Encore with Guillaume Côté

National Ballet of Canada principal dancer Guillaume Côté starred in the Center’s Kings of the Dance 2011, Tour de Force I in 2009 and Tour de Force II in 2011. For an encore experience of his beautiful choreography and spectacular technique, watch Lost in Motion (video above), directed by Ben Shirinian and originally created for Bravo! FACT.

Côté in Tour de Force II (photo below)

Côté, center, in Kings of the Dance 2011 with Denis Matvienko, Marcelo Gomez, Ivan Vasiliev and David Hallberg (photo above)

A Celebration of Dance

It was spectacular! The Center’s Tour de Force: A Gala Dance Spectacular on May 21 showcased many of the world’s most brilliant dancers in both classical and contemporary repertory. The evening included the world premiere of a new work by Boris Eifman created for and danced by Nikolay Tsiskaridze (pictured left).

Dancers came from the Berlin State Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Complexions Dance Company, Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, Mariinsky Theater and The National Ballet of Canada for this evening that had dance fans from throughout Southern California on their feet cheering. (Pictured right: Bernice Coppieters and Chris Roelandt.) It has been a week of wonderful dance at the Center with the Eifman Ballet performing the Southern California premiere of Onegin, Tour de Force, a master class conducted by Tsiskaridze and a cast party on Thursday night following Tour de Force hosted by South Coast Plaza in their Jewel Court.

If it is possible to point to a highlight, it was the presentation of Russia’s Golden Mask Award to Center President Terry Dwyer (pictured left). The Golden Mask is Russia’s highest artistic honor, and three were awarded for Diana Vishneva: Beauty in Motion during the April ceremony in Moscow. Beauty in Motion was a Center co-commission with Ardani Artists that received its world premiere in Segerstrom Hall in February, 2008. Vishneva presented it to Dwyer following Tour de Force in front of the evening’s dancers and the audience. The Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg continues to perform Onegin through Sunday, May 24.

All photos by Gene Schiavone.

Awards Galore!

It was an exciting weekend for the Orange County Performing Arts Center with the announcement of the Pulitzer Prize winners and Russia's coveted Golden Mask Awards.

Famed minimalist composer Steve Reich won the music Pulitzer for "Double Sextet," a piece co-commissioned by the Center and performed here last year by eighth blackbird. Though he has been a finalist several times, this award marks Reich's first Pulitzer. Said Reich in the LA Times, "I said, 'You know me, I've got to have pairs of identical instruments, that's really my life's blood. And I thought, what if eighth blackbird recorded themselves, then played against themselves? I'd have two clarinets, two pianos, two percussionists -- I'm home free." NPR aired a great story about Reich and the prize yesterday - click here.

Across the globe, Russia's Golden Mask Awards were announced at the annual festival of performing arts. Celebrated ballerina Diana Vishneva, a familiar face to Center audiences, took home the Best Dancer award for her work in Beauty in Motion, another Center co-commission which received its world premiere here in February 2008. The dance production was also hailed as Best Ballet and winner of the Critic's Prize. Center patrons will have another chance to see Vishneva in action when she dances in Tour de Force: A Gala Dance Spectacular featuring the dance world's brightest stars on May 21.

Congratulations to Steve Reich and Diana Vishneva!