Dance

Payal Kadakia, New Jersey-born daughter of two Indian immigrant chemists, got a degree from MIT while setting up one Indian dance group and worked a professional job at Bain & Company while launching and running another. In a Q&A, she recounts how, as a way to address one of her biggest frustrations as a New York dancer, she built ClassPass. – The New York Times

“Nothing but the world outside the human one.” Alastair Macaulay offers an analysis (if that’s the right word for a Cunningham piece) of the 1958 work Summerspace. – The New York Times

The eponymous avians in Ashton’s The Two Pigeons are meant to be living symbols of the relationship between the two human leads, called the Young Man and the Young Girl. Reporter Jennifer Lu talks with Emma Hills, who trains the pigeons who have been doing the show for a decade, about how she teaches them and what mischief they occasionally get up to. – Pointe Magazine

As one senior ACE executive put it this spring, “Relevance is becoming the new litmus test. It will no longer be enough to produce high-quality work.” Now many ballet company execs, choreographers, and dancers are trying to convince ACE to drop or modify the plan. One told this paper, “This idea has been dreamt up by people who simply don’t understand reality. They mean well, but they’ll end up putting us out of business.” Few of these figures will speak out publicly, though Matthew Bourne tweeted, “Is giving pleasure not enough anymore?” – The Telegraph (UK)

“You have to remember you’re taking care of a legacy that has history.” – CBSNews

“I never wanted to look weak or incapable as a dancer, even if I was in a lot of pain. Even if I felt like I was going to pass out. I began feeling this way every day. From what I can remember, that was when I started blacking out while I was dancing.” – Dance Magazine

“To find another ballet dancer who expanded his or her range with such fortitude and ferocity, you’d have to go back to Mikhail Baryshnikov. But he transitioned into modern dance after his ballet career ended. Ms. Mearns is still going strong as a classical dancer.” – The New York Times

“Last May, The Guardian reported that Judith Mackrell would step down from her post after a 23-year run, and Alastair Macaulay announced he was giving up his position as The New York Times‘ chief dance critic, effective this past January. Luke Jennings left The Observer in the UK in December, and this winter, The New Yorker quietly replaced Joan Acocella with the historian Jennifer Homans. … In one fell swoop, criticism has lost decades of experience and memories, and these writers won’t be easily replaced.” – Dance Magazine

Lauren Wingenroth: “A Google search of that question will yield hundreds of results of impassioned arguments about whether or not we should consider dance a sport. The fact that breaking was recently provisionally added to the 2024 Summer Olympics program is certain to make the conversation even more heated. I would like to make a counterargument: Those on both sides of the issue seem to agree more than they disagree. So who cares?” – Dance Magazine

When Avichai Scher was a young student, no teacher or other authority figure ever said a word to him about when or how to start wearing a dance belt, which led to some very embarrassing moments when he was 13. His experience was, and is, all too common, he writes, though there are a few teachers and one company who are starting to deal with this issue properly. – Dance Magazine

According to a letter from the dancers’ unions at the Rome Opera Ballet to the theater’s board (a letter which Italy’s largest press agency published in full), Eleonora Abbagnato screamed obscenities at them, threatened (with more obscenities) not to renew their contracts, and called the Rome Opera “a shit theater.” What’s more, Abbagnato is often absent from the company she’s supposed to be running, as she is still an étoile at the Paris Opera Ballet. – Gramilano (Milan)

This is not a pleasant story. “In theory, NYCharities was a small dance company’s dream. Free to use, the nonprofit acted as a clearinghouse for companies to accept credit and debit card donations online. It also allowed companies to sell tickets to galas and events, set up recurring donations and even give donors the option to pay processing fees themselves—an important feature for dance companies with small budgets.” And then? Well, it stopped transferring money, returned no phone calls, and disappeared. (Now the NY Attorney General is investigating.) – Dance Magazine

