A new Beggining the end of 2008 and start of 2009

Hey everybody,
The last two years have been incredibly busy and I have lost track my diary/blog. The 200 performances in basically a year and a half in over 100 cities was in a word "Exhausting".
Some of the big news is that I decided to officially retire. What this means is that I will not be dancing at the same level as I did, especially in Japan. I might perform for a special show here and there but it is sadly time to put that part of my life behind me. I had two extraordinary events to share with you.
My final Gala Performance in Japan and a guest performance in California at a festival.

The final Gala was set for the Last Day of the Japan "Recipe for Laughter tour 2008". I've seen many retirements and tried to base mine on what I have seen. I have seen some done with great videos and retrospectives and with many dancers performing all the special roles associated with the person retireing and I have also seen versions where basically the retiring ballerina dances everything and people wonder if there is an ambulance waiting for her at the end of the show. I like the second because you really get to see the ballerina slowly deteriorate over the evenings performance and it is an apt comment on a dancer's career.
I opened the evening with a role that I have dancing for 18 years, Odette in Swan Lake Act ll. Although this was not what I consider my first major role, that was Medora in Corsaire, It was a role that was the most important in the Male Comedy Ballet repetoire. It is a role I never tired of and always had challenges for me. I will miss Odette, she was a fun character to play because there was so much room for interpretation and so many technical challenges. For the curtain call I was surprised by Paul Boos, my friend and the ballet master presenting me with a dozen roses on stage. I actually choked up because it was completely unexpected.
The second act opened with Pas De Quatre. It is a ballet that was set with the 4 greatest ballerinas of the time. I thought it was fitting to cast the 4 dancers in Grandiva who have the most seniority. Allen, Oswaldo, Me and Bart. This was Bart's first performance in pas de quatre and the role he performed was also performed by the youngest star of the time. Bart was the youngest of the four of us and his inclusion infused excitement into the ballet for the audience and the cast.
I continued with Spartacus pas with George. This is probably the last duet that my career has been associated with. It was fitting to include this ballet because it represents a huge departure from what Male Comedy Ballet was like 20 years ago. It is a ballet that uniquely represents Grandiva and me personally. This ballet is deceptively difficult. Actually George and I have attempted to teach this ballet to other casts but have not been successful. I have hope that we will be able to pass this ballet to another generation because as a choreographer I think this is one of my best duets.
I closed the second act with The Dying Swan. When I first performed this ballet it was based on the idea that sometimes this short solo is done in its entirety for a curtain call. I first added one extra run of the ballet with a different ballerina and then decided too extend that to two extra ballerinas. When I thought of this idea I thought listening and watching the same rendition 3 times would be too much for the audience so I decided to make the third version, my version, really a slapstick version with a special recording. Just between you and me, I also thought the other dancers doing the role were much more elegant physically and so I thought it would be better for me to concentrate on comedy. From a comedic standpoint I think Dying Swan is probably one of the funniest things in my rep and so I felt I needed to include it.
The evening ended with a special version of Minkus Gala. I wanted to do something different with this ballet since we do it so regularly and we changed all the solos in the middle to give dancers an opportunity to dance either a role that was new to them or one that was associated with them. I also wanted to be able to dance with all my male partners, Tetsushi, Momchil, Oswaldo and George. I did miss dancing with Baris :(, but I couldn't fit anything else in without exhausting myself to the point of injury. I did dance Carmen with Baris on the last regular performance of the season so....for those of you who travelled to see that one thank you. Momchil and I danced Sleeping Beauty, and Oswaldo and I danced Star Spangled Ballerina a ballet that was created for me.
The final curtain calls were a show all by themselves. It was overwhelming for me. The huge numbers of bouquets of flowers and all the tears from the fans (at a comedy show!) were touching and a bit hard to handle for me. The dancers presented me with a diamond ring to remember them and the evening by. I will cherish it and all the years I have danced professionally starting at Ballet Florida in 1983 to my last official performance with Grandiva in 2008

one third of Australian tour is finished

I am sitting outside my hotel room now by the pool in Milura and we have now finished the first third of the tour. We still have 7 weeks of touring Australia before we move on to New Zealand for 3 weeks. The distances between cities in Australia are vast and life seems to be a long series of bus rides here. There is some beautiful country and the mostly sold out audiences have been loud and enthusiastic. I am enjoying it but it is hard. Giovanni sprained his ankle and has been out for a week but should be dancing in the next few days and Momchil left to go work with Suzanne after working with us for about a month. George just went home for 9 days to be with his daughter for her birthday and to be the best man at a wedding. Roberto arrived safely from Biarritz where he was dancing in a peformance at a festival. Baris is set to come join us for about a month to take the place of Momchil. He should be arriving in about 2 weeks from now. Peter Brandenhoff has been my roomate on tour and he and I danced Swan Lake for the first time two days ago. He is an excellent partner. I have also tried to give other people opportunities. Emanuel has danced Dying Swan and Marlon has danced one of the lead girls in Go For Barocco. We have several new dancers who are adjusting and doing very well. It has been a very nice atmosphere dispite the difficulties. We will probably end up doing somewhere between 80 and 90 shows before the tour is over and that is ALOT!

