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"The Devil Ties My Tongue" by Amy Seiwert performed for the SKETCH Series, 2013. Photo by David DeSilva. Courtesy of Amy Seiwert's Imagery

Up to date announcements of company seasons, featured artists and special programming as well as grant of awards such as Princess Grace, or artistic appointments

Laurent Liotardo/The English National Ballet

The Guardian: She Persisted review – a fine rebalance

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By Lisa Allardice

14 April 2019

In 2016 Tamara Rojo, artistic director of English National Ballet, set out to redress the shocking realisation that in 20 years as a professional dancer she had never performed in a work by a woman. She commissioned She Said, a programme of exclusively female choreographers, now followed by She Persisted (the feminist slogan adopted after the notorious 2017 Republican putdown of US politician Elizabeth Warren).

What better way to open a showcase of female creativity than with the return of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Broken Wings, an exuberant portrayal of the troubled life of Frida Kahlo? In an impressive debut, Katja Khaniukova brings a winning combination of vulnerability and defiance to the central role (danced by Rojo in its 2016 premiere), as we follow Kahlo from mischievous schoolgirl to her tempestuous marriage to Diego Rivera, played as a bumbling, middle-aged lothario by Irek Mukhamedov.

Mexican skeletons, male dancers in the flamboyant dresses of her self-portraits, dancing monkeys and deers speared with arrows – comic touches capture the surreal playfulness of Kahlo’s art alongside the darker incidents of her story: the bus accident she suffered in her teens and the terrible injuries and miscarriages she endured as a result, all imaginatively and harrowingly suggested. The whole is both sexy and sad.

Read the full article in The Guardian.

The Guardian: Bausch, Forsythe, Van Manen review – a company awakening

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By Luke Jennings

26 March 2019

In the five years since she was made artistic director of English National Ballet, Tamara Rojo has remade the company, introducing challenging new work and promoting a new generation of soloists and principals. Her latest programme offers pieces by three of the 20th century’s most influential choreographers: William Forsythe, Hans van Manen and Pina Bausch. ENB are the first British company to perform Le Sacre du printemps(The Rite of Spring) by Bausch, a notable coup for Rojo.

The triple bill will run at Sadler’s Wells until Saturday, and the fact that it is not playing outside London is a reminder of the hard economics underpinning a major-scale ballet company. At ENB, the books are balanced by touring classical story ballets such as Le Corsaire and Coppélia, and by a long winter Nutcracker season. So it’s good to see the dancers cutting loose in less traditional fare. It’s clearly liberating for them, but evenings like this also offer audiences the chance to see company members in a different context. Dancers who might spend most of their year performing as part of the ensemble, as pirates in Le Corsaire or Rhineland villagers in Giselle, can find themselves suddenly and strikingly foregrounded. Ballet careers are all about seizing the moment, about taking the chance when it presents itself.

Read the full article in The Guardian.

New York Times: At City Ballet, Two Cheers for Pam Tanowitz

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(And 2 more for Brian Seibert)

By Brian Seibert

3 May 2019

Lately, there’s been a lot of talk of a “new era” or “new chapter” at New York City Ballet. At the company’s spring gala at the David H. Koch Theater on Thursday, both phrases cropped up in preshow speeches by the new artistic director, Jonathan Stafford, and the new associate artistic director, Wendy Whelan. These speeches were far from lively, but fresh ideas have been emerging in other forms. The fruit of one was on the program: a commission for the choreographer Pam Tanowitz.

For many years, especially as ballet companies came under increasing pressure to identify and nurture female choreographers, City Ballet’s failure to call upon Ms. Tanowitz was puzzling. It’s true that she’s an outsider to ballet, but she knows her ballet history, and her proven talent in discovering drama and wit through formal invention puts her right in line with the company’s best traditions.

So it’s about time that she be given a shot. Yet, as it turns out, the commission is also a little ahead of schedule. Originally, the plan was for Ms. Tanowitz to make a work for the fall, but when another choreographer pulled out, Ms. Tanowitz — suddenly in-demand and busier than ever before in her career — stepped in.

