Ian Macmillan

JMB: No problem whatsoever about your mentioning Tree of Codes here, and I've extended the thread title to add some context. I had included a preview article from The Australian in Links late last week, but I see that it has since vanished behind the paper's subscription paywall. I imagine that reviews should start to appear in the Australian papers before too long. https://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2018/tree-of-codes

Links – Sunday 7 January, 2018 Not Dance, but to avoid another blank day: Preview – Mikhail Baryshnikov, Brodsky/Baryshnikov, Boston: Jed Gottlieb, Boston Herald

Links – Saturday 6 January, 2018 Feature – Arthur Mitchell, Ballet‘s “Grandfather of Diversity”: Gia Kourlas, NY Times Diaries: - New York, This Week: Brian Schaefer, NY Times - New York in January: Elizabeth Zimmer, Village Voice News – San Francisco Soloist James Safranko to be AD at Grand Rapids: Leba Hertz, SF Chronicle

Links – Friday 5 January, 2018 For, I think, the first time in 6 years, there were no appropriate links found after trawls last night and again this morning. The post-Christmas/New Year days have generally offered thin pickings but, this morning, I fear we have reached a nadir. Let’s see what tomorrow brings!

Some Letters to the Editor of the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/opinion/martins-new-york-city-ballet-harassment.html

Max, I'm very much with you re Cathy Marston, as other regulars here may know. Nothing happened as regards the main stage in her years in-residence at ROH2, and that's so long ago now that I fear Hell may have frozen over before she gets a RB commission. Her reputation has, however, spread to the West Coast of the USA and she's one of a number commissioned by San Francisco Ballet for this Spring. Janet has mentioned NB's planned revival of Jane Eyre, the reviews for which first time around were very warm, and she is doing a piece for Ballet Black in the next few months. Perhaps one day, but ........

Links – Thursday 4 January, 2018 Review – Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Nutcracker (Wright), London: Bruce Marriott, DanceTabs Preview – Australian Ballet, Tree of Codes (McGregor), Sydney: Matthew Westwood, The Australian Interview – Alexander Campbell, Royal Ballet Principal: Jeremy Taylor, Country Life Feature – Opera Australia/Graeme Murphy, The Merry Widow, Sydney: Nick Galvin, Sydney Morning Herald

Just back from what will have been one of the final performances of the London run, with the Cope/Day leading cast. Thoroughly enjoyable and I found the recasting of the story very satisfying. The decision to finish next Saturday may be justified - there were gaps in the stalls tonight. Anyone heard what Leanne Cope is doing next?

Everyone: As LinMM says, this thread has run its course and I am closing it. What some of you say you know, what Company members know - none of that has been disclosed in any public way of which I am aware and, as it has been our policy not to permit posting of information about dancers that is not properly in "the public domain," we cannot allow this situation to continue. Let's wish Mr Corrales well when he moves on and leave it at that.

Links – Friday December 29, 2017 Obituary – Annette Page: The Times Features – Best Dance of 2017: - London, 2017: Sara Veale, Fjord Review - Portland & Oregon: Staff, Oregon Artswatch Feature – Best London Dance in 2018: Jessie Thompson, Evening Standard News – V&A Museum acquires Nijinsky costume: Maev Kennedy, Guardian Reviews – Robert Fairchild/Ensemble for the Romantic Century, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, New York: Laura Collins-Hughes, NY Times Michael Dale, BWW Gallery/Feature – Redefining the Ballet Dancer, 50 Years Later: Remy Turin, NY Times Diary – New York, This Week: Gia Kourlas, NY Times

John: I'm guessing that you mean Bruce M and not Bethlehem? Neither forgotten chez moi and, of course, the Forum has just passed its 6th Birthday.

Just bumping this as Ms Rojo is Guest Editor for 'Today' tomorrow, 26 December, from 6am to 9am on BBC Radio 4. If I recall rightly from past years, she will be interviewed by one of the regular presenters at the end of the programme. (Prince Harry is doing 27 December.)

