This Friday is New York City Ballet’s first annual Dancers’ Choice evening, which was programmed and cast by Principal Dancer Jonathan Stafford, and features a world premiere ballet by dancers Adam Hendrickson (choreographer) and Aaron Severini (composer) among excerpts from a variety of ballets by Balanchine, Robbins, Martins, and Wheeldon.
Tickets are specially priced at $45 and $25. All proceeds from the evening will go to benefit the Dancers’ Emergency Fund, which exists to help dancers in times of extraordinary need.
There will also be a Silent Auction, as well as two film clips we’ve been working on (”The Monarch” about Adam and Aaron’s new work, and “When We Were Kids” featuring footage of NYCB dancers when they were little.)
Should be an exciting program, and it’s for a good cause. Maybe we’ll see you there!
Continuing my new photography series, I bring you two Polaroid shots from the Balanchine ballets Rubies and Diamonds. These were taken on a sweltering 97-degree New York City day. Because of the extreme heat, one of the dancers was only able to pose with his knee on the ground for a few seconds before feeling the burn of the pavement (now that’s what i call tenacity!). Enjoi
Diamond: Devin Alberda (left); and Diamond: Russell Janzen (right)
SUSAN KIM Ballet Student, Supporter Los Angeles, California USA BIO | POSTS
The Arts & Music section of today’s Los Angeles Times takes a look at the growing popularity of Internet publicity among dancers and dance companies.
The YouTube video that seems to have prompted the article:
The connection between the video above and the rest of the article is, to me, a little fuzzy. Overall, though, the article is pretty neat. Especially cool is that Looseleaf recognizes certain notables, including Daniil Simkin, Rolando Sarabia, Anaheim Ballet, Grover Dale’s Answers4Dancers and, of course, New York City Ballet’s website and YouTube channel. (Congrats, Kristin!)
The full text of the article follows below for anyone who might be interested. Take a read!
My favourite quote: Asked what company co-founder and choreographer George Balanchine would have thought about the Internet, [NYCB’s General Manager Ken] Tabachnick replies, “He was an innovator. Balanchine loved change and didn’t shy away from new things. I imagine he would have loved it.”
Many dancers in the company (Ashley Bouder in particular) have worked very hard at gathering numerous items to auction off to benefit GMHC through AIDS Walk New York. The New York City Ballet team did the walk which took place on May 18th, organized by dancers and some wonderful NYCB volunteers. They are still raising money - up until June 10th. (Check out Philip’s photos from the walk at Oberon’s Grove).
View the EBAY auctions to see if there is anything you like. There are signed shoes, tote bags, programs… and 100% of the final auction price will be donated.
This first round of auctions will end around noon tomorrow - 5/27.
We will be listing a few more 3-day auction items tomorrow including 2 signed posters and four prints by Kyle Froman.
We’ve been doing a series of simple video interviews with people who knew or worked with Jerome Robbins. Some of my favorite ballets to see and to dance are his. I had so much fun understudying ballets like 2 and 3 Part Inventions and of course Dances at Gathering, and one regret I have in retiring is never having the opportunity to actually perform them (not that my body would have let me anyway). There’s something so simple about viewing many his ballets. It often feels like you are just watching people dance with each other - looking in at their experience - as opposed to being performed to.
Anyhow, hearing about his work from individuals with varying perspectives has been a treat. The bit at the end where Ms. Lebowitz discusses what it would be like if words behaved like dancers has been my favorite quote so far.
