Month: April 2013

The Olivier Awards 2013

2013 Olivier Awards

The Olivier Awards, organised by the Society of London Theatre, were presented at the Royal Opera House on Sunday in the celebration of talent that graces our theatrical stages.

For dance there was a wealth of wondrous watching in the performances which won nominations in different categories –

Best New Dance Production:

The Royal Ballet’s Aeternum was nominated, featuring Principal Marianela Nunez, who was also nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Dance. Also in this category was Scottish Ballet’s A Streetcar Named Desire, which picked up the National Dance Award for Best Classical Choreography earlier this year, and NDT2’s Cacti.

Outstanding Achievement in Dance:

ILL-Abilities Company, who will be performing as part of Breakin’ Convention’s 10th anniversary, Lez Brotherston for the set and costumes for New Adventures’ Sleeping Beauty, and Marianela Nunez for varied and fantastic performances in Aeternum, Diana & Actaeon and Viscera of The Royal Ballet were all nominated in this category. Earlier this year Nunez was also awarded the National Dance Award for Best Female Dancer.

Best Theatre Choreographer:

Bill Deamer for Top Hat, first-time Olivier Award nominee Scott Ambler for Chariots of Fire in his reinvention of the Olympic-inspired running scenes, double Olivier Award-winning Stephen Mear for Kiss Me, Kate, and Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett for The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, as part of Frantic Assembly, were all nominated for this category.

The nominees for Best Musical Revival were A Chorus Line, Cabaret, Kiss Me, Kate and Sweeney Todd, and the nominees for the BBC Radio 2 Audience Award nominees were Billy Elliot, Matilda, Phantom of the Opera and Wicked.

Following the nominations, the glittering event and red carpet saw the many winners acknowledged in their contribution to great theatre, with a few included below.

Best Actress: Helen Mirren for The Audience

Best Actor: Luke Treadaway for The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time

BBC Radio 2 Audience Award: Billy Elliot

Best Musical Revival: Sweeney Todd

Best Actress in a Musical: Imelda Staunton for Sweeney Todd

Best Actor in a Musical: Michael Ball for Sweeney Todd

Best New Musical: Top Hat

Autograph Sound Award for Best Theatre Choreographer: Bill Deamer for Top Hat

Best New Dance Production: Aeternum by The Royal Ballet, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon

Outstanding Achievement in Dance: Marianela Nunez for Aeternum, Diana & Actaeon and Viscera by The Royal Ballet

Best Entertainment and Family: Goodnight Mister Tom

Special Awards: Michael Frayn and Gillian Lynne

News from New Adventures

New AdventuresThe 25th anniversary of Matthew Bourne’s company New Adventures was 2012, and was perhaps one of the busiest in the company’s history. With the continued success of Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty in 2013, it seems there is no stopping the contemporary, theatrical company.

New Adventures recently announced that Sleeping Beauty will tour the United States from September this year, playing two week seasons in Cleveland (Playhousesquare), New York (City Center) and Los Angeles (Ahmanson Theatre) in addition to a week-long engagement at the prestigious Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Opening at the Civic Center in Des Moines on 27 September, the three month tour will also travel to Schenectady (Proctors) and Charlotte(Blumenthal Performing Arts). The US tour will follow the current record-breaking UK tour of the production, which is also due to visit The Ravenna Festival in Italy (29 May – 2 June) and the company’s fifth visit to The Chekhov International Festival in Moscow (11 -16 June).

Holiday plans have also been announced, with the original cast of Sleeping Beauty being filmed at the Bristol Hippodrome in May for later broadcast on UK and International television over the Christmas period. This will be followed by a subsequent DVD release: the film will be directed by Ross MacGibbon, who has collaborated many times with Matthew Bourne on previous award-winning New Adventures films, including the recent Imagine Documentary, “A Beauty Is Born”.

In the unveiling of another production for the company, Scottish Ballet will be presenting Highland Fling having been granted the rights to perform it. Highland Fling was originally produced in 1994, and was revived in 2005 before the exclusive 2013 Scottish Ballet production as an imaginative reworking of the classic romantic ballet La Sylphide with a wickedly wry Scotch twist.

Theatreland Cinema

Digital Theatre & CinemaLiveSimilar to many ballet productions that have recently been screened in cinemas, it will be possible in the future to catch up with your favourite West End shows with a bucket of popcorn. Digital Theatre, which makes filmed theatre productions available for download online, and CinemaLive have paired up to screen some of the best of British theatre in UK cinemas, both new works and those from theatrical archives.