The MEN IN TUTUS TOUR in Austrlia Begins

This is the current schedule, there are several TBA's and a few TBA that I missed :)
MEN IN TUTUS AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND 2007 - AS AT AUGUST 28, 2007
August
Monday
27
Shepparton
Eastbank Centre
8.15pm
Tuesday
28
Griffith
Regional Theatre
8.15pm

Friday
31
Tamworth
War Memorial Town Hall
8.15pm


SEPTEMBER


Saturday
1
Wollongong
Performing Arts Centre
Sunday
2
Wollongong
Performing Arts Centre
Monday
3
Albury
Performing Arts Centre
Tuesday




7
Melbourne
Her Majesty's Thaetre



Sunday
9
Darwin
Ent Centre (Playhouse)
5.00pm


Monday
10
Darwin
Ent Centre (Playhouse)
7.30pm


Wednesday
12
Perth
Burswood Theatre
8.15pm


Thursday
13
Mandurah
Performing Arts Centre
8.15pm

Saturday
15
Geraldton
Queens Park Theatre
8.00pm


Sunday
16
VICTOR'S BIRTHDAY (NO SHOW- Grandiva international holiday :) )



Monday
17
Kalgoorlie
Goldfields Arts Centre
8.15pm




Wednesday
19
Warnambool
Entertainment Centre
8.15pm


Thursday
20
Hamilton
Performing Arts Centre
8.15pm


Friday
21
Frankston
Arts Centre
8.15pm
5.30pm

Saturday
22
Bendigo
Capital Theatre
8.00pm


Sunday
23
Mt Gambier
Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre
5.00pm


Monday
24
Renmark
Chaffey Theatre
8.15pm


Tuesday
25
Mildura
Arts Centre
8.15pm


Wednesday
26
Broken Hill
Entertainment Centre
8.15pm



Friday
28
Port Pirie
Keith Michell Theatre
8.15pm
5.30pm

Saturday
29
Port Lincoln
Nautilus Theatre
8.00pm


Sunday
30
Whyalla
Middleback Theatre
2.00pm
OCTOBER





Monday
1
Tanunda
Brenton Langbein Theatre
5.00pm


Tuesday
2TBA

Wednesday
3
Adelaide
Festival Theatre
8.15pm



Friday
5
Warragul
West Gippsland Arts Centre
8.15pm


Saturday
6
Sale
Wellington Ent Centre
8.00pm


Sunday
7
Geelong
Performing Arts Centre
2.00pm


Monday
8
Launceston
Princess Theatre
8.15pm


Tuesday
9
Hobart
Theatre Royal
8.15pm


Wednesday
10
Hobart
Theatre Royal
Possible


Thursday
11
Travel




Friday
12
Wagga
Civic Theatre
8.15pm


Saturday
13
Canberra
Theatre Centre
8.00pm


Sunday
14
TBA


Monday
15
TBA


Tuesday
16
Bathurst
Entertainment Centre
8.15pm


Wednesday
17
TBA


Thursday
18
Sutherland
Entertainment Centre
8.15pm


Friday
19
Sydney
TBA

Saturday
20
Sydney
State Theatre
8.00pm
2.00pm

Sunday
21
Castle Hills
Hills Centre
2.00pm







Tuesday
23
TBA


Wednesday
24
Penrith
Evan Theatre
8.15pm


Thursday
25
Newcastle
Civic Theatre
8.15pm


Friday
26
Port Macquarie
Panthers
8.15pm


Saturday
27
Lismore
Northern Rivers PAC
8.00pm


Sunday
28
Gold Coast
Arts Centre
4.00pm


Monday
29
TBA


Tuesday
30
Brisbane
Lyric Theatre
8.15pm


Wednesday
31
TBA


NOVEMBER



Thursday
1
Travel


Friday
2
Toowoomba
Empire Theatre
8.15pm
Saturday
3
Caloundra
Cultural Centre
8.00pm
Sunday
4
Maryborough
Brolga Theatre
2.00pm
Monday


Tuesday
6
Bundaberg
Moncrieff Theatre
8.15pm
Wednesday
7
Rockhampton
Pilbeam Theatre
8.15pm
Thursday
8
Mackay
Entertainment Centre
8.15pm
Friday
9
TBA

