Besides team Black Swan vs. team Mao’s Last Dancer, one of the most talked about dance topics of the last few weeks is Reflections, the Bolshoi/Orange County Performing Arts Centre collaboration. A number of Russian dancers are currently in California rehearsing for the project which will premiere early next year. When we spoke to Katya Krysanova last month she was planning to jump from a month-long intensive tour with the Bolshoi straight into it: “It is my holiday time, but you see, we always have to sacrifice something doing ballet. I think it is going to be a very interesting project and very helpful for me as an artist”.

Thanks to the power of social media, those of us not able to attend Reflections in person should have plenty to look forward to. Producer Sergei Danilian tweeted earlier this week that a film about the project is in the making, with focus on “the mystery of the ballerina and the process of creation of new dance”. His production company has a successful track record of dance productions for OCPAC (Kings of Dance, Vishneva’s Beauty in Motion) and the Ardani Artists Management website currently has a section dedicated to “Who is Who” in Reflections: a complete list of the ballerinas, danseurs and choreographers involved which reads like a total dream team.

Clockwise from left: Polina Semionova, Maria Kochetkova, Ekaterina Shipulina, Natalia Osipova, Ekaterina Krysanova. Credits: Enrico Nawrath / Berlin Staatsoper ©, Eric Tomasson / SFB ©, Mikhail Logvinov / Bolshoi Theatre ©, Damir Yusupov / Bolshoi Theatre © and Whitney Browne / NYIBC ©

According to the Bolshoi press department, the idea behind Reflections is to give ballerinas trained at the Moscow Academy of Choreography the opportunity to work with the best contemporary choreographers whose dance styles range from modern to neoclassical. Each dancer will be working with an individual choreographer: Natalia Osipova with Wayne McGregor, Katya Krysanova with Karole Armitage, Olga Malinovskaya with Lucinda Childs, Polina Semionova with Jiří Bubenicek, Maria Kochetkova with Jorma Elo and Yekaterina Shipulina with Aszure Barton.

The program will also include new works by Mauro Bigonzetti, Johan Kobborg and Yuri Possokhov, as well as pieces by Nacho Duato (Remansos), Susan Marshall and George Balanchine (Pas de Trois). Reflections with premiere in Segerstrom Hall (Orange County, CA) January 20 – 23 2011 and at the Bolshoi (Moscow) January 27 – 30. The project will also tour to London during summer 2011.

More on Reflections:

Ballerinas

• Polina Semionova (Berlin Staatsoper Ballet) – Interview for The Ballet Bag
• Yekaterina Krysanova (Bolshoi) – Interview for The Ballet Bag
• Maria Kochetkova (San Francisco Ballet) – Interview for Dance Pulp
• Natalia Osipova (Bolshoi) – Interview for Ballet.co Magazine (Ian Palmer)
• Yekaterina Shipulina (Bolshoi) – Mini feature for Russian TV – Part 1 & Part 2 (in Russian but plenty of performance extracts)
• Olga Malinovskaya (Ballet Estonia) – Biography at Ballet Estonia website

Media

Ardani Artists Management website
Press Release at the Bolshoi official website
Los Angeles Times article
Broadway World article
California Style Mag feature: The Russian Ballerinas are coming (incl. lovely candid shots)

Twitter

Ardani Artists Management – @Ardani
Orange County Performing Arts Centre – @OCPAC

The Black Swan trailer has finally been unveiled (it has featured in our video of the week box since Tuesday) and the internet is awash with commentary and dissection. While NY Magazine’s Vulture blog thinks the movie looks like a chic version of “Single White Female” with a bit of “Mommie Dearest” thrown in, Natalie Portman herself said to MTV that it was more like “Rosemary’s Baby”. If you watch the trailer – and we will never tell how many times we’ve done that – you will see some Polanski influences creeping up here and there (and Winona at 1:25!).

The lead-up to this movie continues to be our favorite topic because… well… 1) we’re geeks; 2) how many stylish ballet movies have been shot in recent times? ; and 3) Aronofsky knows his stuff. What else can we expect from Black Swan?

1) Modern Gothic - Vincent Cassel – who plays the sadistic dance master – told Vanity Fair that Aronofsky has gone for a modern take on the gothic thriller genre, and the movie has also been given some coverage on famous horror site Fangoria.

2) Blood Spillage – That’s an easy one to guess. From overworked toes to bloodshot eyes and main character Nina’s fantasy of feathers growing out of her shoulders the trailer has shown us this will not be a movie for the squeamish. Besides ballet can indeed be bloody, just take a look at a true story that happened earlier this week.

3) Ballet Chic - And we don’t just mean Aronofsky’s directing. Can you spot the Rodarte costumes on the trailer? Also, stylish leotard brand Yumiko has provided the practice gear worn by Portman and Kunis. The poster looks fab & we hope Benjamin Millepied’s choreography will fit the bill nicely.

4) Dream vs. Reality – To what extent is Nina’s rival Lily real – might she have something of Fight Club’s Tyler Durden? – how much of her is Nina’s projection of the ideal, seductive “Black Swan”? Expect plenty of psychological elements: insecurity and obsession leading to paranoia.

5) Female Fixation – White Swan Nina is fragile and fixates on domineering Lily. Time Magazine has an interesting feature looking back at the female mystique in Aronofsky’s movies

Links roundup – for yet more buzz, have a look at this article on movie website Salon.

Have you seen the trailer? If so, what’s your favorite part? We’ll tell ours if you tell yours first…

Natalie Portman in costume for Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan. Photo: Niko Tavemise / Fox Searchlight Pictures ©

All About Eve meets The Red Shoes? That’s how Darren Aronofsky‘s foray into the ballet world might play out. The director has recently cited both these classics as sources of inspiration, although the movie’s plot line – a ballerina faces her inner demons as she is picked to dance the lead in  Swan Lake – seems to recall yet another vintage movie, 1947′s The Unfinished Dance.

Aronofsky has also indicated Black Swan might be a follow up of sorts to its predecessor, the excellent 2008 Golden Lion winner, The Wrestler, a look at the professional wrestling circuit from the angle of an ageing and decadent “has-been”. His movies often explore how people are shaped by their surroundings as well as the complexity of social interactions, which means we might finally get a sensitive, imaginative and well-observed commentary on the realities of the ballet world, usually a backdrop for lighter entertainment.

Linda and I are huge fans of Aronofsky’s very European directing style – having even referenced him in one of our ballet reviews. For the past few weeks we have been collating Black Swan pieces scattered around the web. So while we wait for the trailer, here’s a link roundup:

Opening Date

Black Swan is set to premiere this fall at the Venice International Film Festival.  The psychological ballet thriller directed by Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler) will open the fest on September 1st. Via Rogue Ballerina

Also: the opening date in US Theatres is set for 1 December 2010.

The Cast & Plot

The dark tale with psychological twists stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a technically brilliant ballerina whose life takes some strange turns after being picked as the lead in a New York City [Ballet] production of Swan Lake. Pressures mount as her overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey) pushes her to succeed and her manipulative dance master (Vincent Cassel) commands her to be more seductive and loose in her performance.

Complicating matters is the arrival of Lily (Mila Kunis), a sultry dancer who exhibits all the innate ease and sexuality that Nina lacks. Nina begins to fixate on the newcomer as the two forge an unusual relationship. Via USA Today

Also: Winona Ryder appears as a retiring ballerina. Pennsylvania Ballet dancers feature as the corps de ballet. Portman is doing most of her dance scenes but for the longer shots ABT’s Sarah Lane is her double. ABT’s Maria Riccetto is Mila Kunis’s double. NYCB’s Benjamin Millepied choreographed the dance sequences.

Style & Mood

…director Darren Aronofsky compares the splattery sequence in Black Swan with a gruesome scene in his previous film, The Wrestler, when Mickey Rourke is attacked by a staple-gun-wielding rival. He stresses that his gothic tale with hints of Hitchcock is several grand jettes [sic] away from such ballet-themed soap operas as 1977′s The Turning Point. “Maybe only The Red Shoes had a realistic point of view of this unique world,” Aronofsky says of the 1948 classic. “It captured the human drama and the sacrifice.”  Via USA Today

The Costumes

In what is probably one of the most exciting cinematic collaborations that we’ve heard so far this year, Darren Aronofsky – director of the incredible Requiem For A Dream – has commissioned Rodarte design sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy to create costumes for his psychological thriller about ballet Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.

Their lastest collection looked a touch like unfocused decoupage and may not have been our favourite work by the Mulleavy girls, but it’s entirely conceivable that, as costume designers, they will create some pretty frothy and fabulous looking ballerina garb. Via Pedestrian TV

Further Information

• Black Swan on IMDB [link]
• Official Facebook page [link]
• Darren Aronofsky’s blog [link]
• Darren Aronofsky’s Wikipedia Entry [link]
• Aronofsky and Danny Boyle discuss their respective movie styles [link]
• Black Swan Photo Gallery on Beyond Hollywood [link]

Japan is a balletomane’s paradise: plenty of  local and visiting ballet companies, glitzy guest stars (some of them are here on a regular basis) and, of course, the best in ballet merchandise. In the trendiest Tokyo districts flagship dance stores sell premium quality dancewear and ballet shoes, along with – for those more intent on watching ballet than taking class – DVDs, books and glossy magazines like Danza.

