Dance

In Columbus, Ohio, ballerina Rachael Parini was the inspiration for a 90-foot billboard that advertises the BalletMet company, but it means more than that to her – it means that young dancers of color might be inspired to try, and stick with, ballet. – 10TV (Ohio)

“It’s controversial in Russia to reconstruct ballets — original Russian ballets — but on the notation that was removed from Russia. In recent years, “La Bayadère” has raised questions over cultural stereotypes and insensitive depictions of India. – Los Angeles Times

In 2010, Argentine dancer and former ABT principal Julio Bocca was named artistic director of Uruguay’s flagship company, the Ballet Nacional del Sodre. Since then, under Bocca and successor Igor Yebra, what was once a small, poorly attended troupe has become a dynamo: it has increased the number of rehearsals and performances, tours within the country and abroad, and sells more than 100,000 tickets a year in a country of only 3.3 million people. – Yahoo! (AFP)

Specifically, the company’s revenues were $37.58 million with expenses at $36.17 million, which resulted in a surplus of $1.41 million. The figures represent a 4 percent operating surplus. – Ludwig Van

“Described as the first resource of its kind, Choreography Online allows individuals to buy the performance licence for choreographic material through a searchable video-based site. … Uploaded choreography can be searched by genre, number of performers or difficulty, and a time-limited licence can then be bought to perform the dance, providing the original choreographer is credited.” – The Stage

The four were forced to sign a document agreeing to deportation, Marta Carrasco said. She said Customs told her group, “If you don’t sign, you will not be allowed to enter the U.S. for five years.” The artist added that they were “accompanied like criminals by five immigration officers all the way to the airplane door.” – Los Angeles Times

Choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan has taken the kernel of the Tchaikovsky/Petipa classic’s story and transplanted to in the milieu of contemporary Ireland to create Swan Lake/Loch na hEala, with a score of Irish and Nordic folk music accompanying a narrative of a depressed loner and a young woman molested by a priest and changed into a swan so she can’t tell anyone of his crime. – The New York Times

Gia Kourlas: “You can’t completely banish your true self when you dance; Arthur Fleck is still somewhere inside of Mr. Phoenix, even after Arthur transforms himself into the Joker. What makes Mr. Phoenix’s performance so confusingly poignant — and not just a tale of good vs. evil — is the way in which he has essentially placed two characters within one dancing body.” – The New York Times

The company, Perra da Nadie, released a statement: “Marta and 3 gentlemen who accompany her on this tour, flew from Barcelona with an overlay in Seattle where we were denied access to enter the country. Without knowing why they took us to a secluded room, they warned us from touching our phones, they took our passports.” – Broadway World

At the Auckland Region Women’s Correction Facility, the Royal New Zealand Ballet has taken on a plan to make ballet more accessible. The teacher of the women who asked to join the class says, “Every week you can just see them become more confident. With confidence comes the drive to want to get better. They’re very engaged and very present.” – Stuff (New Zealand)

Sarah Kaufman: “As a lifelong ballet lover but ambivalent dance mom, here’s my cri de coeur: Do your kids a favor and banish the thought. Yes, there are options galore for parents looking for a dance class for their toddlers — even for babies. Dance schools will be delighted to fulfill your sparkly pink dreams. But the best dance class for a very young child looks nothing like that.” – The Washington Post

Short answer: “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf.” The longer answer is movement set to and inspired by poetry. And it traces back to the 1970s and a writer who just had to move while she spoke her work. – The New York Times

Marina Harss: “The material feels both so deeply literary and, at the same time, so utterly deflating. The subject is a solitary man” — Robert Walser — “whose writings tended to track the minutiae of his solitary life, and who died alone in the snow — this hardly sounds like something to dance about. But that is precisely what the choreographer John Heginbotham and the illustrator Maira Kalman have set out to do … [in] Herz Schmerz.” – The New Yorker