Might that fast-forwarding account for why her new “Bartok Ballet” feels both overstuffed and undercooked? Its plentiful virtues are characteristic, starting with a wonderfully multidimensional use of stage space. In this ensemble piece, two dancers might oscillate in and out of a relationship intermittently identifiable as a duet, while someone else, way in the rear, lies on her back, raising a bent leg, and yet another dancer peeks out from a forward wing.

Read the full article in The New York Times.

WWD: New York City Ballet Gala Seen as Turning Point for Change

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By Misty White Sidell

3 May 2019

The New York City Ballet held its annual spring gala on Thursday evening — the first to be presided over by a new leadership administration.

In late February, Jonathan Stafford and Wendy Whelan — both former principal dancers at the company — were named as artistic director and associate artistic director, respectively. Stafford had been serving as interim director since June 2018, when his predecessor Peter Martins resigned amid allegations of abuse, following a 35-year run at the head of the historical troupe.

This passing of the baton — only the third such change in City Ballet’s 71-year history — was embroiled in scandals relating to male dancers’ and administrations’ conduct. Thus, the company — known in recent years for its flashy artist and fashion design collaboration — appears to be taking a quiet moment to reassess. Its gala last night was not attended by celebrities and the company has no imminent plans for an international tour.

In the weeks since their appointment, Stafford and Whelan have been outlining plans to modernize the company. As previously outlined to WWD, Stafford intends to implement new protocols to ensure that the City Ballet-affiliated School of American Ballet becomes increasingly diverse, thus providing the company with a class of dancers that better reflects the outside world. Whelan, the company’s first female director, hopes to make City Ballet a sanctuary for female choreographers and reverse years of patriarchal rule.

Read the full article in WWD.

New York Times: The Choreographer Pam Tanowitz’s Dance Card Is Overflowing

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By Gia Kourlas

1 May 2019

This spring, no one has asked more of Pam Tanowitz than Pam Tanowitz. She is making more dances than she ever has in her life.

“I’m nervous, and I’m worried, and I stay up at night,” she said in a recent interview at New York City Ballet, where she was rehearsing her latest. “I have so many steps in my head.”

That’s fitting. A modern dance choreographer, Ms. Tanowitz, 49, has a flair for inventing sophisticated steps then turning them inside out. While she may appear to be her usual wisecracking self — she told her City Ballet dancers to “do it quickly again before I get arrested,” referring to the company’s tight rehearsal schedule — she fully grasps the pressure of her situation.

Her approach is to take it one dance at a time. First came a new work for the Martha Graham Dance Company. Next was one for Paul Taylor’s troupe — that will have its premiere in June, along with her first outdoor site-specific piece, conceived with Sara Mearns, the City Ballet principal. Later this month, Ms. Tanowitz will unveil another new work at the Kennedy Center in Washington as part of Ballet Across America, featuring members of both Dance Theater of Harlem and Miami City Ballet. Then there’s her company’s coming tour to London to present “Four Quartets,” her acclaimed work inspired by the T.S. Eliot poems.

Read the full article in The New York Times.

Pointe Magazine: Justin Peck and Pam Tanowitz World Premieres at NYCB, Canadian Premiere of Septime Webre’s “Wizard of Oz,” And More!

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By Chava Lansky

29 April 2019

New York City Ballet’s spring season continues this week with two world premieres, presented as part of the company’s annual spring gala on May 2. The first, by Justin Peck, is titled Bright and is set to music by Mark Dancigers. The second is by postmodern choreographer Pam Tanowitz, who will be making her NYCB debut. Set to music by Béla Bartók, Tanowitz’s work is aptly titled Bartók Ballet. The premieres, which will both return for four additional dates later this season, share a program with George Balanchine’s Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3.

Read the full article on Pointe Magazine’s blog.

London on the Inside: BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET IS COMING TO LONDON

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By Christina Dean

29 April 2019

Calling all ballet fans! Birmingham Royal Ballet, the country’s leading classical ballet touring company, is coming to London in June with two very different shows in tow.

