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APRIL 2002
Monday April
29
THE ROYAL'S
NEW YOUNG STARS: London's Royal Ballet has two young stars. "Both are new to
the Royal Ballet, with Alina Cojocaru joining in 1999 and Tamara Rojo a year
later. Neither is English, but that's not unusual for the Royal Ballet, a troupe
once dominated by dancers from Britain and the Commonwealth. Only two of its 10
principals were born in England. Cojocaru is from Romania, and Rojo, born in
Montreal, was raised in Spain. They are coy about their personal life. Both live
alone, in rented apartments and if there are boyfriends, they are well hidden."
Sydney Morning Herald 04/29/02
Sunday April
28
STAR
CRITICIZES HER COMPANY: Evelyn Hart has been one of Canada's top dancers
since she broke into the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in 1975. But she's hinting she
might retire, citing not age, but what she considers the deterioration of the
RWB. "When you're young, you can still progress just by doing the role. When you
are older, you really need people with a lot of experience to help take you
forward, people who understand what it's like to be in that position. And we
don't have that at the Winnipeg Ballet at the moment."
CBC 04/26/02
BELIEF IN
STUDENTS: What makes a good dance teacher? Four of New York's best, "all
long-time producers of gifted and interesting performers, suggested that
toughness and a belief in students' individuality and potential may be among the
most important qualities, along with a solid sense of craft and artistry and how
to communicate that." The
New York Times 04/28/02
Wednesday April
24
SEEKING A
BALLET IN MINNESOTA: "Why have the Twin Cities never added a ballet company
to their roster of major arts institutions? Minnesotans are known to go weak in
the knees at the very mention of phrases like 'flagship institution' (the
Guthrie Theater) and 'internationally renowned' (the St. Paul Chamber
Orchestra). Yet civic pride has never produced a major ballet troupe. Is dance
just the poor relation of theater, music, and the visual arts--shortchanged by
the Cities' male boosters? Or have the Twin Cities, with their reputation for
creativity and innovation in dance, bypassed a monolithic ballet company in
favor of smaller, more experimental troupes?" City
Pages (Minneapolis/Saint Paul) 04/24/02
Tuesday April
23
DANCE - OR
IDENTITY POLITICS? "Today the Alvin Ailey company is usually thought of as
'black.' Yet this was not Ailey's intention. When Ailey started his own company
in New York in 1958, he did so with a particular mission, which is often
overlooked today. His idea was to create an American repertory company that
would showcase the work of twentieth-century American modern dance
choreographers.Ailey seems to have been keenly aware that he was living at an
important juncture in the history of dance, and he wanted to bring these works
and styles to 'the people.' But which people?"
The New Republic
04/22/02
Sunday April
21
STEALING THE ASSETS:
"To many, Ron Protas is the most hated man in dance: a controlling and abusive
manipulator intent on destroying the legendary Martha Graham Center of
Contemporary Dance... Protas was dumped as the center's artistic director in May
2000 after years of losing money and butting heads with its members, including
one incident in which he allegedly tied up a dancer 'to teach her fear.' But
he's now attempting to wrestle away the one Graham asset he doesn't have in his
possession: the dances themselves." New York Post
04/21/02
Wednesday April
17
LIFE OUTSIDE
BIG DANCE: Why would established male dancers leave London's Royal Ballet
for a small uncertain company? In their early 30s, each could see their careers
playing out. "It would have been so easy 'to play the game and stay in the
company for a long time, winding down from Princes into character roles... and
collecting your pension'. But none of them was prepared to sit out that kind of
life. Like most dancers in big companies they often had to wait long periods
between good roles and had to dance some choreography that bored or offended
them in between. 'The more successful I was, the more bored I became. I was just
repeating myself'." The
Guardian (UK) 04/17/02
Monday April
15
THE
BILLY ELLIOT EFFECT: For the first time in its 76 year history, the Royal
Ballet has admitted more boys as students than girls. The company attributes it
to the movie Billy Elliot, which was released two years ago. The Telegraph
(UK) 04/14/02
Sunday April
14
TAKING
CENTER STAGE: The rules of how dance and music interact may be changing. "Up
through the 19th century, classical music composed for the concert hall remained
off limits to ballet; instead, house composers supplied accompaniments to
order." For much of the last century, the dancers were the sole focus, with the
music predictably supplied from the pit, or even from a recording. Now, a new
generation of choreographers are integrating sound and movement in a variety of
ways that bring the music (and the musicians) to the fore. Los Angeles Times 04/14/02
Friday April
12
FROM BALLET TO
BROADWAY: Christopher Wheeldon is one of the hottest ballet choreographers
in the world right now. But can he transfer his work to a Broadway stage? "I
