Latest news with #Ventriglia
Calgary Herald
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Review: Alberta Ballet shines with whimsy and charm in updated version of classic Don Quixote
Article content Alberta Ballet artistic director Francesco Ventriglia promised that his 2025 season finale production of Don Quixote would be an 'over-the-top rainbow of colours' world premiere, and the company certainly delivered on that for opening night. Article content Article content The Jubilee Auditorium was alive with Spanish dance, fine handmade costumes, bejewelled traditional tutus and waistcoats, and replete with some pretty slick traditional ballet. While it has been a long and gruelling season for Alberta Ballet, requiring fine-tuning and upgrades of personnel throughout the year, the results Thursday night largely spoke for themselves. A young corps and an established group of veteran soloists took on the challenge of performing Ventriglia's re-imagining of Petipa's 1869 masterpiece with a lucidity and grace that blended well into often nuanced extravagance, thanks in large part to Gianluca Falaschi's eye-catching costumes and Italo Grassi's bright set designs. Article content The goal of this splashy production was pure fun, and there was a lot to be had from the very start. Starting in the Act I square set in Barcelona, filled with as much local colour as we might expect to see, the ballet made its immediate impact on an attentive audience. Article content We were plunged into more of a fantasy of Spain, one more likely to be dreamed out of a novel by a cheerfully dreamy Quixote pursuing his ideal love, Dulcinea. Don Quixote's character was danced and acted with a sympathy rarely found in a young Quixote by a remarkably evocative Yaroslav Khudych, who ably substituted the traditional 'old man' role for a young dreamer. I think I prefer it this way: A young Quixote off on his dream adventure, surrounded by a young dance company projecting a youthful and vibrant atmosphere. It worked well throughout and displayed more of Ventriglia's vision of the company's future for the next decade, one that restocks the pond with new talent. Article content Article content Article content However, it is usual in Quixote to focus on the lovers Kitri and Basilio, danced with a practised aplomb by Alexandra Hughes and Aaron Anker. Their onstage romance is offset by a strong corps of supporters, sailors and fisherwomen, ladies and bridesmaids, matadors and, in Act II, some very nattily attired Romani (gypsies), who all seemed to collectively nurture the young lovers despite blocking figures Gamache and Lorenzo (Rikuto Kubota and Zachary Boresow). Through it all was the commedia dell'arte troupe led by Sancho Panza (Mirko Melandri) and assorted Friends (Hinata Takahara, Hotaru Maruyama). Article content Article content The action remained convincing throughout: It is a tricky matter to make the narrative thread of the lovers' story flow unbroken from start to finish, and often directors lose the thread through the labyrinth of so much choreography. By Act III, when we are presented with variation after variation and one pas de deux followed by a grand solo followed by the next at the wedding scene, it can feel overwhelming, but entirely in a way that ballet fans enjoy. What I appreciate about Ventriglia is his not making complexity feel like a burden, but rather conveying the simpler tone of an art that conceals art. There is more work and time poured into this production than meets the eye, and the grand ballets of Act III, which rounded out the love story with unexpected pith and welcomed nuance, brought the story full circle and to a satisfactory close. Article content Article content The hardworking corps de ballet seemed to respond well to this approach, paying fastidious attention to the choreography's avalanche of detail. And make no mistake – there is a lot of choreography throughout this show, enough for both the eye and ear to provide an aesthetic feast. Ludwig Minkus' music, so often looked down upon in ballet circles as too trite or supremely melodic at best, is certainly a mischaracterization. We do not pay adequate attention to the richness of Minkus' harmonic rhythm combined with lush orchestration. Article content Quixote is a polished mid-Romantic era score. To hear Minkus is to hear and see pure colour, and it is that colour that moves a musically trained Ventriglia to design a show around the supremacy of light and hue in which both sonic colour and costume colour direct his choreographic intent. Article content And yet, regardless of the sheer volume of dance this show has to offer, the centrepiece still fell squarely on Act II, featuring Quixote's shimmering dream within his fantasy: the Kingdom of Dryads, one of the most moving scenes in all of classical ballet. Here, the company was at its best, especially Luna Sasaki's ethereal Cupid, my favourite of the whole night. Alexandra Hughes was splendid again, playing her own double in the Dulcinea variation. While not quite the dreamy underworld of La Bayadère, the Act II Dryads scenes are a balm of soft light. Traditional yet restrained choreography created for each of the soloists, and especially a divine corps de ballet of 12, is quite an accomplishment for dancers and stagers alike. It led easily to the fun Tavern scene in Act III and the wedding scene's elegant joy, thanks to an excellent corps of bridesmaids and a very fine lovers' pas de deux. Article content However, it was the overall feel of the ballet that gave us a lot to celebrate. Matadors and, in particular, a very fine Espada – danced and acted consummately by Caleb Durbin – blended fine staging with groove and engaging accent. Perhaps the best of all were the Fandango dancers who took balletic colour to a whole new height. The resplendent Fandango scene reminded us that music, literature, movement and merriment are the healing miracles acted out through dance to soothe our conflicts, especially those gargantuan windmills that exist within all our minds, waiting to be conquered with art.
Khaleej Times
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
Canada's Alberta Ballet wows Dubai audience with performance of A Thousand Tales
Following a hugely successful premiere back in 2023, the new, contemporary ballet A Thousand Tales marked its return to Dubai, UAE on April 4 and 5, 2025, in a restaging that charmed audiences across the GCC region and beyond with its enthralling mix of classical charm, timeless narrative, and spellbinding musical score. Organised by SAMIT Event Group, with direction and choreography by Francesco Ventriglia and music from Alexey Shor, A Thousand Tales follows the White Rabbit from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as he goes on a quest in service of the Prince from Cinderella, attempting to find the true owner of a golden shoe dropped by a mysterious unknown woman who stole the Prince's heart. Along the way, he meets with a wide variety of characters from seminal childhood tales known the world over, including Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Puss in Boots, The Three Musketeers, and many more, with some offering assistance and others challenging him in his noble quest. Taking on the role of writer, director, and choreographer, Ventriglia was the creative lead behind the production, arriving in Dubai with Canada's Alberta Ballet dance company, whom he heads as artistic director. "Dubai is an incredible place", Ventriglia said, "and for us to come here now, it's amazing because it's an opportunity to show the work that Alberta Ballet has been doing, and to make sure that the name of the company can be internationally recognised. It's the first time ever that the company has come to Dubai and I think that we are the first Canadian ballet company performing here, so we're really very proud to be representing the country here, and A Thousand Tales is such an amazing show! It's an event for everyone, of every age! It's a fairy tale, but it's also a real ballet, with real dance technique and ballet technique which is actually very challenging, but it comes across beautifully". Ventriglia also took the time to single out the ballet's musical score, around which the entire production was constructed, remarking that "it was really the easiest thing in the world to choreograph to Alexey Shor's music, because it's so beautiful. I really love Alexey's compositions, and in fact I keep telling him that we need to do a new ballet together again some time because I really love his works, and it's so natural to create dances for this music. It's not simple music but it's perfect for ballet. The way it's constructed is very clever; there's a narrative to it, and the collaboration with him has been incredible from day one!" These sentiments were shared by the rest of the production team behind the show, with Roberta Guidi Di Bagno, the globally-acclaimed mind behind the ballet's stunning sets and costume designs, declaring that "the music is so descriptive! I'm absolutely in love with Maestro Shor's music because I think he is so poetic and so danceable, and the way Francesco translated it into ballet is just pure art!". The renowned Valerio Tiberi, meanwhile, who was the lighting designer for the production, had similar things to say, as he noted that "the music is really great; it's got all these melodies, with different rhythms and different colours and it's really wonderful. I think Francesco created a very nice combination to tell the story, because there is a comprehensive story behind the ballet, and the music is the main base, with everything else on top to help with the storytelling aspect you know". Taking centre stage during the shows themselves, meanwhile, were the dancers of Alberta Ballet, who made up both the entirety of the corps de ballet, as well as the vast majority of the principal roles. These included Aaron Anker, in the role of Prince Florian, and The Beast; Alexandra Hughes as Cinderella; Luna Sasaki as The Beauty, and Snow White; Scotto Hamed-Ramos as Aladdin, and Rothbart; Caleb Durbin as Prince Charming; Mariko Kondo as Jasmine, and the White Swan; and Mario Galindo from Spain's Compañía Nacional de Danza as the White Rabbit. "This is my first time visiting Dubai, and I'm thrilled to be here", Anker said, in comments that were echoed by many of his castmates. "It's really cool, everything's huge, the streets are huge, the buildings are huge... the scale of everything is massive, and the architecture and the design of everything is so amazing and beautiful!" "The ballet itself is really great", he continued, "I think it's a brilliant way of sort of bringing together a lot of stories that people recognise. It's a fun story, and the music, well, first of all it's beautiful, really, really lovely music, and it's always a great treat to dance to beautiful music. I 100 per cent believe that the music is first, the music makes the dance, because as a dancer you're not really much without the music! So yes, to me the music comes first and then we add to it, so it's really great that it's a beautiful score which fits perfectly with the story, and it really reflects the characters as well, which is cool". Conversely, Shor himself, the man behind the music, was also left impressed by the proceedings on the stage, with the composer exuberantly praising the vision which his own art helped inspire. "I think Francesco has done an absolutely amazing job", he said, "and he's brought together such a fantastic team and a really amazing cast of dancers! I love the way he's interpreted the music and added his own vision to it, and the end result is just a truly magical experience in every way! As a composer it's a genuine honour to see my music being transformed in this way and forming the heart of this ballet, and I would really like to congratulate everyone involved for all the hard work they've put in to make this all come to life." Having reached yet another shining milestone in its journey, A Thousand Tales now looks to continue building on its success with new theatrical runs in different venues across the globe over the months to come. To keep up-to-date with all the latest information, do make sure to follow the production's social media channels, and official website at
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Young scientists see career pathways vanish as schools adapt to federal funding cuts
As an infant, Connor Phillips was born three months premature with cerebral palsy. The science that saved his life was the inspiration that led to his role studying brain processes as a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He had hopes of continuing his work at NIH through a partnership with Brown University, where he was invited to interview for a program that would lead to a doctorate in neuroscience. But training programs at the NIH have been suspended, a casualty of funding cuts by the Trump administration. He is applying to other programs — and hoping policies putting strains on science might be reversed. 'You don't take these jobs that pay worse and have insane hours and are really stressful unless you care about helping others and taking our love for science and translating that into something that can improve people's lives,' Phillips said. Reductions to federal support for research at universities and other institutions under President Donald Trump are dimming young scientists' prospects, cutting off pathways to career-building projects and graduate programs. Universities are cutting back offers of admission for graduate students due to the uncertainty. Many also are freezing hiring as the Trump administration threatens to take away federal money over their handling of a wide range of issues from antisemitism complaints to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Students are pivoting from carefully laid plans Mira Polishook, a Duke University research technician, recently heard from one of the programs she applied to that "government decisions' had left it unable to offer her admission. She applied to the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship which would guarantee three years of graduate school funding, but lately NSF has been silent on timing for awards. She's uncertain the agency will have funding at all. 'It's beyond frustrating,' she said. 'It's made me feel like I am in limbo.' Cuts to NIH funding have been delayed by a legal challenge from a group of 22 states plus organizations representing universities, hospitals and research institutions. But the uncertainty already has put some projects on hold as universities deal also with delays or cuts in grants from other agencies including USAID and NSF. Admissions in some graduate programs have have been cut in half or paused altogether, said Emilya Ventriglia, president of UAW 2750, the union representing around 5,000 early career researchers at NIH facilities in Bethesda, Maryland, and elsewhere. 'At this rate, with the hiring freeze, there may be no Ph.D. students next year if it's not lifted soon, because usually people make their decisions by April,' Ventriglia said. Ventriglia's research focuses on how the brain responds to anti-depressants. But now she is unable to continue recruiting another researcher she planned to mentor this spring. She said she also is worried that new purchasing restrictions, and firings of employees who processed those purchases, mean she will be unable to acquire reagents she needs for experiments. 'We're expecting this to play out for generations,' said Levin Kim, the president of a union that represents 8,000 academic workers at the University of Washington. The financial and emotional toll on those navigating the uncertainty is mounting. 'I love the work that I do. It's all I want to do,' said Natalie Antenucci, a first-year graduate student at the University of North Carolina. Her work at a lab researching the ways social experiences can impact health is funded by an NIH grant. 'I'm not in a financial position where I could continue to do it if there wasn't funding available for this sort of work.' Scholars see impact for the U.S. as a destination for researchers Some American students are looking to institutions overseas. Marleigh Hutchinson, who will graduate from Kansas State University in May with an undergraduate degree in environmental engineering, said getting hired in the U.S. as a graduate teaching assistant or researcher seems unlikely because of the uncertainty. 'I've always told people I do want to work in the international development space. I want to work on food security and water security issues,' she said, 'and if that's something that the United States is no longer going to value, then I would like to go somewhere else.' Hutchinson was notified last month that funding was slashed to a USAID-funded lab where she was working. Its focus was making crops more resistant to drought in places like Africa as the world grows warmer. At the University of Nebraska, an institute that works to improve water management for agriculture offered to host a doctoral candidate in hydrology from Ghana and was talking to three other international students. But it had to rescind the offer after it lost USAID funding, said Nicole Lefore, associate director of the school's Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute. She now worries about the diplomatic fallout, noting she has met with agriculture ministers in other countries who were educated at land grant universities in the U.S. through USAID programs. 'The university you go to, people have a loyalty to it. And so bringing in generations of students for education and agriculture in the U.S. helped to create those personal connections and then later scientific and diplomatic connections. That's really important to the soft diplomacy side of what the innovation labs were doing.' She said she is barraged with emails asking what this will mean. 'The only winner out of this is China, she said. 'Because the countries that are being cut off there, I think they will turn to someone.' ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at Carolyn Thompson, Heather Hollingsworth And Makiya Seminera, The Associated Press
