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See The Royal Ballet – At The Movie Theater?

October 15, 2013 by 4dancers

Sarah Lamb and Edward Watson in The Royal Ballet production of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, to music by Joby Talbot, with set and costume designs by Bob Crowley. © ROH / Johan Persson, 2013.
Sarah Lamb and Edward Watson in The Royal Ballet production of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, to music by Joby Talbot, with set and costume designs by Bob Crowley. © ROH / Johan Persson, 2013.

If you’ve ever wanted to experience The Royal Ballet – now’s the time. In the next few months you’ll have three opportunities to see this amazing company at the movie theater.

“The Royal Opera House Ballet Series” offers three different ballets – Don Quixote, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Nutcracker at cinemas nationwide.

We talked with a representative from Fathom Events (the company responsible for pulling this series together) and asked a few questions about the process…

How did the idea for this series get started?

Fathom Events has broadcast other ballets from other companies in previous years but never in an entire series. The opportunity to bring the splendor of three ballets from London’s Royal Opera House to the US was something that could not be missed.

How did you choose the ballets that would be shown?

We wanted to bring ballets that audiences in the US rarely get to see performed by such a predominant ballet company.  Carlos Acosta’s Don Quixote is a unique performance that no one outside of London would be able to experience without traveling to the Royal Opera House itself. Additionally, The Nutcracker is a timeless holiday favorite that whether it’s your first Nutcracker or 100th, we knew that the Royal Opera Ballet would wow audiences.

The Nutcracker (2013) main imageHow is this type of experience unique in terms of attending a dance performance?

Movie theater audiences are given a front row seat to all of the performances at an affordable price! It’s the next best thing to being there live. Additionally, the production isn’t just a static camera filming the stage. There is a whole production team directing the broadcast which includes a wide range of camera angles and shots including close-ups.

The Royal Opera House Ballet Series brings so much more than just the ballet itself. Audiences will get a special behind-the-scenes look at the Royal Opera House and The Royal Ballet as well as exclusive cast interviews.

What upcoming performances do you have in store for audiences?

For the remainder of 2013, Royal Opera House Ballet Series has three upcoming ballet performances.

10/16 – Don Quixote
11/19 – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
12/17 – The Nutcracker

Fathom has an array of other upcoming performing arts programming including “The Met: Live in HD,” Broadway shows, concerts and more. Visit FathomEvents.com for all of the latest programming news.

Here’s a clip from Don Quixote to give you an idea of what this series is like…

Disclosure – 4dancers received compensation for promoting this series

Filed Under: Editorial Tagged With: carlos acosta, don quixote, fathom events, the nutcracker, they royal ballet

Changing The Field of Dreams: How America And England Can Cultivate More Homegrown Ballerinas

August 4, 2013 by Risa Kaplowitz

Dancer: Jillian Davis Photo: Michael Kendrick
Dancer: Jillian Davis Photo: Michael Kendrick

by Risa Gary Kaplowitz

Last month, New York Times dance critic, Alastair Macaulay, wrote an article on the dearth of American ballerinas. Some dancers felt that his ruminations were unfounded and the article caused an uproar on Facebook feeds and blogs. But, a few weeks later, from across the pond, came an article featuring Carlos Acosta,  Royal Ballet’s principal guest artist and his feelings about the lack of British ballerinas. Since this article was written by one of their own, dancers did more head scratching than head banging when they read it.

In the article, Mr. Acosta says, “If you don’t have talent in your own backyard, you must go and find it.” Certainly it appears that many companies in the United States and England are already doing so. For example, at American Ballet Theatre, christened in 2006 as “America’s National Ballet Company,”  only two of its ten female principal dancers are American. The others are South American (two), Russian (five) and a South Korean. Similarly, in the Royal Ballet, this recent article points out that only one of its female principals is British even as its writer offers up a “who cares” attitude about the lack of homegrown ballerinas.

