HOUSTON BALLET SHARES DANCERS, PRODUCTIONS FOR MILLENNIAL SEASON.Houston Ballet's 1999-2000 season includes the sharing of both productions and artists. Bolshoi principal Nina Ananiashvili joins the troupe as a part-time principal dancer A principal dancer is similar to a soloist in dance. However, principals are hired by a ballet or dance company to perform not only solos, but also pas de deux. A principal may be male or female. , sharing her talents with her Moscow-based company and American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre, one of the foremost international dance companies of the 20th cent. It was founded in 1937 as the Mordkin Ballet and reorganized as the Ballet Theatre in 1940 under the direction of Lucia Chase and Rich Pleasant. , while Carlos Acosta Carlos Acosta is a Cuban ballet dancer. He has danced with many companies including the English National Ballet as a principal and the National Ballet of Cuba, and is now an international guest artist to much critical acclaim. returns in his split engagement as principal with both Houston and London's Royal Ballet Royal Ballet, the principal British ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. It is noted for lavish dramatic productions, a superbly disciplined corps de ballet, and brilliant performances from its principals. . "I've never been crazy about having guest artists," says artistic director Ben Stevenson Ben Stevenson, O.B.E., is a native of Portsmouth, England, along with being a former ballet dancer with Britain's Royal Ballet and English National Ballet, co-director of National Ballet in Washington, D.C. , whose school has produced 80 percent of the company's dancers in the past. "But I think Houston is a difficult place because we are stuck in the middle: We're not the East Coast and we're not San Francisco. But if people think, `Nina is going there and Angel (Corella corella Noun a white Australian cockatoo , from American Ballet Theatre) is going there, then it can't be that bad.' They sort of give a bit of luster to our season." Not that the season lineup needs more luster. Highlights include the world premiere of a new Stevenson full-length work, Cleopatra--coproduced by Houston Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre--and new works by David Rousseve, principal dancer Timothy O'Keefe, and Choo-San Goh Award-winner Dominic Walsh. While finances are certainly a catalyst for these shared resources, the chance to expand the art is also a consideration. After having collaborated on The Snow Maiden, Stevenson and Ananiashvili are now thinking about teaming up on a new full-length Camille for the Bolshoi Ballet in the early years of the new millennium. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion