Bolshoi postpones new McGregor Rite of Spring

ANNOUNCEMENT: BOLSHOI BALLET CANCELS “RITE OF SPRING” IN WAKE OF ATTACK ON SERGEI FILIN
 
“BALLET IN CINEMA” SPRING SCHEDULE (EMERGING PICTURES IN US, CINEPLEX IN CANADA) WILL BE REVAMPED

New York – January 31, 2013 --- Emerging Pictures today announced that its scheduled presentation of the Bolshoi Ballet’s new production of “The Rite of Spring” has been cancelled as the result of the attack on Bolshoi artistic director Sergei Filin. Earlier this month, Filin was savagely assaulted near his Moscow home by a masked attacker who threw acid in his face.
A new production with commissioned choreography by Wayne McGregor was planned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of “The Rite of Spring.” The performance was to have been broadcast live in Canada and the UK March 31 and screened as part of Emerging Pictures’s Ballet in Cinema series in approximately 300 U.S. theatres beginning April 21.
Barry Rebo, managing partner at Emerging Pictures, said,  A suitable performance will be substituted for ‘The Rite of Spring’ in Emerging network theatres.”
In the UK, Picturehouse Cinemas have announced that they will show a recording of the Bolshoi in Esmeralda (a rebroadcast from last year) instead. 
Front Row Centre (Cineplex) events in Canada has not yet announced its plans. Watch this space for updates.
UPDATE: As of February 12th, Cineplex tells me they think it will also be Esmeralda in Canada.

The official release from the Bolshoi read, in part:
“The Directorship of the Bolshoi theatre of Russia, with the production crew headed by the choreographer Wayne McGregor, has come to a joint decision to postpone the production of ‘The Rite of Spring’ due to the fact that the artistic director of the ballet company of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, Mr. Sergei Filin, is hospitalized. The date of the production will be determined after the artistic director of the ballet returns back to the theatre.”

Instead, the company will dance a new version by Tatiana Vaganova, director of the Provincial Dances Theatre in Yekaterinberg.

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Half-price tickets for National Ballet of Canada Romeo & Juliet

Once again this year the NBOC is offering its "March Break Special" discount, 4 orchestra seats for the price of 2, for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday performances of Alexei Ratmansky's Romeo and Juliet.
Ticket prices are $65, $80, or $92, plus $9 per ticket service charge. This means orchestra seats are cheaper than 4th Ring! Orchestra availability is currently excellent for all shows of the run (March 12-17).
To order, please click here: 

http://national.ballet.ca/performances/season1213/Romeo_and_Juliet/

Makes a great Valentine's Day gift!

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Video: Bolshoi Bayadere available online

The complete ballet as broadcast on January 27 is available over the following link:
http://kaban.tv/archive/rossiya-k/2013-01-27/574926
Click on the "play" arrow in the blank grey screen, then expand the video to full screen and slide the bar along the bottom to about the 5 minute mark to get past the Russian talking head.

For a slideshow of beautiful backstage shots, click here:
http://toursenlair.blogspot.ca/2013/01/slideshow-backstage-at-bolshoi-bayadere.html

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Slideshow: Backstage at the Bolshoi Bayadere

The New York Times has published a beautiful slideshow of backstage shots of the Bolshoi in their recent Bayadere performance, including a great one of the ramp scene. Dancers include Vladislav Lantratov and Maria Alexandrova.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/01/29/arts/20130129BOLSHOI.html

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June ballet trip to London: 8 days, 4 companies, 5 performances

I am currently working on a June ballet trip to England. Here is the draft itinerary. If you are interested or want further information, please email me: toursenlair@gmail.com

Wednesday June 5

Arrive London. Check in to hotel within walking distance of the Royal Opera House.

Thursday June 6

Day trip by private coach. Visit to White Lodge, home of the Royal Ballet Lower School. Visit to Hampton Court Palace. Evening: Dinner followed by performance of Ballet Black: mixed bill of premieres including work from Javier De Frutos, Robert Binet, Ludovic Ondiviela, and a new story ballet by Christopher Marney. Ballet Black is this year's recipient of the Dance Critics' Circle Best Independent Company National Dance Award. Return directly to hotel (1 hour).