 

So why are the United States and England losing the ballerina game so severely to countries like Russia and those in Latin America?  There are differences in training but all of these countries possess stellar schools. While Mr. Macaulay never explores the reasons for the problem, Mr. Acosta is on the right track when he ponders, “Maybe it’s because their parents don’t know how to educate them in this [ballet] world?”

 

In fact, parents don’t know how to educate their budding ballerina because they have no idea such potential exists right under their feet. Like any other prodigy, a ballerina is born and then trained. No school can create a ballerina if certain attributes don’t already exist. Yet, if the attributes are not recognized, how can they flourish? Somehow, someway, we must educate parents to understand what a budding ballerina looks and acts like. And it’s probably not what they think.

 

Contrary to the intuition of non-dancers, potential ballerinas are not young girly-girls. Rather, a ballerina usually comes out of the womb with wiry limbs, coordination beyond her years, and a restlessness of body, mind, and spirit. She is a tomboy.

 

In fact, time and again, ballerinas have said that they were tomboys in their youth. They climbed trees, took risks, and played any number of sports very, very well. They may have played dress up, but they wielded a sword while wearing their tiara.

Since we can safely presume that Russian and Latin American parents do not give birth to more beautiful tomboys than American and English parents do, we can also presume that it is what they do with their rambunctious girls that makes them win the ballerina number game. Russian and Latin American parents are more likely to take their athletic daughters to dance schools in order to tame their wild side with lessons filled with discipline and grace. Meanwhile, our sports and gender-equality obsessed countrymen and women are more likely to ferry them to sports teams.

 

Let’s face it, few typical non-dancer parents in the United States would look at their daughter jumping to get her Nerf ball down from the inside of a light fixture and say, “Wow, that high natural jump would be great for ballet!” They would much more likely shout, “Woohoo, we’ve got the next UConn Girl’s Basketball team star right here!”

 

Over the years, I have seen many interviews with American ballerinas who have said that they were tomboys when they were young. The first article that I remember reading on the topic was decades ago when I was a hopeful ballerina myself. It was in 1981, and the People Magazine article on the then New York City Ballet’s wunderkind, Darci Kistler was titled, “At 17, a California Tomboy Becomes Balanchine’s Newest Baby Ballerina”

 

Two of America’s ballerinas whom Mr. Macaulay agrees should be called ballerinas, Gillian Murphy and Sterling Hyltin are both self-proclaimed former tomboys. And a tomboy, too, was Darcy Bussell, the British ballerina that Carlos Acosta so wishes was still dancing so that he could have a Brit “of a sufficient stature for him to perform opposite” in his new production of Don Quixote.

And, while both Ms. Murphy and Ms. Bussell had been avid soccer players in their youth, Royal Ballet’s only current British principal dancer, Lauren Cuthbertson doesn’t “look very different from the skinny, freckled kid from Devon who was taken to ballet classes by her mum in order to burn off her tomboy restlessness” when she is offstage according to this Guardian article. Lucky for Ms. Cuthbertson and the others above that they had moms and mums who thought differently than most.

The quest for the American and English ballerinas could be over within a decade if only active girls with the ballet goods were guided to the barre rather than to the field. However, this requires broader opportunities for dance education and awareness such as public schools embracing dance as either an option or supplement to physical education.

 

Perhaps we need a rescue plan much like those used for near extinct animals, a “Save the Ballerina,” initiative. We must spread the word that while ballet lessons are great for any girl (certainly many who were not former tomboys succeed in having wonderful dance careers), the ones who are the most athletic will have a greater opportunity to be true ballerinas–those female principal dancers possessing enough strength, precision and physical and artistic courage to move mountains let alone audiences. 

In the meanwhile, the next time you see a lanky girl kicking the you-know-what out of her soccer ball, tell her parents to take her to a good ballet school.

Risa Kaplowitz
Risa Gary Kaplowitz

Contributor Risa Gary Kaplowitz is a former principal dancer with Dayton Ballet and member of Houston Ballet and Manhattan Ballet. She has also performed with Pennsylvania Ballet and Metropolitan Opera Ballet and as a guest artist with many companies nationwide.