Saturday
10
Townsville
Civic Theatre
8.00pm
Sunday
11
Cairns
Convention Centre
4.00pm
Monday
12
Travel TO NEW ZEALAND



Tuesday
13
Wellington
St James Theatre
8.15pm
Wednesday
14
TBA
Thursday
15
Wanganui
Royal Opera House
8.15pm
Friday
16
New Plymouth
TSB Showplace
8.15pm
Saturday
17
Auckland
ASB Theatre
8.00pm
Sunday
18
TBA
Monday
19
Travel


Tuesday
20
Taupo
Great Lake Centre
8.15pm
Wednesday
21
Hamilton
Founders Theatre
8.15pm
Thursday
22
Rotorua
Civic Theatre
8.15pm
Friday
23
TBA
Saturday
24
Tauranga
Baycourt Theatre
8.00pm
Sunday
25
Napier
Municipal Theatre
2.00pm
Monday
26
Palmerston Nth
Regent on Broadway
8.15pm
Tuesday
27
Travel


Wednesday
28
Invercargill
Civic Theatre
8.15pm
Thursday
29
Dunedin
Regent Theatre
8.15pm
Friday
30
Christchurch
TBA


DECEMBER



Saturday
1
Christchurch
Isaac Theatre Royal
8.00pm
Sunday
2
Timaru
Theatre Royal
2.00pm

Our Tour to Italy

This is one of the really gorgeous buildings I saw in Pisa that I wanted to share with you.

This has been an incredibly busy and exciting year for Grandiva and for me. The tour to Italy was so much fun. We started in Cremona and then visited Vizenca and then went to Pisa and of course we couldn't leave without getting a picture of the famous tower.

The Theaters were beautiful old buildings but the stage floors were raked (that means that they are inclined). They use to make floors this way so the audience would get a better view of the show but it is hard for dancers to work on them; especially for dancers that are not from Europe as they are not as accustomed to working on this type of surface. It takes a few performances to get use to the difference. Performing in these older grand theaters really gives you a sense of the history that theater has and it is a great feeling to be a part of it. We also hired a photographer to take pictures of us in the theater in Pisa. They are part of this year's souvenir program book. I love the way these pictures capture the beauty of the the theater.

Friday April 27th 2007

We have finished our first three shows in Japan and it has been a very unusual time for the company. We have been plagued with many small injuries which has limited the casting of the shows. Brian Norris had an ankle injury which is now almost completely healed which I am happy about. George had a back injury in Italy which is almost healed also. Jai has had a foot injury which also now seems to just be healing and Momchil has had an elbow injury which is almost healed. Roberto remained in New York to have therapy on his calf. He is healing well and will be arriving next week in time for our Tokyo shows. Sebastian had a rib injury and three other dancers are having trouble with their feet and legs. We have never had more than 3 people hurt at the same time and usually we have had only one and occasionally two so I have been going crazy. It is so hard to move forward with plans when unexpected happens. Still, I have been blessed because the younger dancers continue to blossom and this time has given them a great opportunity to dance new roles. I think by the time we reach Tokyo everyone will be almost completely well so I am looking forward to that. It will make casting and programming the shows so much easier and more interesting for the dancers and the audience. We continue to work on the new ballets, Who Dares?!, They Who Wore White Flowers and La Sylphide all are finished and look great. Momchil and I are still putting the finishing touches on Manon. It looks like we will be having a few guest dancers this season also. I will write more about that next time.
Victor

The Always in Fashion Year Begins

A lot of new things are happening at Grandiva this year and so trying to move forward and do new things has caused me to get behind in updating you on all the latest things that are happening with the company! Grandiva had a wonderful 10th season but as we move into a new decade I felt it was time to renew our commitment to explore dance and art by looking for new sources for creativity. Dance is a living art form that constantly changes as new personalities are added into the mix. Because of this it is not a museum but an exciting, ever changing experience to come to the theater and see artists at different levels of their careers. Grandiva has many veterans but also this season many young exciting performers continue to grow and take on more responsibility. Comedy is the ability to touch people in a very personal way and give them joy. Developing this talent in dancers is a process that is unique to every individual and that is why dancing in Male Comedy Ballet is so interesting and entertaining for me. Because of so many new exciting opportunities for the company we have hired several dancers to bring in new creative energy into the company. Grandiva now boasts of having dancers from more than 12 countries. It is truly international and unique to be involved with artists from so many different parts of the world. I can honestly say that this season's group is one that I have enjoyed working with more than almost any other in the past. I think that you will find that the Diva's of 2007 are charming, fun, kind and passionate about performing. I will introduce them to you over the next few weeks.

I will also like to tell you we had a wonderful time in Italy. Cremona was beautiful. I will try to write about different things in the coming days but I don't want to tell you everything in one sitting :)


Victor 3/21/2007