Friday June 7

Day trip by private coach to Birmingham. Visit to Elmhurst School for Dance (feeder school for Birmingham Royal Ballet) to be confirmed. Dinner, then performance of

Birmingham Royal Ballet: Coppelia
(This is the most beautiful production of Coppelia I have ever seen, one of those productions that make you say, "Ah, classical ballet... is there anything better??"))

Return by private coach directly from theatre to hotel.

Saturday June 8

Day at leisure. Evening: Dinner, then performance of Royal Ballet Raven Girl (new story ballet by Wayne McGregor); Symphony in C (Balanchine)

Sunday June 9

Day at leisure.

If you wish, you can take the train (2 ½ hours, approx. 45 pounds) to Leeds for a matinee performance of Northern Ballet mixed program: Concertante (van Manen), Angels in the Architecture (Godden), new work by Kenneth Tindall.

Monday June 10

Day at leisure. Evening: Royal Ballet Mayerling
Kenneth MacMillan's masterful telling of the harrowing tale of Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary, a dream role for all male dancers, involving NINE pas de deux.

Tuesday June 11

Day at leisure. Optional day trip to Oxford (1 ½ hours by coach) with walking tour of the colleges.

Wednesday June 12

Day at leisure. Evening: Dinner before English National Ballet  Swan Lake -in-the-round
ENB's production of Swan Lake is unique, taking place in the circular venue of the Royal Albert Hall, and features an enormous corps de ballet of 60 swans.

Thursday June 13
Check out of hotel and depart London.

In addition we would have a backstage  tour of the Royal Opera House, (which usually includes watching some of the Royal Ballet' s daily class or rehearsal) 

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Promo code for discounts on Royal Ballet Onegin

Orchestra stalls £60, Amphitheatre £38, for 31st January and 5th February. 
cast for both performances:

• Morera
• Bonelli
• Choe
• Kish
• Avis

Code "metroonegin".

To book tickets:
http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/onegin-by-john-cranko

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Canadian choreographer Peter Quanz honoured with Russian cultural achievement medal

Peter Quanz of Baden, Ontario, artistic director of Q Dance, will receive the  State Medal in Literature and the Arts for his creation for the Buryatian National Ballet in Ulan-Ude, Russia. More info:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/01/23/peter-quanz-buryatia.html

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Beautiful combination of animation and choreography

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Bolshoi Ballerina Svetlana Lunkina moving to Toronto?

Is a move to Toronto in the stars for Bolshoi star Svetlana Lunkina?

Reports on twitter state that the 33-year-old ballerina has left Russia following threats and hacking of her facebook and email accounts.

DanceTeq ballet studios, owned by former National Ballet of Canada principal dancer Kevin Pugh, and operating out of the National Ballet of Canada's studios at the Walter Carsen Centre in Toronto, announced last week that Svetlana Lunkina will be teaching their Friday Level 5 Ballet class starting February 1st- March 1st.

It seems that Lunkina has connections with Solomon Tencer and Nadia Veselova-Tencer, who produce the Stars of the 21st Century galas, in some of which she has appeared, as well as guesting in productions of Canadian Ballet Theatre, the performance group of Veselova-Tencer's Academy of Ballet and Jazz in Richmond Hill north of Toronto, which has produced Alys Shee among others.
. 
In addition, Lunkina incorporated a ballet company under her name in Kleinburg, Ontario a few months ago, with her husband Vladislav Moskalev as co-director. Moskalev has also produced ballet galas in the past; Kleinburg is a small town about half an hour north of Toronto.The couple's son was born in Canada in 2004.

Needless to say, we Toronto balletomanes would be thrilled if Lunkina were to join the National Ballet of Canada!

She is, however, mentioned in the UK dance magazine Dancing Times as one of the dancers "expected to appear" when the Bolshoi visits London in summer 2013.

