Cuban Ballet: A Paradise Of Sorts, Trapped In Limbo The school of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba "is now world-famous, gathering its students from the island's rural poor and urban delinquent," and its training "is also world-class." But while ballet is "a national entertainment" in Cuba, the country's "political, economic and cultural limbo" means its astounding dancers have very few choices.

The Guardian (UK) 02/08/10

email this story | Posted 02/09/10@07:47AM

Canada's National Ballet Reschedules To Avert Kirov Clash "After discussions with the Sony [Centre] and attempts to have Toronto city hall officials intervene, the ballet company created a later slot for its own Russian program," though it still worries that the Kirov's visit in March of next year will be a drain on its box office.

Toronto Star 02/09/10

email this story | Posted 02/09/10@07:29AM

Ohad Naharin's Counsel To Critics "Don't let a point of reference prevent you from having a moment of a fresh new experience," he advises. And: "Connect to physical pleasures of life."

Dance Magazine 02/10

email this story | Posted 02/08/10@08:47PM

Kirov In Conflict With Canada's National Ballet "This feels like a Mack truck falling out of the sky and hitting us," says Kevin Garland, executive director of the National Ballet of Canada. "It's great to have the Kirov coming to Toronto, but the timing couldn't be worse for us, and we didn't hear anything about it in time for us to plan accordingly."

Toronto Star 02/08/10

email this story | Posted 02/08/10@08:47AM

Dancing Opera Singers? Hmnnn... "The idea of opera singers moving choreographically is tantalizing. About the specific fantasy of a dancing Carmen, however, I would caution, be careful what you wish for. Many great opera singers are just not built for dancing."

The New York Times 02/07/10

email this story | Posted 02/07/10@09:54AM

Landmark 1948 Film of Indian Dance-Drama To Be Restored Kalpana, a filmed dance-drama by Uday Shankar (Ravi's oldest brother, and considered the father of modern Indian dance), will be reassembled and restored by Martin Scorcese's World Cinema Institute. No complete print of the film exists in India.

The Times of India 02/03/10

email this story | Posted 02/04/10@09:56PM

The Irresistible Allure Of So You Think You Can Dance Yes, it has cheesy production values and "pits dance styles against each other, usually to the disadvantage of contemporary choreography. Most of the numbers are stunt-heavy hip-hop routines, disco, Broadway, lindy hop and jazz." Somehow none of that hinders its addictiveness.

The Guardian (UK) 02/04/10

email this story | Posted 02/04/10@07:26AM

London's Hot New Ballet Star (She's Only 18) Her name is Laurretta Summerscales. "Fans are already asking whether the baby of the English National Ballet, who has just triumphed in her first principal role, might be the new Darcey Bussell."

London Evening Standard 02/03/10

email this story | Posted 02/03/10@09:47PM

A Star Academy For The Moulin Rouge In BBC Documentary "Young British dancers making their debuts at Paris' Moulin Rouge are to be the subject of a fly on the wall documentary being developed for BBC3. The 60-minute programme … will begin with the female dancers preparing for their auditions at London dance studios Pineapple later this month and follow them to the point of their first appearance on stage at the famous venue."

The Stage (UK) 02/03/10

email this story | Posted 02/03/10@09:37PM

Choreographers' Rock-Star Moment "So You Think You Can Dance ('the search for Britain's favourite dancer') now features certain choreographers regularly, announcing them with X Factor-style fireworks ahead of the dance they have created.... Is the dance world excited by this - or horrified?"

The Guardian (UK) 02/02/10

email this story | Posted 02/03/10@06:59AM

New English Contemporary Ballet Closes Down The Nottingham-based company and its associated school "ceased trading on January 22, following the resignation of the company's artistic director and co-founder Niall McMahon … [who] gave up his post due to ill health, having been on long-term sick leave since November last year."

The Stage (UK) 02/02/10

email this story | Posted 02/02/10@09:47PM

Paul Taylor Co. Cuts CEO Position "The Paul Taylor Dance Foundation, which runs the company, said its executive director, Martin I. Kagan, resigned on Friday. He was effectively replaced by the company's general manager, John Tomlinson, who was given the title of managing director of the foundation."

New York Times 02/02/10

email this story | Posted 02/02/10@09:32PM

Scottish Drama School Creating £6M Campus For Dance The head of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama said "that he could see the school renaming itself as a result of including dance and ... that changing the title to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, Dance and Drama would probably have to happen 'sooner rather than later'."

The Stage (UK) 02/02/10

email this story | Posted 02/02/10@07:34AM

A First At Prix De Lausanne Competition: More Boys Than Girls "This year sees more boys - 36 to the girls' 34 - taking part for the very first time in the event's 38-year history. … In all, 70 dancers from all over the world and aged between 15 and 18, have gathered in Lausanne for the week-long [ballet competition], which "rewards potential rather than present accomplishment."

