L’Association Professionnelle de la Critique de Théâtre, de Musique et de Danse, a group of 140 French and international journalists, named the Toronto-based troupe Best Company of the Year on Monday for its performance of Nijinsky at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
Dance
Exploring The Wild Costumes In Ted Shawn’s And Ruth St. Denis’s Touring Trunk
“The modern dance tree has abundant roots, and two of its thickest and oldest belong to Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. Their Denishawn company and school in Los Angeles, which lasted from 1914 to ’29, toured the world with a new spirit of dance — barefoot and weighted, exotic and spiritual. They were celebrities of their day. Their costumes were often extravagant and the opposite of Coco Chanel’s dictum: ‘Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.’ That was the cue, at least for St. Denis, to add another bauble.”
India’s First Trans-Led Dance Company
There’s a long tradition in India of intersex and trans women called hijras who show up at weddings and other celebrations and dance for money. Except for those special occasions, however, hijras are severely marginalized in Indian society, and many must turn to begging or sex work to survive. But one group in Mumbai has banded together to create a performing company called Dancing Queens. Reporter Priti Salian meets them.
Previously Unknown Footage Of Rudolf Nureyev Found
Inside The Latest Expansion At Gibney, New York’s Dance Hub
“It’s a performance venue, a dance company, a rehearsal space, an internship possibility — a Rubik’s Cube of resources bundled into two sites at 280 and 890 Broadway. And in March of this year, Gibney (having officially dropped ‘Dance’ from its name) announced a major expansion of its space and programming; it now operates a total of 52,000 square feet, 23 studios and five performance spaces across the two locations.”
The New Indian Classical Dance Adaptation Of ‘Swan Lake’
Indian classical dance proponent Sharmila Mukherjee says, “The graceful movements, elegant postures, sculpturesque poses and intricate footwork in the Russian ballet lends itself naturally into the fabric of Odissi. … The story of Swan Lake has a lot of strong emotions. These emotions work very well for Indian dance forms as well.”
How Did The Grande Dame Of Russian Ballet Dance Principal Roles Into Her 50s?
New Edmonton Ballet, New Partnership, And A New Artistic Director
As the former Citie Ballet – now Ballet Edmonton – takes a name change the company will also start a new partnership with the Fine Arts & Communications Faculty at MacEwan University involving a performance space and other possible collaborations. Finally, Ballet Edmonton has announced that one of Canada’s most acclaimed choreographers Wen Wei Wang will take over as its new artistic director for the 2018-2019 season.
Molissa Fenley On Dancing And Choreographing In Her 60s
David Hallberg To Direct ABT’s New Choreography Initiative
“American Ballet Theatre [has] announced a new initiative to foster the development of choreography by company members and freelance dancemakers. Aptly titled ABT Incubator, the program, directed by principal David Hallberg, will give selected choreographers the opportunity to spend two weeks workshopping new dances.” (This is not to be confused with ABT Women’s Movement, the program to develop work by female choreographers that was announced last month.)
New York City Ballet’s Leading Prince Does Some Seriously Gender-Bending Side Projects
“Under the trees near the Metropolitan Opera House on a warm afternoon, [NYCB’s Russell Janzen talked with Marina Harss] about writing, his love of ballet — as well as his doubts about it — the performance of gender and sexual preference onstage, and the increasing number of outside projects he’s taking on.”
Joffrey Ballet Sees Second Record-Breaking Season In A Row
Milwaukee Ballet Teaches Dance To Kids In Wheelchairs
Company dancer Janel Meindersee, who teaches Glissade, the class tailored to wheelchair-users: “We teach a lot of the same things as a normal ballet class — how to spot your head when you move, the quality of arm movements, how to count music and how to stay in line when dancing together.”
A Young ABT Dancer Leaps From The Corps Into The Role Of Romeo
“On Wednesday afternoon, Aran Bell, at just 19, makes an important debut: as Romeo in Kenneth MacMillan’s production of Romeo and Juliet. At Ballet Theater, such a leap for a relatively unknown dancer is rare. Dancers wait — and sometimes really wait — for a featured variation in a full-length ballet. But a lead like Romeo? It’s as if Ballet Theater plucked a page from the casting manual of New York City Ballet, which often throws young dancers into principal parts.”
Why Isn’t 21st-Century Choreography Creating Great Roles For Great Ballerinas?
Joseph Carman: “where are the great prima donna roles of the 21st century? Many of today’s top choreographers concoct ballets with impressive corps de ballets that form dizzying, computer-graphic-like patterns. Numerous male and female soloists grab the audience’s attention and then disappear back into the group. … But are they quick to spotlight those juicy ballerina roles? Not really. To many current choreographers, building a ballet around just one commanding female dancer feels like a moth-eaten method of choreographing. To others, it feels too restrictive.”
This Principal Dancer At ABT Has A Hugely Popular Podcast About Dance And Being A Drag Queen
James Whiteside, who’s also a pop singer, creates the podcast The Stage Rightside. It’s “one of the most unabashed glimpses behind the curtain of a major American ballet company. During the American Ballet Theatre’s spring performances at the Metropolitan Opera House, Whiteside took listeners backstage as he dove into the ballet season, training an equal spotlight on dancers and those who do not necessarily perform, but are in the dance company.”
The Dance Floor: Not Just For Exercise, Also For Refuge
Chicago artist Nick Cave has made it official now, at the Park Avenue Armory in New York: He wants to use massive art/dance projects to inspire and encourage those feeling pretty down these days. “‘Empowerment’ is the word that performers have been using to describe their take on the project, and what they want to convey to the audience, [a dancer said]. In an onslaught of negativity, ‘you have two choices,’ he said. You can be discouraged and tormented, ‘or have the audacity to say, ‘I’m not going to let this break me.’'”
