Sondra Forsyth - Page 4

SEATTLE, WA, 4/13/20 – In light of the state of Washington's ongoing health and safety efforts around the COVID-19 pandemic, Pacific Northwest Ballet's Executive Director Ellen Walker and Artistic Director Peter Boal have announced that the organization has made the difficult decision to cancel its upcoming production of PITE-THARP-LIANG. Featuring works by Crystal Pite, Twyla Tharp, and a world premiere by Edwaard Liang, performances had been scheduled to take place May 29 – June 7. Ticket holders and subscribers will receive direct communication about their cancelled performances in the coming days. Due to high demands on our staff who are all working remotely, we are hoping that ticket holders will be patient when reaching out to the box office. Additionally, PNB will be cancelling its Season Encore Performance (originally scheduled for June 7), the Next Step choreographers' showcase (June 12) and 39th Annual PNB School Performances (June 13). No announcement has been made, at this time, regarding the status of the company's summer tours to New York City (June 23 – 28) and Sun Valley, ID (July 13 – 14).

There is no road map for how to proceed in this unprecedented situation. Our dancers and staff have been hunkering down at home, hoping for a positive turn of events that will allow us to welcome you back to McCaw Hall.

As the pandemic continues to impact the ballet world, I'm keeping BWW Dance updated on cancellations and postponements. This report is about the Lyon Opera Ballet, which is cancelling the USA tour and returning to France, as well as about the cancellation of YAGP New York Finals slated for April 2020. I don't yet have the official release from the Lyon Opera Ballet, but I do have this message from Leoannis Pupo-Guillen. He was a member of my Ballet Ambassadors before joining Lyon. Somehow, the personal message is even more heartrending than an official release.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause ballet companies to cancel or postpone performances. Here are notices from San Francisco Ballet and Carolina Ballet:

Washington State is the epicenter of the 2019 COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak in the United States. King County, where PNB is located in Seattle, has been the hardest hit. Here is the press release from PNB regarding performance cancellations and options for ticket holders. You can also read a Health Update on the PNB site.

On the afternoon of February 2nd, 2020, a nearly sold-out audience for a performance of Pacific Northwest Ballet's “Cinderella” proved that diehard dancegoers and eager young ballet students will show up in full force even though plenty of other people decide to opt for watching Superbowl Sunday's football game.

Fast forward to the afternoon of December 8th, 2019 in Seattle when I was utterly charmed by Pacific Northwest Ballet's faithful yet fresh production of Mr. B's venerable holiday staple, staged by Judith Fugate with PNB Artistic Director Peter Boal and Garielle Whittle.

On the evening of September 27th at the Koch Theater in Lincoln Center, the annual New York City Ballet Fall Fashion Gala offered the customary Red Carpet moments as well as a performance that promised three world premieres.

New York City Center Encores! is celebrating its 25th season in 2018. Part of roster of concert productions of American musicals is Encores! Off-Center, founded in 2013 to present productions during the summer. On the evening of July 27th, a sassy and spirited rendering of “Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope” delighted a sold-out house of theater and dance lovers.

Friday, July 13th 2018 was not unlucky for me. On that evening, I was fortunate enough to watch the final staging of legendary postmodern choreographer Lucinda Childs' Available Light at Jazz at Lincoln Center as part of the annual Mostly Mozart Festival during the Lucinda Childs Dance Company's final season. The work, last seen in NYC 33 years ago, is a collaboration among three distinguished artists: Childs, minimalist composer John Adams, and famed architect Frank Gehry.

As one of five troupes showcased during the 2018 Ballet Festival at the Joyce in NYC, BalletX proved once again that its reputation as Philadelphia's premier contemporary ballet company is well deserved. I praised BalletX back in August of 2016 and I was pleased to see that on June 30th 2018, the caliber of the choreography and the dancing continues to be first rate.

American Ballet Theatre's claim that the ballet Don Quixote is ”based on Miguel de Cervantes' sweeping tale of romance and chivalry” is a forgivable exaggeration. Cervantes' lengthy two-part novel does have a mention of the romantic triangle with Quiteria (called Kitri in the ballet), Basilio (the boy-next-door she eventually marries), and Camacho (the bumbling rich man her father wanted her to marry, called Gamache in the ballet).

In 2018 on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of legendary choreographer Marius Petipa, American Ballet Theatre presented the premiere of Alexei Ratmansky's meticulous historical reconstruction of the full-length Harlequinade. His wife, Tatiana Ratmansky, assisted him and appeared as the Good Fairy in some performances.

On May 20th 2018 at NYU's Skirball Center in Greenwich Village, dance lovers were treated to a non-stop evening of award presentations and riveting performances during the second annual Chita Rivera Awards. Known as the Fred and Estelle Astaire Awards from their inception in 1982 until 2017, the awards honor excellence in dance and choreography both onstage and on film.

Kevin McKenzie, the Artistic Director of American Ballet Theater since 1991, has created an admirably faithful staging of the company's 1987 production of Giselle to the music of Adolf Adam. A veteran himself of the leading role of Albrecht, McKenzie has kept the beloved classic alive for today's audiences with all of the requisite charm and dance mime in Act ! and plenty of eerily dramatic tension in Act II.

New York City Ballet's Centennial Celebration at the Koch Theater in Lincoln Center of the 100th anniversary of Jerome Robbins' birth honors the prodigiously gifted dancemaker, the company's Co-Founding Choreographer, with a ballet lover's feast of five programs from May 3rd to May 20th 2018. The run include two world premieres as well as 20 ballets by Robbins. He died in 1998 at the age of 80, but “Robbins 100” shows beyond a doubt that his legacy endures.

Nearly 500 guests flocked to the ballroom of the Zeigfield Theatre in NYC on the evening of April 30th 2018 for the 42nd annual Gala of the National Dance Institute (NDI). The non-profit arts education organization was founded in 1976 by renowned former New York City Ballet principal dancer Jacques d'Amboise who spoke movingly about the work he clearly loves. The event is the organization's key fundraiser, and this year a whopping $1.5 million was raised. All of the proceeds will go toward supporting and expanding NDI's mission to integrate first-rate dance training into schools during regular class hours rather than at lunchtime or after school. The roster of schools now includes not only NYC schools but also schools in China and Lebanon. Over the course of four decades, NDI has given more than two million youngsters the transformative experience of dancing.

On the afternoon of April 29th 2018 at the Koch Theater in Lincoln Center, the New York City Ballet proved that the company is still flourishing under the interim direction of a team of four after Peter Martins' resignation. The “All Balanchine” program celebrated the enduring legacy of Mr. B's choreography, and the dancing was mostly magnificent if at times not quite as clean as It should have been in the ensemble work. That has always been an NYCB issue, however, so I won't blame the interim team!

On the afternoon of April 22nd at the Joyce Theater in NYC, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company gave the final performance of a six-day run that offered three different programs to celebrate Lubovitch's 50th anniversary as an internationally acclaimed choreographer. Program A featured the Martha Graham Dance Company while Programs B added Joffrey principal dancers to Lubovitch's own roster of superb dancers, and Program C added students from the George Mason University School of Dance to the list of performers.