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SEPTEMBER 2002
Sunday September
29
SOUND
MOVEMENT: "No one goes to the ballet for the conductor. But conductors
matter." Music matters too - and there can be a tension between what serves the
music and what serves the movement. Which should take the lead? The New York Times 09/29/02
DANCE
DIALOGUE: Boston has traditionally been a tough sell for modern dance. So
presenters have started a program to not only bring significant dance companies
to the city, but also create a dialogue for them with the city. ''We're hoping
to create an across-the-board ferment of interest in dance, to raise the level
of awareness.'' Boston Globe
09/29/02
Friday September
27
ROUSTING
ROSS: Ross Stretton's ouster as director of London's Royal Ballet was the
result of many factors. "They certainly made the right decision, artistically.
Stretton's first two seasons showed that he had little instinct for either the
scope of the job or the character of the company. If he had carried on, it was
reasonable to fear for the loss of the Royal Ballet's unique character, as
programming became blandly internationalised." The
Telegraph (UK) 09/27/02
- WONDERING
WHY STRETTON RESIGNED: More speculation about why Ross Stretton quit as
director of London's Royal Ballet, including "accusations of sexual liaisons
with ballerinas and a series of behind-the-scenes-rows". But "ballet unions and
management yesterday denied the alleged affairs had played a part in the
departure of Stretton, 50, as artistic director." The
Age (Melbourne) 09/27/02
- ON THE
OUTS: Stretton was always the outsider - in Australia when he ran the
Australian Ballet, and at the Royal. "Ross is a one-man show. He does it his
way. He could do that in Australia but not at the Royal Ballet. That's not the
way it works. It's too big, and there are too many people involved."
Sydney Morning Herald
09/27/02
Thursday September
26
UNHAPPY
DEPARTURE: Ross Stretton's abrupt departure from the artistic directorship
of the Royal Ballet was messy. "After months of mounting resentment about his
management style, and whispered accusations of favouritism, his departure after
only a year is a humiliating blow to Covent Garden. Publicly, dancers had
accused him of confusing audiences by changing advertised casts and making them
feel uncertain whether they would be performing in productions until the last
minute. Privately, more fundamental concerns were expressed." The Guardian (UK) 09/26/02
TWO
STEPS FORWARD, ONE TO THE SIDE: So how is the Boston Ballet faring under its
new leader? Mikko Nissinen has certainly brought buzz back to the city's dance
scene, and most reviewers agree that the quality of performance was up in this
season's opener. But an artistic director can only do so much, and Boston Ballet
continues to have something of a bush-league feel: "All four musicians’ names
are unconscionably omitted from the program; the insert and the program diverge
on the number of intermissions (there are two, not one); the running time is
badly underestimated (it’s close to two and a half hours); and after 10 years
they still can’t spell principal ballerina Pollyana Ribeiro’s name right."
Boston Phoenix 09/26/02
Wednesday September
25
STRETTON
RESIGNS: Ross Stretton, controversial artistic director of London's Royal
Ballet for only one season, has resigned. "Recent reports that dancers were
'infuriated' by the Australian's methods were followed by a series of
negotiations to resolve 'a number of casting and management issues'." But the
negoiations failed and Stretton is gone. BBC
09/25/02
Friday September
20
UNDER
NEW MANAGEMENT: "In the most anticipated event in Boston dance in the last
decade, Boston Ballet opened its 39th season last night - the first season with
new artistic director Mikko Nissinen in charge." It didn't take Nissinen long to
break with local tradition, scrapping the customary season-opening "story
ballet" for a series of modern shorts. Time will tell if he can take the company
past its recent history of infighting and high-profile flops, but his debut is
awfully promising. Boston Globe 09/20/02
Thursday September
19
DIABLO SAVED: The Bay
Area's Diablo Ballet has escaped oblivion after benefactors came through at the
last minute and the company raised the $150,000 it needed to continue. "We have
no operating funds and the dancers are waiting in the wings. We're all on
unemployment here. It would have been the end of the company, because I would
have had to get a full-time job, as would the staff and the dancers."
