Dance

Said the 62-year-old Michael Mael, “I’m at the age where I need some balance. The ballet needs someone who is all in. Somebody who is at every single performance and every single donor event and social event. And that’s not where I am in my life.” – The Washington Post

“‘Give me a little booty! Show off! Glissade, glissade, tombé, ballonné, piqué, yessssss!’ William Forsythe called out ballet steps, bouncing through them on sneakered feet. ‘Let’s go, let’s go!’ sang Barry White as ‘Sha La La Means I Love You’ played over the speakers. … Mr. Forsythe turned happily to a few observers: ‘Isn’t ballet delightful?'” – The New York Times

“Susan Gluck, a trustee of the George Balanchine Trust, which administers the rights to perform Balanchine’s ballets, filed a petition Thursday … seeking a full accounting of the financial management of the trust. She danced [under Mr. B. at New York City Ballet] from 1978 to 1986.” Gluck petition charges that Barbara Horgan, for many years Balanchine’s secretary, “has leveraged the trust to consolidate her power … and maximize her income to the detriment of other trust beneficiaries.” – The Washington Post

“Jonathan Stafford, 38, who has been running the company for more than a year on an interim basis, will become the new artistic director of City Ballet as well as its affiliated academy, the School of American Ballet. Wendy Whelan, 51, a star ballerina who danced with the company for 30 years, will become City Ballet’s associate artistic director. The two said they intended to work as partners.” – The New York Times

“Money is a factor. But even a few extra zeroes wouldn’t necessarily change the creative process for concert work, where priorities tend to revolve around giving an idea its fullest expression, not how it will be received by an audience.” – Dance Magazine

In January, the ever-troubled ballet star caused another stir with some offensive (and incoherent) remarks on Facebook, and he was promptly let go from a guest spot with the Paris Opera Ballet. The Bavarian State Ballet kept him on (despite pushback) to star in Spartacus but asked for an explanation. He said “that he wanted to provoke people to raise awareness about the dangers of obesity.” – Deutsche Welle

Executive director Shane Jewell, responding to a previous Dance Magazine post: “Sara’s argument that it’s unfair that dancers are the only members of the company that have to pay for a job interview is a valid one. As she suggests, Orlando Ballet did not charge me $30 when I interviewed for the role of executive director last year. … But issues with charging dancers to audition go much deeper.” – Dance Magazine

“The federal lawsuit, filed Monday in Maryland, accuses Epic Games Inc. of unfairly profiting from the ‘Running Man Challenge’ dance that Jared Nickens and Jaylen Brantley performed in social media videos and on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2016. … [Other artists] also have sued Epic Games over other dances depicted in the shooting game. Celebratory dances in Fortnite are called ’emotes.'” – Yahoo! (AP)

“I used to look up line dancing videos on YouTube and learn them in my living room by myself. And I was like, that’s one way to do it, but also, this form is meant to be done in community, so you should go do it in community.” – The New York Times

“‘Finlay’s sexual relations with (Waterbury) were not even remotely connected to his employment as a dancer for the Ballet,’ declared the court documents filed Wednesday. ‘Indeed, Plaintiff does not and could not allege that anything about Finlay’s job as a dancer required him to engage in a sexual relationship with her. … Even if the Ballet knew that Finlay had engaged in [‘partying and alcohol use’], they hardly suggest knowledge of a propensity for the distribution of intimate photographs alleged in the Complaint.'” – New York Daily News

“The head of the planning committee for the Paris 2024 games, Tony Estanguet, announced today that break dancing was one of the four new proposed events. Its inclusion is contingent upon approval from the International Olympic Committee, which is expected to make a decision after the conclusion of the Tokyo 2020 games.” – Dance Magazine

Yes, one woman can hula with up to 200 (200?!) different hoops. And that’s not easy: “A quick primer on the physics of this stuff: For a Hula-Hoop to continue spinning, one must apply force to the hoop in both the fore-aft and up-down directions. ‘The Hula-Hoop stays aloft thanks to conservation of angular momentum, but the system is extremely unstable—one little hiccup, and the hoop comes tumbling down.'” – Wired

