Just before retiring in 2015, Sylvie Guillem appeared on “HARDtalk with Zeinab Badawi,” the BBC’s hard-hitting interview program. Badawi told Guillem, “Clement Crisp of the Financial Times, 14 years ago, described your dancing as vulgar.” Guillem responded, “Yeah, well, he said that. But at the same time, when they asked Margot Fonteyn what she thought […]
Alberto Pretto, a dancer with the all-male comedy troupe Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, keeps his two dance bags stuffed with extra practice clothes, tutus and props. “I’m a total bag lady,” he says. While rehearsing as his Trocks alter ego, Nina Immobilashvili, it’s crucial for Pretto to get into the character’s mind-set by […]
Summer may have just started, but we could already use a break from the heat (and the studio sweat). Luckily, this July, Bolshoi Ballet and The Royal Ballet are bringing some of the most famous classical ballets to the big screen—and their superstar cast of dancers is not to be missed. Check out all of […]
Bunheads, mark your calendars. The National Ballet of Ukraine is making its way to the U.S. for the first time in its 150-season history. Based in the capital of Kiev, the company has previously toured internationally in Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Japan, Hungary, Oman, Greece, Spain, Italy, Mexico, China, Latin America and Australia. On May […]
What’s going on in ballet this week? We’ve pulled together some highlights. The Bolshoi Premiere of John Neumeier’s Anna Karenina Last July Hamburg Ballet presented the world premiere of John Neumeier’s Anna Karenina, a modern adaptation on Leo Tolstoy’s famous novel. Hamburg Ballet coproduced the full-length ballet with the National Ballet of Canada and the […]
Ever since Makhar Vaziev took the reigns of the Bolshoi Ballet in 2016, he’s been pushing a new crop of promising young talent. Last summer, he chose Alena Kovaleva, then just 18, to dance the lead in “Diamonds” in New York City. This weekend North American audiences have an opportunity to catch another rising company […]
In a dream world we’d all be able to pop over to the Bolshoi to see the best of Russian ballet whenever we want. But because (unfortunately) that’s not a possibility for most of us, the Bolshoi makes it easier by bringing their masterpieces to the silver screen. Now in its 8th year, the 2017-18 […]
With digital platforms, cinema screenings and Hollywood-worthy trailers, ballet is rapidly expanding beyond the grainy YouTube clips of yesteryear. These two gorgeous new films by Ezra Hurwitz, a former Miami City Ballet dancer turned director, show two facets of the Ballet Across America program, currently onstage at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing […]