Latest news with #BolshoiBallet
Kuwait Times
24-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Kuwait Times
National Ballet of Japan to make UK debut
Dancers from the National Ballet of Japan (from left) Risako Ikeda, Shunsuke MIzui, Yui Yonezawa and Shun Izawa pose on stage with the company's artistic director Miyako Yoshida (center), during a preview rehearsal of the ballet "Giselle" at the Royal Opera House, in central London.--AFP photos The National Ballet of Japan makes its debut at the London Royal Opera House on Thursday, pirouetting into a void left when Russia's Bolshoi Ballet was cancelled over the war in Ukraine. In 2022, the Opera House called off the internationally renowned Moscow-based company's tour and proposed instead to open up their prestigious stage to the Japanese dancers. Founded in 1997, Japan's resident ballet company will perform in London for the first time from Thursday to Sunday. It will perform a production of Giselle, a classic romantic ballet which first premiered in 1841. The production is led by artistic director of the National Ballet of Japan Miyako Yoshida, 59, who was the first Japanese principal dancer at the British ballet institution between 1995 and 2010. Eleven Japanese dancers, including three principal dancers, now perform at the Royal Opera House and make up around 10 percent of the company. Returning to the prestigious stage was not only 'a dream coming true,' but also a lot of 'pressure', Yoshida told AFP. When the Bolshoi's tour was cancelled, director of the Royal Ballet Kevin O'Hare approached his ex-classmate Yoshida to discuss bringing her company to London as a replacement. Japanese ballet dancer Yui Yonezawa as Giselle (left) and Japanese ballet dancer Shun Izawa as Albrecht (right), both from the National Ballet of Japan, perform on stage. Japanese ballet dancer Yui Yonezawa as Giselle (right) and Japanese ballet dancer Shun Izawa as Albrecht (left), both from the National Ballet of Japan, perform on stage. Japanese ballet dancers Risako Ikeda (left) and Shunsuke MIzui (right), both from the National Ballet of Japan, perform on stage. Dancer from the National Ballet of Japan Yui Yonezawa speaks with members of the press during a preview rehearsal of the ballet "Giselle". Aiming for accessibility The ex-ballerina 'never imagined' it would happen 'this quickly', and recalled that scheduling and funding issues had slowed the plans. The chance to perform came 'too soon,' she said. She admitted that the Japanese company, which even though it boasts its capacity to dance a wide repertoire, was perhaps not quite ready to replace one of the oldest and most prestigious ballet companies in the world. The young company put on productions in the US in 2008, and at the Bolshoi Theatre the following year, but this is the first time it will perform a classic Western ballet in Europe. 'I tried to make it easier to understand,' said Yoshida, explaining that 'young people' would not be interested in the ballet 'if it was very old-fashioned'. She wanted to capture the essence of the romantic ballet, which tells a story of forbidden love. Supported by choreographer Alistair Marriott, Yoshida hoped the production would distinguish itself with its pared-back simplicity. For Yoshida, the five London performances aim to 'make the National Ballet of Japan known around the world' and enable its 75 dancers to evolve with other companies from Europe and beyond. 'I want to make the company known worldwide,' she said.--AFP
Irish Examiner
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
FA Cup balls ready for a wide-open Derby with no obvious winner
Epsom has hired the balls and equipment used in FA Cup draws to add a touch of glamour to proceedings when the stall positions in Saturday's Derby are allocated in the town centre on Wednesday. From a punter's perspective, however, a wide-open race and one of the biggest fields this century promise to be the only selling points required for the 246th running of the Classic. Twenty colts remain in contention at the penultimate declaration stage on Monday. There are few sights in the sport to match the spectacle and excitement of a big field charging down the Epsom hill towards Tattenham Corner, but it is 22 years since Kris Kin and Kieren Fallon beat 19 rivals, the only Derby since the turn of the century with a maximum field of 20. That size field is still a possibility thanks to the addition of two lightly raced dark horses on Monday at a cost of £75k apiece. Midak, an unbeaten colt who runs in the colours of Aga Khan IV, who died in February, and New Ground, who was a length behind Cualificar, the runner-up in Sunday's French Derby, in April, will join Ruling Court, the 2,000 Guineas winner, and the significant trial winners at Leopardstown, York, and Chester in the probable field when a multitude of questions about the runners' stamina, speed, athleticism and attitude will prove to have just one answer. Delacroix, the comfortable winner of Leopardstown's main Derby trial, heads the ante-post betting at a top price of 11-4, but his position at the top of the market is still far from guaranteed, with Ruling Court little more than a point behind on 4-1 and Pride Of Arras, the unbeaten Dante winner, next at 9-2. The Lion In Winter, Delacroix's stable companion at the Aidan O'Brien yard, is a