Contra Costa Times 09/19/02
Tuesday September
17
CHINESE
CONNECTION: Seven dancers from China have been brought to America to teach
and perform in Silicon Valley for a year. "Given the outlandish economics of
life in Silicon Valley, all seven - five men and two women - are sharing a
single three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment." San
Jose Mercury News 09/17/02
Thursday September
12
REVIVING
GRAHAM: A judge's ruling in favor of the Martha Graham Company and against
Graham heir Ron Protas means the company can begin dancing again. The judge
ruled that Graham created her work "for hire" and so it is owned by the company.
But "retrieving the fullness of Graham’s legacy will prove an uphill task. In
his time as director Ron Protas estranged many of Graham’s veteran performers,
the very people who knew her works in their bones. Throughout the 1990s, as the
company sank further into financial decline, it performed less and its seasons
became progressively shorter." Ballet.magazine
09/02
Tuesday September
10
NOT
EMBARRASSING (AS IT COULD HAVE BEEN) BUT AS A PIECE OF ART... One of the
most famous (infamous?) attempts at a piece of art about 9/11 so far is Canadian
choreographer Brian MacDonald's Requiem 9/11 ballet, set to Verdi's
Requiem. Even before it hit the stage, the project has been slammed for
cluttering up Verdi's music. Some have charged "that the whole thing smacked of
opportunism and was tasteless and gratuitous." The piece debuted this week at
Ottawa's National Arts Center, and Michael Crabb reports that while not as bad
as it could have been, "Macdonald's actual choreography is uninspired to the
point of being academic and prosaic." National Post
09/09/02
NOTHING
SIMPLE: Merce Cunningham gets ever more complex as he gets older (he's 80).
He creates his dances now with a computer: "I am finding out that movement is
ever more complicated. I began to see this through working with the camera,
because when you look through it you don't have to think of it as a stage space
- you can just move the camera to get a dancer out of sight. With the computer
you are asking 'How does that movement translate to a dancer who is trained to
move in another way?' " The Telegraph (UK)
09/10/02
SHAKEN,
NOT STIRRED: Darcey Bussell has been a star of London's Royal Ballet for 13
years. "She received an OBE at 25; she has modelled for Vogue; appeared on
French and Saunders; her statue is in Madame Tussaud's; her painting is in the
National Portrait Gallery and, if you look her up on the internet, you'll find
5,880 websites matching her name." But what she'd really like to be - is a Bond
girl. The Telegraph (UK)
09/10/02
Monday September
9
UNION
ASSESSING STRETTON: The British performers union Equity is meeting this week
with dancers of the Royal Ballet in London. "The union is investigating a series
of complaints about maverick Australian [artistic director Ross Stretton], who
has been accused of infuriating his company by making last-minute casting
changes that leave them unsure if and when they are to perform." The Independent 09/08/02
CHICAGO
(DANCE) BLUES: Why don't more major dance companies visit Chicago? "Despite
some innovative smaller programming and the year-round presence of two of the
nation's leading dance companies, the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and Hubbard
Street Dance Chicago, this city suffers some disadvantages that rank it lower
than even third when it comes to high-profile visiting dance. Ironically, that's
partly because we are so big: Competition for the entertainment dollar here is
fierce, starting with a world-renowned music scene and the second busiest
theater industry in the land." Chicago Tribune
09/08/02
Sunday September
8
UNINTENDED
CONSEQUENCES: When Cleveland's Public Theatre decided to shut its doors for
six months this year to save money and revitalize itself, the decision was
applauded as a fiscally sound method of saving a beloved Cleveland institution.
But the closing is having a devastating effect on several local dance groups
which have called the Public home. The theatre's management has been working to
find a home for some of the troupes, but others are in serious danger of having
to shut down their entire seasons. The Plain Dealer
(Cleveland) 09/08/02
DANCE
MEETS THE TECHNOGEEKS: "With the formal opening on Oct. 2 of the new Dance
Theater Workshop in Chelsea, New York dance officially enters the cyber
universe. The new D.T.W. is the most technologically sophisticated dance theater
space in the nation and perhaps the world, judging by anecdotal evidence from
touring dance companies... Every room in the complex is wired for video and
computers. Even more impressive is the in-house Artist Resource and Media
Laboratory, which will provide arts technicians and dance artists with extensive
access to video-editing, digital video creation, graphics layout and digital
performance playback." The
New York Times 09/08/02
Friday September
6
THE KIROV'S
BACK: "Perhaps no ballet company in the world is more daunting to write
about than the Kirov. The company has a deep and detailed past which is the
stuff of scholars, and a performance history that is hard to know given
restrictions during the Cold War." Yet the book on the company in recent years
is that it lost a step or two. The cliche goes something like: "if the Kirov
watches us enough they’ll learn how to dance. Actually, maybe it’s time for us
to watch them." New Criterion 09/02
SAVING DANCE: Dance is
an ephemeral artform. After it is performed, it is often lost, usually recreated
from the memories of those who were taught it. A video archive project attempts
to record the teaching of important roles. "During a taping session, which lasts
from one to three days, the teacher coaches young dancers through the principal
roles - not the entire ballet - in an informal studio setting; the teacher also
takes time for interviews and commentary with a selected dance scholar or
critic. The tapes are edited into a final version that is usually about an hour
in length. Copies are kept at selected libraries around the world, where they
are available for on-site viewing." Fort Worth
Star-Telegram 09/01/02
Thursday September
5
WHY
MERCE DOESN'T WATCH DANCE: Merce Cunningham, "rarely watches other dance
performances. He says it is because he has too little time, but he also admits,
as politely as he knows how, that too much of what he sees is dull. Cunningham,
whose company celebrates its 50th anniversary this season, has dominated modern
dance for so long that he has acquired the status of guru, wise man, even saint.
Changing fashions, artistic burnout and underfunding limit most choreographers'
careers to a decade or so; yet Merce has survived to become a still point."
The Guardian (UK) 09/05/02
Tuesday September
3
GRAHAM COMPANY
IS BACK: The Martha Graham Company is preparing to dance again. "The
prospect of performing again came with a victory on Aug. 23 in the long and
bitter legal struggle over the rights to the name and work of Martha Graham. As
soon as the federal district court decision was announced, calls and e-mails
went out to the Graham dancers, who had been laid off when the center suspended
operations for financial reasons in May 2000. Understandably, they were
overjoyed." The New York Times 09/02/02
DANCE
OR FIGHT: Is capoeira - developed 400 years ago in Brazil by African slaves
- the next big thing in participatory movement? "It is half a fight and half a
dance, beautiful as ballet, brutal like kung fu, and just breaking into the
American mainstream, popping up in dance revues and on college campuses, in
video games and on the big screen. It is by many accounts the next big thing in
the world of . . . well, martial arts, music, dance, cultural studies or all
four. "It is physical theater, language with the body, communication without
words." Chicago Tribune
09/03/02
Sunday September
1
GOOD BEAT, BUT
CAN YOU DANCE TO IT? Selecting music is one of the hardest jobs a
choreographer has. Audiences judge a performance almost as much by what they
hear as by what they see, and a score which is grating, or too complex, or,
heaven forbid, too pop-based, can ruin a perfectly good dance for a large chunk
of the crowd. So when Christopher Wheeldon choreographed a trio of dances to the
music of noted atonal, arhythmic composer Gyorgi Ligeti this year, eyebrows were
raised all across the dance world. The central question, of course, is what
makes a piece of music danceable? The New York Times
09/01/02
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