Boris Eifman's Rodin

Rodin

Роден

chor. Boris Eifman  (2011)

Eifman Ballet of St Petersburg

Труппа театра балета Бориса Эйфмана

Toronto, 23 - 25 May 2013

Sony Centre for the Performing Arts

The highly emotive work, with a large cast, focuses on the creative and amorous lives of sculptors Auguste Rodin and the much younger Camille Claudel. It is complicated by the presence of a loving and jealous wife, and Claudel's descent into madness. 

Choreographer Eifman brilliantly captures the intensity of their creative work as they transform stone into powerful contemporary statuary. Individual tableaux are amazing. There is wonderful movement of a corps of workers in the foundry and in other scenes. I enjoyed the can-can episode in a Paris nightclub, and something more rural with happy peasants and the trampling of grapes — but their relevance to the main story is somewhat puzzling. 

Quality of dance throughout the evening was outstanding — I attended on the 24th. It was overall a powerful and at times fascinating performance, but Eifman's choreography with many flashbacks sometimes left me confused.

Bolshoi's "Romeo & Juliet"

Romeo & Juliet

chor. Yuri Grigorovich  (2010)

Bolshoi Ballet

with Anna Nikulina (Juliet), Aleksandr Volchkov (Romeo), Mikhail Lobukhin (Tybald)

The performance was powerful and emotive, with astonishing moments from a choreographic version that focuses on character and inner meaning. Mikhail Lobukhin was a virtuoso Tybalt, but I was underwhelmed by the two lovers.

simulcast from Moscow, 12 May 2013

last of the season

Willem Alexander

HM Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands abdicated on 30 April 2013, and was succeeded by her son Willem Alexander. The same day he took the solemn oath of office at a session of the States General — regalia were on display. In the Netherlands there is no coronation, and the king never in fact wears the crown.

Assemblée Internationale 2013

 28 April - 4 May 2013

 It's been an amazing week bringing together students and teachers from 18 leading ballet schools in 11 countries to interact in classes, colloquia, and performances. There were two evenings of programmes by the various academies to show something of their interests and special qualities. Some was classic but most was modern, even avant-garde. These evenings were entitled Ballet: Traditionally Timeless.  Then there was an intense programme of mostly student works, blending students from different schools — it was entitled Choreography: Fast Forward. The second part was a remarkable feat, live streaming of Stream, choreographed by Shaun Amyôt and Michael Schumacher. Using state of the art technology with the help of Ryerson University, it simultaneously brought together casts in Toronto and Amsterdam, seamlessly transcending space and time.

Participants:

Canada's National Ballet School, organizing

Royal Winnipeg Ballet School

École supérieure de ballet du Québec

Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy

Julliard School

San Francisco Ballet School

Escuela Nacional Cubana de Ballet

Australian Ballet School

New Zealand School of Dance

Royal Ballet School

Schule des Hamburg Balletts

John Cranko Schule

Palucca Hochschule für Tanz Dresden

Nationale Balletacademie, Amsterdam

Codarts, Rotterdam

Det Kongelige Teaters Balletskole, Copenhagen

École de Danse de l'Opéra National de Paris

EESA/CPD de l'Institut del Teatre, Barcelona

      Earthborn

       chor. Robert Binet (2013)