She was originally trained at Maryland Youth Ballet by Tensia Fonseca, Roy Gean, and Michelle Lees. She spent summers as a teen studying on scholarship at American Ballet Theater, Joffrey Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Houston Ballet. As a professional, her most influential teachers were Maggie Black, Marjorie Mussman, Stuart Sebastian, Lupe Serrano, Benjamin Harkarvy, and Ben Stevenson. She has performed the repertoire of many choreographers including Fredrick Ashton, George Balanchine, Ben Stevenson, Stuart Sebastian, Dermot Burke, Billy Wilson, and Marjorie Mussman.

After spending ten years in a successful business career while building a family, Risa returned to the dance world and founded Princeton Dance and Theater Studio (www.princetondance.com) and DanceVision, Inc. (www.dancevisionnj.org) with Susan Jaffe, former ABT principal ballerina. Risa is now PDT’s Director, and the Artistic Director of DanceVision Inc. Risa also founded D.A.N.C.E. (Dance As a Necessary Component of Education), an outreach program that brings dance to New Jersey schools.

Risa has choreographed more than twenty pieces, and her original full-length ballets, The Secret Garden and The Snow Queen, premiered with DanceVision Performance Company in 2008 and 2011, respectively. Additionally, she has choreographed for several New Jersey Symphony Orchestra family and school outreach concerts.

Risa is an ABT® Affiliate Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 7 and Partnering of the ABT® National Training Curriculum, and has successfully presented students for examinations.

She has lectured the ABT/NYU Master candidates on starting a dance studio. She is most grateful for her teachers who gave and (in the case of ABT® Curriculum) give her the exceptional tools necessary to have had a performance career and the opportunity to train others in authentically. She also feels fortunate to have had the opportunity to dance with and learn from many exceptional dancers.

 

Filed Under: Editorial Tagged With: american ballerinas, american ballet theatre, carlos acosta, royal ballet

DVD Review: An Evening With The Royal Ballet

February 1, 2013 by 4dancers

by Emily Kate Long

Royal Opera House and Opus Arte’s An Evening with the Royal Ballet presents excerpts from nineteenth- and twentieth-century classics. Beloved works by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, Kenneth MacMillan, and Frederick Ashton will delight ballet lovers. The disc runs about 90 minutes, slightly shorter than a typical two-act evening of dance. Among the principal dancers featured are Leanne Benjamin, Darcey Bussell, Alina Cojocaru, Marianela Nunez, Tamara Rojo, Carlos Acosta, Johan Kobborg, and Steven McRae.

Part One opens with the imposing ballroom scene from MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, followed by Ashton’s Voices of Spring pas de deux—a true gem on this DVD. Benjamin and Acosta exude simple joy in the daring but never garish virtuoso duet. Also a treat are Nunez and Acosta’s sweetness and technical fireworks in Ashton’s La Fille Mal Gardee. The closing selection of Part One alone, Cojocaru and Kobborg in a moving and sensitive pas de deux from Act II of Giselle, makes this disc one well worth having. That this particular pas de deux is excerpted as part of the full staging complete with willis, rather than a gala-type presentation, is of tremendous value.

Part Two includes an exemplary Rojo and Acosta in MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet balcony pas de deux, followed by selections from Sylvia, Swan Lake, Coppelia, and The Nutcracker.  Here, in addition to polished, generous dancing by principals and corps alike, the lush sets and costumes of the Royal Ballet full-lengths are shown off to great advantage. Sylvia looks like a rococo oil painting, and the mighty pas de trios and glittering apotheosis of Swan Lake are an impressive close to this program.

An Evening with the Royal Ballet would make a rich addition to any dance lover’s video library.