Links – Monday 18 December, 2017 Obituary – Andrée Gau, Academic: Stacey Prickett, Guardian Today’s Nutcrackers: Review – Scottish Ballet, The Nutcracker (Darrell), Edinburgh: Graham Watts, DanceTabs Review – English National Ballet, The Nutcracker (Eagling), London: Jeffery Taylor, Sunday Express Review – Sarasota Ballet, John Ringling’s Circus Nutcracker, Sarasota: Carrie Seidman, Herald-Tribune And elsewhere: Gallery – Matthew Bourne/New Adventures, Cinderella, London: Foteini Christofilopoulou, DanceTabs Review – Rashaun Mitchell, Silas Riener, Charles Atlas, Tesseract, New York: Martha Sherman, Danceviewtimes Feature – Top 10 Dance Shows of 2017 – UK: Judith Mackrell, Guardian Feature – Best Dance Books of 2017: Wendy Perron, Blog Opinion – RNZB and the numbers game: Deborah Jones, FollowSpot Preview – English National Ballet’s Visit to Ireland in May: Madeleine Keane, Independent.ie Diary – Around LA this week: Matt Cooper, LA Times Review – Keith Hennessy, Sink, San Francisco: David E. Moreno, Culture Vulture News – Houston Ballet going to Jacob’s Pillow next August: Molly Glentzer, Houston Chronicle

Links – Sunday 17 December, 2017 Today’s Nutcrackers: Review – San Francisco Ballet, The Nutcracker (Tomasson), San Francisco: Rita Felciano, Danceviewtimes Review – Mark Morris Dance Group, The Hard Nut, Berekeley: Allan Ulrich, SF Chronicle For others, scroll through And elsewhere: Interview – Yasmine Naghdi, Royal Ballet: Sarah Crompton, Sunday Times Feature – Alexander Campbell, Royal Ballet: Jeremy Taylor, Sunday Times Review – Project Polunin, Satori, London: David Dougill, Sunday Times Review – Arthur Pita & Company, The Little Match Girl, London: Luke Jennings, Observer Review – An American in Paris (Wheeldon), Washington DC: George Jackson, Danceviewtimes News – Call for Ministerial intervention at RNZB: Hayley Stevenson, Dominion Post

Links – Saturday 16 December, 2017 Feature – “Context,” Diana Vishneva’s Contemporary Moscow Festival: Marina Harss, NY Times Review – Australian Ballet, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Wheeldon), Sydney: Chantal Nguyen, Bachtrack Diary – Coming up around Portland: Jamuna Chiarini, Oregon Artswatch Reviews – Kota Yamazaki/Fluid hug-hug, Darkness Odyssey Part 2: I or Hallucination, New York: Tom Phillips, Danceviewtimes Alastair Macaulay, NY Times Review – Indah Walsh Dance Company, homespun (please remove your shoes), New York: Alastair Macaulay, NY Times Feature – “Sampled” at Sadler’s Wells: some Dream Lineups: Londondance Review – Garrett + Moulton Productions, Zingo, The Mozart, Crystal Anniversary Ball Passing, San Francisco: Steven Winn, SF Chronicle Today’s Nutcrackers: Reviews – English National Ballet, The Nutcracker (Eagling), London: Vera Liber, BTG Stefan Kyriazis, Express - Gallery: Dave Morgan, DanceTabs Reviews – San Francisco Ballet, The Nutcracker (Tomasson), San Francisco: Leslie Katz, SF Examiner Janice Berman, SF Classical Voice Opinion – Herr Drosselmeyer – an alternative view? Blaine Greteman, The Week Feature – The Nutcracker, the perfect ballet for children: Mark Monahan, Telegraph Review – Queensland Ballet, The Nutcracker (Stevenson), Brisbane: Denise Richardson, Dance Australia

