The Paris Opéra Ballet’s American tour might be over, but they haven’t completely abandoned us. On Sunday, August 5, movie theaters across the country will be showing POB’s La Bayadère. This is no ordinary performance; it’s Pointe cover girl Ludmila Pagliero‘s breakout as Gamzatti. After a streak of last-minute injuries, Pagliero stepped into the role […]
Each December, Pointe chooses the top 10 standout ballet performances of the year. We poll our contributors from around the globe about every dancer they’ve seen, then a team of editors dukes it out to decide the final list. This year’s group was a pretty incredible bunch, ranging from the inimitable Sylvie Guillem to up-and-comer […]
American Ballet Theatre announced its 2014 Metropolitan Opera House season today, and the lineup includes some lovely surprises. Perhaps the biggest is the company premiere of Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella, which I’m sure fans are especially excited to see after all the teasing on “Breaking Pointe.” A Shakespeare Celebration evening will feature more Ashton—The Dream—and a […]
From the late 1930s through the ’50s, leggy, vivacious Alexandra Danilova and versatile, magnetic Freddie Franklin had a great partnership at the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, where Léonide Massine’s comedic Gaîté Parisienne was one of their signature ballets. (American Ballet Theatre is reviving the ballet this spring.) Here they are in a rare recording […]
The Next Chapter Jenifer Ringer’s memoir, Dancing Through It, describes her struggles with eating disorders. New York City Ballet principal Jenifer Ringer never thought she’d write a book about herself. But after the fallout from New York Times critic Alastair Macaulay’s now-infamous 2010 comments about Ringer looking like she’d “eaten one sugar plum too many,” […]
Sometimes it seems like Alexei Ratmansky is remaking the classical canon, one ballet at a time. He restaged Le Corsaire and Flames of Paris back when he was director of the Bolshoi. Dutch National Ballet premiered his take on Don Quixote in 2010. He gave The National Ballet of Canada a new Romeo and Juliet […]
Choreographer Roland Petit was for years the ballet world’s master of theatrical showmanship. Bolstered by rich, beautifully designed costumes and decor, his works oozed sensual style. Yet even stripped of all that pageantry, his choreography retains an electric charge. Witness this bare-bones video from some years back of Alessandra Ferri and Laurent Hilaire dancing the […]
This year marked the 50th anniversary of IBC Varna. Though the competition has grown steadily more sophisticated and intense over time, no competitors were awarded gold medals this year. Two silver medals were awarded to the senior women: Hannah O’Neill of the Paris Opera Ballet, and Ye Lim Choi of Korea. Two bronze medals were […]