During my stay I’ve been surprised by the sheer number of local ballet companies, the quality of their productions and the material they create and distribute to promote them. Generally available at theatre foyers are free leaflets advertising these companies, their current productions and guest dancers. I took away a selection last Saturday when I went to see Noriko Kobayashi Ballet Theatre‘s The Sleeping Beauty (gorgeous production, but more on that later). Some of the promos looked instructive, so ballet-goers can for instance learn more about Mayerling and tell Countess Larisch from Mary Vetsera. Some looked like memorabilia – see the frameable, A3 sized gorgeous Lopatkina/Zakharova Odette poster below.

Since dance is so highly visual I thought a photoblog with these leaflets would be a nice way to kick off our series about ballet in Japan. Coming up: coverage of performances, companies and more photoblogs, so stay tuned.

楽しみなさい / Enjoy!

Artsy-Crafty

Inoue Ballet‘s production of Coppélia:

Tokyo City Ballet‘s Swan Lake promo:

DVD insert-looking

Tetsuma Kumakawa Ballet Company’s The Sleeping Beauty:

Noriko Kobayashi Ballet Theatre in Kenneth MacMillan’s The Sleeping Beauty:

Blockbusters

The Australian Ballet‘s leaflet for Graeme Murphy’s Swan Lake:

Fact Sheet for The Royal Ballet’s Mayerling (part of the upcoming RB tour):

Glam & Glitzy

Stars of the Russian Ballet annual gala,
with the crème de la crème from the Bolshoi and Mariinsky:

(challenge: can you name them all? – click to enlarge)

Etoiles Gala, with stars from the Paris Opera Ballet and guests:

Yes-We-Have-Guests

Tokyo Ballet’s Don Quixote featuring ABT star Daniil Simkin:

Giselle with Royal Ballet guests Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg:

Maxi Promo

Mega leaflet for The Royal Ballet’s upcoming tour
with synopses, bios and pictures of Fille, Romeo & Juliet and Mayerling:

]]> http://www.theballetbag.com/2010/06/08/greetings-from-tokyo/feed/ 4 http://www.theballetbag.com/2010/03/12/fun-that-we-have/ http://www.theballetbag.com/2010/03/12/fun-that-we-have/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:38:18 +0000 Emilia http://www.theballetbag.com/?p=3486

Over the past few weeks the big ballet companies have been all over social media flaunting their new seasons, in some cases with fabulous, state of the art, trailers (like San Francisco Ballet and Dutch National Ballet). Hot on their heels and conspicuously earlier comes The Royal Opera House: their next ballet and opera season is wrapped and announced well before the arrival of spring.

There’s one catch though: we’re missing the casting details for the autumn ballets which used to be provided at the same time. While we wait for them, many tweets are being exchanged about dream casts and there’s also this interesting discussion thread going on at Ballet.co.

Season details can be downloaded from [here]. Below we take a quick look at what will make us tick from Oct 2010 to June 2011:

Emilia’s picks

Onegin – We are thrilled to see Cranko’s masterpiece back at Covent Garden after a rest of 3 seasons. The balletsphere is currently buzzing with cast speculations and we’re certainly hoping for some new Onegins and Tatianas, with much finger-crossing for Marianela Nuñez – given what she said in our Valentine’s special interview. In other words, we’re watching this space.

Mixed Bill: La Valse/New Brandstrup/Winter Dreams/Themes & Variations – Ashton & Balanchine’s works are the perfect opportunity to display the Royal Ballet’s corps de ballet in all its glory. We are curious about Kim Brandstrup’s new work: will it match this atmosphere of “grand occasion” or, rather more likely, pair up with brooding Winter Dreams which completes the bill? Bring on the Ballroom Blitz!

Manon – Last time this work was revived injury robbed Rupert Pennefather, Sarah Lamb and Steven McRae of making their debuts as Des Grieux, Manon and Lescaut. We’re hoping we can finally see them in action, together with some MacMillan dream casts: Mara Galeazzi and Edward Watson, closely followed by Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg. Count me in for many performances.

Wheeldon’s brand new Alice in Wonderland – Here’s the question on everyone’s minds: will it be Alice in Tweeland or darker shade of Alice? We’d take “darker Alice” any day but one way or another it’s great to see a brand new full-length piece co-created for the Royal Ballet and NBC. We’re curiouser and curiouser…

Swan Lake – Yes I know, why-oh-why Swan Lake again? But the Bag Ladies don’t usually brood for long…  We have been limiting our exposure to this ballet so that come January 2011 we can relish the opportunity of seeing new pairings. Ok, confession time: what we reaaaally want to see is Alina finally showing up at the Lake after her absence from the last two revivals. And surely Sarah Lamb must be an Odette of greatness?

Marianela Nuñez as Odette and Thiago Soares as Siegfried in The Royal Ballet's Swan Lake. Photo: Dee Conway / ROH ©

New McGregor – Wayne McGregor always rocks my socks, even more when coupled with mega hard Balanchine’s Ballo Della Regina. DGV returns a bit sooner than we would have expected but at least this bill will have a nice energy to it. As mandatory as triple bills go.

