Welcome to the Third Dimension
It shouldn’t have taken a war for me to see ballet in 3D, but here we are in 2024, an unprecedented year of global conflict, artificial intelligence and mass-market robots.
Of course the ballet is 3D.
What I'm Seeing
National Ballet of Ukraine launched its 16-city American tour Oct. 8 at the Kennedy Center, passing out plastic glasses to patrons on the way in. The company experimented with 3D technology in part to avoid hauling sets across America, but they've also made a case any company should consider the technology as a way to lure in new audiences and further entertain kids.
The high-quality variety show includes excerpts from La Bayadere, Harlequinade, Giselle and several Ukrainian ballets, plus performances by the excellent Ukrainian dance troupe Shumka, which is based not in Ukraine, but Edmonton, Alberta. #secretlyCanadian
Never was the technology more effective than in “Prayer for The Fallen,” a elegy to dancers who have both lost their lives in Russia’s war against Ukraine, and to those who have continued training against all odds.
The rear of the stage was covered like a checkerboard with LED screens. Bombs exploded as dancers lept, flames curled around a ballerina who kneeled on the ground. Balletic adagio's always have an easy time tugging at heartstrings, but this was a double gut-punch, because not only are these dancers risking their lives every time they leave their homes and head to a studio, they are taking risks with the art form.
Do I think every dance company should forego sets for 3D? Nope! But more companies should experiment with the technology, in war and peacetime.
What I'm NOT Watching
Giving that Kiss rocker Gene Simmons famously hit on Terry Gross, I skipped watching Dancing with the Stars last Wednesday. Is anyone REALLY surprised he made hideous comments as a guest judge on "Hair Metal Night"?
The producers had to know this would happen, which means they wanted it to happen? Which is... gross.
Simmons accused Disney Channel actor Chandler Kinney (a former Kirov Academy student!) of fogging up his glasses; told pro-dancer Witney Carson she was "one of the most beautiful women on the planet"; and strongly insinuated that "Family Ties" dad Reginald VelJohnson was not worthy of the young (white) woman he's been dancing with who can "twist it and turn it and knows how to move."
Simmons also awarded the women he found most attractive higher scores much to the apparent consternation of his fellow judges.
My hope is that any celebs or dancers who complain that they were unfairly subjected to Simmons' bodily criticisms are taken seriously. There are so many other potential guest judges with ties to dance—people who have never sexually harassed public radio hosts!— who are qualified to serve as guest judges. #DoBetterCBS
What I'm Reading
Last week Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company hosted a one-night benefit performance of The Ford/Hill Project, a play constructed from testimony by Christine Blasey Ford and Anita Hill.
American Theatre Magazine editor Rob Weinert-Kendt posted a Q&A with Elizabeth Marvel, an actor who also co-created the theatre piece. She says more performances are in the works, and I hope that holds true!
If I Could Write Anything
An update to last week's "If I Could"... dance social media celebrity Riley Thomas Weber got his TikTok account back. Yay! That's the good news. The bad news is I wasn't able to get an assignment, report out the TikTok rationale for condemning pointe shoe fittings as porn and hang out with Riley while he made a guest appearance at Dance Supplies Etc in Severna Park this weekend. Bummer.
The dance injustice that's raising my ire this week comes courtesy of Barre Trash, another popular comedic ballet social feed. Dancer/content creater Louis DeFelice shared an email allegedly sent to a "young healthy ballerina" by the team behind Etoile Ballet Gala. The tour directors asked her to "kindly reconfirm if you could get down to around 43 Kg."
That's 95 pounds.
I did some digging. Etoile Ballet Gala was created by a company called Worldstars. It's based in Latvia and run by Ulvi Azizov and Olga Azizova. The December/January tour referenced in the email appears to only be a tour of Latvia, but the company also went to Mälmo, Sweden, Dubai and a few other places earlier this year. (DeFelice was on that tour.) Holly Dorger, an American dancer I love who's now a principal with the Royal Danish Ballet, has toured with them pre-pandemic, although the line-up looks mostly freelance now.
Still, this not a rinky-dink ex-Soviet outfit. Hopefully the venues where Etoile Ballet Gala is scheduled to tour get wind of what's going down, and do something about it. I'm on the hunt for any Latvian journalists who might be able to help.