Swissinfo 01/29/10

email this story | Posted 01/31/10@09:24AM

Baltimore Ballet Turns Ten "Rightly or wrongly, Baltimore has a reputation as being inhospitable to dance. … Troupes with national profiles have tried and failed to find a large enough audience here to support them. So when [Cem and Elysabeth Catbas] arrived in town in the summer of 2000 and announced plans to found a professional dance company, and said that they were going to do it on a budget about as big as a sequin, many observers were skeptical."

Baltimore Sun 01/31/10

email this story | Posted 01/31/10@09:19AM

There's No Right To Dance At The Jefferson Memorial "A federal judge has ruled against a woman who was arrested for dancing with a group of 17 others at the memorial dedicated to President Jefferson."

Boston Globe (AP) 01/28/10

email this story | Posted 01/28/10@05:57AM

Watching Maya Deren's Footage Of Haitian Ritual Dance "Despite the choppy footage throughout the roughly 30 minutes of unedited film, there is something sacred about the way in which the dancers, both men and women, ride a wave of soundless rhythm. The movement is simple; it's how deeply the dancers travel inside of the easy steps that matters the most."

New York Times 01/28/10

email this story | Posted 01/27/10@10:01PM

Choreographing The Na'vi People In Avatar Lula Washington: "[Director James Cameron] wanted them to have their own culture and … their own rituals and their own ways of greeting and own ways being intimate with each other and walking and sitting. He said, 'Well, these characters are eight feet tall, how would they sit?' So we actually got down on the floor in his office and sat in different positions."

New York Times 01/27/10

email this story | Posted 01/27/10@09:51PM

Merce Cunningham Co. Announces Final Tour The company's last tour before disbanding will begin Feb. 12 in Columbus, Ohio, and cover 35 cities in North America and Europe before ending in a New Year's Eve 2011 performance at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan. As Cunningham wished, tickets for the final New York performances will be $10.

New York Times 01/27/10

email this story | Posted 01/26/10@10:05PM

How Dancers Audition For The Oscars Telecast Academy Awards producer and choreographer Adam Shankman "separates the dancers by gender, lines them up and asks each to perform a pair of ballet moves - a double pirouette and an arabesque that take just seconds to complete. Instantly, more than half of the would-be performers are eliminated."

AP 01/25/10

email this story | Posted 01/26/10@09:50PM

Revisiting Diaghilev "Diaghilev used the Ballets Russes as a vehicle for promoting synthesis of the arts in a bid to overcome the fragmentation characteristic of the 19th century. Diaghilev's artistic vision was also a bridge between East and West, exemplified by the involvement in Ballets Russes of artists like Picasso and Henri Matisse and the composer Satie."

The New York Times 01/25/10

email this story | Posted 01/25/10@07:47AM

Canada's National Ballet Gets A New Star "The ruggedly handsome Jiri Jelinek, who has been praised all over the world for his powerful stage presence and strong partnering skills, is the latest coup for National Ballet artistic director Karen Kain as she carefully crafts the company of her dreams."

The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/23/10

email this story | Posted 01/24/10@05:46PM

What Haiti Meant To Katherine Dunham "It was the place and culture Katherine Dunham fell in love with, the place that helped her build her dance vocabulary and her spiritual, artistic self. If it weren't for her research in Haiti, she wouldn't have become the major American dance artist that she was."

Dance Magazine 01/20/10

email this story | Posted 01/22/10@07:51AM

Ice Dancing World Champions In Hot Water Over Faux-Aboriginal Routine Russian skaters Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin are being charged with tone-deafness, if not outright racism, over the original dance they're bringing to the Vancouver Olympics. In a routine meant to pay tribute to Australian indigenous culture, they perform in brown face makeup and bodysuits with leaves and white markings that look more like frosting on gingerbread then Aboriginal body painting.

The Guardian (UK) 01/21/10 (includes video)

email this story | Posted 01/21/10@09:48PM

Figure Skating Costumes Have Gone Too Far "Skating has reached the point where [the Will Ferrell comedy] Blades of Glory seems less like satire and more like cinéma vérité. Lilac vinyl jumpsuits, sheer tops, off-the-shoulder necklines, corsets, tassels, feathers and fur are all the rage. And then there are the women." Says the famously flamboyant Johnny Weir, "Too much is never enough."

New York Times 01/17/10

email this story | Posted 01/21/10@09:46PM

Peter Gelb Makes Room For Dance At The Met "The two most promising ballet choreographers in New York today are Alexei Ratmansky and Christopher Wheeldon. This season, Gelb tapped both."

The New Yorker 01/25/10

email this story | Posted 01/20/10@05:22AM

At Age 10, Miami Contemporary Dance Company Hangs On In the past year, the troupe "has lost more than $100,000 in funding, three dancers and two administrators and has had to cut from 32 to 21 the number of paid weeks for its six dancers." Yet founder/director Ray Sullivan's "combination of serious themes, challenging technique and organizational ability has consistently drawn fine dancers, who usually stay for years."

