Ratmansky’s Nutcracker
ABT is premiering a brand new Nutcracker by Alexei Ratmansky at BAM this December 22-January 2. The Guggenheim’s Works and Process series gave a behind-the-scenes look at what makes this version Ratmansky’s own. Veronika Part’s vignettes in this video are gorgeous, but the brief moments of the Clara and her boy prince waking up are what really put me in the Nutcracker spirit. Totally priceless!
Armitage Gone! Dance at Abrons Arts Center
Hey guys,
I will be performing at Abrons Arts Center with Armitage Gone! Dance. Our 2010/2011 season pretty much lives in this venue. But we will have our Joyce Season in late April/early May 2011. The company has been working hard for the past two weeks. We have a couple new dancers with us this season: Sean Hilton, Jarvis McKinley, and Sara Beery. Also, the fabulous Christina Johnson, former principal dancer at Dance Theater of Harlem, keeps us in shape everyday! She is our new permanent Ballet Mistress and Rehearsal Director.
Come support us if you can!
Love,
Benny
It takes four or five to tango
The first time I fell in love with tango it was at City Center in New York, arguably a hyper-stylized somewhat lyricized version danced by Julio Bocca and his Ballet Argentino - a sexy and whirlwind two hours called BoccaTango in which Julio partnered women, ladders, men and tables, all with equal eroticism.
The second time I fell in love with tango it was at Cafe Tortoni in Buenos Aires, the legendary coffee house on Avenida de Mayo with an intimate theater space toward the back where waiters seduce you with Piazzolla and cocktails as you watch a tango show at all hours of the night.
The third time I fell in love with tango it was in Vail, Colorado when I walked in on Natalia Hills and Gabriel Misse rehearsing an intense pas at two in the morning during a late-night lighting rehearsal onstage at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater.
Natalia Hills and Gabriel Misse dance as Damian Woetzel watches on during UpClose: The Art of Tango, as part of Vail International Dance Festival 2010. Photo by Erin Baiano.
All were dressed in black - though sometimes you saw a snatch of black tulle or fuschia chiffon in the wings - and the strains of accordion, piano and bandoneon seemed haunted in the deserted theater, during that strange and lonely part of the night when it’s neither evening nor morning. The effect was heightened by the pitch-black sky, illuminated by thousands of stars the likes of which seemed, in that moment, unique to the mountain. It was magic.
Along with their band and their troupe of dancers, all rehearsing for the next day’s premiere of Romper el Piso, they went until three in the morning even though they had an 11am call the next morning. These Argentinians are absolutely restless! That day, they had participated in UpClose: The Art of Tango, which was moderated by Damian. Other participants included SAB faculty member Suki Schorer - who has been in love with ‘Mr. Tango’ for 15 years, as Damian duly noted - and even Carla Korbes, who was in the audience and did an impromptu promenade with both Damian and Gabriel.
Suki Schorer, Damian Woetzel, Natalia Hills and Gabriel Misse speak at UpClose: The Art of Tango as part of Vail International Dance Festival 2010. Photo by Erica Sheftman.
Both Suki and Damian spoke of the differences between ballet and tango lying largely in the control of musicality and in the dynamic between the female and the male; Suki talked about the many years it had taken her to be okay with allowing the man to steer her and Damian observed that it was a good skill for any man to actually learn how to lead a woman. Natalia spoke - through a translator - of the passion and freedom of expression that tango intensifies, as well as of the closeness and trust that must exist between partners.
Romper el Piso dancers during UpClose: The Art of the Tango, as part of Vail International Dance Festival 2010. Photo by Erin Baiano.
Click here to watch Damian, Suki, Natalia, Gabriel and Carla at UpClose.
Vail audiences were so lucky to get an early insider’s glimpse at the world premiere of Romper el Piso. Some of it was excerpted at last year’s Fall for Dance at City Center, but the two-hour show was largely created for this year’s festival and featured Hills and Misse, as well as other duets, quartets, and sextets, endless costume changes and interludes like the hypnotizing live performance of Piazzolla’s Invierno Porteno.
Alastair Macaulay boldly announced in the New York Times that as evidenced in Vail, the partnership between Gabriel and Natalia is the most spellbinding in dance today… it seems our leading critic himself has been seduced.
Watch some of the premiere of Romper el Piso here, as well as an excerpt of Natalia and Gabriel here.
