Word: tomasson
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Though retaining traditional elements, Boston Ballet’s production follows George Balanchine’s neoclassical choreography of “Coppélia.” The ballet was originally cast in 1974 for Patricia McBride (Swanilda) and Helgi Tomasson (Frantz), two of Balanchine’s greatest stars in the New York City Ballet. This spring, Judith Fugate staged “Coppélia” for two of Boston’s own stars: Misa Kuranaga and Nelson Madrigal...
...Balanchine died in 1983 at age 79. Today no fewer than 34 U.S. ballet companies are run by people he trained, among them the San Francisco Ballet (directed by Helgi Tomasson), the Miami City Ballet (Edward Villella) and the Suzanne Farrell Ballet in Washington. Countless other Balanchine alumni are serving as ballet masters, choreographers and teachers. ?No other modern choreographer has attracted so many devoted followers, and no other body of dances has inspired so thoroughgoing and committed an attempt at long-term preservation,? says critic Terry Teachout, who is writing a short biography of Balanchine. ?It?s a sign...
...music, particularly that of Igor Stravinsky, a personal and artistic soulmate to whose scores he set 39 works. Instead of elaborately plotting his ballets in advance, he simply rolled up his sleeves and went to work with his dancers. ?Choreography just kept pouring out of him,? says Helgi Tomasson. ?He made up the steps in the studio. I could barely keep up with him. I remember one solo he choreographed in an hour and 20 minutes. It was astonishing...
...YORK CITY BALLET. Along with Martha Graham, George Balanchine helped lay the foundations of 20th century dance. In Edward Villella, Patricia McBride, Allegra Kent, Helgi Tomasson, Peter Martins and Peter Schaufuss, City Ballet has wonderful dancers. But it frowns on stars and remains a choreographer's company, mainly in the Balanchine mold. Too much of a good thing has resulted in high-quality, efficient but somehow uninvolved evenings. The return of prodigal Suzanne Farrell from five years abroad, plus increasing focus on Choreographer Jerome Robbins' wide-ranging talents, may create some needed excitement...
With a less skillful choreographer, or a less disciplined troupe, Bach's music might have inspired little more than energetic exercise or personified precision. Robbins has caught the passion that underlies Bach's formal rhythms, notably in the serpentine, body-entangling duets of Patricia McBride and Helgi Tomasson, which are to the sophisticated eye more erotic than anything in Oh, Calcutta! Small human touches abound: John Clifford, as the leader of a group, suddenly stands motionless in seeming awe as dancers twirl and leap around him; an acrobatic quartet of male dancers cartwheels and somersaults like refugees from...