The Independent
16-03-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Young scientists see career pathways vanish as schools adapt to federal funding cuts
As an infant, Connor Phillips was born three months premature with cerebral palsy. The science that saved his life was the inspiration that led to his role studying brain processes as a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He had hopes of continuing his work at NIH through a partnership with Brown University, where he was invited to interview for a program that would lead to a doctorate in neuroscience. But training programs at the NIH have been suspended, a casualty of funding cuts by the Trump administration. He is applying to other programs — and hoping policies putting strains on science might be reversed. 'You don't take these jobs that pay worse and have insane hours and are really stressful unless you care about helping others and taking our love for science and translating that into something that can improve people's lives,' Phillips said. Reductions to federal support for research at universities and other institutions under President Donald Trump are dimming young scientists' prospects, cutting off pathways to career-building projects and graduate programs. Universities are cutting back offers of admission for graduate students due to the uncertainty. Many also are freezing hiring as the Trump administration threatens to take away federal money over their handling of a wide range of issues from antisemitism complaints to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Students are pivoting from carefully laid plans Mira Polishook, a Duke University research technician, recently heard from one of the programs she applied to that "government decisions' had left it unable to offer her admission. She applied to the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship which would guarantee three years of graduate school funding, but lately NSF has been silent on timing for awards. She's uncertain the agency will have funding at all. 'It's beyond frustrating,' she said. 'It's made me feel like I am in limbo.' Cuts to NIH funding have been delayed by a legal challenge from a group of 22 states plus organizations representing universities, hospitals and research institutions. But the uncertainty already has put some projects on hold as universities deal also with delays or cuts in grants from other agencies including USAID and NSF. Admissions in some graduate programs have have been cut in half or paused altogether, said Emilya Ventriglia, president of UAW 2750, the union representing around 5,000 early career researchers at NIH facilities in Bethesda, Maryland, and elsewhere. 'At this rate, with the hiring freeze, there may be no Ph.D. students next year if it's not lifted soon, because usually people make their decisions by April,' Ventriglia said. Ventriglia's research focuses on how the brain responds to anti-depressants. But now she is unable to continue recruiting another researcher she planned to mentor this spring. She said she also is worried that new purchasing restrictions, and firings of employees who processed those purchases, mean she will be unable to acquire reagents she needs for experiments. 'We're expecting this to play out for generations,' said Levin Kim, the president of a union that represents 8,000 academic workers at the University of Washington. The financial and emotional toll on those navigating the uncertainty is mounting. 'I love the work that I do. It's all I want to do,' said Natalie Antenucci, a first-year graduate student at the University of North Carolina. Her work at a lab researching the ways social experiences can impact health is funded by an NIH grant. 'I'm not in a financial position where I could continue to do it if there wasn't funding available for this sort of work.' Scholars see impact for the U.S. as a destination for researchers Some American students are looking to institutions overseas. Marleigh Hutchinson, who will graduate from Kansas State University in May with an undergraduate degree in environmental engineering, said getting hired in the U.S. as a graduate teaching assistant or researcher seems unlikely because of the uncertainty. 'I've always told people I do want to work in the international development space. I want to work on food security and water security issues,' she said, 'and if that's something that the United States is no longer going to value, then I would like to go somewhere else.' Hutchinson was notified last month that funding was slashed to a USAID-funded lab where she was working. Its focus was making crops more resistant to drought in places like Africa as the world grows warmer. At the University of Nebraska, an institute that works to improve water management for agriculture offered to host a doctoral candidate in hydrology from Ghana and was talking to three other international students. But it had to rescind the offer after it lost USAID funding, said Nicole Lefore, associate director of the school's Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute. She now worries about the diplomatic fallout, noting she has met with agriculture ministers in other countries who were educated at land grant universities in the U.S. through USAID programs. 'The university you go to, people have a loyalty to it. And so bringing in generations of students for education and agriculture in the U.S. helped to create those personal connections and then later scientific and diplomatic connections. That's really important to the soft diplomacy side of what the innovation labs were doing.' She said she is barraged with emails asking what this will mean. 'The only winner out of this is China, she said. 'Because the countries that are being cut off there, I think they will turn to someone.' ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
