Reviving "Beauty":
Gelsey Kirkland at Works & Process
by Dale Brauner
The Works & Process series event, “American Ballet Theatre — The Sleeping Beauty” was intended to provide a sneak preview of the company’s new production of the Marius Petipa classic (which will be unveiled fully during during the company's upcoming spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House) but the great curiosity was Gelsey Kirkland. The superstar ballerina is assisting Kevin McKenzie in staging “The Sleeping Beauty”, but with the ABT artistic director unable to attend the Guggenheim Museum lecture due to illness, the prodigal daughter took center stage — to prolonged applause at her
introduction. READ MORE
London Letter
Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal and English National Ballets
announce their seasons
by John Percival
Our three major English ballet companies have announced their plans for the 1977-78 season. At Covent Garden, the Royal Ballet's biggest new production will be Balanchine's “Jewels”. The company has previously given the Stravinsky section, “Rubies”, but “Emeralds” (to Fauré music) and “Diamonds” (Tchaikovsky) are new to this repertoire. There are to be creations by recently appointed resident choreographer Wayne McGregor (a short piece for a gala), Christopher Wheeldon and, heaven help us, Kim Brandstrup, the Danish-born choreographer whose ballets I have always found monumentally boring. None of these has yet announced what music he will use. Whether it is a good idea to revive, after several years, MacMillan's “Different Drummer”, remains to be seen; based on Georg Buechner's play “Woyzeck”, the ballet is rightly described in its advance publicity as “this bleak tale”. Another disputable choice for revival is “Tales of Beatrix Potter” — not really a ballet by Ashton but Anthony Dowell's production based on Ashton's dances for a film. Artistic director Monica Mason explained however that “I like it; that's why we are doing it”. Jerome Robbins's “Dances at a Gathering” and “Afternoon of a Faun” return to the RB's programmes to mark the tenth anniversary of their choreographer's death. READ MORE
More Empty Angst from Eifman
by Susan Reiter
Would Boris Eifman be more suited to choreographing for Broadway or Cirque du Soleil? These options occurred as nearly uninterrupted 45 minutes of busy, angst-ridden excerpts from his longer works spilled across the stage at the Eifman Ballet's opening night gala. In-your-face, often robotic ensemble numbers alternated with the nearly contortionist, angst-ridden partnering that is his trademark. This confusing and disjointed display made up the second half of this atypical Eifman evening seemed to test the patience of even his diehard fans. Applause was hesitant until the final bows, when the man himself made his inevitable grand entrance from upstage center and seemed to command an intense audience reaction as he strode downstage. READ MORE