (Canada)
10/09/02
Tuesday October
8
ROYAL BALLET IN
NO RUSH: London's Royal Ballet says it is in no rush to appoint a new
artistic director, after Ross Stretton was forced out of the job last week. "It
has dismissed as speculation reports that the artistic director of the American
Ballet Theatre, is the front-runner to take over following the resignation of
Ross Stretton." BBC 10/07/02
Sunday October
6
SAN FRANCISCO
CONNECTION: "Unlike other world-class ensembles, San Francisco Ballet does
not have a first-rate 'heritage repertory,' a repository of great works that
grounds a company even as it is building its future." But in the 17 years since
former New York City Ballet star Helgi Tomasson took over the San Francisco
Ballet, "he has transformed a respected regional company with a Balanchine
tradition into an internationally prominent one, known for the excellence of its
dancers and the smartness of its repertory." The New
York Times 10/06/02
Friday October
4
ABT HEAD
IN RUNNING FOR ROYAL JOB: Kevin McKenzie is the early frontrunner to take
the artistic director job at London's Royal Ballet. For the past decade,
McKenzie has been artistic director of American Ballet Theatre in New York.
"Ironically, the former dancer... is the man who plucked the Australian
choreographer Ross Stretton from relative obscurity." Stretton was pushed out of
the Royal last week after only a year on the job. The
Guardian (UK) 10/04/02
- BROKEN SYSTEM: Ross
Stretton's quick ouster from the artistic helm of the Royal Ballet has less to
do with the kind of job he did than with the deeply flawed process by which he
was chosen. The governance of the Royal is an impossible concoction that breeds
a culture of irresponsibility, writes Norman Lebrecht. "The artists who risk
limb and sometimes life in performance, are obliged to doff their caps to
dilettantes and are the last to be told of decisions that affect and often
prejudice their individual and collective destinies." London Evening Standard 10/03/02
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