Of course, eccentric dance wasn’t new when the movies started recording it. “Eccentric dance can trace its origins to ancient times and has roots in many cultures. But perhaps no place did it flourish more than in the movies, particularly from the 1930s to the 1950s.” – Los Angeles Times

The new festival this fall will feature six world premieres from choreographers including 2013 MacArthur fellow Kyle Abraham, Jacob Jonas and Janie Taylor — plus collaborations with noted artists on sets and costumes. – Los Angeles Times

“Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater announced Thursday that Jamar Roberts has been selected to be the company’s first ever resident choreographer. Mr. Roberts, a veteran company member, will begin his tenure with Ode, an examination of the value of life in an era of pervasive gun violence.” – The New York Times

Kourlas has been writing reviews and features for the Times on a freelance basis since 2000; she has also been dance editor of Time Out New York and an editor of The Paris Review. – The New York Times

“[Dagmar Sternad] began working with dance artists … to discover the scientific roots of human balance and coordination. But over the years, she realized that her research could have broader applications, like helping stroke victims relearn and recover skills they might have lost. And, increasingly, she’s been investigating her work’s connection to robotics.” (includes video) – Dance Spirit

“My arms jerk up and down and twist from side to side with the beat, but my own muscles aren’t doing the work; my flesh is being pushed around in space by the 45 pounds of metal, cable, and hydraulic cylinders running across my shoulders and down my arms. A robot is making me dance. With me beneath the lights are 11 other humans, each cinched into an exoskeleton of their own.” – Wired

In Taiwan, Cloud Gate Dance Theater is so beloved that the company’s farewell performance for founding director Lin Hwai-min (who’s reitring after 46 years) drew 50,000 people to the plaza in front of the National Theatre. Roslyn Sulcas talks to Lin and his successor as artistic director, Cheng Tsung-lung. – The New York Times

Gili Navot, who has been leading the company since last September: “For the past 30 years, Ohad was artistic director and choreographer, and this is the first time there was a separation between the two. … Over the course of the season we were able to go through a process in which he learned to let go and I learned to take. There was something harmonious about it and it is still happening and taking shape, but somehow it is clear.” – Haaretz (Israel)

One dancer says it’s a lot more work than it might seem: “The footwork is all flatfooting, which looks kind of easy, but when it’s at a higher tempo you can feel crazy. You have to have your weight in the back of your heels, and you have to be relaxed. It’s very simple, but the combination of things can trip you up. Like you can trip.” – The New York Times

“While the iconic precision dance troupe has of course always had artistic leaders for each of its shows, its parent organization, Madison Square Garden Company, is now looking to hire someone to oversee the artistic vision of all of the Rockettes’ year-round programming. That includes workshops, outreach activities and, intriguingly, new productions.” – Dance Magazine

The standards set by the French-born ballet master in his decades at the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg have had a defining influence on the art form ever since. But only three of his story ballets — Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadère, and Don Quixote — are in the repertory today, and of those only Sleeping Beauty has a genuinely good score. The rest, argues Alastair Macaulay, have “preposterous” plots, forgettable music, and values that were retrograde and out-of-step with even his own time and place, let alone ours. – The New York Times

The study, from the University of Bath, shows young people for poor backgrounds are faced with cost barriers, access difficulties and a fear they won’t fit in. – Classic FM

David Dorfman: “Dancemakers: Talk about money with the same knowledge and passion with which we talk about our mentors, our dances and the art form’s history. Research the roots of our current capitalist value system and know it intimately. … Sit down with people who have resources and believe you have something to offer them. Tell them what you need in order to make your art and how their investment will elevate our country’s cultural fabric.” – Dance Magazine

“CONTINUOUS Network, originally a partnership between Siobhan Davies Dance in London and BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead,” and now expanding to include two more dance companies and five more galleries, “will present six new co-commissioned dance works by 2022, and tour eight existing ones, with the aim of reaching 75,000 people live or online over the next three years.” – Arts Professional