Rachel Cameron Parker (1924-2011)
…stickler for perfection of technique.’ Cameron was guest teacher for many companies around the world including the Australian Ballet. In December 2010 she was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award for a lifetime of services to dance. Rachel Cameron is survived by her brother Alister and nieces Alison, Fiona and Christine. Rachel Cameron Parker: born 27 March 1924, died 6 March 2011 Michelle Potter, 13 April 2011 Postscript: One of the i…
Tutus on Tour. Royal New Zealand Ballet
…one can only wish them all safe travels and happy dancing in this tour around the country. Half the Company does the North and half the South Island, which gives valuable access for younger dancers to try new roles. Audiences in twelve centres will be thrilled to have them back. Some in those audiences will remember the tours of 156 towns that Poul Gnatt took New Zealand Ballet to in 1950s. He persuaded them to enrol as Friends of the Ballet and…
Swan Lake. English National Ballet (2011)
…stood out to me included Shiori Kase in the Act I pas de quatre at both performances I saw, and Esteban Berlanga who acquitted himself well as Siegfried in the second cast partnering Erina Takahashi. Apart from having the pleasure of watching some really good technical dancing, and seeing a company so well rehearsed and coached, the greatest joy was seeing a performance that gave full reign to Swan Lake’s brooding Gothic character. Peter Farmer’s…
Dance diary. May 2013
…Joe Chapman] and Josie Wardrope have some lovely footage included. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baZvw9x7gm0&list=PL03vmVO_lQa3ZtNOB9EQopQHiXatm6dK1&index=2&t=0s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUijjiQfiCM I am currently negotiating interviews with two recent graduates from NAISDA, which I hope will be added to the archive in the next few months. Press for May 2013 In addition to articles and reviews relating to the Symmetries program, other pre…
Joy Dalgliesh. A Tribute
…long time outside her day job hours, she trained mostly with Martin Rubinstein who took her under his wing. When he was absent, examining, he nominated her to step in for him and take his classes—as an associate or, as Joy would say, his ‘sidekick. There was an occasion once for Boro to be present—always on the lookout for potential Borovansky Ballet candidates—so the critical eye of the dancing master did behold Joy briefly! But it was not to be—…
Anastasia. The Royal Ballet
…rtson was charmingly youthful in Act I and handled Act II nicely as she welcomed and interacted with guests at her coming of age ball. Lauren Cuthbertson as Anastasia and Reece Clarke as Officer in Anastasia, Act II. © ROH 2016. Photo: Tristram Kenton But she and Whitehead didn’t really suit each other as partners, largely because their physical attributes are quite different: Cuthbertson is taller and finer in build and more classically proportio…
Cranko. The man and his choreography. Book review
…yal Ballet and that company’s ethos under Ninette de Valois’ directorship, come under the spotlight. Peggy van Praagh by contrast emerges as a genuinely joyful and encouraging figure who instantly recognised Cranko’s talent and knew how to help him rein in so that his best ideas could emerge, that less would be more. Her own long life generously devoted to dance is well caught here. You could look at the listing of dancers in the Stuttgart company…
Stephen Baynes’ Swan Lake. The Australian Ballet (2016)
…rst made him appear not to be participating—and of course we are used to seeing Siegfried enjoying himself at his birthday celebrations before heading off to shoot swans with his mates. But slowly Killian brought us to the realisation that Siegfried was deeply unhappy with his life and at the end of Act I, as he stood before the gates that led to the lake, I couldn’t help feeling that he was thinking of drowning himself in it (which is eventually…
Living Treasure. Graeme Murphy and Janet Vernon. John Ellison Davies
…t of the careers of Murphy and Vernon immediately before they took up the reins of the Dance Company of N.S.W, which just a short time later became Sydney Dance Company. He concludes by publishing three of his reviews written between 1978 and 1979. One concerns Poppy, another Rumours and the third the 1979 Signature Season. Graeme Murphy as Jean Cocteau in Poppy, 1980. Sydney Dance Company. Photos: Walter Stringer. Courtesy National Library of Aus…
It never rains, it pours…
…l, me anyway) found that problematic, sensing an opportunity missed by the Company not to have commissioned a New Zealand composer to produce a through-composed score (such as Gareth Farr? John Psathas? There are also other composers who could have managed it, and the cost would not be astronomical alongside the rights to composers, recording companies and performers that must have been required). If that were in place (and it still could be) the…