Click on the link below to read the two transitions blurbs I wrote on former Joffrey dancers Suzanne Lopez and Calvin Kitten for Dance Magazine’s November issue!

Transitions_1110

A little Friday fun.  I was past due on a deadline (eek!) and looking for some musical motivation this cold fall morning.  I found it!  Lady Gaga featuring Marilyn Manson Love Song (Chu Fu Ghettohouse Fix).  What could be more rogue than Lady Gaga?  (Sorry Sarah.)

Enjoy.

Wowza! ABT principals Ethan Stiefel and Gillian Murphy will be leaving the company and heading to New Zealand. Sad and exciting.  Read about Stiefel’s new appointment here.

Hat tip:  Ballet News!

RB on the right - isn't it cool?

It’s pumpkin time! Thanks to artist Chris Bell, who carved the RB logo and to Mark and Stephen for throwing such a fun pumpkin carving party.

Be safe this weekend!

A Rogue Pumpkin! (and, yes, I want to steal the pink typewriter - shh!)

Dancers Zoltan Katona and Monica Cervantes in Toda una Vida. Photo by Cheryl Mann.

After seeing a multitude of great dance in the last week or so, I couldn’t get two specific dances out of my head.  Two duets:  one from Luna Negra, the other Joffrey.

New Artistic Director of Luna Negra, Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, with his world premiere of Toda Una Vida (All My Life), showed he has the choreographic chops and artistic vision to take the company to new heights.  (Look out Hubbard St!)  The first section of Vida is a duet set to Ravel’s Boléro.  It takes true inspiration to choreograph to such an oft-used piece of music and Sansano does not disappoint.  Moníca Cervantes and Zoltán Katona (both transplants from Sansano’s company in Valencia, Spain TITOYAYA Dance Project) danced mostly apart only coming together briefly for counter-balance partnering or a quick lift.  It was the strength of the female that caught my focus, not just the dancing, but the strength of character in the choreography.  It was as if she didn’t need the man, but chose, when she needed or wanted, to go to him.  (I read somewhere that the piece was loosely based on his parents long relationship.  His mother must be quite the spitfire!)  The quick, odd movements gained intensity along with the famed music and, at the end, the female runs off leaving the man alone. Wow!  It was the perfect way to start the show and the new season.

Victoria Jaiani and Fabrice Calmels in After the Rain. Photo by Herbert Migdoll.

In contrast, on opening night for the Joffrey’s All Stars program, Victoria Jaiani and Fabrice Calmels delivered a quiet, seemingly effortless — and showstopping (or it would have been if it wasn’t at the end of the act) — performance in Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain.  Set to Arvo Pärt’s delicate score Spiegel im Spiegel, the pas evoked an emotionally intimate relationship.  Dressed as though they are ready for bed, the pas continually has the female leaning on the man and relying on his strength for support.  Jaiani’s flexibility and fragile-looking frame melted into every move with Calmel’s tall, strong frame right there to lift her up, hold her, comfort her.  This pas ended with the two wrapped around each other on the floor as if they couldn’t live without each other.  I’ve seen these two dance many times, but never like this.  The audience was holding its collective breath.  The auditorium was completely quiet except for the sparse notes from the Chicago Symphonietta.  Stunning.

RB is going to see some great shows this weekend. Saturday, Luna Negra and the premiere show under the direction of Gustavo Ramirez Sansano. Sunday, Joffrey All stars matinee.  Check out this interview with Joffrey Artistic Director Ashley Wheater on J Pointe.

Have a great weekend!

*Please note this article was originally posted at J Pointe, the official blog of the Joffrey Ballet.

Watching Ashley Wheater teach company class at the Joffrey Tower studios, you really get a sense of just how much he loves his job.  Calmly leading the group, he intuitively weighs what is needed to get them ready for rehearsal and for the upcoming performances. “I am one of them,” he says.  He is quick to offer a correction or word of encouragement to a dancer flying by mid-air.  This is his forté.  After changing an intricate petite allegro combination (to make it even more difficult), he notices some confused looks on the dancers faces.  “Is it funky?” he asks, and after some thought, changes it back to the original version.  It is that give-and-take, a conversation and a respect that flows between teacher and student, dancer and director that makes the company so cohesive.  “It’s the constant energy that we have every day,” he says, that makes things fun.  “We’re working together in the studio because we all want to be here.  It’s too hard if you don’t like your job.”

