Daniil Simkin
September 4, 2010 · Posted by Survival Guide for Dancers ·
Daniil SimkinDaniil was born in Russia, October 12, 1987. Around 1990 his family moved to Germany, and he was given private lessons under instruction of his mother Olga Aleksandrova. At age 12 he was finished with his education (academic) and started competing around the globe. At age 19 he joined the ballet company Vienna State Opera playing part in many classical, neoclassical, and contemporary pieces. In 2007 he performed his first principal role with the Lithuanian National Opera. He has been awarded Senior Gold Medal at the USA International Ballet Competition in 2006, Grand Prix International Ballet Competition Helsinki 2005, ...Pas de Trois: Who is your favorite dancer?
August 25, 2010 · Posted by Tights and Tiaras ·
This weeks topic on Pas de Trois (@ dancing3.com) is “who is your favorite dancer”. That should be a fairly simple question to answer, shouldn’t it? No, it’s not! First of all, how can you compare them all up towards each other? Who is to say who is the better of gorgeous Russian half-swan Svetlana [...]A very lengthy recap post
August 10, 2010 · Posted by The Winger ·
The dance festival has sadly come to a close… luckily the Winger lives on. Today I walked to the theater along a winding path through the Rockies; birds were singing, I was listening to a mixture of Norah Jones, Minkus, and the Beatles, and already feeling nostalgic. The day before yesterday was the big departure day; all the International Evenings of Dance couples as well as most of the staff, and today the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater feels eerily quiet. On Thursday night, Damian and Heather Watts (Damian’s wife and legendary NYCB ballerina) led Up Close: International Evenings of Dance. Up first ...The Half-way Point
August 5, 2010 · Posted by The Winger ·
It’s officially past the exact middle of the festival and as I’m sitting on the lawn overlooking the stage, tech crew is sanitizing the marley and setting up barres for Damian’s 10am company class onstage. Damian and Suki Schorer have been trading off teaching in the mornings; the Vail Mountain School and the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater have been overflowing with starpower as Whelans trade off rehearsal space with Simkins to better accomodate their respective Ratmansky and Robbins dances. Carla Korbes, Daniil Simkin and Joaquin de Luz in class with Artistic Director Damian Woetzel for the 2010 Vail International Dance Festival ...The Beginnings of a Whiplash Week Two
August 3, 2010 · Posted by The Winger ·
I don’t think I will ever forget the afternoon of Sunday, August 1. I knew that the weather would be somewhat menacing and I was a bit concerned about how the Celebrate the Beat kids would fare that night, opening for Pacific Northwest Ballet in their Broadway tribute. The festival had provided each child with two vouchers for lawn seating, and I was terrified that all those parents who had waited weeks to see their kids perform for the first time would drown in a torrential downpour and swear off dance forever (…ultimately quite the opposite). So a bit apprehensively I ...THE DUELING JULIETS: NATALIA OSIPOVA VERSUS DIANA VISHNEVA
July 11, 2010 · Posted by Swan Lake Samba Girl ·
So Saturday was another double feature for me, as for many ABT fans. And it was a fun double-header with the Russian women – the Bolshoi versus the Kirov, if you will – kind of going at each other Natalia Osipova (top photo) made her debut as Juliet, opposite David Hallberg’s Romeo during the matinee, and in the evening, Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes took the leads. I can’t say I liked one over the other, though they were very very different. It was Osipova’s debut and Vishneva has performed it many times so the evening Juliet was a ...THE DUELING JULIETS: NATALIA OSIPOVA VERSUS DIANA VISHNEVA
July 11, 2010 · Posted by Swan Lake Samba Girl ·
So Saturday was another double feature for me, as for many ABT fans. And it was a fun double-header with the Russian women – the Bolshoi versus the Kirov, if you will – kind of going at each other Natalia Osipova (top photo) made her debut as Juliet, opposite David Hallberg’s Romeo during the matinee, and in the evening, Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes took the leads. I can’t say I liked one over the other, though they were very very different. It was Osipova’s debut and Vishneva has performed it many times so the evening Juliet was a ...DAY OF SLEEPING BEAUTIES: ALINA COJOCARU AND NATALIA OSIPOVA
June 21, 2010 · Posted by Swan Lake Samba Girl ·
Alina Cojocaru and Jose Carreno in Sleeping Beauty, photo by Gene Schiavone. (My favorite pose in all of life – no hands fish dive )And Natalia Osipova and David Hallberg as Aurora and Prince Desire, photo by Rosalie O’Connor. So, I spent another Saturday at Lincoln Center, watching back-to-back Sleeping Beauties. This is probably my least favorite ballet — neither the story nor the choreography really speaks to me – but I was curious to see Alina Cojocaru in the role (it’s supposed to be her best and she’s was guesting for only one day from the Royal Ballet ...DAY OF SLEEPING BEAUTIES: ALINA COJOCARU AND NATALIA OSIPOVA
June 21, 2010 · Posted by Swan Lake Samba Girl ·
Alina Cojocaru and Jose Carreno in Sleeping Beauty, photo by Gene Schiavone. (My favorite pose in all of life – no hands fish dive )And Natalia Osipova and David Hallberg as Aurora and Prince Desire, photo by Rosalie O’Connor. So, I spent another Saturday at Lincoln Center, watching back-to-back Sleeping Beauties. This is probably my least favorite ballet — neither the story nor the choreography really speaks to me – but I was curious to see Alina Cojocaru in the role (it’s supposed to be her best and she’s was guesting for only one day from the Royal Ballet ...Sunday Snapshot: Father’s Way
June 20, 2010 · Posted by Dance Advantage ·
Okay, I’m cheating a little this week.I wanted to do something interesting for Father’s Day so I’m changing it up a bit just for today. Below are two videos of a father and son, both spectacular dancers. You don’t get images of that very often, I’m sad to say! The pair are Dimitrij and Daniil Simkin. Daniil joined ABT as a solist in 2008. He’s been featured as Lankendem in Le Corsaire, the Son in Prodigal Son, Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, and danced leading roles in Allegro Brillante and One of Three. He’s won numerous international awards, and I might ... 