Miami Herald 01/16/10

email this story | Posted 01/19/10@10:08PM

Late ABT Wardrobe Mistress Dishes Some Dirt "When [Gelsey Kirkland] finally left the company it was a great relief for me. No one else came close to giving me so much grief," May Ishimoto wrote in a memoir. And that time Nureyev threw his costume out the window and into the Chicago River? It was just the boots …

Washington Post 01/17/10

email this story | Posted 01/19/10@09:58PM

The Newbie's Guide To Kenneth MacMillan "He was by nature a storyteller (even his most abstract ballets have suggestions of plot and character); but don't look for the familiar balletic pleasure of yearning hearts and idealised loves. Instead, you'll find corrupted innocents, social hypocrites, murderers and whores aplenty - as well as incest and rape."

The Guardian (UK) 01/15/10

email this story | Posted 01/17/10@09:59PM

Colorado Ballet Faces More Money Problems "The Colorado Ballet is in financial trouble. Again. In what has become a recurring story line for the Denver-based, 30-member company, it is facing potentially crippling budget shortfalls. … Word [had even] circulated in the arts community in December that the ballet was on the verge of closing its doors at the end of the month."

Denver Post 01/17/10

email this story | Posted 01/17/10@12:12PM

NY City Ballet's Salonen 'World Premiere': Oh, Really? The company recently announced that its spring 2010 season would include a "world premiere" with choreography by Peter Martins and a score by Esa-Pekka Salonen. As it turns out, said score is Salonen's Violin Concerto, co-commissioned by NYCB but premiered last April by the L.A. Philharmonic at Disney Hall.

Los Angeles Times 01/15/10

email this story | Posted 01/17/10@11:51AM

Helgi Tomasson's 25 Years At SF Ballet "In 1985, the San Francisco Ballet took a huge risk in appointing Helgi Tomasson as its artistic director." He had had a very distinguished career as a dancer, but had very little experience either choreographing or running a company. "Still, as Tomasson will remind you occasionally, he descends from tough Viking stock."

San Francisco Chronicle 01/15/10

email this story | Posted 01/17/10@11:26AM

Atlanta, Hotbed Of Dance "The country's second-fastest growing metropolis, this southern city is home base for an increasing number of dancers and choreographers. … From classical ballet to the avant-garde, from jazz to hip hop, from swing to world dance forms, creative artists are weaving a colorful urban tapestry."

Dance Magazine 01/10

email this story | Posted 01/14/10@10:06PM

Ballerina Boot Camp The documentary TuTuMUCH "is a real and often shocking look into the life of a ballerina trying to make it into the professional world. It's full of excitement and disappointment, tears and laughter and hard decisions regarding years of sacrifice and pain and the limitations of one's anatomy. And it's all from the mouths of children."

See (Edmonton) 01/14/10

email this story | Posted 01/14/10@09:46PM

Twyla's Sinatra Musical Triggers Equity-AGMA Turf War "[The] American Guild of Musical Artists, which represents ballet dancers, [has] accused one of [Come Fly Away]'s lead producers of unfair labor practices, after Actors' Equity Association agreed to represent the performers in the show."

Bloomberg/Business Week 01/08/10

email this story | Posted 01/13/10@10:21PM

What's 'Whim W'Him'? It's Seattle's New Ballet Company Founded by choreographer and former Pacific Northwest Ballet principal Olivier Wevers, "Whim W'Him is a family-and-friends affair. Its lineup includes Wevers' husband, Lucien Postlewaite, and his best friend/former wife, [Kaori] Nakamura, along with friends made over the years at PNB and through his recent work with Spectrum [Dance Theater]."

Seattle Times 01/10/10

email this story | Posted 01/13/10@10:00PM

Dancers Face Down Their Aging Onstage "The Three Man Project: Full Bloom … is inspired by the famous Bette Davis quote: 'Getting old is not for sissies.' "Co-creator Kevin O'Day says: 'We chose the title Full Bloom to be sarcastic. The performance career for most men in dance is over by their forties, yet here we are, three old guys putting ourselves on stage for an hour and 10 minutes."

The Globe and Mail (Canada) 01/12/10

email this story | Posted 01/13/10@09:40PM

NY City Ballet Spring Season To Feature Big Premieres, Salonen, Calatrava "Ballets by the choreographers Melissa Barak, Mauro Bigonzetti, Peter Martins, Wayne McGregor, Benjamin Millepied, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon will all have their world premieres. Four commissioned scores will also make their debut, including a violin concerto composed by Esa-Pekka Salonen, for Mr. Martins' work." Five of the new dances will have scenery designed by architect Santiago Calatrava.

New York Times 01/12/10

email this story | Posted 01/12/10@10:00PM

Britain's Dance Boom Dance has skyrocketed in popularity among participants and spectators, males and females, children and adults -- and they come from a wide swath of backgrounds. One significant indicator: "The ratio of boys to girls applying to the Royal Ballet School used to be 20:80," but "now it is 50:50."

The Times (UK) 01/12/10

email this story | Posted 01/12/10@06:16AM

Mark Morris Talks About Music In Dance "Creating more than 120 dances since the early 1980s -- for the barefoot artists of his Mark Morris Dance Group as well as pointe shoe-clad primas -- Morris has brought the scores of composers in virtually every style vividly to life onstage."

Houston Chronicle 01/10/10

email this story | Posted 01/10/10@10:12PM