ballet

'Black Swan' Good for Ballet Ticket Sales

Filed under: Events

Darren Aronofsky's hit film, "Black Swan," may do more for the arts than earn Natalie Portman a slew of best-actress awards. It may in fact have helped to boost professional dance companies - at least the ones performing the ballet "Swan Lake," which the film is centered around.

To prepare for the film, Portman trained with former New York City Ballet dancer Mary Helen Bowers. That company performs "Swan Lake" each year and this year its two-week run (which will end on Saturday, Feb. 26) sold extremely well, according to City Ballet spokesman Rob Daniels. The company sold out tickets to all nine of its performances in the 2,500-seat David A. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center.

Tags: academy awards, ballet, city ballet, culture, dance, film, natalie portman, new york city ballet, oscars, oscars 2011

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A Tour of the Vienna State Opera House

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Unappreciated in the architects' time. Imagine.

The Vienna State Opera House is surely one of the grandest and most beloved structures in the entire world, but it wasn't always so well appreciated.

Architects Eduard van der Nüll (1812-1868) and August Sicard von Sicardsburg (1813-1868) were the winners of the contest to design the new Opera House on "The Ring" (Ringstrasse) in 1858 with the motto "Fais ce que dois, advient que pourra," which is French for "Do what you must, come what may." Unfortunately, the Viennese were not very impressed with what they did. Many thought the staircase wasn't grand enough (or high enough) or that the style was too romantic. Also, the Ringstrasse was raised by a meter right in front of the House during its construction, leading naysayers to liken it to a "sunken box." Van der Nüll reportedly killed himself due to the criticism, and Von Sicardsburg, who had lived with him, died shortly after of a heart attack. Neither lived to see its opening day in 1869 -- which was the premiere of Mozart's Don Giovanni.

Over a hundred years later, following wars and restorations, ballets and operas are still performed nightly in the astonishing space to sold-out houses, and the Opera Ball is the most important ball of the Vienna Ball Season. I cannot imagine a better home for the ornate and awe-inspiring building than Vienna, where culture is king. In May, June, September and October, about 120 live performances are actually projected onto an enormous wall in the square outside the opera house -- free for everyone to enjoy.

Van der Nüll and Von Sicardsburg were woefully under-appreciated in their own time, so let's take a moment to appreciate their work now:

Gallery: The Vienna State Opera House

My visit to Vienna was sponsored by the Vienna Tourist Board, but the opinions expressed in the article are 100% my own.

Tags: austria, ballet, opera, opera house, vienna

American Ballet Theater Cancels New York Fall Season

by Deb West (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events

In another example of how the arts have been suffering during the economic downturn, the Wall street Journal reports that ABT will not be doing a fall season in New York this year. The dance company does not have its own theater and has previously conducted its fall run at the New York City Center. One of America's leading cultural institutions the company offers touring productions including performances in Chicago and Los Angeles this spring and summer. The company will also be in New York City at the Metropolitan Opera House for its traditional spring season.

American Ballet Theater is still planning to come to New York area but not until December and this time to Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Academy of Music has committed to a five year contract of ABT's new production of "The Nutcracker" choreographed by Alexi Ratmansky. Traditionally "The Nutcracker" is a big money maker for regional dance companies around the country and ABT is looking to cash in on that more predictable revenue source. David Koch, the Vice Chairman of ABT's board has already donated $2.5 million dollars towards funding the production.

New York City already has one "Nutcracker" performed annually since 1954 by the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center. It is considered by many to be the traditional holiday dance performance to which on should take children, both who live locally and those who are visitng family, during the holiday season. It will be interesting to see how the competing versions of "The Nutcracker" fare against each other given the already limited interest that exists in classical dance.

Tags: ABT, american ballet theater, AmericanBalletTheater, ballet, BAM, dance, New York City, NewYorkCity, NutcrackerBallet

New York City Ballet Cuts Back

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

The New York City Ballet is another New York City cultural institution cutting back. According to the NY Times the ballet master in chief, Peter Martins, has let go 11 members of the corps. The ballet is facing the double hit of reduced ticket sales and a decrease in donations that has plagued museums, theater companies and others in the arts. The company is predicted a $5.5 million deficit this season on a budget of $62.3 million.

The ballet is also instituting salary reductions for senior staff, a hiring freeze and is pursuing cutbacks in other areas such as marketing and administration. The NY Times article quotes Kenneth Tabachnick, the general manager, who says that the company has "over the past several years, had an increasing level of deficit."

Like the Metropolitan Museum, the ballet has seen its endowment shrink, from $187 million to around $138 million. If the economy doesn't worsen or gets better then the layoffs and cost-measures will help pare down the deficit the company is facing. Should the economy get worse however, it is likely that more cuts might be necessary.

Source

Tags: ballet, culture in trouble, CultureInTrouble, new york city, NewYorkCity