Opera Chic

Beautifully Barre'd with the FT's How to Spend It

Fashion photographer Andrew Yee has shot some gorgeous work for the FT's 'How to Spend It' supplement in the past, and his latest spread, 'Called to the Barre', is equally aspirational. Models in ballet-inspired gear (like an Oscar de la Renta gown paired with Repetto ballet shoes) has reignited our latent ballerina. Lots more photos at the source, all photos Andrew Yee.

We'll Drink to That: La Scala Ballet's Newest Sponsor, Vitasnella Water

Water brand Acqua Vitasnella, owned by Ferrarelle SpA, has announced its official sponsorship with Teatro alla Scala's ballet company in a press conference today.

The partnership kicks off with a DIY video contest 'In forma con eleganza' (loosely translated to Keeping Fit with Elegance/In Shape with Elegance. Choose one, we're not picky.

Your mission is to create a short video, scored to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, that shows how mortals, unblessed with ballerina DNA, stay fit. Although not stated in the rules, perhaps a strategically-placed VitaSnella water bottle will seal you into the final round.

The deadline is on an unmercifully-soon September 27, with more details on the Facebook pages for Acqua Vitasnella and Teatro alla Scala. Winners spend an entire day running around La Scala's backstage labyrinths with the ballerinas -- and we're guessing all the Vitasnella they can drink.

My Mother Explains the Ballet to Me

Jesse Eisenberg for The New Yorker on watching (and getting escorted out of) the ballet.

Ballet Personal Brands Rock Out to British Bands

Exhibit A: Kennan Kampa, the first America ballerina to join the Mariinsky Ballet's prestigious corps, with across-the-barre awesome rep: Raymonda, La Sylphide, Giselle and Swan Lake. Along with Sergio Pizzorno (guitarist and backing vocalist of British band Kasabian), the 23-year-old Virginian's the new face (and body) of denim brand G-Star's Autumn/Winter 2013 campaign, which will exit across all media on August 12.  

Exhibit B: Blue-eyed Irish/Inception heartthrob, Cillian Murphy, makes his directorial debut for Manchester-based band MONEY with a ballet-inspired video for track 'Hold Me Forever'.

MiddleMarch Opera Round Up

This past week, the Ides of March blew some throbbingly-awesome stories our way, which go perfect with ●bullet ●points *bang bang bang* so let's do this.

• At the ROH's new season announcement, Everyone Loves Anthony [Pappano] backhandedly criticised the work ethic of opera's new generation. A few took the bait, but Rupert Christiansen's piece in The Telegraph was pure class.

• Hugo Shirley roundtabled with rumoured-Milan-bound Alexander Pereira, Salzburg's current intendant for April's Opera Magazine on fund raising, festival projects and the death of shock-&-awe Regietheater: "In Germany we have seen all these people running on stage and making pissy in the corner. [ed: lol x lol x lol] I think this is over and we are demanding that the stage directors are telling the story -- in a modern or traditional way, I don't mind. At the end of the day, there's only a good production or a bad production."

• David Remnick omitted nothing in his The New Yorker piece on the Bolshoi Ballet scandal.

• In Naples, Neil Fisher broke mozzarella with Maestro Nicola Luisotti during his San Carlo Verdi Requiem about his upcoming ROH Nabucco for The Times. Said the maestro on live music vs. the distilled experience: “Music has to be live. You sit in the opera house with somebody else and you live an experience. It’s like love — you can’t make love by phone or internet. Well, you can, but in bed, with a person, is better.” Which reminds us of OC's 2009 interview with Matt Poland for Splice Today, when grilled about our insistence of live opera over HD simulcasts/CDs: "The unamplified voice -- nothing like it, ever. YouTube and HD simulcasts have created this impression that opera is best enjoyed from afar, it's not true, the true visceral experience is there in the opera house, and it always will be. It's the difference between having sex and watching a porno. It's sad that one has to point this out."

We Can Dance If We Want To [Actually, No. No You Can't]

La Scala's new production of the Sasha Waltz choreographed Roméo et Juliette can't catch a break. First Roberto Bolle's collaboration was axed and now opening night (which was supposed to bow La Scala's 2012-13 ballet season), originally scheduled for December 19, has been struck down, literally, by unions of the chorus and ballet company. The closest thing to describe our disappointment is this. <-- fail wail from The Price is Right.

Guest ballerini Aurélie Dupont and partner Hervé Moreau will still dance on December 28 & 29. Information for ticket credits and exchanges is here.

Ballerinas Go Glossy

Twenty ballet-inspired editorials. Some NSFW (but c'mon, it's the weekend!)

Ballerinas in Print: Yuan Yuan Tan for Gap

Principal ballerina of the San Francisco Ballet Yuan Yuan Tan has been cast in a new role and it's not onstage. The Shanghai-born ballerina appears in the newly-released Gap fall campaign (above) among up-and-coming musicians and dancers.Tan, principal at the SFB since 1997, is also a brand ambassador for Van Cleef & Arpels and Rolex. Let's take a moment to remeber that Gap ad from 2007 with Roberto Bolle (and Greta Hodgkinson of the National Ballet of Canada).

Ballet in the Age of Baggy Tights

The British Council Film Collection's released some of its documentaries from the 1940s, including this short one "Steps of the Ballet" with British choreographer Andrée Howard, Australian composer Arthur Benjamin, Royal Ballet dancers Gerd Larsen and Alexander Grant and the Philharmonia Orchestra.

A Very Young Dancer Becomes a Very Cool Woman

When OC was a little oc, she wanted to be a ballerina, but a tutu was too itchy to sit at the piano for hours doing Hanon exercises and too impractical for diving on the soccer field. Ballet lust was sparked by a hand-me-down book called A Very Young Dancer by Jill Krementz which followed a 10-year-old ballerina named Stephanie from the classrooms of NYC's School of American Ballet to the stages of Lincoln Center as Marie in the NYCB's Nutcracker.

A prodigious talent at ten, handpicked by Balanchine for her role in the Nutcracker, Stephanie had all the marks of a great career. But through Jill Krementz, The New York Times tracked her down in Wyoming (where she lives now with her husband) and the former ballerina has a different story to tell.

Read about Stephanie's lost decades here.

Christian Lacroix Brings Bling to the City of Lights

La Ville-Lumière cranks its wattage. On October 22, the Paris Opera Ballet rolls out a revamped world premiere of La Source, a ballet in two acts from 1866 which was originally choreographed by Arthur Saint-Leon with a libretto by Charles Nuitter. Choreographer/dancer Jean-Guillaume Bart set his new version to the original music of Léo Delibes and Ludwig Minkus and collaborated with French fashion designer Christian Lacroix on costumes and Eric Ruf on sets. 

Yesterday's Women's Wear Daily reports: 

Swarovski has armed Christian Lacroix with more than 2 million crystals to create costumes [...] Lacroix created 77 costumes, including 39 designs [...] Nadja Swarovski plans to host a dinner in Lacroix’s honor following a performance Nov. 3 at Palais Garnier.

 

Black Swan FTW

 

In celebration of Natalie Portman winning last night's Oscar for Actress in a Leading Role for her interpretation of Nina Sayers in Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan", we're sharing this classic ballet-in-your-undies scene from "An Unmarried Woman" starring Jill Clayburgh in director Paul Mazursky's 1978 film about an UES woman whose husband walks out of their marriage.

~I had the craziest dream last night...I was dancing the White Swan.~

Black Swan Triggers Thug Life

Now Opera Chic liked Black Swan, but not enough to kill a man. Aronofsky's thriller triggered Latvian-on-Latvian violence. From Riga (via The Telegraph):

A man was shot dead at a Latvian cinema after eating his popcorn too loudly during a screen of Black Swan, according to reports. Police said they had arrested a 27-year-old man suspected of shooting a 42-year-old fellow audience member who later died of his wounds. The conflict took place as the credits rolled during a screen of the Oscar-nominated film "Black Swan", according to police in the Baltic state.

This. This is the Black Swan Clip You've All Been Waiting For.

Before they were even talking about the anorexia glam, the couture costumes, and the juicy backstory, (and The Winona!) Black Swan was pretty much knows as "that movie where Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis have hawt lesbian secks".

[UPDATE UPDATE]: Less than 1 hour after we posted, the clip has been yanked. You snooze, you lose!

Now you can see what it was all about...

(I hope OC doesn't have to warn you that a very NSFW link is under the cut)

~**lol embedding disabled by request: Go here, intrepid voyeur!**~

City Dancers: The Ballerina Project

This is what happens when you take the ballerinas out of the studio, away from the stage, and put them into urban spaces. Some of our recent favorites below, from the NYC-based Ballerina Project.

A Sea of Tutus Beckon in Scotland

Scottish Ballet Spring Costume Sale!! For the first time in its history, the Scottish Ballet is selling-off costumes that have been previously used during its thirty-five years of establishment in past repertoire. The aim is to conserve space in preparation for next year's relocation to the Tramway in Glasgow. The sale will be open first to professional buyers (such as dance schools, theaters, and costume stores), but opens to the public on June 1 & 2 at the current location on 261 West Princes Street.

omg I have such a tutu fetish it's not even funny, and legwarmers are teh h0ttness. I would gladly trade all my closed sale invites to Costume National, Paul Smith, and Jil Sander to foray around the Scottish Ballet Costume sale.