Digital Theatre has partnered with film producers CinemaLive and will present its first series of screenings in September 2013. No titles have been annoucned yet for the screening programme, but the focus will be primarily on West End productions, including David Tennant and Catherine Tate in Much Ado About Nothing and David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. In turn this will presumably make West End productions more accessible to larger audiences, however this may also decrease their unique exclusivity, and the singular experience of taking in a production in the heart of Theatreland. Despite this, opening up West End productions to other audiences may also increase revenue for theatres in inspiring audiences to see other and alternative productions that they may first have seen in the cinema.

Since the launch of National Theatre Live in 2009, theatre has had an increasingly regular presence in cinemas. In June 2013, NT Live will broadcast its first West End production, The Audience which stars Helen Mirren, following the lead of Graham McLaren’s production of Great Expectations, which was live-broadcasted its opening night around the UK. This took around £80,000 at the box office, emphasising the decline (or perhaps increase) of audiences visiting West End theatres, but ultimately expanding the possibilities by offering audiences another chance to catch past productions they might have missed.

Founded by Robert Delamere and Tom Shaw in 2009, Digital Theatre now hosts productions from some of the UK’s largest theatres, including the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company Shakespeare’s Globe and the Almeida theatre.

First Position

First PositionFirst Position, a ballet documentary-come-movie to be screened in cinemas in the UK, paints a thrilling and moving portrait of the most gifted ballet stars of tomorrow as they prepare for the chance to enter the world of professional ballet. Bess Kargman’s award-winning box office hit documentary follows six extraordinary dancers, complete with bruises, blood, injuries and near exhaustion, as they follow their dreams and enter the Youth America Grand Prix, held annually in New York for boys and girls aged 8 to 19.

Every year, thousands of aspiring dancers enter the Youth America Grand Prix as one of the world’s most prestigious ballet competitions where talented dancers compete for the coveted title. In the final round hundreds of young dancers compete for only a handful of elite scholarships and contracts and it is imperative that nothing short of perfection is performed. First Position showcases the awe-inspiring talent and passion that is displayed by the dancers, and had its World Premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival and was named the audience choice’s first runner-up for Best Documentary. It also won the Jury Prize at the San Francisco Doc Fest, the audience award for Best Documentary at the Dallas International Film Festival, the audience award for Best Documentary at the Portland International Film Festival, and the audience award for Best Documentary at DOC NYC.

First Position centres around the protagonist characters of Jules Jarvis Fogarty, age 10, Aran Bell, age 11, Gaya Bommer Yemini, age 11, Miko Fogarty, age 12, Michaela DePrince, age 14, Joan Sebastian Zamora, age 16, and Rebecca Houseknecht, age 17. The dancers are from all over the world, and First Position reveals the dancers’ fates, with most of the group emerging from the competition with a statuette, award, scholarship or contract with a ballet company.

NYCB’s Next Season

New York City Ballet LogoNew York City Ballet company, founded in 1948, has announced its 2013-14 season, and it is set to be incredibly exciting for eager ballet and dance fans of all genres. The new season is set to include the world premieres of ballets by Peter Martins, Justin Peck, Angelin Preljocaj and Liam Scarlett, a good result due to the speculation surrounding his absence from the next Royal Ballet season.

NYCB has carved its fantastic reputation as one of the foremost dance companies in the world, with a company of dancers who excel in their field and are unparalleled in their talent and repertory. As a result of the founders George Balanchine and Lincoln Kerstein’s dedication and commitment in its early years, the company quickly became renowned worldwide for its athletic, modern and contemporary style.

The season for NYCB will also include 22 works by company co-founder and the esteemed choreographer Balanchine, with an additional 7 works by choreographer Jerome Robbins. The iconic and traditional production of Balanchine’s Nutcracker will also run for the annual season over Christmas as part of the company’s 50th anniversary at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, which has been the Company’s home since the New York State Theater (now the David H. Koch Theater) opened in April 1964. In total, the season features performances of 50 ballets in the celebration.

First up for the season, beginning on 17 September, will be 6 performances of Martins’ Swan Lake and a gala performance with a premiere of work by Preljocaj. This season will also incorporate a family programme which will feature Christopher Wheeldon’s Carnival of the Animals, Martins’ Jeu de Cartes and Robbins’ Four Seasons. In the New Year, there will be a week-long festival of 21st-century choreographers, with 11 ballets by 10 choreographers, showcasing Peck’s world premiere and also including 2 fully Balanchine programmes.

