World Ballet Day!
World Ballet Day is finally here! Don't forget you can live stream the footage through http://worldballetday.com, or through the Australian Ballet, who will be live on Facebook from 1pm (local time).
Five companies - the Australian Ballet, the Royal Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, and the San Francisco Ballet - will take it in turns to give a behind the scenes look into the world of professional ballet. I'll be updating this post as much as possible, but I fully recommend you watch the live stream!
Update:
The Australian Ballet goes live in half an hour; the lifestream can also be found on the Facebook page of the San Francisco Ballet or on Ballet TV on the Australian Ballet website - https://australianballet.com.au/tv. Apologies for the time confusion!
Update:
We've now enjoyed four hours of footage from the Australian Ballet, including company class and sneak peeks into rehearsals (for Coppelia, Nijinsky, Spartacus, and the Le Corsaire Pas de Deux, among others), as well as segments from other companies like the West Australian Ballet and the Hong Kong Ballet. We've now moved on to the Bolshoi Ballet in Russia, where the company is taking morning class under the direction of their amazing 70-year-old ballet master!
Update:
The Bolshoi have just rehearsed the Emeralds segment from the Balanchine ballet Jewels, and are currently rehearsing The Golden Age - only half an hour left! The Royal Ballet will then take over, followed by the National Ballet of Canada and the San Francisco Ballet. If you're like me, and the majority of these last three companies will be live during the middle of the night, you'll still be able to view the highlights on the World Ballet Day website. I'll be off to bed shortly - the price of early morning lectures - and am aiming to see the Royal Ballet do class before tuning out till morning.
The schedule is as follows:
The Royal Ballet - 11pm - 3am (New Zealand Time)
The National Ballet of Canada - 3am - 7am (New Zealand Time)
The San Francisco Ballet - 7am - 11am (New Zealand Time)
Then it's all over for another year, so enjoy this exclusive footage while it lasts!
Update:
World Ballet Day is officially over for another year. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! If you missed anything, the highlights will be on the World Ballet Day website, or, I have been assured, the companies will each be uploading their segment onto their YouTube channels - and the Royal Ballet has already done so (under the Royal Opera House channel for thirty days only). Watching their segment with presenter and former principal Darcy Bussell was a treat - keen-eyed New Zealanders may have noticed the wonderful Gary Harris making an appearance, rehearsing principal dancer Natalia Osipova for the ballet Anastasia. Gary worked as artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet for around eight years, and as designer for their production of The Sleeping Beauty. Here's hoping the other companies upload their segments soon so we can enjoy what we missed!
That's it from me, though I'll make sure to let you know if/when the other footage becomes available. I'm already looking forward to next year!
- Selene