Links – Friday 15 December, 2017 The ubiquitous, if multi-faceted, Nutcracker: Reviews – English National Ballet, The Nutcracker (Eagling), London: Clement Crisp, Financial Times Katherine Waters, Arts Desk Zoë Anderson, Independent John O’Dwyer, Seen and Heard Review – San Francisco Ballet, The Nutcracker (Tomasson), San Francisco: Claudia Bauer, SF Chronicle Feature – Miami City Ballet’s new Nutcracker: Sean Erwin, Miami New Times Review – Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker, Deattle: Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times Preview – Nutcracker with a Ukranian Slant, Camrose, Alberta: Josh Aldrich, Camrose Canadian Preview – Saratoga City Ballet, Nutcracker: Sweet and Swingin’: Indiana Nash, Daily Gazette Feature – 40 years in Nuts and Florida performances: Howard Cohen, Miami Herald Other Stuff: Review – Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Shelter, Stack-Up, Revelations, New York: Siobhan Burke, NY Times Review – Trisha Brown Company, Geometry of Quiet, L’Amour au Théâtre, Groove and Countermove, New York: Apollinaire Scherr, Financial Times Review – An American in Paris (Wheeldon), Washington DC: Peter Marks, Washington Post Review – Rashaun Mitchell, Silas Reiner & Others, Tesseract, New York: Brian Seibert, NY Times Feature – Best Dance in Chicago, 2017: Lauren Warnecke, Chicago Tribune Diary – New York, This Week: Gia Kourlas, NY TImes News – An Independent Review at RNZB: A Board Statement: Deborah Jones, FollowSpot Audrey Malone, Dominion Post Staff, NZ Herald And catching up around New York: Review – Mark Morris Group, Layla and Majnun; Jessica Lang Dance, Stabat Mater, New York: Susan Yung, Brooklyn Rail Review – Hofesh Shechter Company, Grand Finale, New York: Nicole Loeffler-Gladstone, Brooklyn Rail Review – Xavier Cha, Buffer; Kelly Nipper Terre Mecanique; Eiko Otake, A Body In Places, New York: Erica Getto, Brooklyn Rail Conversation – Stefanie Nelson & David Shenk with Ivan Talijancic: Brooklyn Rail

Links – Thursday 14 December, 2017 Reviews - Scottish Ballet, The Nutcracker (Darrell), Edinburgh: Mary Brennan, Herald Kirsty Morgan, Bachtrack Review – English National Ballet, The Nutcracker (Eagling), London: Aliya Al-Hassan, BWW UK Feature/Preview – Inside The Nutcracker & Some Local Productions, Chicago: Lauren Warnecke, Chicago Tribune Review – Miami City Ballet, The Nutcracker (Balanchine), Los Angeles: Jane Rosenberg, Seen and Heard News – Jacob’s Pillow 2018 Season: Joshua Barone, NY Times Staff, BWW Boston Review – Trisha Brown Dance Company, Geometry of Quiet, L’Amour au Théâtre, Groove and Countermove, New York: Brian Seibert, NY Times Symposium – The Legacies of Alvin Ailey & Elma Lewis, Boston: Debra Cash, Arts Fuse Preview – Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, Dance Me, Toronto: Michael Crabb, Toronto Star Feature – Carmen de Lavallade, Kennedy Center Honoree: Oksana Khadarina, DanceTabs News – The latest on the Peter Martins Situation: Robin Pogrebin, NY Times News – A new, but temporary, home for Royal New Zealand Ballet: Collette Devlin, Dominion Post Preview – Smuin Ballet, The Christmas Ballet, San Francisco: Maxine Marshall, SF Chronicle Preview – Janice Garrett & Charlie Moulton, Triple Bill, San Francisco: Maxine Marshall, SF Chronicle Review – Australian Ballet, Storytime Ballet: The Sleeping Beauty, Melbourne: Jordan Beth Vincent, Sydney Morning Herald Review – Sydney Dance Company, PPY17 Revealed, Sydney: Jill Sykes, The Age

Ninamargaret, I rather agree. The performance that drove me to tears was not in Dance but one of Elgar's oratorio, Dream of Gerontius, at the Festival Hall, some two to three months after the death of my younger sister. I had been with her as she died in an Edinburgh hospital and was immediately preoccupied with taking charge of all that had to be done about notifying the death, a funeral, and so forth - a quiet prayer of "In Paradisum" but no time for tears. It was that night in London, weeks later, as I listened and realised again that John Henry Newman, through Elgar, is telling the story of the death of a man surrounded by friends, as had happened that night in Edinburgh, and it all became too much. "Profiscere , anima Christiana, de hoc mundo" was more than I could bear and I spent the Interval in bits. I have had difficulty with singing Gerontius ever since.