Image courtesy of New York City Ballet.

Thriller Live’s Extension

Thriller LiveAlmost four years after his sudden death in 2009, the popular musical spectacular based on the hits of King of Pop Michael Jackson Thriller Live is set to carry on singing and dancing into 2014. Full of moon-walking, white gloves and grabbing of crotches, the musical has received a new extension to its run at the Lyric Theatre in London’s West End.

The show opened in January 2009, and is currently taking bookings until 16 March 2014. As a musical each performance showcases the iconic songs and fantastic, and equally iconic, dancing of the Michael Jackson legend and legacy, re-writing the rules of dance and consequently increasing its popularity.

In huge contrast to some of the story-telling book-based musicals that are also currently playing in the capital, Thriller Live conveys lots of high energy dance, eye-popping graphics, videos and songs in order to take audiences on a journey through the career and music of Jackson. The production is also regularly updated to keep the performances and the performers fresh, and has recently added an exciting new opening which some of its first audience members may not have seen. The show is now in its fifth year of existence and is an incredibly heart-warming experience for all those involved, making the musical very popular.

As a result of the announcement of the show’s extension, Thriller Live will be closing in on the record of the longest running show in the Lyric theatre’s 125-year history. The record is currently held by Five Guys Named Moe, which ran at the venue in the West End from December 1990 to March 1995.

Natalia Osipova To Join The Royal Ballet

Natalia OsipovaThe Russian superstar, and incredibly versatile, ballerina Natalia Osipova, most recently seen in the Mikhailovsky Ballet’s stint in London, is to join the Royal Ballet Company. Previously dancing with the Bolshoi Ballet, Osipova went on to leave the company two years later for the Mikhailovsky, in which she became a balletic household name. Her 2006 performance with the Bolshoi made her an overnight star when then-director Alexei Ratmansky picked her out of the corps de ballet.

Osipova danced as a guest with the Royal Ballet last year in Swan Lake alongside Carlos Acosta, displaying her dramatic acting range and sheer talent which was a clear hook for the British company. The next season for the Royal Ballet, beginning on 30 September, will be Osipova’s first, and she will be taking on the full range of the company’s heritage and modern repertory.

Osipova is hoped to be dancing the lead in Acosta’s new production of Don Quixote, with critics believing that Osipova will rise easily to the fantastic virtuosity and brilliance that is demanded by the role with the Royal Ballet, having honed the leading role herself worldwide previously, perhaps even her signature with the iconic head kick-jeté that is so recognisable.

Currently a principal at American Ballet Theatre until the end of June as well as the Mikhailovsky, Osipova intends to continue performing with both companies in addition to the Royal Ballet. She will also remain involved in the three-year agreement for freelance engagements with her on- and off-stage partner, Ivan Vasiliev, which expires in 2016 but will be arranged around her Royal Ballet schedule. The pair will next perform in California with the American premiere of Roland Petit’s Le jeune homme et la mort, alongside a new creation, which will also be performed in Moscow. Osipova and Vasiliev are also returning to London this summer for a performance with the Bolshoi, and the pair will be moving to the UK.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Maria Tallchief

Maria Tallchief (Dance Magazine cover photo February 1954)Maria Tallchief, the muse of celebrated choreographer George Balanchine and fantastic ballerina died on April 11th 2013, aged 88. She became one the most brilliant American ballerinas of the 20th century, and was even one of Balanchine’s wives, securely marking her place in modern ballet history.

Tallchief was renowned for her work with Balanchine’s New York City Ballet, dazzling audiences with her speed, energy and fire. Her stepping stone into fame took place in 1949, in which Tallchief danced the title role in the company’s version of Stravinsky’s Firebird, which was one of many roles that Balanchine created for her during their time together. Many dance fans from world-over may compare Tallchief to British ballerina Margot Fonteyn, each the epitome of their country’s work in the arts.

Tallchief began ballet lessons in Colorado Springs and later took classes in Los Angeles, and from then on a star began its journey into American dance, becoming known worldwide. At 12 years old she began studying with Bronislava Nijinska, a former choreographer for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, formidable but encouraging. From then on Tallchief began dancing roles cast to her by Nijinska, and Agnes de Mille, who later encouraged Tallchief to adopt her name by which she is known.

By 1944 Tallchief had danced mostly with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, but this marked the year that she danced in a Broadway musical choreographed by Balanchine. Balanchine went on to remain resident choreographer for the company, casting Tallchief in works such as Danses Concertantes, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Ballet Imperial and Le Baiser de la Fee. Balanchine paid close attention to Tallchief, and in return she admired him as a choreographic genius, marrying him in 1946 but then divorcing him in 1950.

