GOTTA
DANCE: Ballroom dancing is very hot right now. Not just in studios and
nightclubs, but onstage too. "The way I see it, ballroom has existed in this
sort of cocoon, in the studios and competitions. It was almost its own unique
little world, like a step back in time. When you think of ballroom, you think of
the slicked-back hair and the fake tans and the sequins.... We want to sort of
deconstruct that myth."
Christian Science Monitor 03/31/00
ADVENTURES
IN DANCE: London's 13-year-old modern dance troupe Adventures in Motion
Picture (AMP) announces it will move into the Old Vic Theatre as
company-in-residence beginning in 2002. Under choreographer Matthew Bourne,
AMP's "outrageously entertaining shows drew on traditions of showbiz, classical
ballet, and film, and rapidly attracted a public far wider than hard-core dance
fans." Once the company takes up its new residence, it will become the only
major British dance company, other than the two Royal Ballet companies, with its
own home-base theater. The
Guardian 03/29/00
NEW
BLOOD: This week the San Francisco Ballet will premiere six new pieces by
young choreographers facing the "biggest challenge -- and biggest exposure -- of
their careers." San Francisco
Chronicle 03/26/00
ONLY THE BRAVE NEED
APPLY: "Now we have a school which would make 90 percent of European ballet
schools envious," says the director of the Bolshoi Ballet's first school outside
Russia - in Joinville, Brazil, of all places. Needless to say, the new school
will abide the by the old Bolshoi's legendary standards of rigorous training.
"It's not about putting on a tutu and pointe shoes and learning some classical
positions. Only those who will be true to the cause will remain. We will be
happy if we produce two top-level dancers - it will make the school worth
existing." Times of India (AP)
03/24/00
JOFFREY
REBORN: By the time it left New York to relocate in Chicago in 1995, the
Joffrey Ballet was a mess - in desperate financial condition and in artistic
turmoil. "With typical Joffrey gumption and considerable help from an expanding
group of supporters in Chicago with high-powered civic connections, the company
has not only survived but acquired a presence here that it never had in New
York." New York Times 3/22/00
(one-time registration
required for entry)
AUSTRALIA
CALLING: Why is an Aussie going to dictate to London's great Royal Ballet,
wonder some of the company's dancers. The Observer 03/20/00
DO IT HERE, TOO: Managers at London's Royal
Ballet are impressed with Ross Stretton's redo of the Australian Ballet and his
ability to bring in younger audiences. They're hoping he'll bring those skills
with him as he takes over the largest ballet company in the world. Sydney Morning Herald 03/17/00
DOES HE HAVE THE CHOPS? "Ross Stretton, the sixth
director in the Royal Ballet's 70-year history, may at first seem a rank
outsider. His career as both a dancer and a director has been confined to
America and Australia. Yet Stretton trained in Melbourne under Peggy van Praagh
and Robert Helpmann, whose links with the Royal Ballet could hardly be more
gold-plated. So even if he is a Covent Garden outsider, he is the insiders'
outsider." London Times
03/16/00
"I
THINK THE COMPANY NEEDS TO BE REVITALIZED": Ross Stretton is the surprise
choice as new director of London's Royal Ballet. He admits he doesn't know the
Royal Ballet well, but suggests new directions are in order. London Telegraph 03/15/00
VIRTUALLY
UNKNOWN in Britain, Stretton is credited with reinvigorating the Australia
Ballet. New York Times 03/15/00 (one-time registration
required for entry)
TIME FOR
A SHAKEUP: Royal Ballet needs someone to steer it in new directions.
The Guardian
03/15/00
"A STAGGERING
LOSS": Ross Stretton is leaving the Australian Ballet to be the first
non-British director of London's Royal Ballet. Stretton was the Canberra boy
made good in New York, welcomed like the prodigal son when he took up the
directorship of the Australia at the beginning of 1997. Sydney Morning Herald
03/15/00
DIRTY
LITTLE SECRET: When the Australian Ballet named Stretton as their last
artistic director, they went to great measures to make sure no one knew they had
him slated for the job. They assigned a code name to him - "Sir Robert
Helpmann." Now that Stretton is leaving to take over as artistic director at
London's Royal Ballet, the secrecy behind "Operation Helpmann" is
revealed. The Age
03/15/00
ON THE BACKS OF THE
TALENTED: The Paul Taylor Dance Company has two innovative new pieces and
numerous prestigious awards, but their prized choreographer can literally not
afford to pay the rent. "Because of budget constraints, his company has
capitulated to the use of canned music, which does a serious disservice to both
performers and audience. His valiant dancers make a living wage but hardly one
commensurate with their prodigious talents and effort." New York Magazine 03/20/00
JOFFREY
REBIRTH: When it fled New York and landed in Chicago five years ago, the
Joffrey Ballet was broke and nearly busted. But the Midwest has been kind, and
the company has staged a rebirth. "People ask me when we're going back to New
York to dance, says artistic director Gerald Arpino. "I tell them, `When the New
York dance companies tour to Chicago, then we'll return for a visit to New
York.' But this is a Chicago company now." Chicago Tribune 03/10/00
SO
WHAT'S IN A NAME? The famed Imperial Ballet of Russia finally made its North
American debut this week in Toronto. Or did it? Well, something called the
Imperial ballet showed up, but in name only. Like many Russian performing arts
companies these days, the Imperial is little more than one of those Russian
pick-up troupes of freelance dancers that spends most of its time touring the
world and trading off the dwindling mystique of an appropriated name.
National Post
03/10/00
YES,
BUT WHAT DO YOU CALL IT? Yolande Snaith "is a choreographer, and because
she works without stories or hit music or (often) words, she is still not widely
known, and she is lucky if her work is performed in fringe venues. But she has
always been more than a choreographer. She is a theatre poet, who uses scenery,
costumes, props, music and dance to create her peculiar wonderlands."
Financial
Times 03/07/00
BEHIND
BALLET: Dancer Natalia Makarova is working with San Francisco Ballet for the
first time. "Is it all right to talk about the soul, do you think?'' asks one of
the most soulful ballerinas in the history of dance. ``It is a cliche, so I
don't talk much about it. Instead, let's talk about the spirit. Spirit means
something in ballet, means everything in `La Bayadere.' '' San Francisco Chronicle
03/05/00
"MEAT
PORTERS": Ever since pointe shoes, male dancers have had little more to do
than...well, move their more comely partners around the stage. But there are
signs that choreographers are paying more attention to men these days. "Men who
dance solo, it seems, are determined to use their bodies to express the kind of
cogent thoughts on gender, sexuality, relationships, and the politics of society
that have, in the wake of established feminism, been seen as another province
where women take the lead, vocally and in terms of artistic creation."
Glasgow
Herald 03/03/00
HUBBARD STREET
DANCE gets new artistic director. Dancer/choreographer James Vincent has performed with Nederlands Dans Theatre and is is
presently director of corporate entertainment and special events for Disneyland
Paris. Chicago Tribune
03/03/00
NEW LOOK AT HIP HOP: Christiane Crawford belongs to the first generation that grew up
on hip-hop and saw its progression from urban freestyle to suburban
entertainment, and she is offering successive generations an outlet she never
had. Last summer, Crawford and DJ Jessie Singer developed Body, a semi-monthly
event merging urban, social, and performance dance into a kind of live update on
the TV dance show "Soul Train." Dance Magazine
03/00