Filed Under: DVDs, Reviews Tagged With: carlos acosta, darcey bussell, frederick ashton, giselle, kenneth macmillan, nutcracker, romeo and juliet, swan lake, the royal ballet

10 Questions With…Mark Deler

June 11, 2010 by 4dancers

Today’s “10 Questions With…” features a young dancer at the beginning of his career. Please welcome Mark Deler…

1. How did you become involved with dance?

I became involved in dance when i was 16 years old. I was in my room listening and dancing to some Michael Jackson and I did one of his big leg kicks. I noticed that for not much training I could kick pretty high and pick up movement rather quick. In high school (Riverside Brookfield HS) I was approached by the dance team, Orchesis, because they were in need of men.

They asked and I said of course, how was I going to deny five pretty girls lol.

That’s when I started and I’ve never looked back. 

Mark Deler (Photo by Dan Merlo)

2. What has your dance experience been like so far?

I am currently a Junior dance major at the University of Illinois Urbana – Champaign. I’ve been trained by Sergey Kozadayev from the Salt Creek Ballet for the past few summers. And other than dancing in high school my junior and senior year, under Mindy Haines, that has been the extent of my training.

I’ve been lucky enough to be accepted to the U of I and the professors and instructors there have made my experience in dance a relatively flawless one.

3. What do you love most about dance?

Oh wow haha! I love the performative aspect of it. When I am dancing I like to think that 4th wall isn’t there. I like to believe that in my dancing I am not dancing for them, rather it’s a collaboration between us. Like a conversation that I know the answers to, but they have the questions.

4. What is the biggest challenge you face (or have faced) in dance?

I’ve had a few minor injuries, but nothing to that took me out for too long.

As far as technique, I have been working on my dynamics and range. I have the sort of energy that is very high octane and it has been known to get me into trouble, whether it’s with messing up the step, being late, or getting injured. A professor of mine once told me that even though my energy was beautiful and captivating, that being high octane the whole time can only get monotonous and boring. This really hit home for me and so to this day and maybe for forever I will continue to work on my quality changes.

5. Do you have any favorite dancers?

My all time favorite dancer is Carlos Acosta. He embodies such grace and such power at the same time that I find no other to compare. Being 6 feet tall I know what it’s like as tall person to dance and keep up with smaller quicker people. He inspires me to keep to trying because if he can do it being that tall why can’t I?

 6. Can you share a highlight from your dancing thus far?

The highlight of my dancing so far has all come from being at U of I. I’ve been blessed to have been chosen do so many different styles of work and don’t regret any show or piece I have been in. I’ve gone to the extremes of performing collaborations with actors to being The Russian in The Nutcracker.

7. What do you think are the most important qualities you need to have to be a dancer?

In no order, I think patience (but not too patient), open-mindedness, confidence, energy, passion, and determination are the most important qualities to have. If you have all these qualities with some good technique I believe that’s all you need. Oh and connections, the dance world is surprisingly small, so be courteous to everyone you meet.

8. Do you think that dance can prepare you for other things in life? If so, how?

Yes, because dance can lend itself to so many different facets of life. It teaches you how to be social with others, how to be in tune with your body, how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and how to express yourself in any emotion you choose.

9. As a man, is there anything in particular you can share with other male dancers that would be helpful?

For new coming male dancers like me, especially if you start late, It is very important to not just mimic or copy your female dancers. Although it is very important to have the right step it is equally, if not more important, to embody a sense of masculinity both physically and mentally. Versatility is also key.

Some instructors or choreographers don’t always no what we can do and it is our job to show them what we can do.

10. What is coming up next for you?

I still have two more years here at the U of I so I will be here. I also perform with the Champaign-Urbana Ballet and I plan on being in their upcoming Nutcracker, preferably as the Russian again!

Bio: Mark Deler, age 20, is currently a dance major at the U of I. He began his training in high school when he was 16 and a year later auditioned for the U of I to where he was accepted. He has performed many different roles ranging from The Russian in The Nutcracker to singing ‘Beauty School Dropout’ in Grease. Post graduation he aspires to make a career in performance.

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Filed Under: 10 Questions With..., 4dancers, Studios Tagged With: carlos acosta, Kozadayev, mark deler, michael jackson, salt creek ballet, u of i dance

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