http://michellepotter.org Mon, 14 May 2012 08:51:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en John Cranko, choreographer of Onegin, had the ability—a rare one—to distill a complex story so that it could be told in dance without losing its inherent dramatic logic. The current production by the Australian Ballet, a revival of a work that was first danced by the company in 1976, simply ... http://michellepotter.org/reviews/onegin-the-australian-ballet Often the beautifully choreographed 'curtain calls' (there is rarely a curtain) in Quantum Leap productions are the most revealing aspect of this youth company's capabilities. It is then that the dancers relax somewhat and their joy in moving, and their intensity and commitment to the show, is wonderfully clear. Unfortunately ... http://michellepotter.org/reviews/me-right-now-quantum-leap While preparing for my recent Spotlight talk at the Arts Centre Melbourne I had occasion to listen to an oral history interview I recorded in 2002 with Bill Akers. One of the many positions Akers held across the course of his very full life was director of productions with the ... http://michellepotter.org/articles/bill-angel-akers Heath Ledger Project In April I conducted two more interviews for the National Film and Sound Archive’s Heath Ledger Young Artists Oral History Project. This time, with cameraman John Parker, I recorded interviews with two emerging circus artists currently in their final year of training at the National Institute of Circus ... http://michellepotter.org/news/dance-diary-april-2012 Canberra hasn’t had a professional dance company for some time now and, as Dance Week 2012 approached, an article appeared in The Canberra Times in which Neil Roach, director of Ausdance ACT, suggested that the city should aspire to have an ‘emerging professional dance company … like those already being ... http://michellepotter.org/articles/canberra-dance-a-professional-company In 2007, during time spent working in the United States, I had the pleasure of being invited to the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival to sit on a panel with Gideon Obarzanek, whose company Chunky Move was showing his very popular I want to dance better at parties at the Pillow ... http://michellepotter.org/articles/jacobs-pillow A second look at the Australian Ballet's triple bill program, Infinity, at a recent Saturday matinee in Sydney produced some new highlights, but largely reinforced my thoughts following my first viewing on opening night in Melbourne. As a new highlight, it was especially pleasurable to see that the shocking conflict between ... http://michellepotter.org/reviews/infinity-a-second-look Having spent the past few days mulling over the latest issue of the New York-based dance journal, Dance Chronicle, which has as its lead article a piece entitled 'Where are all the women choreographers in ballet' and whose first sentence is 'And women artistic directors, we might add', it was ... http://michellepotter.org/news/english-national-ballet-a-new-director Kristian Fredrikson in New Zealand In March I spent a week in Wellington, New Zealand, looking into the work made by Kristian Fredrikson for the Royal New Zealand Ballet and Wellington City Opera. I have nothing but praise for the staff of the Royal New Zealand Ballet, the Film Archive of ... http://michellepotter.org/news/dance-diary-march-2012 The first program by new artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Ethan Stiefel, opened in Wellington on 22 March. After a regional tour that began in Auckland in February the program, NYC: three short works from the Big Apple, had clearly worked itself into a very smooth operation ... http://michellepotter.org/reviews/nyc-the-royal-new-zealand-ballet