Triple Bill: Rhapsody/Sensorium/Rite of Spring – Reviving last year’s Sensorium alongside such masterpieces as Rhapsody and Rite will only serve to expose its weaknesses but perhaps putting something light in the middle gives audiences room to catch their breaths for the emotional intensity in MacMillan’s Rite? We’re rather liking the idea of a “male chosen one”, so bonus points to compensate for bland Sensorium.

Linda’s picks:

Onegin – The Royal Ballet are well versed in MacMillan’s gritty dramas and therefore on familiar territory with Cranko’s Onegin. This narrative ballet is at its most powerful when danced by a strong leading cast and one of my all-time favourite performances happened in the last revival: Johan Kobborg in the title role and Alina Cojocaru as his Tatiana. If there is a ticket I will splurge on, this is the one. The cherry on the cake would be having “El McRae” cast as Lensky.

Alina Cojocaru as Tatiana and Johan Kobborg as Onegin in The Royal Ballet's Onegin. Photo: Dee Conway / ROH ©

Giselle – I can’t get enough of Giselle. It has everything one could wish for in a ballet: gorgeous dancing, beautiful music, a story with infinite interpretive possibilities. While the company boasts some of the best Giselles in the business… I must confess: I am team Myrtha all the way. It’s a girl power thing.

Manon – Will Marianela Nuñez have a go at Manon? Will the Bag Ladies FINALLY get to see Johan Kobborg and Alina Cojocaru in this MacMillan blockbuster? Is Manon the prey or the hunter? Watch this space as we gear ourselves for this Pas de Deux heaven.

Mixed Bill: La Valse/New Brandstrup/Winter Dreams/Themes & Variations. From Ashton’s beautiful ballroom to contrasting views of Russia and ballerina grandeur, there’s something for everyone and plenty of challenges for the dancers. Watch out for the Ashtonian upper body in La Valse vs. Balanchine’s speedy footwork in T&V.

Ballo de la Regina – New Balanchine for The Royal Ballet with a legendary ballerina lead which goes beyond true allegro technician (feet feet feet!) and demands an extremely musical dancer. Off the top of my head I’d bet on Marianela Nuñez, Alina Cojocaru and/or Tamara Rojo getting the gig.

Triple Bill: Scènes de Ballet/Voluntaries/Still Life at the Penguin Cafe: The Bag Ladies are puzzled with this triple bill. We can’t find a common denominator between these works by Ashton, Tetley and Bintley. Scènes, which evokes Imperial Russia in its use of intricate, mathematical dance patterns (make sure to get a seat in the heavens for this one), is always welcome but if I had my wish it’d be mixed with Symphonic Variations and Rhapsody to form a rather lovely Ashton Triple Bill.

Wheeldon’s brand new Alice in Wonderland: New full-length after recession year can only mean a kiddie-friendly Alice… or perhaps not (as Bag Lady E. hopes)? But the real question for me is: can Wheeldon pull off a 2 hour long narrative ballet? Will he? Let’s for now remain optimistic and busy ourselves with the search for a blue dress and matching headband to wear at the premiere.

]]> http://www.theballetbag.com/2010/03/12/fun-that-we-have/feed/ 0 http://www.theballetbag.com/2010/01/12/have-it-all/ http://www.theballetbag.com/2010/01/12/have-it-all/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:48:20 +0000 Emilia http://theballetbag.wordpress.com/?p=3186

New year, time to update our calendars and balletic schedules. In this post we share our essential ballet picks for 2010. With many of our favourite dances and dancers, plus so many companies stopping by London, we are feeling like seven-year-olds at large in a candy store. The difference being that ballet candy is somewhat more costly (our pockets bleed already and it’s only January). Now that you know where we’ll be going make sure to stop us and say hi.

January – Febuary

While Romeo and Juliet is sure to keep us warm from the Artic conditions outside, we are heading to even colder plains to check out Royal Danish Ballet’s Bournonville/Balanchine double bill of La Sylphide/Symphony in C – another programme guaranteed to make our hearts flutter. Later in February it’s time for a look at young choreographer’s Jonathan Watkins new ballet, part of the Infra/Rushes/New Watkins Triple bill.

On February 22 we shall be heading to Covent Garden Odeon to catch The Royal Ballet’s Mayerling, the gritty and shocking balletic drama with Ed Watson as Crown Prince Rudolf.  Pre-book your tickets and join us for some ballet & popcorn.

Also on our radar: Mara Galeazzi’s Fundraising Gala at Sadler’s Wells which promises to feature new choreography by Steven McRae.