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Company Name: SVETLANA LUNKINA DANCE COMPANY INC. Status: Active Filing Date: 10/01/2012 Entity Type: Corporation File Number: 8314411 Province: Ontario Company Age: 3 Months

DIRECTOR Svetlana Lunkina DIRECTOR Vladislav Moskalev

An interview with Lunkina can be found here: http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_06/mar06/interview_svetlana_lunkina_0306.htm Her bio, from the Bolshoi Ballet site: Born in Moscow. In 1997, she completed her studies at the Moscow Choreographic Academy (Marina Leonova’s class) and joined the Bolshoi Ballet Company. In her first year at the Bolshoi, she danced the main role in the premiere performances of a new production of Giselle by Vladimir Vasiliev (2nd cast, partner Nikolai Tsiskaridze). In this, and all her subsequent roles, she was rehearsed by Ekaterina Maximova. In 2001, she twice danced the title role in Giselle at the Bolshoi Theatre, partnered by Vladimir Malakhov. In the 2003/04 season, she was absent on maternal leave. In October 2004, she returned to the stage and her first performance was again in the title role of Giselle. Main Repertory for Bolshoi Theatre 1997 Title role (Giselle. Vladimir Vasiliev production) Fairy of Tenderness (The Sleeping Beauty. Yuri Grigorovich production) 1998 Gumpe (La Bayadere. Yuri Grigorovich production) Title role (Anyuta to music by Valery Gavrilin. Vladimir Vasiliev production) Fairy of Silver (The Sleeping Beauty) 1999 Kitri (Don Quixote. Alexei Fadeyechev production) — debut at the Coliseum Theatre in London Princess Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty) — debut on Bolhsoi Theatre’s tour in Spain Soloist Part 1 (Symphony in C) 2000 Soloist (The Afternoon of a Faun. Choreography by Jerome Robbins) — creation at Bolshoi Theatre Aspicia (La Fille du Pharaon. production by Pierre Lacotte after Marius Petipa) 2001 Russian Bride (Swan Lake. Yuri Grigorovich production) Prelude and 7th Waltz (Chopiniana) Soloist (Passacaille to music by Anton von Webern. Rolan Petit production) — creation at Bolshoi Theatre Liza (La Dame de Pique to music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Rolan Petit production) — creation 1st variation in Raimonda’s Dreams, Clemence (Raimonda. Yuri Grigorovich production) 2002 Odette-Odile(Swan Lake) 2003 Esmeralda (Notre-Dame de Paris. Rolan Petit production) — creation at Bolshoi Theatre 2004 Phrygia (Spartacus) 2005 Glove Seller (Gaite Parisienne to music by Jacques Offenbach. Choreography by Leonide Massine ) - creation in Russia Passion (Les Presages to music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Choreography by Leonide Massine) Soloist Part 2 (Symphony in C) Zina (The Bright Stream. Music by Dmitry Shostakovich. Alexei Ratmansky production) — debut at the Metropolitan Opera Soloist (Jeu de cards. Music by Igor Stravinsky. Alexei Ratmansky creation) 2006 Lise (La Fille mal gardee. Music by Louis Herold; choreography by Frederick Ashton) Marie (The Nutcracker; Yuri Grigorovich production) 2007 Nikia (La Bayadere) Medora (Le Corsaire. Production and new choreography by Alexei Ratmansky and Yuri Burlaka after Marius Petipa) Pupil (Georges Delerue’s The Lesson; choreography by Flemming Flindt) Tours In 1998, she appeared at the International Ballet Festival held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Ballet of Cuba. In 2002, she appeared with Sergei Filin in Japan, with the Malakhov and Friends Enterprise. In the same year, she twice took part in Gala-Concerts, held under the auspices of the Stars of the 21st Century project (New York, Toronto — partner Dmitry Gudanov). In 2003, she appeared with Andrei Uvarov in a production of Swan Lake with the Ballet Company of Belgrade’s National Theatre. In 2004, she again appeared in a Stars of the 21st Century concert and again with Dmitry Gudanov (Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Paris). Cinema Lunkina played the part of a Russian terrorist, operating at the beginning of the last century, in the feature film The Petersburg Cannes Express in which well-known Russian actors took part (director — John Daly, the producer of Terminator; Miracle Entertainment Film Company, 2003).

Benjamin Millepied new director of Paris Opera Ballet

Benjamin Millepied will take over from Brigitte Lefevre as Director of the Paris Opera Ballet effective October 2014. Millepied danced for many years with New York City Ballet and last year created a small troupe called the LA Dance Project. For the general public he is best known for having choreographed sequences for the movie Black Swan and married its star, Natalie Portman, with whom he has a son.

" The core of his artistic vision, he said, would be a strong focus on contemporary ballet repertory.