Associated Press
16-03-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Young scientists see career pathways vanish as schools adapt to federal funding cuts
As an infant, Connor Phillips was born three months premature with cerebral palsy. The science that saved his life was the inspiration that led to his role studying brain processes as a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He had hopes of continuing his work at NIH through a partnership with Brown University, where he was invited to interview for a program that would lead to a doctorate in neuroscience. But training programs at the NIH have been suspended, a casualty of funding cuts by the Trump administration. He is applying to other programs — and hoping policies putting strains on science might be reversed. 'You don't take these jobs that pay worse and have insane hours and are really stressful unless you care about helping others and taking our love for science and translating that into something that can improve people's lives,' Phillips said. Reductions to federal support for research at universities and other institutions under President Donald Trump are dimming young scientists' prospects, cutting off pathways to career-building projects and graduate programs. Universities are cutting back offers of admission for graduate students due to the uncertainty. Many also are freezing hiring as the Trump administration threatens to take away federal money over their handling of a wide range of issues from antisemitism complaints to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Students are pivoting from carefully laid plans Mira Polishook, a Duke University research technician, recently heard from one of the programs she applied to that 'government decisions' had left it unable to offer her admission. She applied to the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship which would guarantee three years of graduate school funding, but lately NSF has been silent on timing for awards. She's uncertain the agency will have funding at all. 'It's beyond frustrating,' she said. 'It's made me feel like I am in limbo.' Cuts to NIH funding have been delayed by a legal challenge from a group of 22 states plus organizations representing universities, hospitals and research institutions. But the uncertainty already has put some projects on hold as universities deal also with delays or cuts in grants from other agencies including USAID and NSF. Admissions in some graduate programs have have been cut in half or paused altogether, said Emilya Ventriglia, president of UAW 2750, the union representing around 5,000 early career researchers at NIH facilities in Bethesda, Maryland, and elsewhere. 'At this rate, with the hiring freeze, there may be no Ph.D. students next year if it's not lifted soon, because usually people make their decisions by April,' Ventriglia said. Ventriglia's research focuses on how the brain responds to anti-depressants. But now she is unable to continue recruiting another researcher she planned to mentor this spring. She said she also is worried that new purchasing restrictions, and firings of employees who processed those purchases, mean she will be unable to acquire reagents she needs for experiments. 'We're expecting this to play out for generations,' said Levin Kim, the president of a union that represents 8,000 academic workers at the University of Washington. The financial and emotional toll on those navigating the uncertainty is mounting. 'I love the work that I do. It's all I want to do,' said Natalie Antenucci, a first-year graduate student at the University of North Carolina. Her work at a lab researching the ways social experiences can impact health is funded by an NIH grant. 'I'm not in a financial position where I could continue to do it if there wasn't funding available for this sort of work.' Scholars see impact for the U.S. as a destination for researchers Some American students are looking to institutions overseas. Marleigh Hutchinson, who will graduate from Kansas State University in May with an undergraduate degree in environmental engineering, said getting hired in the U.S. as a graduate teaching assistant or researcher seems unlikely because of the uncertainty. 'I've always told people I do want to work in the international development space. I want to work on food security and water security issues,' she said, 'and if that's something that the United States is no longer going to value, then I would like to go somewhere else.' Hutchinson was notified last month that funding was slashed to a USAID-funded lab where she was working. Its focus was making crops more resistant to drought in places like Africa as the world grows warmer. At the University of Nebraska, an institute that works to improve water management for agriculture offered to host a doctoral candidate in hydrology from Ghana and was talking to three other international students. But it had to rescind the offer after it lost USAID funding, said Nicole Lefore, associate director of the school's Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute. She now worries about the diplomatic fallout, noting she has met with agriculture ministers in other countries who were educated at land grant universities in the U.S. through USAID programs. 'The university you go to, people have a loyalty to it. And so bringing in generations of students for education and agriculture in the U.S. helped to create those personal connections and then later scientific and diplomatic connections. That's really important to the soft diplomacy side of what the innovation labs were doing.' She said she is barraged with emails asking what this will mean. 'The only winner out of this is China, she said. 'Because the countries that are being cut off there, I think they will turn to someone.' ___
