The Pointe 2019 - Articles Page 6

In their second visit to London's dance house, Acosta Danza return with a varied bill, following a successful debut in 2017. It culminates in a guest appearance from the man himself as he approaches his second Artistic Director role with Birmingham Royal Ballet in the new year. 

Set in a pastoral German village, GISELLE has all the components of a quintessential romantic work. The titular character is a beautiful young woman living with her strict-yet-loving mother (Lorna Geddes). Although a local forester (Piotr Stanczyk) wants to marry her, Giselle has fallen for another man in the village a?" the Count of Silesia, Albrecht (Harrison James), who has donned a disguise to escape the responsibilities of his noble status. When the forester exposes the Count's identity, Giselle goes mad and dies a?" in some productions by suicide, but in this version it seems more likely that a pre-existing heart condition is to blame. She returns as a Wili in the second act to defend Albrecht from the other Wilis and their queen (Heather Ogden), who force men in the woods to dance to their death.

The Flea Theater announces its winter 2019-2020 Anchor Partners, an initiative designed to support small independent theater, music and dance companies. This season, The Flea welcomes companies Tiffany Mills Company, Elisa Monte Dance, Notch Theatre Company, Gabrielle Revlock, The Bang Group and TOSOS.

Dance Lab New York (DLNY) is halfway through its Lab Cycle in collaboration with The Joyce Theater Foundation supporting female choreographers of color in ballet. Over the past two weeks, Amy Hall Garner and Preeti Vasudevan, have been exploring the classical and neoclassical ballet idioms with a company of eight professional dancers, supported by the DLNY Lab Cycle grant in space provided by The Joyce Theater Foundation. DLNY provided each of them with 30 hours of incubation, a stipend, eight paid professional dancers, a rehearsal director, insurances, and administrative support from DLNY staff and Founding Artistic Director, Josh Prince.

Anthony Williams' Urban Nutcracker, the modern Boston-centric holiday classic, celebrates its 19th season this December. The performances at the historic Boch Center Shubert Theatre allow theatregoers an opportunity to experience what The Boston Globe has deemed 'a holiday arts tradition reflecting the rich multicultural diversity of Boston.'

Just over a year ago Natalia Osipova premiered her own curated programme of work, Pure Dance, to mixed reviews. Amazing how, just one year later and with the pieces sitting more comfortably with the artists on stage, the momentum shifts, making for a much more powerful evening than before. 

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is celebrating the fifth anniversary of its American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School. The ABT Gillespie School opened on September 14, 2015. and has become one of the most respected ballet schools on the West Coast. Combining the resources of American Ballet Theatre, America's National Ballet Company, and Segerstrom Center for the Arts, one of the nation's leading presenters of dance, the school offers unrivaled training and performance opportunities for students ages 3 a?" 18. Already, many of the school's students have performed in productions by American Ballet Theatre, the Mariinsky Ballet and the Mikhailovsky Ballet. Center Executive Vice President Judy Morr said, a?oeWe are so proud of the extraordinary success of our ABT Gillespie School and the achievements of our students. The Center cannot thank Bill Gillespie enough for making our school possible and the talent and guidance of Alaine Haubert, the school's principal. And, of course, we treasure our relationship with American Ballet Theatre, whose presence at the Center through the school's National Training Curriculum and their glorious performances on our stages have helped to make Orange County the dance capital of the West Coast.a??

Stay True, An LGBTQ+ Theatre Company presents their debut production of Adam & Brian, a new play written by Craig Donnelly, on Friday November 22nd and Saturday November 23rd at 8:00 PM at The Playroom Theater. Adam & Brian will star Roberto Araujo (Evita, In The Heights, West Side Story) as Brian and Gregory Ramsey (On The Town, Hair) as Adam. Ryan Andrew Arthur (Equus, The Secret Garden) will be the standby for both roles. Stay True's Founding Artistic Director Andrew Victor Myers directs the production.

Roberto Villanueva founded BalaSole Dance Company nine years ago to combat the discrimination against 'atypical bodies' that one encounters in dance. Take Villanueva himself: a dazzling soloist with sparkling technique and facility that puts him in Sylvie Guillem's league, at 5 foot 2 inches, his atypical height all but barred him from working with major companies. His response to that exclusion was to create BalaSole, a showcase for talented, atypical dancers.

On opening night, October 15, Kyle Abraham, Artistic Director, presented six works, including, for one night only, Ash, a solo for American Ballet Theatre principal ballerina, Misty Copeland. Ash was saved for last on the program. The anticipation was palpable, but the entire performance was riveting. Abraham has earned numerous awards and honors for his choreography, and his work has been presented throughout the United States and abroad.