Debuting As Juliet Just After You Turn 40
Bending Gender In Traditional Ballet
For the first time in modern ballet history, a male dancer is performing as part of the female ensemble at an international ballet company, signaling an important moment in an art form that often celebrates a particular ideal of femininity. Or, as the great choreographer George Balanchine said, “ballet is woman.” But in a world with a heightened awareness of gender fluidity, and with transgender people increasingly accepted in a variety of professions, including acting and modeling, ballet is taking its own brave leap.
Fosse And de Mille – An Odd Turn Of Legacy
Why does de Mille’s choreography seem so dated now, while Fosse’s still looks as fresh and provocative as ever? It’s particularly puzzling considering that de Mille was the more revolutionary of the two. She created a startling new approach to integrating dance into the musical via character development, and established the standard for the widely imitated (and later much-parodied) “dream ballet,” an expressionistic choreographic sequence probing deep into characters’ psyches. Fosse’s great contribution to Broadway dance, on the other hand, is largely limited to his creation of a compelling physical vocabulary,
Chase Johnsey, Formerly Of Trocks, Is Now Dancing With Female Corps De Ballet
“For the first time in modern ballet history, a male dancer is performing as part of the female ensemble at an international ballet company, signaling an important moment in an art form that often celebrates a particular ideal of femininity. … ‘I want to be seen as a ballerina,’ said Mr. Johnsey, who identifies as gender fluid but uses male pronouns. ‘My hair is up, I wear makeup, female attire. I am able to do female roles and look the part, so that is artistically what I do.'” In January, he left Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo after 14 years, claiming that the famous drag company had been harassing him for being too feminine.
A Day In The Life Of A Ballet Dancer: Behind The Scenes With English National Ballet’s Francesca Velicu
“Rising star Velicu, who was born in Bucharest, is certainly one to keep your eye on. Earlier this year, she picked up an Olivier Award, named the winner of Outstanding Achievement in Dance for her performance in Pina Bausch’s Le Sacre du Printemps. She joined the English National Ballet in 2016 and was quickly promoted to First Artist the following year. … We caught up with her in rehearsals to find out more about what it takes to become a ballet dancer, and how she spends each day.” (video)
Bolshoi’s Controversial Nureyev Bio-Ballet Sweeps Russia’s Top Dance Awards
“Among the award winners at the Prix Benois ceremony in Moscow was the ballet’s original choreographer Kirill Serebrennikov, who is awaiting trial on what his supporters say are charges trumped up to punish him for challenging the Russian establishment. The Nureyev ballet – which was completed by a stand-in choreographer because Serebrennikov was under house arrest – won in the best male dancer, best composer, and best choreographer categories, in addition to Serebrennikov’s gong for best production design.”
‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Is Turning 15, But What Has It Done For – Or To – Dance In America?
Many of the winners have gone on to good careers, but even more than dancers, the show has changed the discussion for choreographers. “‘Unless you were in the dance world, you didn’t even know the word ‘choreography,’’ said Mia Michaels, a three-time Emmy winner for her work on the show. ‘Choreographers became household names, which was incredible for our industry.'”
The U.S. Is About To Be Able To Stream China’s AI-Driven Competitive Dance Show
This is real: “Hot-Blood Dance Crew was created with help from iQIYI’s AI Brain, a system that uses machine learning algorithms to analyze video and search data and predict audiences’ likes and dislikes. iQIYI previously used the in-house AI to help create the rap reality show Rap of China, which debuted last June and became immensely popular; it had nearly 3 billion views during its initial run.”
Assessing The State Of NY City Ballet After Peter Martins
City Ballet — still the world’s most valuable company for the excellence of its classical-modernist repertory — is in remarkably good shape. Had Mr. Martins resigned a decade or two earlier, the same could not have been said. Just what happened to make the difference in the years 2008-18? There are multiple answers. Dancers have learned again to step off balance into space and to embody their music rather than merely to follow it; and a number of excellent new ballets have revitalized the company’s sense of mission.
NEA Gets A New Head Of Its Dance Program
Prior to working at NEFA, Sara Nash managed the USArtists International grant program at Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. She also worked as senior producer at Dance Theater Workshop (New York Live Arts) for more than six years, where she oversaw the international program, the Suitcase Fund, and developed residency programs for commissioned artists. Nash’s international experience includes working at Tanec Praha, a contemporary dance festival in Prague, and at the British Council in London.
Dance Critic Judith Mackrell Is Leaving The Guardian; Lyndsey Winship Steps In
Mackrell: “Dance has been so very generous to me as a writer, and The Guardian such a fantastic platform, that I feel I’m walking away from my own dream job. But I’ve been doing it for 32 years (nine of them at The Independent before I joined The Guardian) and if it’s time for me to focus on other projects it’s also time to hand the mic to another voice.”
Marrying Dance With Animation And Movie
Robert Lepage has returned to filmmaker Norman McLaren for his latest project Frame by Frame, teaming up with the National Ballet of Canada and the National Film Board to create a multimedia dance production that marries ballet and abstract film animation in hopes of pushing the boundaries of ballet for our technological era. The ballet took four years to make and cost $1.4 million.
Moroccan B-Boys Make Break Dancing Their Own
“In Morocco, where state funding and institutions for the arts is scarce, break dancing has empowered young people to make their own entertainment since its arrival in the 1980s. … While protesters and outspoken artists were targets, dancers flew under the radar because they were seen as apolitical. When a second generation of Moroccan B-boy crews emerged in the early 2000s, their art really began to flourish.” (photo journal)