Wheater teaching company class with Paul James Lewis at the piano. Photo by Herbert Migdoll.

In the last four years since Wheater was named Artistic Director, the Joffrey has been through what he calls a renaissance. By adding some talented younger dancers, bringing in international choreographic talent and introducing a broader range of works, he changed the look and feel of the company, re-energizing the dancers as well as the audience. “There’s a certain stepping stone to how you can progress,” he says.  “The path is crucial.”  But for Wheater, the path was also simple.  Diversity.  Incorporating classical ballets (Cinderella, Giselle) with new ballets (Othello, Pretty BALLET), commissioning new contemporary works (Crossed, Age of Innocence) while still paying tribute to the founders Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino (Reflections, Postcards, The Nutcracker), he has put together a dense repertoire that showcases talents across the dance world.  He credits Lar Lubovitch’s Othello as the turning point.  “The response was unbelievable,” remembers Wheater.  “They made it their own.  It was commitment from every single person, not just the principals.  Everyone taking the responsibility and fulfilling their part.”

What Mr. Arpino dubbed the “all stars/no stars” policy at the Joffrey is still in place.  There is no hierarchy or ranking of the dancers, which allows more opportunities for everyone.  Wheater believes that giving dancers opportunities is what builds great artists and he makes a pointed effort to include works in the repertoire that are accessible to everyone.  This approach is evident in the All Stars program opening October 13^th.  Two Balanchine works display very different characteristics:  Stravinsky Violin Concerto pays homage to the composer with Russian-flavored folk dancing incorporated into the ensemble piece — look for Victoria Jaiani and Temur Suluashvili, natives of Tbilsi, Georgia as stand outs – while, Tarantella is a bravura pas de deux that gives some of the smaller dancers a chance to shine.   Christoper Wheeldon’s After the Rain is an emotional and complex piece set to Arvo Pärt and Jerome Robbins’ The Concert, a fun, comic romp through the minds of an audience on the stage.

Wheater’s enthusiasm for the company and the upcoming seasons (yes, plural!) is palpable. “I’m looking at the company and I see the stars of tomorrow.”  And for those saying this is the best Joffrey has ever been, Wheater has only one response, “this is just the beginning…just wait!”

RB stayed up way too late last night watching a video clip from Compañia Nacional de Danza over and over.  (Hat tip to River North’s Clayton Cross for posting it on his Facebook page!) It is simply gorgeous.

This excerpt from Multiplicidad (translated Multiplicity:  Forms of Silence and Emptiness) of a duet set to Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 – Prelude was choreographed by Nacho Duato and features dancers Alejandro Alvarez and Ines Pereira De Almeida.  Stunningly beautiful – the music, the choreography, the dancing.

Some dream casts:  Cheryl Mann (cello) and Tobin Del Cuore, Alejandro Cerrudo (cello) and Meredith Dincolo, Matthew Adamczyk and John Mark Giragosian (cello) and Twyla Tharp and Mikhail Baryshnikov (cello).

Who is your dream cast?

Baby ballerinas Audrey Senne and Haley Lampariello both made this year’s children’s cast for Party Scene in Joffrey’s The Nutcracker.

Congratulations girls!

RB a long, long time ago!

one year anniversary to Rogue Ballerina!  (I’ve been so busy, I missed it.)

September 24th marked the one-year anniversary of the inaugural post for this blog.  That first post was a Q & A from an interview I’d done for a local magazine with Lar Lubovitch.  Since then I’ve talked with so many fantastic dancers, choreographers, directors, etc. including Daniil Simkin, Cheryl Mann, Alejandro Cerrudo, Aszure Barton and Nacho Duato and covered Dance for Life, Chicago Dancing Festival, numerous anniversaries and some bittersweet retirements and uncovered some great videos — just to name a few…and seen countless, wonderful performances.  I’m a lucky girl!

Thank you to everyone who reads RB!  (My mom, Mark, Josh and Sasha are the regulars.)  Comments are welcome – let’s keep it postitive and clean please – so let me know who you are and what you think.

Merde!