Tag "Sarasota Ballet"
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Interview with dancer, actor, singer, choreographer Vanessa Russo
7-8-19 Vanessa Russo discovered by accident that she was a dancer. She was three years old when her friend’s mother asked Vanessa to join a dance class so that her reluctant friend would attend. The friend didn’t stay, but Vanessa fell in love. Although sure she had a “plan,” she was supposed to follow, Vanessa relentlessly pursed each art she discovered; singing, acting, and teaching. Listen to this talented, determined, articulate woman tell the story of how she realized that performing, not following her original “plan,” was what she was meant to do.
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Interview with Robert de Warren Part 3
6-3-19 Part 3 of my interview with Ballet Master Robert de Warren begins with a description of the frightening climax to his tour with Iran’s National Folklore Organization to celebrate America’s Bicentennial and his departure from Iran as that country descended into chaos. It goes on to describe his seven year tenure with La Scala in Milan which Rudolph Nureyev chose him to lead: a star studded period during which Robert choreographed and designed ballets for the world’s most prestigious dancers and for which Princess Margaret was the Ballet’s patron. It concludes with a description of the ironic way Robert began his 13 years leading the Sarasota Ballet Company.
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Interview with Robert de Warren Part 2
5-27-19 In the 2nd part of my interview Robert de Warren talks about his studies with The Royal Ballet School, his early work with the Royal Opera Company, his first choreography with the Royal Ballet Choreographic workshop, his time with the Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Berlin Companies where he was finally able to dance principle roles. He talks about his first meeting with Rudolph Nureyev who would become his dear friend and sponsor, the injury to the sesamoid bones in his feet which threatened to end his career and his life, and how, at the Shahs’ request, he took over the National Ballet of Iran, later becoming Founder of Iran’s National Folklore Organization, where he documented and recorded previously unseen tribal ceremonies. It ends with his description of the both glorious and disastrous tour of America that he made with the troupe and his painful discovery of what would soon happen in Iran.
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Interview with James Jordan Part 2
In the second half our interview James Jordan describes the way the “flow” returned. How again – unexpectedly – he was called by Todd Bolender to return to the Kansas City Ballet Company as its ballet master and how he worked to grow into that role which he held for 23 years. This year James will be Honorary Chair of the Company’s Black Tie Gala, staging the last performance of Bolender’s Nutcracker and receiving its Pirouette Award and the thanks of a grateful company for his extraordinary 30 years of service. He explains that, fearing that the ballets of Anthony Tudor would be lost, he spent his own money to follow Donald Mahler, Senior Repetiteur of Tudor’s Ballets, so he could learn and document the ballet’s as Mahler staged them around the country. In this interview he also explains how he became ballet master for the Sarasota Ballet Company and describes its next ballet; Sir Frederick Ashton’s La Fille Mal Gardee, and talks in detail about the process of putting a ballet together with its score.
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Interview with James Jordan Part 1 re-run
Re-run of Part one. James Jordan had no particular interest in dance until, at 17, having decided to check out a dance class being given in his small town, he took his first dance lesson. From then on a series of unplanned, unexpected and serendipitous events lead him inextricably to the life he was clearly meant to live; as a dancer and a ballet master. He was recruited by Todd Bolender to be part of the fledgling Kansas City Ballet Company where he was a member for 7 years. In the first half of our interview listen to this charming man describe how he followed the “flow” and what happened when the “flowing” stopped. Also hear him describe what a ballet master does and preview Sarasota’s upcoming ballet.
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Interview with James Jordan Part 1
Although James Jordan had no particular interest in dance, when he heard about a dance class given in his small town he decided to check it out and at 17 (very old to begin ballet) James took his first dance lesson. From then on a series of unplanned, unexpected and serendipitous events lead him inextricably to the life he was clearly meant to live. Listen to this charming, self-deprecating man talk about what a ballet master does, describe the meandering way he wound up with as ballet master at Sarasota Ballet, and what Sarasota Ballet has in store.
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