After months of anticipation, it’s finally here. Dancer, the long-awaited documentary of international ballet star Sergei Polunin, had its world premiere in Los Angeles September 9, and opens in New York and on demand this Friday, September 16. It will also play in selected cities across the country. Through intimate childhood home videos, performance footage […]
Big changes are afoot in Germany’s ballet scene, including director and dancer turnovers at two of the country’s high profile companies. Staatsballett Berlin At Staatsballett Berlin, artistic director Nacho Duato will leave at the end of his contract, which expires in 2019. Duato has served as the company’s artistic director for the past two years, […]
There are times when Sergei Polunin’s life seems straight out of a movie. From his notorious rebelliousness—exemplified by his shocking decision to walk away from his promising career at The Royal Ballet—to his glamorous relationship with Natalia Osipova to his trademark tattoos, the international ballet superstar has had his fair share of drama. We can […]
Photo by Nobby Clark/Arena PAL via The Royal Opera House on Flickr. Sir Frederick Ashton created his 1980 ballet Rhapsody in honor of Elizabeth The Queen Mother (mother of Elizabeth II) for her 80th birthday. I’d say this serene, elegant pas de deux is fit for a queen—and for the strengths of its lead dancers, […]
This story originally appeared in the October/November 2014 issue of Pointe. This fall, the Mikhailovsky Ballet lands in the U.S. for the first time, performing at the David H. Koch Theater in New York City November 11–23, and at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in California November 28–30. The company has increasingly positioned itself […]
Hee Seo rehearses “Cinderella.” Photo by Gene Schiavone If the Slipper Fits… ABT takes on Ashton’s Cinderella Given the number of Frederick Ashton works American Ballet Theatre has been dancing, and dancing beautifully, as of late—The Dream, A Month in the Country, Sylvia—it’s surprising that this spring marks the company’s first time tackling Ashton’s iconic […]
Misty Copeland’s eagerly anticipated memoir, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster), comes out this March. In these excerpts, the American Ballet Theatre soloist describes her struggles with her body, learning how to ask for what she wants and her triumphant debut in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Firebird. When my second year in American […]
Sergei Danilian is a busy man. When he’s not producing star-filled programs like Kings of the Dance or presenting the Kirov’s U.S. tour, he’s managing the international careers of four of Russia’s biggest ballet stars: Natalia Osipova, Ivan Vasiliev, Diana Vishneva and Polina Semionova. “From one side it’s like being a matchmaker,” he says of […]