MEN-IN-TUTUS 13th - 17th January, 2010 & 8th - 17th May, 2009 Performed by Les Ballets Grandiva Produced by Chae Lian & Richard Harding Gardner Staged at Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre
Gardner & Wife's first ever ballet LES BALLET GRANDIVA: MEN IN TUTUS proved again that genuine artistry mixed with comedy is irresistible! Generating standing ovations and encores the dancers performed five ballets in two acts, including the company's signature piece, the parody of Fokine's The Dying Swan. They return this January.
In January 2010, Gardner & Wife took LES BALLET GRANDIVA: MEN IN TUTUS on a three week, three-country tour - to Dr. Sun Yat Sen Hall in Taipei, KLPAC in Malaysia and The Esplanade Theatre in Singapore. Where, this time under the guidance of their new Artistic Director, Brian Norris, they yet again performed to full houses and enthusiastic audiences.
“Warped and wicked sense of humour” New Straits Times
“Toe-taly funny, most hilarious” The Star
“Brilliant dancers, beautiful choreography, stunning costumes” New York Observer
Direct from a sell-out tour of Europe and Asia, comes the most spectacular, talented and hilarious all male comedy ballet ever. Hailed by critics as “The greatest exponents of all male comedy ballet in the world today”, international company Les Ballets Grandiva is set to arrive in Malaysia in May 2009.
The largest company of its kind in the world, Grandiva boasts over fifty ballets in its repertoire and twenty of the best international male ballet dancers from thirteen countries whose soloists have performed with Russia's Bolshoi and Kirov Ballets, New York Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, The American Ballet Theatre, the prestigious Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, The Royal Swedish Ballet, Berlin State Opera Ballet, English National Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet to name a few.
Grandiva's "Men In Tutus" is the ultimate send up of both classical and contemporary ballet. The combination of brilliant dancing technique, tongue in cheek and blatant humour with intentional foibles, dancing mishaps and of course hissy fits by men playing both male and female roles (some of the men do actually look like gorgeous women, while others are hairy chested men with pancake makeup but all in tutus and dancing en pointe.) creates great entertainment that prompted the quotes below (see reviews).
January 2010
Artistic Director - Brian Eugene Norris
Ballet Master - Peter Brandenhoff
Dancers: Ari Hopson Mayzick, Curtis James Foley, William David Blanken, Tetsushi Segawa, Wataru Tokue, Oscar Campisi, Kirik Ruben Hagerman, Botihale Johannes Dikobe, Marc Pierre Abdelnour, Robert Rosario Pineiro, Sebastian Scolari Rinaldi, Kei Tsuruharatani, Joshua Thake
May 2009
Music - Philip Carroll
Resident Costume Designer - Jose Coronado
Musical Direction - Philip Carroll, Tim Darling, Baris Ehran
Choreographers Peter Anastos,
Marcus Galante,
Brian Reeder,
Victor Trevino,
Matt Williams
Costume Designers Jose Coronado, Tom Augustine,
Kate Carroll,
Steven Epstien,
Christina Giannini,
Oswaldo Muniz,
Laurel Parrish,
Christine Pascall,
Clara Poteau,
David Paulin,
Thom J. Peterson,
Katherine Shak, Marcus Galante
... love Grandiva's Men In Tutus even if you are not a ballet buff - New York Post
If you are a ballet aficionado with an open mind, you will be enthralled - L.A. Times
Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant! - New York Daily Times
Grandiva's Men In Tutus is sheer brilliant entertainment - Japan Times
This group is absolutely the best and most enjoyable I have seen - San Francisco Chronicle
Some of the best male ballet dancers in the world, en pointe, sheer brilliance - Bolshoi Ballet's Vladamir Moiseev
Resplendent in frilly white outfits and pointe shoes, the ballerinas of Grandiva execute the most demanding moves of their art with technical precision and amazing grace - Asaha.com Japan
With absolutely brilliant choreography, they make it possible ... to instinctively understand that they are hilariously mocking the poses and tableaus of the classic art form - Dance
Choreographer Trevino duplicates every impossible Bolshoi - inspired, upside down, hang by a toenail, wrap around the neck lift - Backstage.com
Grandiva's highly sophisticated mix of pure side splitting comedy, combined with a deep and
esoteric reference to both classical and modern ballet is stunning - London's Daily Mirror
... not a drag show, but a brilliant artistic & comical send up of the world of dance - USA Today
Just as Matthew Bourne did with "Swan Lake", attracting audiences with a bunch of masculine swans, Grandiva draws laughter with elaborate, exaggerated movements and a twist of the classical ballet formula - The Korea Times
Grandiva demonstrates essential dance qualities, a profound sense of rhythm, gorgeously shaped phrasing, palpable joy in motion and lion hearted courage in performance - all too rarely seen these days in the highest temples of art - Village Voice New York
“Toe-taly funny, most hilarious” The Star
American Ballet Theatre, the prestigious Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, The Royal Swedish Ballet, Berlin State Opera Ballet, English National Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet to name a few.
Music - Philip Carroll
... love Grandiva's Men In Tutus even if you are not a ballet buff - New York Post
Some of the best male ballet dancers in the world, en pointe, sheer brilliance -