Onstage This Week: Robert Binet Tackles Orpheus for National Ballet of Canada, Russian Ballet Theatre Tours the Northeast, and More!
Wonder what’s going on in ballet this week? We’ve rounded up some highlights.
The National Ballet of Canada Presents Robert Binet’s New Take on Orpheus and Eurydice
The National Ballet of Canada presents a world premiere November 15-21: Robert Binet‘s Orpheus Alive. Binet, the company’s choreographic associate, brings a fresh take to the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice with mixed-gender casting; Orpheus will be danced by a woman, and Eurydice by a man. This new ballet features a commissioned score by Missy Mazzoli. Orpheus Alive joins the company premiere of George Balanchine’s Chaconne on this mixed bill program. It’s an apt pairing: Chaconne is set to Gluck’s music for the opera Orfeo ed Euridice, and is Balanchine’s abstract meditation on the same myth.
Russian Ballet Theatre’s “Swan Lake” Tours the Northeast
Russian Ballet Theatre’s tour of Swan Lake makes its way across the Northeast this week. November 12-17, the company makes stops in Albany and Syracuse, NY, Burlington, VT, Pittsfield, MA, New London, CT and New York City. This new production adds new choreography by Nadezhda Kalinina, designs by Sergey Novikov and special effects makeup by Irina Strukova to the classic ballet.
Tom Gold Dance Fall Season Features World Premiere
Tom Gold Dance’s fall season runs November 15-16 at New York’s Florence Gould Hall with the world premiere of Tom Gold’s Spectral Preludes to Lera Auerbach’s 24 Preludes for Piano. The cast of dancers includes former Miami City Ballet dancer and Conversations on Dance co-host Michael Sean Breeden, former Pennsylvania Ballet soloist and current dancewear designer Abigail Mentzer and more.
Bodiography Collaborates With UK-Based Company Matrifisc
Pittsburgh-based contemporary ballet company Bodiography presents its annual concert November 15-16 at La Roche University’s Byham Theater. The mixed-bill program features works by company artists Kirstie Corso, Nicole Jamison and Bethany Schimonsky, and Canadian choreographer Giverny Welsch. The program also includes Bodiography’s partnership with Manchester, UK-based company Matrafisc. Matrifisc co-founder Antonella Apicella and Bodiography artistic director Maria Caruso have created new works for each other’s dancers.