felt that some people were trying to frighten me, because they were saying how
tough a Broadway show could be. I was told that when things got rough, it can be
unpleasant; that it's very rare that a team stays intact, and [that] it ends up
falling apart at the end." Christian Science Monitor 04/12/02
ROYAL
BALLET'S DOWNTURN: Clement Crisp is depressed by recent turns at London's
Royal Ballet. Ballet companies are born with a genetic make-up as potently
formative as that of any human. The Royal Ballet was given beliefs by Ninette de
Valois: about a school and a theatre, about roots in the nation's arts and in an
older repertory, which would encourage choreography. The Royal Ballet conquered
the world with a distinctive manner of dancing and dancemaking. It is
increasingly difficult to reconcile today's Royal Ballet with its past. Is it,
with preponderant foreign principals, still the Royal Ballet? Why has the
company's school failed to produce talent as impressive as Tamara Rojo, Alina
Cojocaru, Johan Kobborg, Ethan Stiefel? Why no house choreographer, no musical
director?" Financial Times
04/12/02
- BUT
MAYBE IT'S TIME TO MOVE ON: The Royal's latest outing brings "a welcome
sense that the company, after a long stagnation, is beginning to move
forward." London Evening
Standard 04/11/02
MIDDLE
EAST DANCE: The Israel Ballet is celebrating its 35th birthday this year, a
feat many supporters consider as miraculous. It was founded in 1967 by husband
and wife team... Jerusalem
Post 04/11/02
Sunday April
7
ANATOMY
OF A MELTDOWN: What happened to Fort Worth Dallas Ballet? The company seemed
to have a lot going for it a few years ago, as it moved into the impressive new
Bass Hall. Yet, the company never had a coherent artistic direction, and many
say its leadership wasn't settled. Now the company has a large deficit and its
artistic direction is once again "up for grabs." Dallas Morning News 04/07/02
DANCE
AT 30 FRAMES/SECOND: There's "a new kind of dance-on-screen genre, a hybrid.
In these experimental works, the word 'dance' expands to all manner of movement:
nuns who somersault across seats on a moving train, men who wrestle like bulls
in a cow pasture, and a romantic duet between a man and a large earth-moving
vehicle. Over and over, its not just a person's performance, but also the
camera's dance that draws in the viewer." Los Angeles Times 04/07/02
Friday April
5
SAVING
DANCE: "The troubled Fort Worth Dallas Ballet has moved to right itself,
securing donations to eliminate a $700,000 deficit, restructuring its board,
sketching out a new season and announcing that it will have an interim artistic
director soon.The budget had been cut from $5 million to $3.8 million, forcing
the cancellation of several performances and layoffs of dancers. " Dallas Morning News
04/03/02
Wednesday April
3
HOPE
FOR THE FUTURE: The Boston Ballet has been in turmoil for the last several
years, and incoming artistic director Mikko Nissinen appeared to leap right into
the fray a week ago, when he fired a number of the company's top dancers. But
next year's season has been announced, and a refreshing departure from the norm
is in store. "The Ballet's seasons have traditionally opened with a full-length,
name-brand classic, the thinking being that those are the works that are big at
the box office. Not this year. The opening program features two modern
masterworks along with a world premiere by Jorma Elo." Boston Globe 04/03/02
JUILLIARD LOSES
A LEGEND: "Benjamin Harkarvy, director of the dance division of the
Juilliard School since 1992 and an internationally respected ballet teacher,
director and choreographer, died on Saturday at St. Luke's Hospital. He was
71... Before arriving at Juilliard, Mr. Harkarvy had been artistic director of
important companies like the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Netherlands Dance Theater,
the Dutch National Ballet, the Harkness Ballet and the Pennsylvania Ballet. A
methodical and articulate teacher, he was constantly in demand by ballet schools
around the world." The New York Times
04/03/02
Monday April
1
BETWEEN
DANCE AND ATHLETICS: Why do we celebrate figure skaters as stars, but not
our dancers? "The figure skater embodies one half of our nation's soul: the
individual. Because most dancers start out in the corps, because stardom comes
later and unexpectedly, if at all, the dancer evokes the other half: the
community. They have distinctly opposite missions. The athlete strives for that
all-or-nothing moment in the Olympics' finals. As Michelle Kwan learned so
painfully, a flub that one night can wipe out all the perfection in practice.
Though a dancer's career is short, until retirement, he or she always has one
more night, one more performance, often seven or eight each week." Chicago Tribune
03/31/02
DANCE
DIVA: Sylvie Guillem is the reigning queen of London's Royal Ballet. "For 13
years the tall, wiry Parisienne has been both queen and outcast at the Covent
Garden company. She has the biggest fees, the biggest dressing room, and unique
choice over her roles. She has a freedom to perform anywhere that is unheard of
at the ensemble-minded Royal Ballet. She sometimes refuses the costume
prescribed for her, or dances with bare legs."
The Telegraph (UK) 04/01/02
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