March – April

Speaking of Steven, March brings his Romeo back to Covent Garden, this time paired with the lovely Roberta Marquez who recently featured as Juliet opposite Teddy Kumakawa in K-Ballet’s staging (DVD soon out in Japan we hear). There will be other opportunities to catch this young pair in La Fille Mal Gardée and Cinderella both ballets contrasting heavily with the MacMillan Triple bill of Concerto, The Judas Tree and Elite Syncopations.

Also on our radar: We are keeping tabs on the Coliseum which will host Ballet Nacional de Cuba and a mix of international acts at the Nureyev gala on March 21. BRB also have a big gala celebration planned for their 20th anniversary of residence at the Birmingham Hippodrome, including some rarities.

May – June

While Electric Counterpoint and Mats Ek’s Carmen are not really our cup of tea, the Royal Ballet’s May triple bill includes Liam Scarlett’s first ballet for the main stage (his ballet at the Linbury last year stole our hearts) so we go. The Royal Ballet closes another fab season contrasting the neoclassical Symphony in C with ultra modern Chroma and Wheeldon’s Tryst.

Also on our radar: We may have to pay a visit to ENB’s mammoth Swan Lake-in-the-round given Polina Semionova will be guesting.

July – August

While The Royal Ballet is in Japan where Miyako Yoshida dances her last Juliet opposite – him again – Steven McRae’s Romeo, the Bolshoi takes residence at the ROH with an exciting programme mixing the usual suspects (Le Corsaire, Don Q., Spartacus) with Ratmansky’s wonderful Russian Seasons, a reconstructed Coppelia and a double bill of Giselle/Serenade. Let’s hope for plenty of starry casts.

Also on our radar: As if there wasn’t enough Russian ballet in town, the mighty Mikhailovsky are reportedly bringing Giselle and Swan Lake this summer, lucky we.

September – October

We take a break from ballet in September and gear up for another Royal Ballet season (2010/2011) in the beginning of October.

November – December

It seems The Mariinsky will be bringing The Little Humpbacked Horse to Paris, we pack our bags and go!

Dear Santa,

We know we had a lucky year with many wonderful ballet tickets filling our bags. We had a great time writing over here and making plenty of new friends on Twitter and Facebook some of whom we had the pleasure of meeting in person.

Having managed to strike a good balance between work & play we feel we now deserve some ballet candy for the new year. We’d happily trade that wonderful Rodarte dress or that anything Chanel we have coveted over the years for a few of these treats so, here’s what the Bag Ladies would really really like. Please and thank you.

• More NYCB, ABT and Mariinsky stars guesting with the Royal Ballet. If Evgenia Obraztsova, Ekaterina Osmolkina and Yvonne Borree did so well over here in The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and Dances at a Gathering why can’t we have them more often and while you’re at it, can you please bring Ashley Bouder and Marcelo Gomes too?

• Royal Ballet revivals of Onegin, Song of the Earth and La Sylphide with plenty of new casting delights… and preferably with Steven McRae as James.

• Much smaller doses of such stalwarts as The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake or at least new designs for the latter. Yolanda Sonnabend’s are appreciated but they are starting to betray their age. If we are going to visit the lake once more let us see some different settings and costumes.

• A new narrative ballet that is not based on a children’s tale. Don’t get us wrong, it’s not that we are not looking forward to Wheeldon’s Alice in Wonderland, but a while back we had this interesting discussion on Twitter and concluded there are so many books which would lend themselves wonderfully into ballet scripts. We’re thinking the whole Jane Austen canon, the Russian classics, plus some Edith Wharton & Henry James.

• Sneak previews. If ballet seasons are planned so long in advance, we’d like to see the major ballet companies slipping some bits of information/trivia/teasers on what’s coming next or fueling discussion in their Facebook/Twitter pages like ABT did recently. Call us greedy but it’s more hype for them, less suspense for us. Everyone wins.

• More visits from foreign companies. It’s time the Mariinsky  treated us to a full-length Ratmansky ballet (yes we do mean The Little Humpbacked Horse). ABT could follow suit and show us On the Dnieper instead of Le Corsaire and Don Q. (yawn, yawn). And let us not forget that Ms. Diana Vishneva still owes us a visit since pulling out of the Mariinsky season at Sadler’s Wells (2008) at short notice. Can you pls. give her the nudge?

• Can we have more ballet companies embracing social media? We have great fun browsing SFB’s blog, ABT’s pictures and looking at NYCB, Mariinsky and Royal Ballet videos, but perhaps the Paris Opera Ballet and the Bolshoi can also follow suit?

• Less injuries. This we wish for every dancer in every company out there.