Argentine feminists are fed up with the patriarchal, rigid roles of traditional tango, and they’ve published a new protocol that breaks old rules – and reinforces new ones. “The protocol provides suggested guidelines for tango venue organizers, including acceptance of couples who depart from heteronormative roles. It also offers guidance on how to handle instances of harassment and abuse, advising, for instance, that men accused of acting inappropriately on the dance floor be asked to leave.” – The New York Times

“I shall be firm straight and even cruel to be faithful. I SHALL DANCE. Yes . . . I shall dance. Say it over and over and over to infinatum [sic]. I shall dance I shall dance . . . I will live to dance, eat to dance, sleep to dance. My classes shall be my daily worship and workshop. Every moment shall be devoted to these purposes.” – LitHub

“Working with dancers, a lot gets communicated non-verbally, but with untrained dancers you need to find a specific and deliberate language around movement because there is no shared language, no baseline. I try to put myself in their shoes. It’s important to remind myself how scary and alien dancing is to the non-dancer.” – Dance Magazine

“A full-length ballet is ‘like a Broadway show,’ according to [the company’s artistic director]. It’s generally a big, splashy production with elaborate sets and costumes, familiar music, and a story that’s known or easy to follow. People are eager to buy tickets. That’s why Corella has been rechoreographing full-length ballets, which he performed as a dancer countless times with companies all over the world. He knows what works and what he likes.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer

“While [Kristin Colvin] Young’s job involves the responsibilities that immediately come to mind when you think of stage management — like calling the lights and sound during shows — her role encompasses everything from prepping casting inserts for programs to finalizing rehearsal schedules to giving preshow audience announcements as the ‘Voice of God.’ During a recent tour stop in Copenhagen, Young documented what a typical performance day entails.” – Dance Magazine

The MacArthur-winning modern choreographer is creating a new solo on the star ballerina for the opening of this year’s Fall For Dance festival in New York. Brian Seibert talks with the two of them about working with each other for the first time. – The New York Times

Yes indeed, historically speaking. “Tap and jazz grew up together, and in the 1930s and ‘40s, it was assumed that the greatest jazz bands — Duke Ellington’s, Count Basie’s — would bring tap dancers with them on tour. After World War II, though, as jazz separated from dance, hoofers became much scarcer in jazz clubs and concerts — never entirely absent but unusual, forgotten enough to be a novelty. Lately, that’s been changing a little.” – The New York Times

At City Ballet, the master is coaching other dancers in a piece created for him by Jerome Robbins. “Dance, to Mr. Baryshnikov, is about five points: the head, the two hands and the two feet. ‘You cannot dance with three elements,’ he said. ‘You have to think about those things all the time — that it’s natural extension.'” – The New York Times

Heffington moves like a trailblazer because he is one. His creative visions have rebooted the way the pop-culture world thinks about dance, and the way the dance world thinks about success, because his achievements — in music videos, film and television, onstage and in the business realm — have been as untraditional as his choreography. – Washington Post

Los Angeles already had one dance festival, but Lythgoe, producer of So You Think You Can Dance, knew that if he hadn’t heard of it, it wasn’t getting enough publicity. So he and Allen created a big new one, and here he tells Jennifer Stahl how they did it. “Los Angeles has so much going for it dance-wise,” he says, “but we don’t sort of come together and show off.” – Dance Magazine

Choreographer Lin Hwai-min, who founded the company in Taiwan in 1973 and led it to acclaim abroad and superstar status at home, is stepping down as artistic director at the end of this year. Judith Mackrell meets Lin and his successor, Cheng Tsung-lung. – The Guardian

De Luz, who retired from NYCB last spring, has just begun a five-year term as artistic director at Spain’s national company, which came to international renown under the leadership of choreographer Nacho Duato (1990-2010). De Luz tells Wendy Perron that (among other goals) he’d like to bring some of Duato’s works back to the CND’s repertoire. – Dance Magazine