“I have great admiration for the way Brigitte has brought choreographers like Jérôme Bel and Pina Bausch into the repertory,” he said. “But my interest is in developing the art and the craft of ballet, which is so rich and interesting. This is a great classical company, and I want it to be an environment for the evolution and knowledge of the ballet idiom. I want to develop a new identity, really challenge the dancers, make them dance ballets that are not just the classics.”"

More details here: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/24/arts/dance/benjamin-millepied-to-be-paris-opera-ballet-director.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0

From Laura Cappelle's twitter feed

@bellafigural

:
Season 2014-15 will be programmed by Mme Lefèvre to permit a transition.  (NB: the handover is after next season, in September 2014)

There's apparently no time limit on his contract.  Surprising?

He says Nureyev is part of POB's history but, in time, he might want to change some things.

He's not bringing any new staff with him.

Stephane Lissner, soon to take over as General Director at The Opera, said he met 9 candidates, in France and abroad.

He (Millepied) wants to do Opera /Ballet collaborations.

He wants POB to tour more and to open the company to his generation of classical choreographers.  And his first new piece next season will be a Daphnis and Chloe.

He wants the co to tour around France, and to have regular choreographic workshops for the dancers, with training for them. 

Millepied will do introductions to each program himself for the audience, like it's done in the US.

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Galina Stepanenko named Interim Artistic Director at Bolshoi

Following the attack on Sergei Filin, Principal Dancer Galina Stepanenko has been named Interim Artistic Director at the Bolshoi. A promotion not for the faint of heart! She is said to be very loyal to Filin and he trusts her to act as his deputy.



Born in Moscow. She completed her studies with distinction at the Moscow College of Choreography (today the Moscow State Academy of Choreography), where she trained in Sophia Golovkina’s graduates’ class.

From 1984-88, she was a soloist with the Moscow Classical Ballet Company (today the State Academic Theatre of Classical Ballet led by Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasiliyov) where she danced, among other parts, the title role in Nathalie, ou La Laitiere Suisse, music by Adalbert Gyrowetz, in a production by Pierre Lacotte after Filippo Taglioni, the part of She-devil in Andrei Petrov’s The Creation of the World produced by Natalya Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasilyov. She also danced in Theme and Variations to music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, thus becoming one of the few ballerinas at that time to have danced in a George Balanchine ballet whose works were then virtually not performed in Russia. She created the lead role in Bachiana to music by Heitor Villa-Lobos, produced for her and Vladimir Malakhov by Alberto Alonso.

From 1988-90, she danced for the Moscow Academic Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Ballet Company where she performed the following, among other, roles: Odette-Odile in Swan Lake, Kupava in The Snow Maiden to music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (both works by Vladimir Bourmeister), Medora in Le Corsaire in a production by Dmitri Bryantsev.

In 1990, she joined the Bolshoi Ballet Company.
She rehearsed under the guidance of Marina Semyonova, with whom she prepared the majority of the roles in her repertoire, and also with Marina Kondrateva, Raisa Struchkova and Yekaterina Maximova.

In 1992, she completed her studies at the Russian Academy of Theatre Art (teacher Marina Semyonova), qualifying as teacher-choreographer.

Main Repertoire

1991
Odette-Odile (Swan Lake, choreography Alexander Gorsky, Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov in a version by Yuri Grigorovich)
Title role (Giselle; Yuri Grigorovich production; later, she also danced this role in the Vladimir Vasiliev version of the ballet)
Nikia (La Bayadere; Yuri Grigorovich production)

1992
Medora (Le Corsaire; choreography by Konstantin Sergeyeyev after Marius Petipa, and later in a version by Yuri Grigorovich)
Bacchante (Walpurgis Night divertissement in Charles Gounod’s opera Faust, choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky)

1993
Title role (Raymonda; choreography by Marius Petipa in a version by Yuri Grigorovich)

1994
Rita (Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Golden Age; choreography by Yuri Grigorovich)
Kitri (Don Quixote; choreography by Marius Petipa, Alexander Gorsky in a version by Yuri Grigorovich) — creator of the role

1995
Title role (La Sylphide by Herman Lшvenskjold, choreography by August Bournonville in a version by E. M. von Rosen)
Aegina (Spartacus; choreography by Yuri Grigorovich)
Title role (Romeo and Juliet; choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky)

