BALLET NEWS UPDATES

Hi everyone,

I'm going to start off with news about Darcey Bussell, who became Godmother to a ship last week - and launched it in some style, with four outfits.

Next I wanted to stare with you a new video from The Royal Opera House, on the upcoming triple bill - Electric Counterpoint/New Scarlett/Carmen.

Tamara Rojo

Photograph :  Bernardo Doral

Now for some exciting news of Royal Ballet Principal Tamara Rojo, who will be performing a Spanish dance duet called Romance de Luna, with Ballet Nacional de Espana’s principal bailarin Miguel A. Corbacho, at the London Coliseum later this month.

Romance de Luna was originally created in 1989 for star ballerina Natalia Makarova when she returned to the Mariinsky theatre. It is choreographed by Ballet Nacional de Espana’s artistic director Jose Antonio.

Choreography: José Antonio
Music: José Nieto
Lighting Design and Dress Design: José Antonio
Lighting Production: Carlos Guerrero and Rafael Yunta
Costume Production: Peris

Tamara dances on Tuesday 27th April (7.30pm), Saturday 1st May (7.30pm) and Sunday 2nd May (4pm).

Tamara Rojo

Photograph :  Bernardo Doral

Birmingham Royal Ballet offers you the chance to see the quite spectacular 'The Centre and it's Opposite', and I hope that you will not miss it if you are in the north or east.

Media release:  BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET’S 2010 SPLIT-TOUR

COMPANY AND ROYAL BALLET SINFONIA SPLIT IN HALF TO PERFORM IN MID-SCALE VENUES ACROSS THE UK

Grosse Fuge

Kevin O'Hare, Joseph Cipolla, Wolfgang Stollwitzer, Andrew Murphy

Photograph :  Bill Cooper

Between 25 May and 5 June 2010, Birmingham Royal Ballet once again embarks upon a tour of mid-scale venues throughout the UK. In its 20th anniversary year the company will divide into two with half of the company travelling to the southwest of the country and the remaining half travelling to the north and east. This year, the split tour will see the company perform in Sheffield, York, Durham and Kings Lynn in the north and east and Cheltenham, Poole and Truro in the southwest.

The split-tour initiative, now in its seventh year, enables the company to present full-scale works with orchestral accompaniment in venues not normally associated with a company of this size. The works to be performed have been carefully chosen to demonstrate the versatility of the company, ensuring that audiences have access to the highest quality of dance performances available in the UK today.

In the north and east the triple bill will celebrate pieces by company Director David Bintley, Australian Dance Theatre’s Artistic Director Garry Stewart and celebrated choreographer Hans van Manen. In the southwest choreography by David Bintley, George Balanchine and John Cranko will delight audiences.

Brouillards

Photograph :  Bill Cooper

Performing in the north and east, Allegri diversi is a short piece by David Bintley, choreographed for Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet (now Birmingham Royal Ballet) in 1987. The effortless elegance of the dance gives life to Rossini’s light and playful score. Grosse Fuge is choreographed by Hans van Manen and sees delicate interplay between groups of men and women to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven. The Centre and its Opposite by Australian Dance Theatre’s Artistic Director Garry Stewart sees the dancers directly competing for the attention of the audience, fusing classical ballet with hard-edged contemporary dance to music by Huey Benjamin.

In the southwest the triple bill includes Brouillards with choreography by John Cranko. The piece is based upon nine of composer Claude Debussy’s piano preludes. The title of the piece, Brouillards means ‘mists’, and it is this image that bookends the choreography of the ballet, with the dancers appearing and disappearing from the stage leaving behind nothing but memories. The Dance House by Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Director David Bintley was created following the death of a friend and is set to Shostakovich’s Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings. Slaughter on Tenth Avenue is a crazy comedic piece from the 1930s musical On Your Toes with choreography from George Balanchine and music by Richard Rodgers.

Allegri Diversi

Photograph : Brian Slater

North and East venues

25 &26 May Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield Box Office: 0114 249 6000
28 & 29 May Theatre Royal, York Box Office: 01904 623568
1 & 2 June Gala Theatre, Durham Box Office: 0191 332 4041
4 & 5 June Corn Exchange, Kings Lynn Box Office: 01553 764864

Southwest venues

25 & 26 May Everyman, Cheltenham Box Office: 01242 572573
28 & 29 May The Lighthouse, Poole Box Office: 0844 4068666
4 & 5 June Hall For Cornwall, Truro Box Office: 01872 262466

Royal Ballet Principal Lauren Cuthbertson

(who has been off stage due to illness since last summer)

Finally, to thrill you into the weekend, here is an update on my last post on the outdoor performance by some of the dancers of The Royal Ballet in France later this summer.

I can tell you that some of the rep will include excerpts from :

Wayne McGregor's Chroma danced by Mara Galeazzi, Edward Watson, Steven McRae, Ludovic Ondiviela and Johannes Stepanek;

George Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux danced by Marianela Nuñez and Thiago Soares

Marius Petipa's Le Corsaire Pas de Deux danced by Yuhui Choe and Sergei Polunin.

Wayne McGregor's Chroma for The Royal Ballet

Photograph :  Johan Persson

There is also some more information on the ticket pricing (tickets will be available later this month).  You have two very appealling choices - tickets are 33 euros for the performance itself or 100 euros for the performance, private reception with the dancers, food and drink.

Further details of a limited number of subsidised tickets for students, children and others will be released shortly.

Royal Ballet Principal Thiago Soares

Photograph :  Johan Persson