A trip to Tuscany with Tours en l'air

National Ballet of Canada Principal Dancers Guillaume Côté & Zdenek Konvalina are co-choreographing a new ballet, Impermanence, for the prestigious Maggio Musicale Fiorentino festival in Florence. Both will be performing in the piece, which is set to music composed by Guillaume, and has designs by Zdenek. The world premiere is on May 18th, and you can be part of it and support two of our most popular dancers. Tours en l'air is teaming up with A Perfect Tour, which has over ten years of experience organizing tours in Tuscany, to offer a week (May 15 – 22) in a Tuscan villa, with escorted visits to Lucca, Siena, San Gimignano, the Chianti countryside, and Cinque Terre on Italy's riviera on the Ligurian coast. Highlights include tours of Tuscan estates producing olive oil and wines, along with a traditional Tuscan cooking class. A performance of Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio is also a possibility. Numbers are limited, so if this trip appeals to you, please let us know now and we will get back to you as soon as the package price and brochure are finalized.

Robert Tewsley website

Visit www.roberttewsley.com for news, performance dates, pictures and videos.

Ivan Vasiliev

Another Tours en l'air hot tip!
A group of us just went to Washington to see the Bolshoi and were privileged to see their amazing young talent (just turned 21), Ivan Vasiliev, in the title role of Spartacus. You have never seen anyone jump like this! There are several clips of him on YouTube. Just type "Ivan Vasiliev" into the search and they will come up, including some from Spartacus. But make sure you check out the Golden Idol from Bayadere as well (plus Don Quixote and all the others!).
Enjoy!

Dress rehearsal at Pacific Northwest Ballet

An entertaining tale from a Facebook post by PNB corps de ballet dancer Jessika Anspach, about their recent dress rehearsal for Sleeping Beauty:

And the rehearsal was pretty rough. Not only did we struggle with orchestra tempos, but there were costume malfunctions, and special effect flubs. Well that's what dress rehearsals are for - ironing out the creases, which we most certainly did. And just as we were about to be dismissed can you guess what happened? The McCaw Hall fire alarm went off... and this was NOT a drill.

So we all, clad in our costumes of tutus, pantaloons and gold heels - the men's attire, wigs and stage makeup, marched outside to wait on the sidewalk of Mercer Street in the cold, wet weather. Olivier Wevers, dressed as Carabosse the evil fairy, began to wave at the cars that slowly drove past us. It was quite a sight to see! We looked like a freak show - or at least that was the message conveyed by the baffled and slightly horrified expressions of those people who witnessed this spectacle.

Ballet in London in April

Tours en l'air Ballet Holidays is organizing an April trip to London for ballet lovers. Includes great seats to see the Royal Ballet in Ashton's Cinderella and La Fille mal Gardee and an all-MacMillan
program, Birmingham Royal Ballet Sleeping Beauty, and Mark Morris Dance Group, plus other ballet treats! Signup deadline is February 10th! For info, contact toursenlair@cwtvictortravel.ca

British Friends of Ballet Nacional de Cuba

This organization was formed three years ago with the worthy aim of financially supporting the Cuban dancers, who are perennially short of money. They have just launched an appeal to help fund a new program featuring excerpts from the big classics, Magia de la Danza. Please contact the Chairman of BFBNC, Norman Vaughton, at ndv@talktalk.net for more information.

Great quote from George Balanchine

"I'm a little leery of the word 'inspiration'. I like the word 'deadline' better."

I found this in Birmingham Royal Ballet's Members' Newsletter, Entrechat. Become a member of BRB's Friends (I recommend it highly) at www.brb.org.uk

Cuban National Ballet

A group of 21 of us had a fabulous time at "Stars of Cuban National Ballet" in Mississauga last night. The program included the amazing Viengsay Valdes in a Don Quixote pas de deux unlike anything I have ever seen. She has absolutely astounding balances, and fouettes that stay nailed to the same spot on the stage. You can see her on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub3yUMwbKo8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Crr7H-Wqd70
The Cuban men are renowned for the ability to jump, and this was much in evidence, especially in a fun piece for five men, Accents, choreographed by Eduardo Blanco. Their jumps are remarkably high, but with very soft, quiet landings. One of the men wowed the audience with his ability to do fast pirouettes, slowing down with incredible control while lowering his pointed foot to "cou de pied" on the ankle.
The only downside was that, as I have noticed before, Cuban National Ballet's costumes tend to be quite ugly, with very old-fashioned designs often overloaded with ruffles on the upper body.
The legendary Alicia Alonso was in attendance and received a standing ovation from the audience.

Paloma Herrera

TUNE IN!

American Ballet Theatre's Paloma Herrera

appears on tonight's episode of
Fox-TV SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE,
8-9pm est.

In a special guest appearance, Paloma performs
Kitri's variation from the third act of Don Quixote.

Romeo and Juliet balcony pas de deux

Here's a hot tip. Two YouTube postings have just appeared of Robert Tewsley and Miyako Yoshida performing Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet balcony pas de deux. These are fabulous dancers, and though they are in practice clothes in a sterile dance studio, they convey more emotion than many people do in a full-blown production! Another bonus, the clip is in HD so the picture is much sharper than most on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jgwte9NGy0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAo_0FfawK0

National Ballet of Canada Sleeping Beauty in Ottawa

I just returned from the NBOC's 3-performance run of Nureyev's Sleeping Beauty in Ottawa. The company is looking in fine form, with the corps being very impressive in the second act; their level of ensemble was striking. I saw three casts: Guillaume Cote and Heather Ogden; Zdenek Konvalina and Sonia Rodriguez; and guest Jason Reilly (from Stuttgart Ballet) and Xiao Nan Yu. Rodriguez performed the Rose Adagio without a wobble and with radiant assurance. As her prince, Konvalina had the most musicality and princely quality of the three. Other highlights were Stacey Shiori Minagawa as Diamond, finishing her solo in a releve in fifth that looked as if it were nailed to the stage. Jillian Vanstone was a beautiful Princess Florine. Sleeping Beauty opens in Toronto this coming Friday, November 13th, which I hope is not inauspicious. For more information, visit the National Ballet of Canada.