Balanchine went on to create his own ballet company, which Tallchief went on to be one of its acclaimed stars in roles in ballets such as Swan Lake, Nutcracker and Orpheus, the first performance taking place in 1948, and her last in 1965.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Dance Performance Theme Ideas

Dance Performance Theme IdeasStuck for some ideas for a theme for your next dance performance? Below is a list that might help to give you some inspiration!

  • The 1980’S
  • A Night At The Movies
  • Alice In Wonderland
  • British History
  • And The Winner Is – A play on the oscars with every dancer being a winner!
  • Anything Goes
  • Around The World
  • Blast From The Past – use songs from past performances in celebration of an anniversary.
  • Cirque De Soleil
  • Colours Or Kaleidoscope – use songs about colours.
  • Come Fly With Me – highlight tourist spots and monuments that you visit on vacation, both man-made and natural.
  • Sea Cruise
  • Dance For A Wish – donate a portion of the money you raise to Make A Wish Foundation Uk.
  • Dance School Musical – use songs about school days.
  • Dancing In The Moonlight
  • Dancing On Ice
  • Dancing Through The Decades
  • Dancing Through The Year
  • Disney
  • Europe
  • Everything Old Is New Again – do an anniversary show and repeat your favourite numbers from previous years.
  • FAME
  • Fantasy
  • Fashion
  • Feelin’ Good
  • Food
  • Growing Up
  • Happiness Is…
  • Historical Figures
  • How We Used To Live
  • Lights, Camera, Dancing!
  • Icons Of Dance
  • Icons Of Music
  • Inspiration
  • Legends, Divas, And Superstars
  • Memories &Amp; New Beginnings
  • Once Upon A Time – choose fairy tales and choreograph the stories
  • One Moment In Time
  • Opposites
  • Peace, Love And Dance
  • Portraits In Dance – works of art relating to your dance style(s).
  • Raising The Barre
  • The Big Top
  • Rock This Town
  • Seasons
  • Shakespeare
  • Shirley Temple
  • Sports
  • Strictly Come Dancing!
  • Superheros
  • Sweet Dreams – use songs relating to the night or dreams.
  • Take Me To The Show – movies, TV, theatre, etc.
  • The Abc Of Dance
  • The Hopes And Dreams Of Siblings
  • The Underwater World
  • The Six Days Of Creation
  • The Swinging Sixties
  • These Are A Few Of Our Favorite Things – have your students list their favourite things and choose songs based on them.
  • The West End
  • Uk Rock Music
  • Walking The Red Carpet
  • Weather

Please feel free to add to the list?

Dancers: Behind the Scenes with The Royal Ballet

Dancers: Behind the Scenes at The Royal Ballet by Andrej UspenskiThe 1st April 2013 saw the release of Dancers: Behind the Scenes with The Royal Ballet by Andrej Uspenski (himself a First Soloist with The Royal Ballet). Andrej’s exquisite photographic book contains images of some of the world’s most gifted dancers, drawing us into the beautiful world of ballet and showing us an “insider’s” perspective of the workings of The Royal Ballet at the same time.Andrej Uspenski's Photos of The Royal BalletThis exclusive view means we get to see behind the scenes at one of the world’s most prestigious companies, from rehearsals to opening night, through some truly breathtaking photographs.

According to Andrej, “I am in a unique position. Although I am first and foremost a dancer, working, living and spending time with other dancers, I also experience this world from behind the camera. Through this I have the opportunity to capture some of the unusually seen and unexpected images from a dancer’s day.”

About Andrej Uspenski

Andrej Uspenski trained at the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia. He has been a dancer at The Royal Ballet for ten years. A passionate photographer throughout his life, his photographic work has been used in international publications and in Royal Opera House programmes.

Dancers: Behind the Scenes with The Royal Ballet is available to buy from Dance Direct!

Reviews

“Uspenski’s volume shows the company in moments of unguarded intimacy that only a fellow dancer could capture.” – Daily Telegraph

“A treat… Dancers is about exceptional ballet photography and for that alone it is rare, valuable and worth collecting.” – Ballet News

“Fascinating… the pictures have a rare intimacy…an intriguing glimpse of what it’s really like to be a ballerina.” – The Lady

“This stunning collection of pictures, highly stylised and charmingly informal, is a must for any ballet fan.” – Daily Mail