Les Ballets Trockadéro de Monte Carlo
by David Mead
In 1974, a group of ballet enthusiasts founded a small company with the aim of presenting a playful parody of classical ballet en travesti. Thirty-four years later, Les Ballets Trockadéro de Monte Carlo, or the Trocks as they are affectionately known ... is a huge worldwide phenomenon. During their recent visit to Birmingham, Trocks dancers Joshua Grant (Katerina Bychkova, Ashley Romanoff-Titwillow) and Raffaele Morra (Lariska Dumbchenko, Pepe Dufka) took time to talk...
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Mark Morris Dance Group - 'Romeo and Juliet'
by David Mead -- November 5, 2008,
It is not commonly known that the Prokofiev score for “Romeo and Juliet” that we all know and love is significantly different to the original, the changes being made following requests by Leonid Lavrovsky in 1940. But let’s get one thing straight. Mark Morris’ “Romeo and Juliet” is neither a restoration nor a reconstruction of the original. Rather it is what composers Simon Morrison and Gregory Spears call a “historical recovery” in which they have removed the 1938 additions, reordered what was left, and scored a happy ending based on Prokofiev’s manuscript annotations
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Printz Dance Project and Siamsa Tire
by Becca Hirschman -- November 7, 2008, Cowell Theatre, Fort Mason, CA

Igor Zelensky's Artistic Evening
November 12, 2008 -- Mariinsky Theatre
Artistic soirees occur several times a year at the Mariinsky. Mid-November brought one of Igor Zelensky back to this stage from his current hideout in Siberia, where he is director of the Novosibirsk Ballet.  The evening opened with "Apollo", a work in which Zelensky has been lauded repeatedly. Yana Selina, Anastasia Nikitina, and Viktoria Tereshkina danced his three muses. This was Nikitina's debut as Polyhymnia, and she danced the mask-holding variation with bright energy
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National Ballet of Canada - 'Symphony in C', 'Polyphonia', 'In the Upper Room'
by Kate Snedeker -- November 5, 2008, Four Seaons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, Canada

Company Stefanie Batten Bland: sbb birdlegs - 'The Polished Hoes', 'Beneath Our Feet, a tale of a comet'
by Renée E. D'Aoust -- October 13-14, 2008, Café de la Danse, Paris, France

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Color and Racial Issues in Dance and the Theatre
"If an artistic director were to say that, "The ideal ballet body requires pale skin," we wouldn't accept that, so why should we accept other criteria that exclude racial minorities?"

Dance and Human Rights
"Amnesty International has always made use of the Arts in putting over and embellishing its core messages."

Holiday Performances 2008
"It was a lovely production. Everyone danced very well, and the children were terrific! I did miss scenery, though. I loved the concept of it being early 20th century San Francisco."

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