The Corps de Ballet News

The Royal Opera House continues to treat us to a fortnightly fix of ballet and what relief this latest edition is. After some rather sombre, heavier narrative works, the froth and joy of Frederick Ashton's La Fille Mal Gardée is balm for the soul. Balletomanes will want to pour over this 2005 recording which features Marianela Nunez' debut in the central role of Lise with Carlos Acosta as Colas. 

The next lockdown treat courtesy of English National Ballet comes in the form of Derek Deane's Swan Lake. This production last ran over the 2018/19 Winter season with this particular performance seeing Principals Jurgita Dronina and Isaac Hernandez in the leading roles.

San Francisco Ballet (SF Ballet) announces 11 promotions, two new Company members, and six apprentices for the 2021 Season.

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre (PBT) has announced updates to its upcoming 2020-2021 Season in response to programs rescheduled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis that forced the closure of non-essential businesses, including PBT and the Cultural Trust venues in which the company performs. 

Today would have been Willy Burmann's 81st birthday. In celebrating his life, I felt that it was essential to speak with Miro Magloire, the artistic director of New Chamber Ballet. Miro was Willy's friend, confidante, and preferred pianist for class.

Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen announces seven dancer promotions for the 2020a?"2021 season.

An American In Paris star, Robbie Fairchild, took advantage of the sunny weather during social distancing with a rooftop dance!

Opening night of San Francisco Ballet's triumphant production of George Balanchine's a?oeA Midsummer Night's Dreama?? was both a thrilling and heartbreaking occasion. Thrilling because SFB gave a masterful performance of this Balanchine classic that has gone missing from its repertoire for far too long. Heartbreaking because mere moments after the final curtain came down, a notice was issued that all subsequent performances of a?oeMidsummer'sa?? scheduled run had been cancelled due the Mayor's efforts to prevent the spread of the corona virus. Of course, health concerns must take precedence, but it was still incredibly sad to think that others would not be able to experience this glorious production, at least for the time being. I also couldn't help feeling for the dancers and artistic staff who had clearly poured their hearts and souls into this huge endeavor. In the meantime, though, let's not let current events dim the glowing memories of opening night.

Enough words have been given to the controversy surrounding this run of Liam Scarlett's Swan Lake, its first revival since a largely triumphant premiere in 2018. I don't wish to dwell further here, and instead want to focus on what was one of the most memorable nights at the theatre in quite some time thanks to some virtuoso central performances, a faultless corps de ballet, and the transporting set and costumes of John Macfarlane.

Jessica Xuan and Semyon Velichko have both been promoted to principals at Dutch National Ballet. Director Ted Brandsen announced their promotion this weekend, straight after their performance in Giselle. Jessica and Semyon are partners in this ballet and are dancing the leading roles of Giselle and count Albrecht.

Covent Garden's Royal Opera House continues its successful series of live screenings to over 1000 cinemas across the world. Dances at a Gathering / The Cellist is a chance to see two incredibly different ballets in one evening; both beautifully moving in their own ways.

Today Pennsylvania Ballet announced a dynamic new season, 'Magic of Stories,' complete with fairytale full length stories, world premieres at the Perelman Theater from choreographers with long-time ties to the company and a sparkling tribute to George Balanchine. Pennsylvania Ballet will also highlight local organizations for each production, including Career Wardrobe and the Audubon Society.

The Clive Barnes Foundation, today announced finalists for the 10th Annual Clive Barnes Awards, recognizing excellence in Theater and Dance. According to the New York Times, the list includes Celia Rose Gooding (Jagged Little Pill), Sophia Anne Caruso (Beetlejuice), Andrew Burnap (The Inheritance), and Christopher Livingston (The Great Society) in the theatre category, and India Bradley, Roman Mejia, Kellie Drobnick, and Aran Bell in the dance category.

As part of the 243rd season of the iconic ballet company, several productions by the Bolshoi Ballet are again being broadcast on cinema screens across sixty countries. As one of seven of these ballets, Swan Lake is surely the most iconic, having debuted at the Bolshoi theatre in 1877. Tchaikovsky's incredibly evocative score wasn't enough to secure initial success, but for many people today, Swan Lake is ballet.

​​​​​​​The first performance of Matthew Bourne's contemporary Swan Lake was performed at the Sadler's Wells Theater, London, in 1995. It has endured twenty-five years with the staying power of a new classic -- for very good reason. Bourne has reinvented the swans from maidens who have been turned into beautiful swans by an evil sorcerer, to male swans, summoned by the dreams and desires of a pampered, regimented prince, no sorcerer in sight. Much has been made of this and the homoerotic overtones that appear at times; however, there is much more to it than that as a piece of theater. It is a psychological drama which explores, among other things, celebrity and Royalty in today's world.

American Ballet Theatre (ABT) returns to the Auditorium Theatre with Celebrating 80 Years! from March 19-22, 2020, the second engagement in the Company's four-year residency at the National Historic Landmark. The Company celebrates its 80th anniversary with a mixed repertory program featuring works from throughout its history, showcasing the best in classic and contemporary ballet.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts proudly presents the World Premiere of American Ballet Theatre's Of Love and Rage, a new work choreographed by ABT Artist-in-Residence and MacArthur Genius Alexei Ratmansky. Sets and costumes are by award-winning designer Jean-Marc Puissant, with lighting by designer Duane Schuler. Inspired from the first century Greek novel, Callirhoe, the libretto for Of Love and Rage was adapted by actor, director, screenwriter and Molière Award winner Guillaume Gallienne. The ballet is set to music by Aram Khachaturian with arrangements by Philip Feeney and performed live by Pacific Symphony. There will be five performances: March 5 a?" 8, 2020 in Segerstrom Hall. The ballet will have its New York Premiere during ABT's 2020 Metropolitan Opera House season June 2 a?" 6.

The 2019-2020 Season continues with the highly anticipated return of record-breaking and critically acclaimed Swan Lake. It features choreography by Kansas City Ballet Artistic Director Devon Carney after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.

​​​​​​​Shanghai Ballet was founded in 1966. Spanning over thirty years, this company embraces a blend of traditional and Western dance styles. Xin Lili, Artistic Director since 2011, has brought to the company English versions of Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, a French version of Coppelia and La Sylphide, as well as George Balanchine's Serenade and La Valse. Lili has also invited creations to be made for the Shanghai Ballet. Currently, the Artistic Director of the Shanghai Ballet and it's eighty dancers is Derek Deane with his team. My first impression was that this is a fresh, young company, full of enthusiasm and with room to grow.

Nostalgic rose-colored glasses so tint few works as The Nutcracker. Its music, its images, its audience of children, either mesmerized or fidgeting in their Sunday best, have become annual staples of the Christmas season. Balanchine's 1954 staging of the ballet is its quintessential manifestation. As with all things Balanchine, it is a feat of harmonious contradictions; instead of his more academic ventures that seek to marry the aristocratic form with the fashionable modern, The Nutcracker is a practice in elegant nostalgia. Perhaps Balanchine felt this nostalgia for a Russia that was long gone; Stalin died the previous year, leaving behind a Russia that held no resemblance to the first act fete. That the choreographer was capable of conjuring these charming visions of a dreamlike childhood, while not sacrificing his pioneering vocabulary, is a testament to his genius