Basically, ballet companies wanted only Black women who were very light-skinned and who, especially in whiteface makeup, could pass for white (especially in the South). – JSTOR

“More than a year after he left amid allegations of sexual harassment and physical and verbal abuse, he continues to make his presence felt in ways both big and small — including by ordering last-minute cast changes in performances of his ballets and showing up backstage after a show,” much to some dancers’ discomfort. – The New York Times

Hala Shah: “Growing up, I never saw a problem with my dancing and neither did my Muslim-Egyptian dad or my non-Muslim, American mom. … When I married my Pakistani husband, who comes from a more conservative approach to Islam, I suddenly encountered perceptions of dance that made me question everything: Is it okay to expose a lot of skin? Is it wrong to dance with other men? Is dance inherently sexual? What guidelines come from our holy book, the Quran, and what are cultural views that have become entwined in Islam?” – Dance Magazine

“The Dance Data Project … has published a report on leadership pay among the 50 biggest ballet companies in the U.S, broken down by gender. Here are some of the most interesting findings.” – Dance Magazine

“What’s most important for the company is the legacy, taking care of Pina’s works and then finding the best way to look forward,” says director and choreographer Alan Lucien Øyen, whose Bon Voyage, Bob recently premiered in Bausch’s home theatre and is now in London. – The Stage

Anthony Huxley (the Prince): “For me [the difficult thing] always is the acting and being a presence onstage … because I’m not a natural projector with my face.”
Indiana Woodward (Aurora): “The suitors are all rooting for you. They’re all like [whispers]: ‘You can do it. You can do it.’ I’m like, ‘Help.'” – The New York Times

Ellie Cotey offers a diary of last week’s world premiere of choreographer Yuri Possokhov’s Anna Karenina, which has 200 complete costumes and more than 800 individual pieces. – Dance Magazine

“We didn’t lose our funding. … It was something I did. I approached the board. I told them the last thing I felt I had time to do was create, to make ballets. They agreed. This kind of structure and organization — I know I am not the only one to say it — doesn’t work for me now.” – San Francisco Classical Voice

Ausdance National, the country’s advocate organization for the art form, has been presenting the honors annually since 1997. This year, in response to deep cuts in government funding throughout the arts, Ausdance has called off the awards and will focus its efforts on advocacy for dance as a whole. – Dance Australia

“I know what it’s like to have to go through puberty in a leotard,” said Kondos Field, a former professional ballerina who had little experience in gymnastics instruction when she joined the UCLA program nearly four decades ago. “I know what it’s like to have disordered eating. I know what it’s like to have to go out there by yourself.” – The New York Times

One night, a young man in dance school worried about his future walked by an Army recruitment center in Manchester – and joined up. Alex Smith “says that, despite appearances, dancers and soldiers have quite a lot in common. Self-discipline is important in both cases, and a determination to succeed.” – BBC

“I’m a street dance choreographer. I do street dance on street dancers. I’ve never set an hour-long piece on any other company outside my own, and definitely not on a modern dance company.” Nevertheless, Ailey artistic director Robert Battle decided that Harris was the right person to be the company’s first-ever choreographer in residence. – Dance Magazine

Rojo: “I wanted to do a classical ballet from a new point of view, and I wanted the hardest one … I had seen the Björk film Dancer in the Dark, and I kept thinking: This is Giselle, and it is possible to tell this story in a new context.”
Khan: “When Tamara asked me, I did think a bit: Are you mad? I had barely seen a ballet, and knew nothing about Giselle.” – The New York Times

Staying in love with dance takes grit. Choosing to pursue a lifelong relationship with dance involves the risk of physical injury, financial instability and the ups and downs inherent in a creative passion-driven career. – Crosscut

The company will offer guest performances on selected Celebrity Cruises vessels. Said executive director Kara Medoff Barnett in a statement, “American Ballet Theatre’s mission is to bring the best of ballet to the widest possible audience. We are thrilled to redefine ‘widest’ to now include audiences at sea.” – Orlando Sentinel