1996
Princess-Swan (Swan Lake in a version by Vladimir Vasiliev)
Title role (Anyuta to music by Vladimir Gavrilin, choreography Vladimir Vasiliev)

1997
Princess Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty; Yuri Grigorovich production)

1998
Gamzatti (La Bayadere)

1999
Soloist Part 4 (Symphony in C)
Seventh Waltz and Prelude (Chopiniana; choreography by Mikhail Fokine)
Priest’s Wife (Balda to music by Dmitri Shostakovich, choreography by Vladimir Vasiliev) — creator of the role

2002
Odette-Odile (Swan Lake in Yuri Grigorovich’s second version)

2004
Tarantella (choreography by George Balanchine)
Ballerina (Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Bright Stream; choreography by Alexei Ratmansky)

2006
Title role (Carmen Suite; choreography by Alberto Alonso)

2009
Paquita (Paquita. Staging and new choreographic version by Yuri Burlaka)

Awards

In 1984, she won lst prize at the All-Union Competition of Ballet Dancers and special prize of the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet.
In 1985, she won 2^nd prize, and in 1989 — lst prize at the Moscow International Ballet Dancers Competition.
In 1994, she was awarded the title of Merited Artist of the Russian Federation.
In 1995, for her interpretation of Kitri she won the Benois de la danse International Dance Association prize and the Italian journal Danza-Danza prize.
In 1996, she was awarded the title of People’s Artist of the Russian Federation.
In 2001, she was awarded the Order of Honor.
In 2004, she won the Russian Ballet journal Soul of Dance prize (in the Queen of Dance nomination).

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National Ballet of Canada Alice reviews - Washington Kennedy Center

Both these reviews feel the need to sneak in a  Downton Abbey reference, one saying the ballet is set at an English country house, the other calling it a "manse" (I think she meant "mansion", a manse being a vicarage). The backdrop for the first scene of Alice is in fact a faithful painting of the deanery at Christ Church College, Oxford, where Lewis Caroll was employed.

"Wheeldon’s account of the beloved Lewis Carroll story is eventful and beautifully designed. But it is curiously light on the human dimension, because the dancing is the least interesting part of it. Who are these eccentric characters who parade by? What emotions move them? These are questions the dancing ought to answer, but though there is plenty of action onstage during the ballet’s two-and-a-half hours, it rarely leads us inside the heart.
Yet while the choreography is workaday, from a theatrical perspective “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” explodes with bright ideas.
Hodgkinson’s Mother/Queen of Hearts is in her glory. You have to wait until late in the ballet for her big scene, but it’s worth it.
When Wheeldon is good, he is very, very good indeed."
Sarah Kaufman, Washington Post

Carolyn Kelemen, DC Metro The Arts
http://www.dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2013/01/19/national-ballet-of-canadas-alices-adventures-in-wonderland-at-the-kennedy-center-by-carolyn-kelemen/ 

Robert Greskovic, Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323485704578255963706101082.html?mod=wsj_share_tweethttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323485704578255963706101082.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet

Wendy Perron, Dance Magazine
http://www.dancemagazine.com/blogs/dance-glance/4905

Alexandra Tomolonis, danceviewtimes:
http://www.danceviewtimes.com/2013/01/an-imaginative-alice.html 
 

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Article about Jason Reilly

Titan in tights ready to take Toronto; European dance star Jason Reilly comes home to Canada to show off his latest moves:

