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JANUARY 2001
FEAR
OF THE DANCE: "The idea of uncontrolled, wild dancing as something dangerous
stays with us: the club must be licensed for entertainment; the rave strictly
policed. The idea of people enjoying themselves, whirling like banshees out of
control is deeply unsettling to authority. Uncontrolled passion must be
restrained. Yet in the not-so-distant past, hundreds of thousands of people took
part in frenzied outdoor orgies and wild displays of dancing that lasted for
weeks. From as early as the eighth century and as late as the 17th, these dance
manias spread across Europe." The Guardian (London)
01/27/01
NORTHERN
BALLET'S NEW DIRECTOR: David Nixon, a former star of the National Ballet of
Canada, is to become the artistic director of Britain's popular Northern Ballet
Theatre." National Post (Canada) 01/27/01
Thursday January
25
- BIG
MISTAKE? The Bolshoi Ballet stumbles into London this week. The company has
been a mess the past year. There's been "talk of missing money; of a threadbare
repertoire; of a headless organisation, because the new team of the conductor
Gennady Rozhdestvensky (artistic director) and Anatoly Iksanov (general
director) had yet to get its act together." The question is - is this a company
that should be touring right now? The Independent
(London) 01/23/01
Tuesday January
23
- HAPPILY
EVER AFTER? In 1998, six male stars of London's Royal Ballet left to start
their own company. "The central question was whether it would genuinely be a new
kind of company, a democratic, intensely creative Gang of Six. And so, what
happened? Have the six friends lived happily ever after? No, of course they
didn't. Did the company become a star vehicle? Yes, of course it did. Are they
all still friends? Have a guess." The Telegraph
(London) 01/23/01
Wednesday January
17
- NO
RESPECT FOR THE DEAD: Ron Protas, the Martha Graham heir and owner of the
trademark of her name has filed a lawsuit against the Martha Graham Center. "The
suit seeks to stop the center, which encompasses the school and company founded
by the legendary choreographer, from using Graham's name. Triggering the lawsuit
was the reopening of the Martha Graham School, which yesterday began operations
in temporary quarters in lower Manhattan after a seven-month hiatus."
Washington Post 01/17/01
Tuesday January
16
- THE
IDEAL DANCER? So why do dancers have to look the same, skinny and tall?
''This new model of dancer based on zero body fat - somehow it's captured the
complete imagination of the ballet directors. This sounds like how people used
to talk about the stewardesses in the '50s." Boston
Globe 01/16/01
Sunday January
14
- DANCE WITH ME:
Should all kids have access to dance classes meant to lead a student to dance's
professional ranks? The issue is brought up in San Francisco where a mother
charges her 8-year-old daughter was rejected by the San Francisco Ballet School
because she has a "short, athletic body" that doesn't fit the classical ballet
ideal. The New York Times 01/13/01 (one-time registration required for access)
- EXTREME
DANCE: What does it mean to be a contemporary dancer? "Traditional"
contemporary dance is changing and "idealized images of the body are
increasingly being replaced with new models of what is dance and what is a
dancer. Contemporary dance has been increasing "investigations into the
avant-garde by employing people who openly defy expectations." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/13/01
- NIJINSKY'S
MAGIC: What was it about Vaslav Nijinsky that he so mesmerized the world -
"that he should have inspired so many books, films, plays and pieces of artwork?
He belonged in ballet's rarefied circles, yet during his career he captured
popular imagination across the world. Fifty years after his death he still
does. The Independent (London) 01/13/01
Wednesday January
10
- MAD ABOUT
MARTHA: Martha Graham may be dead, and her
company defunct. But Richard Move recreates the dance diva in drag. "He
describes his dances as 'Cliffs Notes versions' that use none of Graham's
copyrighted material but evoke its essence. 'She has an evening-length
Clytemnestra. I do a 10-minute version where I eliminate the minor
characters and just go right for the love triangle and the murders'."
Village Voice 01/09/01
- TURNING 50 IN POOR
HEALTH: The English National Ballet
celebrates its 50th anniversary this week, but all is not well at
Britain’s second largest ballet company. "It doesn’t have the money to stage the
kind of ballets that would bring it greater artistic adventure - and greater
critical acclaim." Not to mention that Derek Deane, the company’s artistic
director since 1993, has finally given up on pleading for more funds and is
leaving at the close of the season. The Times (London)
1/10/01
Tuesday January
9
- UNBERABLE
LIGHTNESS OF DANCING: Choreographers Seth Riskin and Mia Keinanen have
developed a new form of dance. "When I am onstage, I'm not really being a
gymnast, and I'm not really being a dancer, either. I have no dance training. I
am a light dancer, which is something different. It's not just the movement of
the body, it's the movement of the space as well, since the light defines all of
the space around me.'' Boston Herald 01/08/01
Tuesday January
2
- GRAHAM DANCE SCHOOL
OPENING: The Martha Graham Company may be dead but the Martha Graham
Contemporary Dance Center is opening a new school this month. No, that doesn't
mean the disputes between the Graham heir and the Center's leadership have been
sorted out. New York Times 01/01/01 (one-time registration required for access)
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