There's a new Dance Movie, which opened nationwide Friday, October 11th, that's sure to advance the genre in popularity.  In the last few decades “Dirty Dancing,” “Footloose,” “Flashdance,” “Saturday Night Fever,” “Staying Alive” and more recently “La La Land” all caused quite a stir when they hit theatres, and many of them are still quite popular today.   “High Strung Free Dance” and it's predecessor “High Strung' (2016) has everything you could want to see and hear in a film about dance, music and dancers. Written and produced by professional dancer Janine Best Damian “Solid Gold” and numerous film and television appearances, and her talented actor/singer/director/composer/husband Michael Damian (Joseph in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”/Broadway; 18 years appearing on “The Young and the Restless,” among many other credits for directing, as a vocalist and creating soundtracks for films he's also directed). This latest film is one out of 13 films he has written and produced with Janeen, as well as directed; ”Marley and Me: The Puppy Years,' the “Flicka” franchise, and more.

Having celebrated 35 successful years of sensational daytime entertainment, Arts Centre Melbourne's Morning Melodies 2020 program is set to amaze audiences once again with a stellar line-up of music theatre, cabaret, opera, jazz and dance. This coming year, the feel-good one hour concerts held each month at Hamer Hall will celebrate our very own Australian performers, including Philip Quast, Silvie Paladino, Zoy Frangos and Trevor Ashley.

Saturday, September 27-29, 2019 The Los Angeles Youth Ballet's Artistic Director, Andrea Paris-Gutierrez, introduced the program for the evening, giving a warm welcome to the audience. The first half of the 'bill' was entitled 'Mixed Motions.'  Talented Choreographer Cedric Dodd, mounting his work on the company members of the Youth Ballet, gives a fantastic opportunity for these young Company members, getting to learn different styles of choreography, then performing it, in their growth as dancers.  

Battery Dance Festival's Tuesday and Wednesday night performances proved that choreography is only as wonderful as its music is rich. Led by Buglisi Dance Theatre, Ballet Nepantla, Vanaver Caravan, Ballet Boy Productions, and Battery Dance Company, this fact was never far from the concertgoers' minds as they swooned blissfully to fantastic dancing coupled with brilliant music.

Akram Khan's Giselle is only three years old, but it already has a weighty reputation, as a powerful contemporary reworking of a classic, done with the choreographer's impressive sense of intensity and drama. 

James Whiteside, ballet's most daring principal artist known for his theatrical and technical versatility, has lots to celebrate this fall. On the heels of a recent Guinness World Record-breaking segment on national television, American Ballet Theatre will bring Whiteside's Vail Dance Festival Commission, New American Romance, to New York City this Fall season,October 23, 25 and 27 at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center.

Disney Plus gave a series order to On Pointe, a documentary series about the School of American Ballet, according to Variety.

Blue Man Group, continuing its open run at Chicago's Briar Street Theatre (3133 N. Halsted), is delighted to announce its fall 2019 performance schedule. The expansive calendar includes a special autism-friendly performance Sunday, October 6.

“Record Breaker Week” continues on “Live with Kelly and Ryan,” and this morning's record-breaking attempt was the icing on the cake, as Cake Boss Buddy Valastro crushed the Guinness World Records title for Most cupcakes iced/frosted in one minute. Valastro and hosts Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest all faced off in the challenge, with the Cake Boss ultimately coming out on top after icing an impressive 36 cupcakes. The previous record of 20 cupcakes was held by Valastro himself. 

Making its sixth consecutive annual visit to the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, the Juilliard String Quartet opens the Chamber Music Society of Detroit's Regional Partner Series with concerts at the War Memorial in Grosse Pointe (Thursday, September 26, 7:30 PM), Canton's Village Theater at Cherry Hill (Saturday, September 28, 7:30 PM) and Varner Recital Hall on the Oakland university Campus in Rochester (Sunday, September 29, 3:00 PM).   These concerts are sponsored by Northern Trust.

After an extensive selection process, the Alliance Theatre named the three Atlanta area middle schools they will partner with for the regional launch of The JumpStart Theatre program, developed by the Educational Theatre Association. JumpStart Theatre is a three-year program that will equip faculty and administrators with the skills and resources to produce their school's first musical theatre production.

Atlanta's Synchronicity Theatre will open its 22nd season with Erica Schmidt's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Mac | Beth, October 4 a?" 27, 2019. For tickets and information, please visit synchrotheatre.com or call 404-484-8636.

From ballet to bop, with a dash of mid-life salsa dating, life's journey is all about taking the next step.

The Chamber Music Society of Detroit opens its 2019-2020 76th season with the Miró Quartet and clarinetist Anthony McGill at 8:00 PM on Saturday, September 14, 2019.  The concert takes place at Seligman Performing Arts Center, located at 22305 W. 13 Mile Road in Beverly Hills.  In addition to featuring Mozart's masterful Clarinet Quintet, the program includes Glière's Andantino from his String Quartet No. 1 in A major, as well as the Midwest premiere of a?oeHome,a?? a new work by American composer Kevin Puts co-commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Detroit. 

On August 17, 2019, I attended Ballet Festival's Program D, curated by Edward Watson, principal dancer of London's Royal Ballet and a performer in this program. He was joined on stage by Sarah Lamb, principal dancer of the Royal Ballet; Robbie Fairchild, former New York City Ballet (NYCB) principal dancer; and Maria Kowroski, NYCB principal dancer. There was much anticipation; audiences were eager for what promised to be a highly memorable evening.