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DANCE

Social Media Video Has Made Learning Dance More Available Than Ever — And There’s A Danger In That

“Platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Instagram … (have) given access to many different forms of dance styles, and it’s had an impact on the years-long process of training. While students find inspiration, instructors worry they might hurt themselves by moving too fast.” - The Minnesota Star Tribune (MSN)

Minnesota Dance Theatre Will Move To New Location And, Eventually, Revive Its Performing Company

“It has been over a year since Minnesota Dance Theatre paused its performances and shifted its focus onto its school. On Wednesday, MDT announced that not only is it moving to a new home …, but it also plans to … (launch) a new professional company in about 10 years.” - The Minnesota Star Tribune (MSN)

Jacob’s Pillow Cancels Remainder Of Season Following Production Manager’s Death

The western Massachusetts dance festival had originally called off performances only for this past weekend following the death of production manager Kat Sirico in a workplace accident. But an announcement on Wednesday said that "the Jacob’s Pillow Board of Trustees and institutional leadership has decided that Festival 2025 will not continue." - CBS News

London’s Royal Ballet School Will End Boarding School And Full-Time Instruction For Preteens

In a statement, the school said: “(Research) has led us to conclude that, in our specific context, young dancers may benefit from more time to develop before entering full-time vocational training. Students who begin full-time training slightly later, when they are more physically and emotionally prepared, are more likely to thrive long-term.” - Bachtrack

We’re Seeing More Male-Male Love Depicted In Ballet. Why Not More Female-Female Couples?

Lily Hyde: “They have appeared in contemporary ballets, such as Christopher Wheeldon’s Corybantic Games and Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works, but are by no means at the heart of the narrative. … I have concluded that there is not one problem responsible for this imbalance – there are several.” - Gramilano (Milan)

Staff Member Dies In A ‘Tragic Accident’ At Jacob’s Pillow

Production manager Kat Sirico and an intern lost control of a dolly carrying heavy platforms. Sirico tripped and fell, and the dolly and platforms fell on Sirico. All performances were canceled over the weekend. - The New York Times

Choreographer Sues Fortnite Video Game For Stealing His Dance

Over the years, Fortnite has found itself in hot water for adding in-character dances that bear striking similarity to ones created by professional dancers, and it’s happening yet again. Felix Burgos is suing the video game over alleged theft of a dance he choreographed. - Vice

Dance And Science Have Been Intersecting For Around 200 Years Now

“The nineteenth century (was) this tumultuous period of emergence in the arts, sciences, in education, politically, culturally. … Something that came to the fore was the issue of systematization: putting information into classifications, and various kinds of taxonomies. … You can see this also in dance in the period, particularly in ballet.” - JSTOR Daily

In Los Angeles, Dance Groups Large And Small Face Money Struggles

“With the stress of federal and local funding cuts, as well as the January fires, many L.A. dance organizations are scaling back their programming and outreach. While small nonprofits and underserved communities have been impacted the most, larger companies are feeling the pain as well.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

The Choreographer Who Thrills Audiences With A Trampoline And A Staircase

“What (Yoann) Bourgeois plays with are the invisible physical forces that surround us – gravity, tension, suspension – and the interaction between those forces, the performers’ bodies and symbolic ideas.” - The Guardian

How The Artistic Director Of Hamburg Ballet Got Himself Fired After Only Seven Months

When Demis Volpi was sacked following public complaints by the company’s dancers and a steady stream of resignations, some local observers complained that Volpi hadn’t been given enough time to establish himself after the long tenure of predecessor John Neumeier. In fact, Volpi’s problems were bigger than that. - Tanznetz (Germany) (in English)

Redefining What A Pro Sports Dance Team Can Be

The dance team of the New York Liberty is a shot of adrenaline, a burst of vitality. All insist on the power of movement as the foundation for a full life. What these dancers offer is bigger than dancing. But dance is their expression, and dance they do. - The New York Times

Joffrey Ballet Will Remain At Chicago’s Lyric Opera House For (At Least) Seven More Years

“The Joffrey’s current lease was slated to end following the 2027 season, but this extension will keep the city’s top ballet company at the massive downtown opera house through 2034. Joffrey first began performing under Lyric’s roof in October 2021, after a delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.” - WBEZ (Chicago)

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Is Shutting Down Its Folklórico Program

The company will continue operating its Mexican traditional dance programming and instruction until the end of this year. - Aspen Public Radio

The Difficult Birth Of The Fokine/Ravel “Daphnis et Chloé” At Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes

Mikhail Fokine’s idea for a ballet on the Greek myth was summarily rejected at Russia's Imperial Ballet. Sergei Diaghilev, however, was happy to take the project at his new Ballets Russes, and he hired Leon Bakst to design sets and costumes and Maurice Ravel to compose the music. Then the problems began. - Bachtrack

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