Kirov and Bolshoi TOGETHER in Washington

We have a great package planned for Valentine's weekend in Washington DC, with premium tickets already reserved for the Sunday matinee performance of The Sleeping Beauty (Kirov/Maryinsky) and Tuesday opening night performance of Spartacus (Bolshoi), and rooms reserved at the Washington Fairmont. For people travelling from Toronto, we also have a great group airfare if we get a group of 10. But the package is open to anyone, so if you're interested, please email me at toursenlair@victortravel.ca. Booking deadline is December 10.

National Ballet School Assemblée Internationale

An exciting 50th anniversary gathering is being held at Canada's National Ballet School in November, with all of the world's best ballet schools represented. There will be some interesting performances:

Performance Schedule

PROGRAM A – Wednesday November 18, 7:30pm Canada’s National Ballet School Swan Lake, Act I Scene II Choreographed by Erik Bruhn Intermission Royal Danish Ballet School Napoli, Pas de Six Choreographed by August Bournonville San Francisco Ballet School Haffner Symphony Choreographed by Helgi Tomasson Palucca Schule Dresden Testbild Engerlinge Choreographed by Anke Glasgow Royal Conservatory (The Hague) Falling Angels Choreographed by Jiri Kylian Intermission National Ballet Academy (Amsterdam) For a Close Friend Choreographed by Jan Linkens Hamburg Ballet School Vaslaw Choreographed by John Neumeier Rotterdam Dance Academy Blue Dance duet Choreographed by Ton Simons TOTAL RUNNING TIME with intermissions – 2hrs 36min

PROGRAM B – Thursday November 19, 7:30pm Royal Ballet School (London) Untitled Choreographed by Liam Scarlett Canada’s National Ballet School Swan Lake, Pas de Deux Choreographed by Erik Bruhn Royal Winnipeg Ballet School Pas de Quatre Choreographed by David Moroni Intermission Paris Opera Ballet School Suite de danses Choreographed by Yvan Clustine National Ballet School of Cuba Ballet Majisimo Choreographed by Jorge Garcia Intermission San Francisco Ballet School Fractals, Parish Maynard Adagio & Male V Choreographed by Parish Maynard John Cranko School (Stuttgart) In and Out Choreographed by Hans van Manen Rotterdam Dance Academy Once A Tango Choreographed by Neel Verdoorn TOTAL RUNNING TIME with intermissions – 2hrs 36min

Student CHOREOGRAPHIES – Friday November 20, 7:30pm & Saturday November 21, 2:30pm

1. Hamburg Ballet School – Words Unsaid, choreographed by Sasha Riva
2. Paris Opera Ballet School – A Corps, Essence, choreographed by Florent Melac
3. Royal Danish Ballet School – Elements, choreographed by Viktoria Falck-Schmidt & Ida Praetorius
4. Canada’s National Ballet School – a currently untitled work, choreographed by Sara Coffield
5. National Ballet School of Cuba – Danzon Barocco, choreographed by Denia Luisa Suárez Leyva
6. John Cranko School (Stuttgart) – Hidden Fears, choreographed by Alessandra Spada
   
   Intermission
7. Royal Ballet School – Brush Strokes, choreographed by William Bracewell
8. Partner schools without student choreographers – Improvisation AI09, directed by NBS' Shaun Amyot
9. San Francisco Ballet School – Time Piece, choreographed by Myles Thatcher
10. Canada’s National Ballet School – Elegy for a Round World, choreographed by Helen Clare Kinney
11. Royal Winnipeg Ballet School – The Sea Within Us, choreographed by Alex Lantz
12. Canada’s National Ballet School – Surge, choreographed by Rob Binet

For more info: http://www.nbs-enb.ca/50th/ai09.aspx#performances

Stars of Cuban National Ballet

I'm trying to put together a group to see Stars of Cuban National Ballet at the Living Arts Centre in MIssissauga on Tuesday, December 8. According to the website, program includes In the Shadows of a Waltz, choreography by Alicia Alonso on a waltz by Strauss, Principal Dancers and the Cuban National Ballet corps de ballet; Dolls, Cuban music on the story of a Cuban doll and a toy soldier; The Nutcracker, pas de deux; Acentos, five male dancers, very technical interpretation; Pas de trois, from Swan Lake, 1st act; Intermittencies of the Heart, romantic and dramatic duo; Don Quixote (suite), Toreadors, Majas, Espada,Mercedes, Kitri and Basilio in the Grand pas de deux. I'm not quite sure what "very technical interpretation" means!
http://www.livingartscentre.ca/event_calendar/listing.php
http://www.balletcuba.cult.cu/paginas/presentaciones.html

Kirov and Bolshoi in Washington

I'm very excited about how the trip to see the Kirov (Maryinsky) and Bolshoi in Washington DC from February 13-17 is coming together. What a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see both of these companies within the space of a few days, without having to trek to Russia. And they're both performing their signature ballets, Sleeping Beauty and Spartacus. Should be fun! Finalized details will be available next week.