Loading
Dance Data Project
  • About
    • Our Purpose
    • The DDP Team
    • The DDP Advisory Council
  • Research
    • Our Research
    • Research Calendar
  • Advocacy
    • Connecting the Dots: Yes This Is An Arts Story
    • #AskB4UGive
    • Financial Literacy Checklist
    • Minding The Gender Pay Gap
  • Resources
    • 2020-2021 Season Status Updates
    • Covid-19 Resources
    • Competitions, scholarships, w/ deadlines, requirements, stipends, grants, etc.
    • List of Women in Prominent Creative Roles
    • Choreographer Checklists
    • Books and Film on Ballet and the Business of Ballet
    • Articles and Research
    • Previously Published Research
    • Minding The Gender Pay Gap
  • Interviews
    • Global Conversations
    • DDP Talks To
  • News
    • Announcements
    • DDP in the News
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

News

"The Devil Ties My Tongue" SKETCH Series 2013 | photo: David DeSilva

WBUR: Choreographer Helen Pickett Explores Femininity With Boston Ballet

March 11, 2020/0 Comments/in Ballet Programming, Awards, and Season Announcements, Choreographer/Artist Profile /by dancedata

Sharon Basco

10 March 2020

Choreographer Helen Pickett approaches her art in an intellectual way. She refers to music, literature, painting, design, philosophy and history. Her latest big project is “The Crucible,” an award-winning full-length work for the Scottish Ballet, on the weighty subject of the Salem witch trials. And yet, there’s something of the flower child in Helen Pickett. Not the flakey kind, but rather a force-of-nature type.

“I always thought I could have been a florist,” Pickett said of her ballet “Petal,” which has been evolving since 2007, and is part of Boston Ballet’s upcoming “Carmen” program. “My brain’s really oriented toward smell and the color, it’s always ignited my sensory system,” she continued. “Nature doesn’t try. It ‘is’ in its vigor and its beauty. It just ‘is.’ And it’s that ‘is’ of nature that inspired ‘Petal.’ The whole exercise of ‘Petal’ is to take the artifice of performing away and give the dancer onstage their individuality, their nature.”

“Petal” is one of two Pickett works included in the “Carmen” program, whose title is also the name of the program’s Bizet-opera-inspired piece by Jorma Elo. Also included is the 1935 classic “Serenade,” the first work George Balanchine choreographed in America.

The company’s stated goal of the “Carmen” program is to explore and celebrate many facets of femininity. How do these four short ballets — two by men and two by a woman — address the subject of being female? How are they all about women?

“Basically, George Balanchine’s ‘Serenade’ is about femininity, it’s about regular women turning into dancers. Epic, classic, the ultimate feminine brilliant ballet,” said Mikko Nissinen, Boston Ballet’s artistic director. “And Helen Pickett is the creative female force, and we see ‘Tsukiyo’ and ‘Petal’ from her. And then there’s another really strong woman, ‘Carmen,’ in the Jorma Elo choreography.”

Click here to read the full article.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Share on Vk
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
https://www.dancedataproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Screen-Shot-2019-12-17-at-12.41.18.png 532 1018 dancedata https://www.dancedataproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/DDP_logo_Primary.png dancedata2020-03-11 09:14:362020-03-11 09:14:38WBUR: Choreographer Helen Pickett Explores Femininity With Boston Ballet
0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Categories

  • Initiatives Worth Following
  • DDP in the News
  • Global Conversations
  • #YesThisIsAnArtsStory
  • DDP Talks To
  • Ballet Programming, Awards, and Season Announcements
  • Choreographer/Artist Profile
    • New Voices
  • Pay Equity, Transparency and Safety
  • News
  • Other Arts & Related Fields
  • DDP Announcements

Tags

Akram Khan Alastair Macaulay Alexander Sanger Alexandra Botti Alexei Ratmansky Anna D- Shapiro Ballet West Black Swan Caroline Miller Classical Indian Dance Courtney Escyne Cristina Rocca Dance Data Project Dance Magazine Eri Yoneda Financial Times Flesh and Bone Gia Kourlas Gianna Reisen Griselda Murray Brown Harvey Weinstein Heather Hartley Helen Pickett Jennifer Stahl Lauren Lovette Lauren Wingenroth Liza Yntema Luke Jennings Michael Scolamiero New York City Ballet New York Times Not Our Fate Odissi Orlando Ballet Patricia Baretto Peter Martins phindie PRI Public Radio International Ritha Devi Roell Schmidt Tania Castroverde Moskalenko The Guardian Twyla Tharp Vail Dance Festival

Contact Us

Reach out to us to learn more about our mission.

Contact Us

"The Devil Ties My Tongue" SKETCH Series 2013 | photo: David DeSilva

About DDP

  • About the Dance Data Project
  • The DDP Advisory Council
  • The DDP Team
  • DDP in the News

Research

  • Our Research
  • Research Calendar

Interviews

  • Global Conversations
  • DDP Talks To

Resources

  • Resources
  • 2020-2021 Season Status Updates
  • Articles and Research
  • Books and Film
  • Choreographer Checklists
  • Competitions & Scholarships
  • Covid-19 Resources
  • List of Women in Prominent Creative Roles
  • Minding The Gender Pay Gap
  • Previously Published Research

Advocacy

  • Advocacy
  • #AskB4UGive
  • Financial Literacy Checklist

Contact Us

© Copyright - Dance Data Project
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Data Disclaimer
  • Press
  • Submit Your Data
The Economist: The Glass Ceiling Index: Go north, young woman ‘Sleeping Beauty’: State Street Ballet Updates Classic Fairy Tale
Scroll to top