Populist Eifman Ballet en route to Southern California

Dance
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Choreographer Boris Eifman is the Donald Trump of the ballet world. His fans love him for his provocative, populist appeal while his critics find him unsophisticated and far from coherent. And then there’s the Russia thing. Eifman is Russian and his narrative ballets, while modernist in story line, have the old-school Bolshoi tendency to go ...

Who was Olga Spessivtseva?

Dance
Olga Spessivtseva (1895 – 1991) was the quintessence of a Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet romantic ballerina whom George Balanchine famously called “a beautiful diamond, cool, distant, and perfect.” The legendary Russian ballerina, who died in the United States, is the subject of choreographer Boris Eifman’s full-evening work, Red Giselle, coming soon to Segerstrom Center for the Arts. ...

Marilyn Monroe gets her very own Russian ballet

Dance · Film
Of the many ballets included in the epic-length “Tour de Force II” program at Segerstrom Performing Arts Center in Orange County this Thursday night, one in particular caught our eye. It’s the West Coast premiere of one act from Boris Eifman‘s “Who’s Who” (2003), which was, according to the description, inspired by Some Like It ...