Many thanks again. Don’t forget to grab your box of cupcakes from underneath the Christmas tree. We know how you like the Christmas pudding special from The Primrose Bakery.

xoxo,

Emilia & Linda

Kim Brandstrup. Source: GBCM

While at the main stage the Royal Ballet season kicks off in October with Mayerling, downstairs at the Linbury Studio the ROH2, Royal Opera House’s contemporary arm, makes a headstart next week with an exciting new collaboration between dancers Tamara Rojo, Thomas Whitehead, Steven McRae and choreographer Kim Brandstrup. Then, later in the season, Brandstrup goes back to the main stage for a repeat of his acclaimed one act ballet, Rushes – Fragments of a Lost Story. Based on  one of the preliminary outlines for Dostoevsky’s novel The Idiot and influenced by socialist realist movie aesthetic, the ballet furthered his range as a leading narrative choreographer.

With Brandstrup’s film school background it was natural that a ballet called Rushes (the name refers to raw, unedited film scenes) should contain all forms of reference and reverence to cinema, with its non linear narrative and action that takes place behind beaded curtains, just like a grainy movie from the 30′s. Movie-like structures are something of a leitmotif in his works, and in the past he has spoken of his rejection of classical ballet’s literal or linear plot development as compared to “film cuts” (see “in his own words” below). However, Brandstrup’s forthcoming Goldberg project with Tamara Rojo seems an altogether different proposition, an experiment with  “other ways of moving”, using Bach’s Goldberg Variations and drawing subtleties and “things  that go unnoticed in big stages” to the intimacy of the Linbury Studio. More information on this project can be found in a recent interview Brandstrup gave to dance writer Jane Simpson now posted to Ballet.co.uk.

Kim Brandstrup in a Nutshell

Born in Arhus, Denmark in 1956, the son of a contemporary artist, Kim attended a progressive school which encouraged creativity. He initially studied film at the University of Copenhagen, but switched to modern dance studies at age 19.

He moved to London in 1980 to study at the London School of Contemporary Dance where Nina Fonaroff was his teacher.

Kim founded his own company, Arc, in 1985 (Arc is currently in the backburner but he plans to bring it back, not as a full time company but on a project by project basis).

In 1989 he won the Olivier award for “Outstanding Achievement in Dance” with Orfeo, a piece he choreographed for the now extinct London Contemporary Dance Theatre.

The cinema never ceased to be an influence in his work, along with literature. Kim worked with Irek Mukhamedov on a commission of Othello (winner of the London Evening Standard Award for Most Outstanding Production) and created for his own company pieces such as Elegy which drew on characters from The Idiot and later Elegy’s enlarged version (Brothers) inspired by two other Dostoevskian tales.

He has choreographed for the Royal Danish Ballet, the Rambert Dance Company, English National Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and other companies in the UK and abroad.  He has been working with the Royal Ballet since 2003, having created dances for principals such as Carlos Acosta, Tamara Rojo, Zenaida Yanowsky, Leanne Benjamin, Steven McRae, Laura Morera, Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg.

Kim also works regularly with opera directors. One of his best known collaborations in this field was with director Phyllida Lloyd for Debussy’s one act opera “The Fall of the House of Usher”, where he choreographed the opening sequence featuring four dancing doubles of the opera characters, as performed by Steven McRae, Gary Avis, Leanne Benjamin and Johannes Stepanek. (This 2006 production is available on DVD).

He says his creations are triggered by the dancers he works with even if the music, theme or narrative have been chosen well in advance. For him, being in the studio with a particular dancer transforms a piece from concept to reality, tailoring the movement to their particular strengths and characteristics.

For Rushes he chose a rare, unpublished Prokofiev movie score (composed for a shelved film adaptation of The Queen of Spades) which he tracked from a tiny footnote in an article mentioning the score’s existence, liasing with a Princeton scholar and finally finding a copy in the Prokofiev archives at Goldsmiths College. What attracted Brandstrup was the structural freedom it gave him, the music was meant to be played underneath a dialogue so it was done in short, concise numbers.

In his own words:

Everyone says I have done narrative ballets but I have never tried to use narrative in a traditional way

My preparation is not steps, not even a story. I listen and listen until the music has become second nature, it has to be in the bloodstream.

The dancers are the second ‘given’ when you work with an established, full-time company. First there is the music, the theme, the place in the programme, which is stipulated when you are first asked, then comes – and this is the most important – the dancers. If they don’t inspire you, then you can’t do it, no matter how prestigious or exciting the project might be.

In a ballet you have a location and people acting in it in real time – 45 minutes in a castle, 45 minutes in a forest, 45 minutes at a wedding.” Whereas in film one event cuts to another and time is not literal.

When I studied film, everything that I loved about it was not verbal, it was the silent films. And when you look at a director like Hitchcock you’ll find that 60 or 70 per cent is purely visual and it’s through the images that the story is told.