Damian Woetzel and Natalia Hills during UpClose: The Art of the Tango, as part of Vail International Dance Festival 2010. Photo by Erin Baiano.
insight into ink
Hey Ya’ll. (I just got back from the south so pardon my language)
Heres a quick time lapse that I made with visual artist and collaborator Daniel Diaz-Tai using ink and water plus a digital camera.We are starting a new collabo together for a concert dance piece. The challenge for me is to use the movement of the Inks as a guide to movement vocabulary. As you watch this clip think about all of the numerous possibilities. With that said…. Not sucking would be the hugest concern for me because it would be too easy to go off the deep end on a project like this. Currently we are in the first phase of the project and I’m work shopping material with a couple dancers as a sort of “Blue Print” because this project will have me using the largest cast that i have ever worked with before. Im looking forward to rising up to the occasion and soooo stoked on this!
b
So You Think You Can Dance!
Hey Wingers!!
I’m sorry I haven’t been able to post in such a long time. With a tv show, there are a lot of things we’re not allowed to do, and any sort of interactions on the internet are one of them! But now that I’m off the show, I can somewhat resume to a normal daily life.
Just thought I would update you all on what has happened since I last posted! SO - I auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance again (season 7) and after a long and grueling process, I made it to the top 10! (Top 11 this year). I had such an amazing journey on the show and I learned SO much and I am so grateful for everything. I spent 5 weeks on the show, and during that 5 weeks I had the most life changing experience. I know it sounds crazy that something can really drastically change your life in 5 weeks, but this definitely does! With the crazy schedule, how much we learn and the amazing people that you get to work with AND live with, it just completely betters you as a person.
I’ll update everyone later on my specific experience through the whole process but I just wanted to check in first and let everyone know how I am doing. On my 5th week, I suffered an injury the night before show day during a rehearsal of my Bollywood piece on stage. I completely snapped my right Achilles tendon in half, and that has forced me to withdraw from the competition.
I’m just waiting here in LA for my surgery tomorrow morning (Tuesday, July 13th) and hoping that it all goes well so I can start my long journey to recovery!
I just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout my journey and that I am so grateful for even being here in the first place.
If you’d like to follow me closely I will be keeping my facebook page and my twitter page constantly updated. You can follow me on twitter here:
http://www.twitter.com/alexdwong
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/alexwongdance
Here is the Sonya Tayeh contemporary piece that I danced with Allison Holker:
And here is the Tabitha & Napoleon Hip Hop piece that I danced with Twitch! :
Enjoy!
Dancers gone Haywire
Hey Wingers!
So this is my favourite one so far, and we just filmed this not too long ago. Our inspiration was ballroom and some tutting and just plain beserkness.
It’s done to the classic competition song Mortal Kombat! Enjoy!
Dancers gone Haywire
Just posting the 3rd installment of our little mini series.
This one came from inspiration from the Fireflies song by Owl City.
We focused this time on organic internal techniques where it seems as you have ingested something and it takes hold of your body. The circle of life connects us all.
“Infection of the fireflies”
Enjoy! 
San Francisco Ballet is jumping into the world of new media
I’m very excited to share a new section of San Francisco Ballet’s website that is dedicated strictly to new media!
http://www.sfballet.org/interact/index.asp
I believe that new media is a wonderful way for the ballet world to connect and I’m very happy to be part of a company that is exploring everything new media has to offer. Within this new section you can find videos, pictures, blogs, podcasts, and more. I would definitely suggest you check it out!
Hammer Pants Dance
The only thing that peeves me about this video is that i did not get a phone call to come partake in “Hammer Time”. I live and breathe for moments like these.
waiting years to get the ol’ “Hammer Pants” back on and i missed it:(
enjoy.
B
So You Think You Can Dance
Hi Wingers!
Sorry I haven’t posted for a while, but I have been keeping busy with So You Think You Can Dance, and since I wasn’t able to blog about that, I really didn’t have much to say!
Anyhow for anyone who missed it and wanted to see it, I’ve found some clips of it on youtube and I thought I would post it.
And for those that are new to the Winger, welcome! I blog here about dance and if you would like to keep updated on my season at Miami City Ballet, come check out the Winger!
Miami Audition:
Vegas Week:
Elimination:
Finally, I also wanted to thank everyone for being so supportive of me - Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