There will be a full cast in this Cambridge performance on Saturday: https://www.cam-phil.org.uk/posters/2017-12-16.pdf

From what I recall, that looks like a fairly extensive updating.

Winelake: I was rather surprised to see the West Road Concert Hall figure here and I've never seen so much unused space there for a performance. I'm there on a number of occasions each year with the Cambridge Phil chorus when, with a rather larger orchestra plus a 90-100 strong chorus, space is at a premium. I suspect you may be right that the best angles for filming may be found from the balconies on either side of the fairly steeply-raked centre seating.

A West End theatre group has apparently started to limit/eliminate scrunchy packaging ....... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/it-s-crunch-time-for-noisy-eaters-at-west-end-shows-x6vglc8gf?shareToken=2ab618ad2394b9ec918cb1ea199744a4 ... thus eliciting an Editorial reaction: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/scrrunch-poor-yorick-kg2z52ghm?shareToken=c288e068c0001aae261ee5c5b06c3c4f

The Spectator piece was, however, in a 'Life' section and not in the Dance section and written by one of their knowledgeable contributing critics.

Links – Sunday 3 December, 2017 Reviews – Royal Ballet, Sylvia (Various Casts) London: David Dougill, Sunday Times (+ Ivan Putrov, Men in Motion) Jeffery Taylor, Sunday Express Review – Teac Damsa, Swan Lake/Loch na hEala, London: Graham Watts, DanceTabs Review – Vincent Dance Theatre, Shut Down, London: Luke Jennings, The Observer Feature – Royal Ballet’s Yasmine Naghdi, Francesca Hayward, Melissa Hamilton: Emma Byrne, Spectator Feature – Scottish Ballet's Barnaby Rook Bishop & Sophie Martin: Barry Didcock, Sunday Heraldh Feature – Australian Ballet’s Sharni Spencer, Valerie Tereshchenko, Isobelle Dashwood: Laura House, Daily Mail Australia News – Dancer exodus puts spotlight on Royal New Zealand Ballet boss: Kelvin Texeira & Dani Macdonald, Dominion Post Review – Sarasota Ballet, ‘Metropolitan’ Triple Bill, Sarasota: Carrie Seidman, Herald-Tribune Review – Liz Gerring Dance Company, Horizon, New York: Marina Harss, DanceTabs Feature – The Rhythm of Colombia’s Salsa Capital: Monica Castillo & Rose Marie Cromwell, NY Times Review – Charles Atlas, Rashaun Mitchell, Silas Reiner, Tesseract, Los Angeles: Laura Bleiberg, LA Times Review – Sydney Dance Company, ‘New Breed’ Mixed Bill, Sydney: Jill Sykes, Sydney Morning Herald

Links – Saturday 2 December, 2017 Reviews – Royal Ballet, Sylvia (Various Casts), London: Clement Crisp, Financial Times Judith Mackrell, Guardian Reviews – Wendy Whelan & Brian Brooks, Some of a Thousand Words, San Francisco: Heather Desaulniers, DanceTabs Janice Berman, SF Classical Voice Feature – Trisha Brown Dance Company: Gia Kourlas, NY Times Review – Vincent Dance Theatre, Shut Down, London: Graham Watts, Bachtrack Review – Teac Damsa, Swan Lake/Loch na hEala, London: Vera Liber, BTG Feature – Abigail Prudames & Northern Ballet’s Little Mermaid: Sarah Freeman, Yorkshire Evening Post Review – Ballet X, Beautiful Decay, Philadelphia: Hilary Stroh, Bachtrack Review – Sarasota Contemporary Dance, ‘Voices’ Mixed Bill, Sarasota: Carrie Seidman, Herald-Tribune Diary – UK Christmas Dance Shows: Judith Mackrell, Guardian Review – Smith/Wymore Disappearing Acts, Six Degrees of Freedom, San Francisco: Steven Winn, SF Chronicle Review – BodyVox, Lexicon, Portland: Heather Wisner, Oregon Artswatch Review – Megan Rhyme & Tanniqua-Kay Buchanan, ‘In the Presence of Chasms’ Mixed Bill, Chicago: Lauren Warnecke, Chicago Tribune Gallery – 32 Australian Dance Images from the 1920s and onwards: Brisbane Times