She’s a remarkable artist she has such focus and power on stage which gives her a real dramatic hold over an audience. (on Tamara Rojo)

Extract of Reviews and Selected Praise:

Of his Two Footnotes to Ashton, Linbury Studio

Brandstrup’s bucolic Two Footnotes to Ashton is particularly captivating, a frolicsome and erotic footnote to La Fille mal gardée, with Johan Kobborg as a bare-chested, very surprised yokel on whom Alina Cojocaru insistently pounces like a tiny little cat on heat. Everything about this duet is seductive – the recording of Cecilia Bartoli at her most irresistibly honeyed in Gluck’s “Di questa centra in seno”; the way Cojocaru sexily nudges dopey Kobborg with her head and then unleashes lethal vertical arabesques; and the final sweetness of his succumbing, holding her hovering body over his in a delicious anticipation. A total charmer, truly Ashtonian, and surely likely to reappear for the pair on gala occasions. Ismene Brown at the Telegraph [link]

It was Kim Brandstrup who lived up to the evening’s title. His Footnotes was set to ravishing arias (Gluck, Handel), ravishingly sung by Bartoli and Kozena, ravishingly realised (Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg pouring out feeling as a whirlwind of turns and poses; Zenaida Yanowsky grieving wonderfully), and ravishingly made. Clement Crisp at the Financial Times [link]

Of Pulcinella, Birmingham Royal Ballet

Cleverly, Brandstrup depicts Pulcinella as a puppet who has somehow slipped his strings, a giddy, quivering creature who alternates between blithe enthusiasm and doleful despair, and who can only just hold on to his spiky, streetwise girlfriend Pimpinella (Ambra Vallo). Some of his best writing is for these comically ill-assorted lovers, especially their wrangling duets in which tiny Vallo seems to batten on to [Robert] Parker’s body, her railing fists and flick-knifing limbs wheeling vociferously around him. Judith Mackrell at The Guardian [link]

Of Rushes

Acosta is caught in furious, impassioned dialogue with Morera (both artists grandly expressive) while there are appearances by Cojocaru as a compassionate “other” woman. Brandstrup’s writing is fluent, dark in tone for the Acosta/Morera partnership, the couple repeating with each new “rush” aspects of emotional turmoil that we have seen before. Cojocaru seems at first an observer (like the corps de ballet who inhabit the penumbra at the back of the stage). But Brandstrup has shown himself in past works to be an emotional optimist, and the final “rush” is an ecstatic duet for Cojocaru and Acosta which suggests an assertion of possible happiness. Here is a fascinating (and visually very stylish) ballet that will repay further viewings. I hope to return to it, and the rest of this triple bill, after a later performance. Clement Crisp at The Financial Times [link]

In keeping with the theme of Brandstrup’s ballet, all that existed of the music was a couple of dozen fragments, which Michael Berkeley has worked up into an immediately appealing and very danceable whole. Brandstrup picks his collaborators with an unerring eye and ear, and his ballets have a sense of completeness which is quite rare. Jane Simpson review for Dance Now (Vol. 17 No. 2 Summer 2008)

Where to see Kim Brandstrup’s Work:

• Goldberg – The Brandstrup-Rojo Project – 21 to 26 September at the Linbury Studio
• New Watkins/Rushes – Fragments of a Lost Story/Infra – 19/26 Feb 1/2/4 March 2010 – ROH main stage
• MK Ballerina – 20 May to 5 June – The Royal Danish Theatre
• MK Danseur Noble – 21 May to 5 June – The Royal Danish Theatre

Videos

• Goldberg rehearsal video featuring Kim Brandstrup & Tamara Rojo [link]
• Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg dance “Two Footnotes to Ashton” in a gala performance [link]

Sources and Further Information:

1. Brandstrup’s Official Website [link]
2. Biography from Birmingham Royal Ballet website [link]
3. Biography from GBCM website [link]
4. New Rojo/Brandstrup work feature by Amanda Holloway. ROH About the House magazine – April 2009
5. Kim Brandstrup feature by Allen Robertson. ROH About the House magazine – Sept 2007
6. Performance Notes and Programme for Rushes (2008) including article “Kim Brandstrup” by Judith Mackrell
7. Kim Brandstrup: Arcing back from the abyss by Nadine Meisner for The Independent [link]
8. Kim Brandstrup’s Brothers reviewed by Ismene Brown for The Telegraph [link]
9. Kim Brandstrup’s work listings at Loesje Sanders’ Website [link]
10. Theorising Brandstrup at Work, a conversation with Susan Melrose and Steffi Sachsenmaier [link]
11. Claude Debussy – The Fall of the House of Usher · Prélude à la l’après-midi d’un Faune · Jeux (Bregenzer Festspiele 2006) DVD [link]

]]> http://www.theballetbag.com/2009/09/17/life-in-technicolor/feed/ 3 http://www.theballetbag.com/2009/06/26/im-bound-to-pack-it-up-and-go-away/ http://www.theballetbag.com/2009/06/26/im-bound-to-pack-it-up-and-go-away/#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:57:22 +0000 Emilia http://theballetbag.wordpress.com/?p=1047

Better late than never! The Royal Ballet troupe are now well into their summer tour while ballet orphans count the days until the Mariinsky set up camp in Covent Garden to alleviate those dance blues.

That’s over here in London, but if you are lucky enough to be out there (see schedules below) over the next months we suggest you bag some great ballet treats, including MacMillan’s Manon which kicked off in Washington last night and runs until Sunday afternoon. We note, en passant but with a mega pang of jealously, that Alina Cojocaru & Johan Kobborg will be performing it tonight and also in Havana (18 July) while in the UK they have not danced together in a MacMillan ballet for quite some time (Mayerling in early 2007 if memory serves me right). So there you have it, a golden opportunity to watch a golden ballet couple in the great “modern classic” that is Manon.

Alina Cojocaru & Christopher Saunders (as Monsieur GM) in Manon. Photo by Johan Persson. Source via PlaybillArts

Otherwise if you wish to take your ballet addiction much further (literally!) we also list below a selection of performances and galas that will be happening over the summer. Travel safely everyone!

The Royal Ballet Summer tour 2009 in a nutshell

Kennedy Center, Washington, USA

23 and 24 June
Mixed Programme: Wayne McGregor’s Chroma/Frederick Ashton’s A Month in the Country/Christopher Wheeldon’s DGV

25, 26, 27 (mat and eve) and 28 June (mat)
Manon

Alhambra Gardens, Granada, Spain

7 and 9 July
Swan Lake (see casting details below)

Gran Teatro de la Havana, Sala Garcia Lorca

14, 15 and 16 July
Mixed Programme: Wayne McGregor’s Chroma/Divertissements: Frederick Ashton’s Voices of Spring and Thaïs pas de deux/Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet pas de deux and Winter Dreams pas de deux/Le Corsaire pas de deux/Frederick Ashton’s A Month in the Country/Johan Kobborg’s Les Lutins

Teatro Karl Marx, Havana

17 and 18 July
Manon

Special Performances & Galas (based on information from the dancers’s official websites – listed on our right column – and/or theatre websites and subject to change)

Now that we know what both the Royal Ballet’s and the Sadler’s Wells’ 2009/2010 dance seasons look like, it’s time to start penciling in dates, drawing cast plans, organizing bookings and, most importantly, cancelling any previous engagements. Because the autumn/winter dance season, after the starvation of summer months, supersedes anything else we may have had in the pipeline (weddings, birthdays, christenings…). Seriously.

Here are some of the treats we will be bagging:

October

Mayerling (Royal Ballet)

MacMillan’s gritty and sleazy classic will be back with solid casts – Ed Watson & Mara Galeazzi, Johan Kobborg & ? (since Alina’s online diary indicates she might not be dancing this, we’d love to see Leanne Benjamin) as well as some interesting debuts for Rupert Pennefather & Melissa Hamilton, Thiago Soares & Lauren Cuthbertson.

In the Spirit of Diaghilev (Sadler’s Wells)

Choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui / Javier De Frutos / Russell Maliphant & Wayne McGregor set about breaking new choreographic ground whilst paying homage to 100 year old Ballets Russes.

Morphoses (Sadler’s Wells)

Christopher Wheeldon joins in the Diaghilev fun with a special Ballets Russes selection of his own. We are thrilled to see Ed Watson (officially the busiest Royal Ballet dancer in the 2008/2009 season and going for another record, lucky we!), Wendy Whelan and young Beatriz Stix-Brunell still with Morphoses for this new season.

November

Agon/Sphinx/New McGregor (Royal Ballet)

The first – and very edgy looking – triple bill of the season provides the opportunity to see the dream team of Cojocaru, McRae and Polunin again in a new production of Glen Tetley‘s Sphinx. Along with a new McGregor. We can’t wait.

December

Carlos Acosta (Sadler’s Wells)

The bravura boss will be back at the Wells to perform Balanchine’s Apollo plus Jerome Robbins’ A Suite of Dances and Afternoon of a Faun. We think Sadler’s has gone a little “Ballets Russes PR happy” in comparing the man (albeit indirectly) to Nijinsky, but we forgive them: seeing Apollo in the programme is more than enough to lure us in.

The Nutcracker (Royal Ballet)

These days The Nutcracker is the most regular staple in the RB’s repertoire (I guess it’s trying to play catch with those 940+ Swan Lakes) but who can resist when high flyer Sergei Polunin is one of the princes? Plus, given that I can’t be bothered with yuletide decorations this is my only chance of seeing a proper Christmas tree.

For more information, refer to the official press releases by The Royal Ballet and Sadler’s Wells:

The Royal Ballet 2009/2010 Season

Sadler’s Wells Autumn 2009 Season