Smith, Gary. The Spectator [Hamilton, Ont] 29 Sep 2007: D19
Jason Reilly is the real thing. A born-in-Canada dance star with an international reputation. Ten years ago, this ballet buck left Toronto's National Ballet School, bypassed the parent Toronto company -- where everyone just assumed he would settle in -- and ran off to stardom in Stuttgart.
"I didn't exactly run off," Reilly says. "I was invited. The opportunity was too good to miss.
"I had a personal connection with Reid Anderson who was leaving his post as artistic director of The National Ballet of Canada. He was going back to Stuttgart. Me? I went along for the ride."
A rebel, Reilly impressed Stuttgart audiences with his masculine style. Now a principal with the company, he's fashioned a career based on brilliant stage dancing and off-centre behaviour.
"I'm just as likely to come back from holiday with a Mohawk haircut than not," he grins. "I dress how I like. And I've got body hardware, lots of places," he grins, revealing metal in his mouth and other body parts.
"There are also tattoos."
None of this stops Reilly from delivering the goods, from entering romantic bygone worlds. He's a hot Romeo Montague, a sizzling Siegfried in Swan Lake.
Strip off traditional ballet slippers and form tight tights, set him loose in something modern, say Itzik Galili's Mona Lisa, and you get instant meltdown.
Canada's legendary Juliet, the divine Evelyn Hart, calls him Stud Puppy. Italian prima ballerina Alessandra Ferri says he's a Titan in Tights.
In person, sitting over coffee, Reilly turns crimson pink when I suggest that he's hot. An extrovert on the surface, he's shy at the core.
"I was a problem kid at school," this muscular stallion shrugs. "Always acting out." Adopted as a child and brought up in Toronto, Reilly gravitated toward dance.
"Somehow I found ballet. I tried The National Ballet School at five. I was kicked out my first day. I just wasn't ready."
Still the notion of ballet stuck. Reilly liked the way boys lifted girls way up in the air and made them look light. He didn't give up.
"Even now I fall in love with the ladies I dance with," Reilly shrugs. "I just can't help doing that."
Watching him dance Siegfried in Swan Lake this summer in Stuttgart, I understood why they'd reciprocate. In Reilly's rough looks there is something pretty feral. He's a masculine man with the heart of a little boy.
"When I came to Stuttgart 10 years ago, I had no idea of what it meant to really work hard. I had no idea either that European dance was so different to what we see in North America.
"It wasn't just about steps," he continues. "You have to get inside the characters that you play. In North America, things seem pretty superficial. Audiences in Germany celebrate the arts. They don't rush out the door as the curtain falls, They stand and applaud, sometimes for 15 minutes. In Europe, it isn't about coming to the theatre to be seen. Ballet here takes people out of their lives to new exciting places."
Jason Reilly is comfortable with that.
"I feel I belong on the Stuttgart stage. People say I'm a star. Well, I never really dreamed about that. It's about the work and the dancing."
Still, Reilly misses his home in Canada.
"You grow up in a place. It's hard to say goodbye.
"I came to Stuttgart with no German language, no knowledge of how different the country is. With Germans, it has to be their way. You learn pretty fast there just is no other. But they have wonderful open hearts. They've made me feel I belong.
"They fill the theatre every night," Reilly continues. "They love their connection with the arts."
Reilly isn't sure what makes him special.
"People say I have confidence and a dramatic personality. Others see that as arrogance, a cockiness, I suppose. I don't know what I think. I can't stand outside and see myself. For me, it's all about the work, about growing as an artist."
Jason Reilly returns to Canada to dance with ProArteDanza in Toronto at Harbourfront, Oct. 3 through Oct. 6. In November, he'll guest star as Danilo in The Merry Widow with The National Ballet of Canada.
"Coming home is good," he nods. "But make no mistake my career is here in Germany. Nothing's going to change that."
Gary Smith has written on theatre and dance for The Hamilton Spectator for more than 25 years.He's been watching Jason Reilly dance since his first steps at Canada's National Ballet School.

For more about Jason Reilly and the audience reaction to his London Onegin performances, please click here. 

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Wendy Whelan documentary available online

An hour-long documentary for Kentucky PBS about the New York City Ballet ballerina is now available online, with interviews and beautiful performance footage, including the stunning After the Rain by Christopher Wheeldon as well as his Polyphonia and Les Carillons. Some footage of Jerome Robbins' In Memory of.
Wendy Whelan: Moments of Grace
Click here:
http://www.ket.org/cgi-bin/cheetah/watch_video.pl?nola=KMUSE+000502

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Jason Reilly to guest with Royal Ballet as Onegin

Stuttgart Ballet Principal Dancer Jason Reilly will be replacing an injured Johan Kobborg in performances of Onegin  on January 19 and 23 and 30, and February 2 matinee, dancing with Alina Cojocaru as Tatiana.

Here is what some tweeters had to say about his performance on Jan. 19:


HoggGoblin ‏@HoggGoblin

Onegin at @RoyalOperaHouse tonight. Great performance as always from Alina Cojocaru but Jason Reilly superb too in title role.

