Interestingly, Ferri has no prior connection to the Vienna State Opera. ... She sees this as a positive, especially in light of the two years she’s had to prepare for the role. “I have no personal agenda, and it gave me a lot of freedom to step back and observe.” - Pointe Magazine
Anthony Krutzkamp, a Kentucky native, is currently both artistic and executive director at Sacramento Ballet, where he achieved record ticket sales, formed a second company, and started the organization's first endowment. He succeeds outgoing co-artistic directors Mikelle Bruzina and Harald Uwe Kern in October. - Louisville Courier Journal
Stephen Nakagawa, a former dancer with the Washington Ballet, was hired just days after the Kennedy Center fired its entire dance programming staff. Nakagawa had written a letter to the center’s president, Richard Grenell, saying he wants to help “end the dominance of leftist ideologies in the arts.” - The New York Times
Then a seemingly random, deeply senseless knife attack nearly killed her. Now she tells the story of her recovery and return to dance in a documentary. - West Australian
“Everyone can have a bad day at the office. But for most of us, it doesn’t take place in front of millions of viewers,” argues Lyndsey Winship, who points out that objecting to Rachael Gunn being a white academic amounts to gatekeeping who’s allowed to do what kind of dance. - The Guardian
“The layoffs leave unclear the future of the performance genre, which is a subscription driver for the arts venue. … Notably, the dance package no longer includes the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, a reliable crowd-pleaser of past seasons.” - The Washington Post (MSN)
The first problem was that the producers didn’t realize they’d need a choreographer until after a band was assembled, rehearsed, and on set for shooting. The second problem was that they wouldn’t show him the script until he got there. Here’s how Andrew Turtletaub made it work. - TheWrap (Yahoo!)
Mohamoud Osman Mohamed, director of the Somali Museum of Minnesota, and his father founded the Somali Museum Dance Troupe a decade ago. At first its members were recent young immigrants sharing the dances from back home; now there’s a new crop, mostly US-born, who were impressed by the Troup’s TikTok videos. - Sahan Journal
The hand not only guides the eye but is the body’s finishing touch. When the hands are unintentional and artificial, they become soulless, dragging a dancer down and interrupting the flow of the dance. - The New York Times
“When I choreograph for dancers, I put a lot of thought into it. But for the Bananas, I’m quick. I have to (remember) the KISS (‘Keep it simple, stupid’) method. If I make something up that's easy to me, I break it down a bit to make sure everybody looks good.” - Dance Spirit
The dances they make “hinge on an evocative, slippery-fish ambiguity. Their dreamlike montages are often turbulent and disorienting, but can also feel unnervingly familiar.” - The New York Times
This latest list of the 150 largest (by expenditure) U.S. ballet and classically-based companies includes comparative rankings by company revenue, and surplus or deficit status. - Dance Data Project
“Hands not only guide the eye but are the body’s finishing touch. ... They also offer a way into how to look at a dancer — and a dance. A dance isn’t just about what you see. It’s what you internalize: emotionally, intellectually, sonically, spiritually. Those hands? They lead the way.” - The New York Times
For 30 years the Twin Cities-based company has focused on the choreography of its founder and artistic director, Mathew Janczewski. Beginning this season, Arena is switching to a repertory model, keeping older works by Janczewski in its portfolio but adding new pieces by other choreographers. - The Minnesota Star Tribune (MSN)
But perhaps the most important thing these two artists had in common was the fact that they each left the Soviet Union in search of artistic opportunity. Balanchine left in 1924 and Baryshnikov in 1974, exactly fifty years later. - Hudson Review