single-figure price despite his defeat in the Dante, while Damysus, the runner-up behind Pride Of Arras at York, will be the first port of call for many each-way backers at around 10-1. Delacroix is, in some respects, an ideal favourite for one of the few races that can grab the general sporting public's attention. O'Brien and Ryan Moore, his trainer and (probable) jockey, need little introduction, Delacroix's form is impressive with the promise of more to come, and yet, the odds hide the truth in plain sight. Take out the bookies' margin and there is around a 25% chance he will be a record-extending 11th Derby winner for his trainer — and, by the same token, a 75% chance he will not. We have, after all, been here several times before with O'Brien-trained winners of the Leopardstown trial. He has won the race a remarkable 17 times, but only Galileo (2001) and High Chaparral (2002), his first two Derby winners, followed up at Epsom. Delacroix was O'Brien's 14th Leopardstown trial winner since High Chaparral. Eleven of the previous 13 went on to run in the Derby without success, including Bolshoi Ballet, the 13-8 favourite in 2021, Fame And Glory (9-4), Stone Age (7-2), Broome (4-1) and Recital (5-1). When Delacroix is considered as potentially the latest in a long line of failures, even his top price of 11-4 loses much of its appeal. Yet the fascinating thing about this year's Derby is that there is a serious question about every horse near the top of the betting. For Ruling Court, it is stamina, for Pride Of Arras and Damysus, it is experience, while The Lion In Winter needs to bounce back from his Dante defeat. William Buick and Charlie Appleby, Ruling Court's jockey and trainer respectively, have two of the five Classics in the bag this year and could have a third by the time the field goes to post on Saturday as Desert Flower, the 1,000 Guineas winner, is favourite for Friday's Oaks. An Oaks success on Desert Flower would complete the set of British Classics for trainer and rider, while no jockey has ridden the first four Classic winners in a season. A win for Ruling Court would set up the intriguing possibility of an attempt to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1970 in September's St Leger at Doncaster. 'They will either stay or they won't, it's as simple as that,' Buick said on Monday. 'Obviously you have to ride them accordingly, but equally you can't make a horse stay and where you find out is inside the last couple of furlongs. There's the question mark about the distance, but I feel like I'm on the best two horses.' Guardian
The Age
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
When fossil fuels pollute Swan Lake: Provocative ballet opens in Brisbane
The production of Swan Lake by the French company Ballet Preljocaj has been acclaimed for its beautiful images and choreography, but its creator is having none of that. 'I'm not interested just to do beautiful things,' Angelin Preljocaj said. 'Art is not just to be beautiful – it has to talk about humanity, and what happens in our world. 'And the idea is to put Swan Lake in the context of the climatic problem.' Preljocaj was speaking in Brisbane ahead of the opening of his production, which has an exclusive season as part of the QPAC International Series. The series brings world-famous performing arts companies such as the Bolshoi Ballet and the Teatro alla Scala exclusively to Queensland, bypassing Sydney and Melbourne. Arts Minister John-Paul Langbroek said the series had injected more than $32 million into the Queensland economy since its inception in 2009. The Ballet Preljocaj visit represents the restart of the series after COVID. First performed in 1877 and proclaimed a failure, Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake – about a prince, Siegfried, who falls in love with a woman, Odette, cursed by a magician to turn into a swan by day – would go on to become the most popular and iconic ballet in the canon.
Sydney Morning Herald
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
When fossil fuels pollute Swan Lake: Provocative ballet opens in Brisbane
The production of Swan Lake by the French company Ballet Preljocaj has been acclaimed for its beautiful images and choreography, but its creator is having none of that. 'I'm not interested just to do beautiful things,' Angelin Preljocaj said. 'Art is not just to be beautiful – it has to talk about humanity, and what happens in our world. 'And the idea is to put Swan Lake in the context of the climatic problem.' Preljocaj was speaking in Brisbane ahead of the opening of his production, which has an exclusive season as part of the QPAC International Series. The series brings world-famous performing arts companies such as the Bolshoi Ballet and the Teatro alla Scala exclusively to Queensland, bypassing Sydney and Melbourne. Arts Minister John-Paul Langbroek said the series had injected more than $32 million into the Queensland economy since its inception in 2009. The Ballet Preljocaj visit represents the restart of the series after COVID. First performed in 1877 and proclaimed a failure, Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake – about a prince, Siegfried, who falls in love with a woman, Odette, cursed by a magician to turn into a swan by day – would go on to become the most popular and iconic ballet in the canon.
Boston Globe
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Yuri Grigorivich, giant of Soviet ballet, is dead at 98
The ballet told the story of the enslaved gladiator Spartacus, who led a failed revolt in ancient Rome, a tale that might bring to mind another revolution, one that did not fail: the Russian Revolution of 1917. Compared with earlier Soviet productions set to Aram Khachaturian's 1954 score, Mr. Grigorovich's was streamlined and simplified, with obvious good guys (Spartacus and his wife) and bad guys (the rich Crassus and his courtesan mistress). Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up What made the work most distinctive, though, was the style of dancing: It was big and bold, epic in scale and emotion. Advertisement Masses of men filled the stage, in armor or bare-chested, marching, kicking, jumping. Spartacus and Crassus, in soliloquy-like solos, spun like tornadoes and leaped impossibly high, with slashing, stage-spanning, split-kick jumps. Their climactic battle was a dance-off to end all dance-offs. In its emphasis on dancing -- and dancing as athletic spectacle -- Mr. Grigorovich's choreography departed from the previously dominant style of Soviet ballet: dramatic ballet, or 'drambalet.' To conform to political strictures around art -- under Socialist Realism, abstraction was to be avoided -- drambalet de-emphasized dance steps in favor of gestural storytelling, and favored acting influenced by the school of Konstantin Stanislavsky. (His approach, which stressed the actor's use of lived experience, would become the basis of Method acting.) The height of drambalet was a 1940 production of 'Romeo and Juliet' by Leonid Lavrovsky, the man Mr. Grigorovich replaced as artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet in 1964. Advertisement The attention to male dancers in 'Spartacus' was also new. 'At last the Bolshoi men are allowed to dance,' Barnes wrote, 'and indeed the ballet is as much for them as, say, 'Swan Lake' is for women.' 'Spartacus' was a huge hit, at home and abroad, as was a 1975 ballet film featuring the heroically explosive Vladimir Vasiliev in the title role. The production became the Bolshoi Ballet's signature piece, as well as the model for later Grigorovich works, including his 1975 version of 'Ivan the Terrible.' Mr. Grigorovich's ballets were popular nearly everywhere, and he was considered a genius by most Russian critics. Some Western critics came close to agreeing. Barnes hailed him as 'the most talented Russian choreographer since Mikhail Fokine,' of the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg and the Ballets Russes in Paris. Many Western critics, though, found his choreography lacking in subtlety and taste -- especially those in America, where the Russian-born choreographer George Balanchine set the aesthetic standards. 'What it's designed for is force,' Arlene Croce wrote of 'Spartacus' in a 1975 review in The New Yorker. She called the work relentless and repetitive, describing it as a 'bludgeoning,' yet she praised the passionate dancers. 'Even in trash like 'Spartacus,'' she wrote, 'Bolshoi dancers can impress you with their love of theater, their rage to perform.' Advertisement In his 1982 version of 'The Golden Age,' a tale of Communist youth facing corrupt gangsters, set in the 1920s to a 1930 score by Shostakovich, Mr. Grigorovich provided starring roles for his new protégé, Irek Mukhamedov, and Natalia Bessmertnova, whom he married in 1968 after divorcing his first wife, the esteemed ballerina Alla Shelest. But 'The Golden Age' would be his last new work. In the late 1980s and the 1990s, amid various internal power struggles at the Bolshoi, Mr. Grigorovich faced accusations that he had dried up creatively and was an arrogant, inflexible autocrat who would not allow other choreographers into the company. Prominent dancers, including the aging star Maya Plisetskaya and Mr. Grigorovich's former protégé, Vasiliev, openly criticized him. For years, Mr. Grigorovich had clashed with the Bolshoi management. In 1995, objecting to changes in the hiring of dancers, and to the hiring of Vasiliev as the artistic director of the Bolshoi Theater, Mr. Grigorovich resigned. The day after the announcement, Bolshoi dancers refused to perform. It was the closest thing to a strike in the company's history. To many, he remained a hero. Yuri Nikolayevich Grigorovich was born on Jan. 2, 1927, in the city then called Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). His father, Nikolai, was an accountant, and his mother, Klaudia (Rozai) Grigorovich, was a dancer from a family of dancers and circus entertainers. Her brother, Gyorgi Rozai, was an acclaimed character-style dancer in the Ballets Russes. Yuri trained at the Leningrad Ballet School (later the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet). Upon graduating in 1946, he joined the Kirov Ballet (now the Mariinsky). Short in stature, he performed demi-character roles like the Golden Idol in 'La Bayadère' and a Chinese dancer in 'The Nutcracker.' Advertisement Mentored by choreographer Fyodor Lopukhov -- who advocated a Russian classical approach and had also mentored Balanchine in the 1920s, but whose work had been classified as 'formalist,' a taboo in the Soviet Union -- Mr. Grigorovich began presenting his choreography in 1956. The following year, the Kirov debuted 'The Stone Flower,' his remake of a drambalet with the addition of abstract dancing. It received the official sanction of being remounted at the Bolshoi. His 1961 work, 'Legend of Love,' was also a success. Soon after, during the upheaval over the Kirov star Rudolf Nureyev's defection to the West, Mr. Grigorovich became the chief ballet master at the Kirov. Then, at 37, he moved to Moscow to lead the Bolshoi. After resigning from the Bolshoi in 1995, Mr. Grigorovich moved to the southern Russian city of Krasnodar to start a new ballet company under his own name. He headed juries at several international ballet competitions, including the Benois de la Danse in Moscow. In 2005, Alexei Ratmansky, then the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, brought Grigorovich's 'The Golden Age' back into the repertory, and Mr. Grigorovich visited the company as an honored guest. Mr. Grigorovich has no immediate survivors. His wife, Bessmertnova, died in 2008, and he had no children. After Ratmansky's resignation from the Bolshoi in 2008, Mr. Grigorovich returned to the company as a choreographer and ballet master, a position he retained until his death. This article originally appeared in Advertisement