[Un]leashed is the first show the company is bringing to town. It’s actually made up of three short ballets all courtesy of female choreographers. Jessica Lang’s Lyric Pieces is a playful piece in which the dancers manipulate giant concertina props to form and reform the scenery. Ruth Brill has reimagined Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, putting a modern spin on the traditional story by using street dance and spoken word to influence classical ballet. Finally, Didy Veldman’s Sense of Time is a new commission with the latest score by Gabriel Prokofiev (yes, the same Prokofiev family) which looks at how perceptions of time have changed in our modern world.

Read the full article on London on the Inside.

Kelowna Daily Courier: Ballet Kelowna hits spring with three premieres

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By JP Squire

1 May 2019

Spring has always represented the re-awakening of nature so Ballet Kelowna is celebrating that fresh beginning with three premieres of re-imagined 100-year-old works at 7:30 p.m. on May 3-4 at Kelowna Community Theatre.

The presentation of Spring, following Autumn on Nov. 16-17 and Winter on Feb. 1, wraps up the 2018-19 season with works from a trio of esteemed Canadian female choreographers who will introduce refreshing takes on works by Igor Stravinsky, originally commissioned for Paris’ Ballet Russes between 1910 and 1913. Tickets are available at: balletkelowna.ca.

Ballet Kelowna artistic director Simone Orlando’s Rite of Spring, Heather Dotto’s Petrushka and Amber Funk Barton’s Firebird all feature contemporary dance rather than going back to the original material from more than a century ago. The fourth work is the Kelowna ballet company’s premiere of Spring from one of Canada’s top emerging talents, Alysa Pires, creator of the effervescent fan-favourite Mambo.

A Studio Series presentation at the 2283 Leckie Rd. studio and headquarters on Thursday teased about 100 young people with the company’s goal of attracting a younger audience, not only to ballet but other artistic endeavours in the Okanagan.

Dancers highlighted segments from the four exquisite pieces, each distinctly different from the other, yet each mesmerizing. The choreographers each found different ways for dancers to interconnect through intertwining bodies, innovative lifts, and intricate individual and ensemble movements that portray a wide range of emotions and plot development.

Read the full article in the Kelowna Daily Courier.

Global News: Ballet Kelowna prepares for season finale

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By Doris Maria Bregolisse

26 April 2019

Ballet Kelowna is featuring works that were first performed more than 100 years ago in Paris for their season finale May 3 & 4.

They’ve recruited help to create modern interpretations of the dances for the Okanagan stage.

A trio of Canadian female choreographers will offer new takes on works by Igor Stravinsky that were originally commissioned for Paris’ Ballet Russes between 1910 and 1913.

Vancouver choreographers Heather Dotto and Amber Funk Barton join Ballet Kelowna Artistic Director and CEO Simone Orlando reimagining Stravinsky’s Petrushka, Firebird and Rite of Spring.

“I want people to come to the show because it’s a celebration,” Dotto said. “It’s an amazing evening of three brand new works that are uplifted from the 1900’s and completely blown out, made into something so fresh and new.”

Read the full article in Global News.

Chicago Sun-Times: The Joffrey Ballet journeys ‘Across the Pond’ for showcase of rising talents

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By Kyle MacMillan

25 April 2019

Since moving to Chicago in 1995 and establishing itself as a resident company, the Joffrey Ballet has put increasing emphasis on full-length story ballets like “Anna Karenina” and the others that have earlier filled out its 2018-19 season.

But in its latest offering, “Across the Pond,” which opened Wednesday evening at the Auditorium Theatre and runs for nine more performances through May 5, the company returns to its mixed-repertory roots, presenting a program of three shorter, mostly non-narrative works.

Featured are all fresh pieces, including two world premieres, by three young, well-regarded English choreographers. All are men like the composers whose music is employed, a choice that seems a bit surprising and short-sighted given the understandable attention right now to gender equity throughout the arts and across society.

That said, there is considerable diversity among these three creators. Indeed, quick labels for these pieces, which run from 26 to 33 minutes, might be: cool elegance, sensual mysteriousness and assertive isolation.

Each choreographer shows himself to a have a well-formed vision and sense of craftsmanship, even if none of the works come off as instant classics. Joffrey deserves credit for taking some creative risks here and providing a platform to these rising talents, something that is essential if ballet is to be kept alive and vital.

Read the full article in the Chicago Sun-Times.