1. 9m SH ‏@Shkiyolov

     &I repeat. We want to keep Jason Reilly.

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2. 17m SH ‏@Shkiyolov

   Wonderful performances all around in RB's Onegin tonight. Alina=Tatiana! Akane & Steven both top notch. As for Jason Reilly,can we keep him?

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3. 23m LucyG ‏@LuLuBelleG

   Onegin @RoyalOperaHouse - wow, stunning, Alina Cojocaru & Jason Reilly were amazing!

1. 2m Simonetta Dixon ‏@SimBarzDixon

   Fab Onegin 2nite Act 3 pdd on fire! Jason Reilly next Mr Darcy?! McRae so moving as Lensky and Alina her usual stunning self. @Bennet76 fab
2. 12m Juliet Ashdown ‏@JulietAshdown

   Jason Reilly was superb and his Onegin was on the darkly horrid side. The corps were amazing. Huge applause at the end!
3. 2h Vixster McVic ‏@Vix_McVic

   #ROHonegin Alina is very very good final act 1 pdd with Jason Reilly spell binding. Corps did great job as well big applause.
4. 2h Leena Hassan ‏@leenahassan

   #ROHonegin Wow, that mirror pd2 was heavenly. Jason Reilly is an absolutely stunning dancer.

1. 47m DaveTriesBallet ‏@DaveTriesBallet

   Cojocaru and Reilly a fantastic pairing, complimenting each other physically and emotionally. I'm in awe. #ROHonegin
2. 1h DaveTriesBallet ‏@DaveTriesBallet

   Phenomenal. Pure, raw emotion. Truly stunning performances all round. #ROHonegin

   2h DaveTriesBallet ‏@DaveTriesBallet
3. Stunning first act of #ROHnegin - a heavenly Mirror PdD and fantastic dancing throughout from the corps up to the leads.

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4. 2h DaveTriesBallet ‏@DaveTriesBallet

   @Hescottburke am very very impressed. a lovely lyrical dancer and really makes full use of the music. 

   
   

   Dean Hescott-Burke ‏@Hescottburke

   @thewordlady @davetriesballet utterly stunning. Verdict: can we keep him please?! 

   
   

   Dean Hescott-Burke ‏@Hescottburke

   @DaveTriesBallet he's great!! And with Akane, Alina and Steven! #BestCastSoFar?

   
   
   Jason Reilly was born in Toronto, Canada, where he trained at the National Ballet School Toronto.

After his graduation in 1997 he joined the Stuttgart Ballet. In 2000/2001 he was promoted to Demi Soloist, one season later to Soloist. Since the season 2003/04 he has been dancing as Principal Dancer.

With the Stuttgart Ballet Jason Reilly has danced numerous major roles in full-length ballets by renowned choreographers.

Jason Reilly has joined the Stuttgart Ballet on tours and guest performances all around the world. When the Stuttgart Ballet went on its tour to the USA in 2003 he gained international acknowledgement for the male title role in John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet. Furthermore he has danced with internationally renowned female dancers like Alessandra Ferri, Evelyn Hart and Greta Hodgkinson. In the new production of A Streetcar named Desire (John Neumeier) in 2004 he danced the role of Stanley Kowalsky together with Alessandra Ferri. When Canadian star ballerina Evelyn Hart retired from her 30-year-long career and wished to dance the part of Juliet for one last time in April 2004, she asked Jason Reilly to be her Romeo. She also chose him as her dancing partner when she bid farewell to the stage in 2006. In October of the same year, Jason Reilly gave several guest performances of Glen Tetley's Voluntaries with the Royal Ballet in London. In 2007, he danced the role of Petrucchio in John Cranko’s The Taming of the Shrew with the National Ballet of Canada starring Greta Hodgkinson as Kate.

Due to his outstanding interpretation of classical roles in combination with his expression and technical brilliance in modern ballets Jason Reilly was named in the category “Outstanding Dancer” in the annual critics’ choice of the magazine ballettanz several times. In February 2006 Jason Reilly received the German Dance Award “Future”, which is awarded each year by the German Association for Dance Education and the German Association for the Promotion of the Art of Dance.

To read an interview, please click here.

Here he is in another Cranko ballet, The Taming of the Shrew:

If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

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