In a revealing piece in the Globe & Mail about Kudelka's breakup with the National Ballet of Canada, it mentions that he will be setting either a new or extant work on ABT in the new year.

In my opinion he is one of the Great Masters. He's like Van Gogh. His latest work for SFB still haunts me. He completely bared his soul and it was a real ballet. Though the NYTimes bombed it audiences cheered (the two performances I saw) and I long to see it again.
I had the great fortune to be in his first ballet for Joffrey - HEART OF THE MATTER, in the 80s and I even got to stage it for Les Grands in the early 90s.
I'm happy Mr. Kudelka is choreographing again.

I'm curious to know more about the new work -- his "Almost Mozart" for Oregon Ballet Theater is an excellent piece.

While I didn't find '...Ruins...' to be as compelling as you, there's no denying he has a unique vision, and I greatly admired the way he used his dancers. Just out of curiosity to see the effect, I'd like to see it performed without the distracting costumes and wigs --just dark practice clothes -- keep the moody lighting and present it as an abstract ballet.


Me too. I hope we get to see some more of his work, or some revivals of what's already in the SFB repertory.

Peggy

It's a remarkably frank and wide-ranging interview. Thanks, Haglund's, for linking to it. Kudelka's discussion of the financial, administrative, and artistic reasons for his actions seem plausible. They're also the kind of thing that most former-administrators don't talk about openly, at least if they're looking for new jobs in administration. Kudelka is fortunate to have his fascination with baking and his opportunities as a free-lance choreographer.

Many of us will not be familiar with his work, so it's good to hear people's impressions of his work. I hope others will follow. Who knows? -- Kudelka may be travelling to one of OUR own local companies one of these days, carrying a basket of artisan breads and plans for a new ballet. Much good luck to him!

Many seasons ago ABT was to stage Kudelka's production of "Firebird". They even had a picture of Nina Ananiashvili on the brochure in costume for the part. However, there was a financial crisis and the production had to be canceled.

ABT which in it's infancy as Ballet Theater had Fokine himself supervising and restaging his ballets, had a very authentic old production of Fokine's "Firebird" in its repertory but they haven't done it since the very early 1990's.

Might be a nice thing to see Nina out with a new starring role in a new production in New York - either the Fokine or Kudelka "Firebird". (Nina does the Fokine Firebird in the "Return of the Firebird" movie with Andris Liepa) Might I suggest Carreno or Malakhov as her Prince?

I've seen Kudelka's Firebird. Take the Fokine. If there's one thing Kudelka is impenetrable about, it's narrative. Worse, he doesn't seem to realize this.

Leigh, thanks but no thanks for reminding me that I saw Kudelka's Firebird. It's like 4th of July fireworks superimposed on a trainwreck.