8 Weekend Picks including Pacific Opera Project, ‘Star Wars in Concert’ and GMCLA

These women’s works

L.A. Contemporary Dance Company, Blue 13 Dance Company and Luminario Ballet are among the troupes that will share the stage for “Women Rising: Choreography From the Female Perspective.” BrockusRED founder Deborah Brockus curates this showcase presented by Los Angeles Dance Festival. Ford Theatres, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood. 8:30 p.m. Friday. $25-$65. (323) 461-3673. FordTheatres.org

Read the full article in The Los Angeles Times.

12 August 2019

Imagine: It’s your first year in a dance company and the artistic director is staging a new work. She works through a few phrases of choreography and then turns to you, asking you to come up with something of your own. Are you ready?

In many of today’s most exciting companies, the choreographer/muse relationship is being disrupted in favor of collaboration. Many dancers also find that their own dancing improves after they have tried their hand at creating new work. “Choreographers want to work with performers who aren’t afraid to take risks, make bold decisions, and contribute something that will ultimately make the work stronger,” says Dean College professor of dance studies, Stephen Ursprung.

Make sure your dance degree is going to work for you in the real world. At Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts, The Joan Phelps Palladino School of Dance is preparing their BFA and BA dancers for the changing professional world that awaits them with a special focus on dance composition. Whether you are in school with an ambition to be a professional dancer, a choreographer, or both, look for opportunities to deep dive into the process of creating dance.

Integrate choreography all semester long.

Read the full article on Dance Spirit’s Blog.

By Kelly Apter

29 July 2019

In 2014, when Scottish Ballet premiered Helen Pickett’s one-act version of The Crucible, I wrote in my review that ‘the world needs more Helen Picketts’. Five years later, with the imbalance between male and female choreographers on the world stage still problematic, I stand by that statement. But happily, in 2019 what we do have is more of Pickett herself – literally.

That 45-minute, one-act adaptation of Arthur Miller’s play about the Salem witch trials has been razed to the ground and rebuilt – emerging as a full-length narrative ballet that will premiere at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival. Written in 1953, Miller’s tale of 17th-century paranoia and oppression has benefitted not only from Pickett’s punchy and intelligent choreography, but the assured directorial wisdom of James Bonas.

Each brings something unique and special – Pickett trained at San Francisco Ballet, spent 11 years working with William Forsythe at Ballet Frankfurt, then moved to New York to hone her own creative style. Bonas bagged a First from Oxford University then studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, before carving out a career as an actor, then theatre and opera director.

‘I’d never worked on a ballet before,’ concedes Bonas straight off the bat, ‘I didn’t even call myself a dramaturg, because I didn’t know what that meant. But the principal thing I could bring to The Crucible, is how to tell a story with people’s bodies – and a lot of the work I’ve done in both theatre and opera is coming from that place anyway.

Read the full article on The List.

By Anna J. Park

24 July 2019

Korean National Ballet’s principal dancer Shin Seung-won is preparing for an upcoming performance this weekend. This time, though, she won’t be taking center stage; she is choreographer and director of her seven-minute creative ballet piece, titled “Go your own way.” 

During a recent interview with The Korea Times, the principal ballerina said she feels a different sort of happiness from being a choreographer instead of a dancer. 

“When I see my choreographed piece on stage, it feels very rewarding; when I’m dancing as a ballerina, I become delightful and joyous. They are two different feelings, yet both are somewhat linked, and both precious. In other words, choreography is like raising my own children, and dancing ballet on stage makes me feel alive and immensely happy,” the ballerina said. 

Shin is one of the eight Korean National Ballet members who will be showcasing their own modern ballet works, choreographed by themselves, during “KNB Movement Series 5,” set for this Saturday and Sunday afternoon at Seoul Arts Center’s CJ Towol Theater. 

In 2015, the national ballet jump-started the “KNB Movement Series,” an annual showcase presenting newly-choreographed modern ballet pieces by the ballet company members. Ballet dancers who participate in the annual performance not only need to choreograph every movement, but also direct all elements of the set, from lighting and costumes to music. 

Principal Dancer Lee Young-cheol has been participating in this annual show every year, with his own creative ballet works. This year, he presents “Season: Spring,” a ballet inspired by the image of a long trail covered with fallen cherry blossom petals. Other works include soloist Song Jung-bin’s “Amadeus Concerto,” Demi-Soloist Kim Myung-kyu’s “3 Tables” and Corps de Ballet Kang Dong-hui’s “Bad Guy.”

Read the full article in The Korea Times.

9 July 2019

Melissa Barak’s Ballet Company, Barak Ballet, is becoming a staple at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica.

Since 2013, they have been appearing annually and she has continually delivered her talent and creativity to her home town. A native Santa Monican, she is now one of America’s foremost rising female choreographers. Ms. Barak spent a decade dancing for New York City Ballet and choreographing for the School and Company of American Ballet at age 22. And her tenacity has paid off.

On the program were three new works, the first being choreographed by South African born Andi Schermoly, entitled “Within Without,” which explores the pain women endure when a pregnancy does not come to fruition; featuring Julia Erickson, Zachary Guthier and Stephanie Kim, to several haunting and beautiful pieces of music by Vivaldi, The Chopin Project and an operatic vocal solo “Cessate, omai cessate,” it begins with a fervent female solo, very nicely done. 

Read the full article on Broadway World.