Dance

In the past few years numerous choreographers and dancers have moved to the city. There’s space and audiences. And now there’s an interesting dance scene. – Oregon Arts Watch

A widespread belief of the 15th century held that the bite of a tarantula could only be treated by wild, mad dancing; groups of people would be possessed by a compulsion to dance, and towns would pay musicians to play for the sufferers. (Hence the dance called the tarantella.) “In fact, mass epidemics of dancing have afflicted various parts of Europe since the seventh century, breaking out particularly in times of famine, disease, and political unrest.” — JSTOR Daily

“The new director’s name could be released any day now. And we have some theories about who it might be.” Lauren Wingenroth runs down a list of ten possibilities (though she seems to think only two are really likely). — Dance Magazine

“When he dances, he soars; in life, he swerves into self-doubt. Yet Mr. Stanley, a shy and self-effacing mixed-race 27-year-old gay man, has become one of the company’s most valued principals, both for his dancing and for what his presence means.” Gia Kourlas meets Stanley as he prepares to dance the title role in Balanchine’s Apollo. — The New York Times

For eight years now, a pair of Yale professors, Sarah Demers (particle physics) and Emily Coates (ballet), has taught a course called “The Physics of Dance.” “Their partnership has involved everything from directing a short film to presenting a TedX Talk and performing a piece that Coates created, commissioned by Danspace Project. This month, they’re publishing a book.” — Dance Magazine

With observations from three New York City Ballet alumni who learned the title role from Mr. B himself, the recently-retired chief dance critic of The New York Times looks at what makes this ballet different from the rest of Balanchine’s oeuvre. — The New York Times

The 45-year-old Cuban was one of the (London) Royal Ballet’s most popular stars in his 17 years with the company, from which he retired about three years ago. He says he hopes to “look for choreographers that the Royal Ballet isn’t looking at, people and ballets that might not be obvious.” — The New York Times

It was only last Thursday that the company announced that Polunin would be making a guest appearance as Siegfried in Swan Lake. Saturday, artistic director Aurélie Dupont announced that he wouldn’t be appearing after all, because of certain “public statements … [that] didn’t correspond to her values or to those of the institution she represents.” — The New York Times

The English National Ballet ad for Swan Lake stars a Black American dancer – but the show sure doesn’t. “Ballet is interesting because it can be seen both as an enclave of whiteness and privilege, and as an outrunner of change.”  – Quartz

Want to see the reality of what dance does to a (male) body? Check out this story on The Royal Ballet’s top dancer. “Watson said living with injuries is the daily reality of a ballet dancer but the body slowly repairs itself.” – The Telegraph (UK)

The newly-retired dance critic of The New York Times wrote an actual letter to the editor saying that, while he quite liked Emma Sandall’s article this week about the history of high leg lifts in ballet, there were a few historical assertions in it that he takes issue with. — Dance Magazine

“Though Polunin has long had a reputation for behaving inappropriately, in the last month his posts have been somewhat unhinged. … A troubling tirade about gender and sexuality remains on his feed, … though it’s hard to discern his point through his manic language.” In reaction, some Paris Opera Ballet dancers are objecting to his upcoming guest appearance in the company’s Swan Lake. — Dance Magazine

“The dancing style is known as ‘nautch,’ and is a sophisticated art form that arose out of the Muslim Mughal empire and peaked in the mid-19th century.” After partition, many of India’s nautch dancers settled in Lahore, where the form had a new heyday. Now the Pakistani authorities have cracked down, closing venues and schools, and most of the best dancers have gone abroad. — The New York Times

Brandon Stirling Bake: “In the same way that a painter may use a brush to create phrases and mix color, I’m doing that with light. And lighting also has rhythm and pace. My friends back home will say, ‘Why did you give up music?’ But I never gave up music. I just use a different instrument now.” – The New York Times

Aileen Passloff, now 87 and still working as a choreographer, talks to Gia Kourlas about the 1950s and ’60s, when a new generation was transforming what dance could be; her studies with a Diaghilev alumna; and climbing up a fire escape in heels and sneaking into City Center. — The New York Times

“What makes this partnership special is not just its longevity, but the nature of support that has allowed Ailey to grow into a stable, globally recognized organization. Unlike many grantmaking organizations, in this case at least, Prudential has not only made significant, sometimes unrestricted financial commitments, they have leveraged their own relationships and knowledge for Ailey’s benefit.” — Nonprofit Quarterly

To the end of the 19th century, no matter how virtuosic a ballet dancer could be, the leg was not to be lifted above the hip. Emma Sandall recounts how that changed, from Diaghilev through Balanchine to the pathbreaking hyperextension of Sylvie Guillem. — Dance Magazine

Dance Critic Sarah Kaufman: “Perhaps, somewhere, there exists a small, sad sliver of the human population that still believes, 17th-century style, that dancing is sinful, that having fun is wrong, that music is corrupting, that a young woman playfully noodling around with her hair down must be some kind of wild, out-to-get-you Medusa. I guess the Puritan prejudice against a good time hasn’t entirely disappeared. Otherwise, how could anyone think that publicizing a video clip of a beautiful, college-age Ocasio-Cortez dancing with her friends could harm the Democratic congresswoman from New York?” – Washington Post

We’ve read about how Khmer royal court dance has been revived (and even queered). Less familiar is the masked dance-drama lakhon khol, which was nearly wiped out, along with the country’s other traditional art forms, by the Khmer Rouge. Sun Rithy, a 46-year-old whose father and grandfather performed in the genre and trained him in it, now has a company of young performers dedicated to preserving lakhon khol. — Reuters

When the port city of Mukalla was finally liberated from Al-Qaeda, “[these] five Yemeni hip-hop dancers thought their problems had ended. … But last month Yemeni security forces briefly detained the five members of the WaxOn band, broke their equipment and only released the dancers after they had signed a document saying they would stop dancing hip-hop in public.” — Reuters

“What did our readers care about most in 2018? Judging by our top-clicked stories, topics as broad as confronting a bullying teacher, investigating how Instagram has impacted the dance world and advocating for dance as an intellectual pursuit were the biggest stories in dance this year.” — Dance Magazine

It happened in the 1940s, when Erik Chisholm and Margaret Morris brought modernist dance views to bear on stories of Celtic legends that mixed traditional Scottish and modernist music. One principal: “Rehearsals were held up because the dancers had to learn Scottish folk dancing and that is all on the balls of the feet, whereas ballet you have to push your heels down; so it didn’t come naturally or easily – lots of us got blisters – but we respected it.” – The National (Scotland)

The ballet will be choreographed by dancer Melanie Hamrick, who is in a relationship with Jagger. – RTE (Ireland)

Those aren’t really viral dances – they’re witty and very smart social media moves for established performers. To quote a CEO, “Dance sells.” – BBC

“There have been breakthroughs and positive changes in the dance climate this century. They’ve made me happy. Yet, Cassandra-like, I foresee ills ahead. … We’ve now entered a Silver Age, in which theatrical dance is a less radically creative art than before. Where once choreographers forged their dance language, now they tweak within lexicons they have inherited from others.” — The New York Times