Arts in New York City

Select an aspect of the opera experience: voices, staging, acting, story, lighting, audience, etc. Write briefly about it. If someone has written on the aspect that most interested you, respond with a comment/your own perspective.

Diana Vishneva- is a prima ballerina with both the Kirov Ballet in Russia and American Ballet Theatre in the United States. A prima ballerina is recognized as top ballerina in the current world. She was born in St. Petersburg and was trained at the Vaganova Choreographic Institute and upon her graduation in 1995, joined the company of the Mariinsky Theatre. There, in 1996 she was promoted to the level of principal dancer. While at the Vaganova school, she scored the highest scores known to the school’s history.Vishneva’s repertoire includes Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, La Bayadère, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Giselle. She also performs the works of modern choreographers, especially those of George Balanchine, William Forsythe and Roland Petit.

Alvin Ailey – Dancer and choreographer, started to nurture his interest in dancing in Los Angeles, where he became a member of Lester Horton’s company in the 1950’s. When his mentor died in 1953, Ailey was chosen to take over as director and choreographer. After training in New York City with Martha Graham and others, he founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958, which was a hugely popular, multi-racial modern dance ensemble. This theatre established an extended dance community that provides performances and a community for all people. This plays a crucial role in the performing arts community by using the beauty and humanity of the african American heritage and other cultures to unite people of all ages, races, and backgrounds. The company popularized modern dance around the world thanks to tours sponsored by the U.S. State Department. His most famous dance, Revelations, is based on Ailey’s own experience of growing up African American in the rural South and is a celebratory study of religious spirit.

Sang Jijia is hailed as the first Tibetan dancer to perform modern dance on a professional level. He traveled with the Guangdong Modern Dance Company for five years until 1998. During this time, he won the Paris International Modern Dance competition, and has already achieved fame when he was hailed “the star of the next century” by the Guangdong province. He joined CCDC in 1999, a reputable Chinese dance company, and in 2002 he began acting as protegé to world famous dance choreographer William Forsythe. He stayed with the Forsythe company until 2006, acting as a choreographer and dancer. By 2007, Sang Jijia’s works (such as “Comrade”, “Stay Still”, and “Show You Colors”) have been featured in dance festivals all around the world. He is currently working on a documentary film that will bring into focus the dance culture of Tibet.

Sang Jijia is going to present his solo piece entitled “Snow” in the NYC Fall For Dance festival. “Snow” is a piece that begins with a minimalist choreography, but grows to encapsulate the artist’s emotions and personality, opening him up to the entire audience. It debuted in the U.S. in 2008.

Clip of Sang Jijia\’s \”Snow\”

Le Spectre de la rose is a ballet choreographed by Michel Fokine and was first premiered in 1911 in Monte Carlo by the Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe. The ballet portrays a story of a woman who brough home a rose from a ball. While asleep, she dreams of dancing with the spirit of the rose. Unfortunately, the spirit disappears into the window and she suddenly awakes. This scene is based on lines from a poem by Theophile Gautier:

 Open up your sleeping eyes
that are brushed lightly by a virginal dream
I am the spectre of a rose
you wore last night at a ball.

 Le Spectre de la Rose was given over 120 performances during the three Ballets Russes tours and seen in every Australian city visited by the companies. Choreographer Angelin Preljocaj perceives the contemporary reading of Le Spectre de la Rose as psychosexual drama. In the Hommage aux Ballets Russes production, the von Weber music was interrupted periodically by a contemporary soundscape. Another contemporary piece was also inspired by Le Spectre de la Rose and was entitled Rose Spirit, presented by West Australian Ballet in 1999. The choreographer, Ted Brandsen, sees the original Spectre as “really a showcase for the male dancer.’ In the Rose Spirit, he ‘’wanted to look at this piece more through today’s eyes – to have the male and female parts be equally demanding and to add a touch of humor to the wonderful Weber waltz’.