Blog Profile / The Ballet Bag
| URL : | http://theballetbag.wordpress.com/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Dance / Ballet | |
| Posts on Regator: | 352 | |
| Posts / Week: | 1.8 | |
| Archived Since: | August 9, 2009 | |
Blog Post Archive
Upcoming Talk: The Future of Books
If you are in town this Saturday 17 September, we would love to see you at University College London. As part of The London Design Festival 2011, our friends at Sojournposse will be hosting the seminar “Whatever Is to Become of Books?” and we are one of the guest speakers. More information: Five Minutes With: [...]
René Blum & The Ballets Russes
In her newest book, RENÉ BLUM AND THE BALLETS RUSSES: In Search of a Lost Life, dance historian Judith Chazin-Bennahum looks at the tragic story of the theatre producer who was responsible for resurrecting the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo after his friend Sergei Diaghilev’s death, but who was arrested in 1941 during a roundup [...]
The Royal Ballet 2011-2012 Season at a Glance
European summer is almost over (although here in Britain it never really began) and ballet companies around the world are getting ready to kick off their new seasons. The Royal Ballet is set to return to Covent Garden in a few weeks with Balanchine’s Jewels. Taking inspiration from one of our favorite magazines, Wired, we [...]
Mariinsky in London Roundup
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of their first visit to London, the Mariinsky Ballet left a trail of brilliancy following its three-week residency at Covent Garden. The company brought a selection of works that played to its strengths: from big classical works like Swan Lake and La Bayadère (which showed off a flawless corps de ballet) [...]
Edward Watson in Kafka’s Metamorphosis – World Premiere
Via Press Release: Royal Ballet Principal Edward Watson plays Gregor Samsa in the world premiere of this innovative dance-theatre adaptation of Franz Kafka’s novella of the absurd. Commissioned by ROH2, the story follows a travelling salesman who awakes to discover that he has been transformed into a giant insect. Gregor Samsa’s horrifying nightmare is brought [...]
Mariinsky in London: Balanchine & Robbins Dress Rehearsal
US-based dance photographer Brian Mengini is currently in London, working on a photo project with dancers from English National Ballet and The Royal Ballet. Brian lives in Pennsylvania and often works with the Pennsylvania Ballet and Boston Ballet. He recently shared with us his experiences shooting the Boston Ballet in rehearsal. In this new guest [...]
A Tale of Two Carmens
Bizet’s Carmen is one of the most successful operas of all time and its popularity has led the way to many choreographic interpretations, deriving more or less directly from Mérimée’s libretto. Two of the most often performed ballet versions are Roland Petit’s for Ballets de Paris – created in 1949 and using Bizet’s original score [...]
Birmingham Royal Ballet’s The Nutcracker at The O2
Via Press Release: Ballet will be returning to The O2 arena this December. From Tuesday 27 to Friday 30 December 2011 Victor Hochhauser, in association with The O2 and Universal Music Arts and Entertainment, will present six performances of Birmingham Royal Ballet‘s world acclaimed interpretation of the Christmas classic The Nutcracker, after its regular Christmas [...]
Boston Ballet: In Rehearsal
Next week US-based dance photographer Brian Mengini arrives in London to work on a photo project with dancers from English National Ballet and The Royal Ballet. Brian lives in Pennsylvania and often works with the Pennsylvania Ballet and Boston Ballet. He has been photographing ballet ever since he had the opportunity of shooting The Royal [...]
The Little Humpbacked Horse Roundup
I arrived in New York last week just in time to catch the Mariinsky Ballet‘s last performance of The Little Humpbacked Horse, as well as an evening programme of Symphony in C paired with Alonso’s Carmen (but more on that later). The Little Humpbacked Horse combines a delightful (even hummable) score by Rodion Shchedrin with a captivating [...]
Prix de Lausanne Master Classes
Via Press Release: To celebrate its 40th anniversary this year, the Prix de Lausanne, for the first time, is offering a series of classical Master classes across six continents, each one taught by a distinguished Prix de Lausanne prize winner, offering participants a rare opportunity to take class with some of the world’s most celebrated [...]
Cloud Dance Festival: Kristen McNally and Tommy Franzén in Rehearsal
The Royal Ballet’s Kristen McNally continues to prove that semi-narrative ballet can evolve by cross communicating with dance forms like hip hop. Having showcased some of her “ballet fusion” works earlier this year in special events at the “Move It Show” and at Covent Garden’s Apple Store, Kristen is now getting ready to present her [...]
The Little Humpbacked Horse
Is this Ballet for you? Go if: you like coming of age stories, where the male hero has to overcome various obstacles, preferably dancing plenty of virtuoso steps along the way (in fact, all three main characters have challenging steps to dance). Do not be put off by the weird title: the Little Humpbacked Horse [...]
Dance Futures: Freya Thomas Creates for The Royal Ballet
Yesterday we dropped by the Clore Studio at the Royal Opera House to catch the first dress rehearsal of “Umbra” by young choreographer Freya Thomas. Freya’s work is part of Dance Futures, a new project from ROH Education which will see over 120 young people take to the Covent Garden main stage this Sunday to [...]
DNB’s Don Quichot (Don Quixote) Now Available on iTunes
Via Press Release: As announced last week by TenduTV, Dutch National Ballet’s new full-length production of Don Quichot (Don Quixote), created for the company by Alexei Ratmansky, will be available for digital download and streaming from today. Filmed in September 2010 at Het Muziektheater (the Amsterdam Music Theater), the production was recorded in High Definition [...]
Bavarian State Ballet – Ballet Extra Series
In our recent Royal Ballet season roundup we touched on the topic of ballet in unusual places. We were amazed at the scale and the buzz generated by Romeo and Juliet at the O2 arena, but smaller venues can be just as effective as a means to lure in new dance audiences. Events like ballet [...]
The Royal Ballet 2010/11 Season Roundup
In one of their riskiest and most exciting ventures, The Royal Ballet wrapped up for summer with MacMillan’s blockbuster Romeo & Juliet staged for an audience of 40,000 (split over 4 performances). The so-hashtagged #RomeO2 event was the surprise hit in a season more memorable for the hasty return of works like Ashton’s Cinderella (4 [...]
Dance Rarities Curated in a New Performing Arts Catalogue
A catalogue of film and video materials held by the archives and collections of BFI, Arts Council England, LUX, Central St Martins British Artists Film & Video Study Collection is now available as a free downloadable pdf from the British Film Institute website. Aimed at encouraging engagement between the arts and the moving image, the [...]
Sébastien Galtier: Beautiful Friends
Stuttgart Ballet’s Sébastien Galtier started to take ballet pictures about four years ago as a hobby. He soon realised he could cross over photography with other media he liked, more specifically fashion and the visual arts. That allowed him to give a different context to his dance photos, taking well-known ballet characters into shots staged [...]
Getting Ready for #RomeO2
Tonight The Royal Ballet begins its three-day residency at London’s O2. This is the first time the Company has set foot on a UK arena and, to mark the occasion, they are fielding an all-star cast to perform in Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet. Taking turns as the famous star-crossed lovers are Carlos Acosta and [...]