3RIVERS NEGOTIATION. There was a satisfying conclusion to the Bill Shannon/3Rivers/CREATE2015/Wyndham Grand issue. (See yesterday’s post). Bill was able to complete his contract that evening at 6 p.m. during the cocktail party for CREATE, which looked to be a hit. He pushed his shopping cart, with minimally squeaky wheels, across the social area. Then he donned his “mask” for a walk-through, with considerable interest from attendees. Thank you, Veronica Corpuz, director of the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival!
FLESH AND BONE. For those of you who have Starz, there will be a new reality show this fall based on a balled company. Titled Flesh and Bone, it will feature honest-to-goodness ballet dancers. Sarah Hayes, former American Ballet Theatre soloist who did many of the technical shots in Natalie Portman’s Black Swan and current member of Semperoper Ballet in Germany, has won the leading role. Also in the cast are former ABT principal dancer Irina Dvoravendo and soloist Sasha Radetsky, plus Ballet Arizona’s Raychel Diane Weiner to lend reality to the show’s ballet world. As if that weren’t enough, former ABT principal and current artistic director of the New Zealand Ballet Ethan Stiefel (Center Stage) will serve as consultant and choreographer. Moira Walley-Beckett, writer on Breaking Bad, will head a production team including executive producers Lawrence Bender (Inglorious Basterds, Good Will Hunting), Kevin Brown (Rosewell), John Melfi (Sex and the city, House of Cards). Bender and Walley-Beckett are former dancers and Brown’s family served as a basis for the Oscar-nominated feature The Turning Point. Although Bunheads and Breaking Pointe were juicy dance dramas, Flesh and Bone, has the potential to be a truly adult, perhaps award-winning ballet drama. Stay tuned.
BOLSHOI NEWS. The Bolshoi Ballet is set for a new season to be shown in movie theaters, although the Pittsburgh area audiences have been rather sparse. Hopefully that will change. On tap for 2015-16 are Giselle (Oct. 11), George Balanchine’s Jewels, featuring prodigy Olga Smirnova in Diamonds (Nov. 15), John Neumeier’s The Lady of the Camellias (Dec. 6), The Nutcracker (Dec. 20), Jean-Christophe Maillot’s The Taming of the Shrew (Jan. 24), Spartacus (Mar. 13) and b(Apr. 10). Dates listed are opening nights, but may vary. There is also sad news to report. Maya Plisetskaya, one of the all-time stars of the Bolshoi and a famous Kitri in Don Quixote, passed away. Read about her history and enjoy her perform some of her greatest successes.
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