“Hello” and “Привет” from Diana Vishneva

Famed ballerina Diana Vishneva sends her regards to Segerstrom Center dance fans in a personal shout-out video: 

Ms. Vishneva’s shout-out video in Russian: 

Diana VIshenva: On the Edge has been created by the Center to showcase this great ballerina’s incomparable artistry. She will dance world premiere works by choreographers Carolyn Carlson and Jean-Christophe Maillot in Segerstrom Hall next week on November 6, 7, 9 & 10. 

To learn more about Diana Vishneva: On the Edge and to purchase tickets, please visit our website here. To see videos of Ms. Vishneva during early choreography sessions, click here for Switch and here for Woman in a Room. 

On-the-Air about On the Edge

On the Edge Choreographers Carolyn Carlson and Jean-Christophe Maillot

When Diana Vishneva: On the Edge premieres at the Center on November 6, the world of dance will have two brand new works to experience and embrace – Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Switch and Carolyn Carlson’s Woman in a Room. But what exactly are these two dances about? What is the inspiration? How involved was Ms. Vishneva in this process? Are you pondering similar questions? 

Good news, you can tune to classical KUSC-FM this Saturday morning (8 a.m. PT) November 2 when the weekly arts program “Arts Alive” airs interviews with choreographers Maillot and Carlson as well as Segerstrom Center Executive Vice President (and dance lover) Judy Morr about all things dance and On the Edge. 

On the Edge Choreographers Carolyn Carlson and Jean-Christophe Maillot
with "Arts Alive" Executive Producer Kelsey McConnell

Not a morning person? Fret not, you can visit KUSC-FM's website and listen to the podcast online. 

For more information about our International Dance Series, please visit www.scfta.org/dance.

Segerstrom Center Executive Vice President Judy Morr
and "Arts Alive" Executive Producer Kelsey McConnell

Diana Vishneva: Artist & Muse

Diana Vishneva, who has thrilled Center audiences many times, returns in Diana Vishneva: On the Edge. The brilliant dancer will perform two world premiere works choreographed especially for her by Carolyn Carlson and Jean-Christophe Maillot: Woman in a Room by Carlson and Switch by Maillot. In their respective interviews here, Carlson and Maillot discuss their collaborations with Vishneva and what to expect from these much anticipated new works. 

Woman in a Room, choreographed by National Centre for Contemporary Choreography Director Carolyn Carlson focuses on a woman reminiscing about many of her important life experiences. In Carlson’s interview, she explains how Woman in a Room is heavily inspired by Vishneva’s imagination. Carlson hopes that Woman in a Room will reveal a more personal side of this great dancer. The audiences, of course, are encouraged to interpret both the dancing and symbolism utilized in the work. 

With Switch, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo Director-Choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot praises Vishneva’s ability to portray a personal relationships and experiences as well as a range of human emotions while dancing. Maillot’s choreographic vision is a reflection of a star’s life and her interactions with others – perhaps his interpretation of elements in Vishneva’s own life.

In both pieces, Vishneva’s talent and creative sensibilities come to life. Audiences are invited to view these revealing performance in Segerstrom Hall on November 6, 7, 9 and 10. For more information about Diana Vishneva: On the Edge, please visit www.SCFTA.org.

To enhance your experience, please join us for the free Preview Talks, one hour before each performance. 

Guest Blogger: Jean-Christophe Maillot of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo

”There are short-cuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them.”
 – Vicki Baum

During National Dance Week (April 26 – May 5), we invited notable artistic directors, choreographers and experts for a special posting on Center Scene. Here, Choreographer-Director Jean-Christophe Maillot of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo reflects on the complex yet enjoyable nature of narrative dance forms. Segerstrom Center will present Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo dancing their production of LAC (Swan Lake) March 6 - 9, 2014 as part of our International Dance Series. 

LAC (Swan Lake) by Jean-Christophe Maillot Ballets © Laurent Philippe

By Jean-Christophe Maillot
Choreographer-Director, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo
www.BalletsdeMonteCarlo.com

One could believe that the narrative ballet, in case it’s telling the story, would bring the audience from the point A to the point B, on contrary of so called abstract ballet that stays open to all the possible interpretations. It has been now 30 years that I experiment the narration in my pieces and finally things don’t seem so simple. For example I am not sure that all the people in the audience arrive to the same conclusion at the end of my performances. The point B is obviously not the same for everyone. So we could ask ourselves if the narration is a support for the comprehension or ... on contrary, as I think, a walking stick to venture off the beaten tracks. Inversely, the intrusions that I allow myself in the more abstract forms are not necessarily difficult to understand. 

Cendrillon by Jean-Christophe Maillot © Marie-Laure Briane

Certain movements talk by themselves, starting up simultaneous emotion in spectators. The reason for this is that we all have a body and in a certain way we are « already always » connected with what the dancer is doing on stage. If he jumps, if he curls up, or shakes, our body feels in its flesh what is happening and the sensations are more direct than through the story. 

It happens that Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo return today to the Segerstrom Center for the Arts to present LAC (Swan Lake). It is a narrative piece that confronts us with uneasy characters, filled with the contradictory desires that are conspiring against each other. The narration in this case complicates things but unveils more and lets everyone to the self-interrogation until the point they choose to reach. This is why I love narration. Because it cures us of the environment where the messages and codes are simplified to the extreme in order to satisfy populist stakes.