Dance

Gia Kourlas got Tharp and Sara Rudner, who danced in the work’s 1979 premiere, together with Misty Copeland and Isabella Boylston, who are performing in ABT’s upcoming revival. “It was lively … but certain points became clear: How important is it to work with the artist who actually created a ballet? Very. And how scary is it to step into the roles of two of the finest dancers of their generation, classical or otherwise? Ditto.” – The New York Times

“Dance Magazine spoke to 33 people from all corners of the industry” — among them Paloma Herrera, Judith Jamison, Liz Lerman, David Dorfman, Meredith Monk, Donald Byrd, and Trey McIntyre — “to get their advice on the lessons that could help us all, no matter where we are in our careers.” – Dance Magazine

“With her latest work, Fame Notions, [choreographer Gillian Walsh] seeks to understand what she calls the ‘fundamentally pessimistic or alienating pursuit’ of being a dancer.” Walsh explains to journalist Siobhan Burke in this Q&A. – Dance Magazine

Uzma Hameed, who developed Woolf Works and Obsidian Tear with Wayne McGregor and Victoria with Cathy Marston, “defines her role as dramaturg – the definition of which is often a vexed question – as essentially creative, a ‘critical friend’ to the choreographer rather than an omniscient authority. ‘There are probably as many definitions as there are dramaturgs – kind of like versions of religion.'” – The Stage

“Amid a year of turmoil, the Columbus Dance Theatre will enter its 2019-20 season without support from the Greater Columbus Arts Council. … Spokeswoman Jami Goldstein said of Columbus Dance Theatre that ‘the concerns included missed deadlines, a balance of payroll taxes owed dating back to 2012, increased debt, negative net assets, leadership misconduct and lack of board recruitment and oversight.'” – The Columbus Dispatch

Brian Siebert: “In short, this rushed, business-as-usual reintroduction of Amar Ramasar won’t do, though I understand the company’s desire to downplay it.”  – The New York Times

“Pointe shoes are a strangely enduring anachronism that epitomises the enduring desire for ballerinas to embody the unnatural, to portray an illusion. And their intention as a tool to evoke ethereal beings is in direct contrast with their actual biological impact on very real humans.” – Aeon

Ratmansky has been with ABT longer than anywhere else – and it shows. “By now, some Ballet Theater dancers have spent their entire careers performing his dances; the famously difficult choreography has shaped their technique and stage personas.” – The New York Times

Beckford danced with the companies of Florelle Batsford, Anna Halprin, and Welland Lathrop – and “when Beckford came onstage, the audience would gasp in surprise.” In 1947, for the Oakland Department of Parks and Rec, she created the first modern recreational dance department in the country. – San Francisco Chronicle

In recent years, the Israeli contemporary dance troupe has faced petitions and demonstrations by BDS activists almost everywhere it has performed abroad. Back home in Tel Aviv, the company’s planned dance center and arts complex, co-designed by David Adjaye for the site of the city’s old central bus station, is being heavily criticized by anti-gentrification campaigners. – Haaretz (Israel)

The O-category visa includes a range of professions, however arts presenters across the country report an uptick in rejected visa applications. Most recently, two dancers from Russia’s famed Bolshoi Ballet were denied temporary entry to perform at a fundraising gala for a youth dance competition. – KUOW Seattle

“Artistic director Ángel Corella has … add[ed] demi-soloist and first soloist levels to the mix. PAB now joins a handful of other U.S. companies, including Miami City Ballet, Houston Ballet, Ballet West and Tulsa Ballet, that have adopted a more European-style, multi-tiered ranking system.” – Pointe Magazine

“Over the years, rumors of possible successors have surfaced and vanished, as [the now-98-year-old] Ms. Alonso, at least partially blind since the 1940s, talked of living to 200. But her grip has finally loosened. In January, the Cuban ministry of culture appointed Viengsay Valdés, the Ballet Nacional’s 42-year-old prima ballerina, as the troupe’s deputy artistic director … She is now responsible for all artistic decisions: programming, casting, promotions.” – The New York Times

“Kathleen Breen Combes, a star of Boston Ballet who has earned acclaim everywhere from Boston to New York and London, is retiring from the company after 16 years to become the new executive director of Festival Ballet Providence. [Her] final performance … is scheduled for June 9.” – The Boston Globe

Working under the umbrella of the Royal Opera House and in partnership with local government, over the next three years the company will be giving workshops at every school in the town of Doncaster, expanding its Chance to Dance program for disadvantaged children to every local dance school, and performing for the first time ever in Doncaster. – The Stage

“Bring on the outsiders! The writers and journalists who can’t raise their legs to their ears but can ask a brand-new, real good question and keep asking until it gets answered with clarity.” Eva Yaa Asantewaa (who was something of an outsider, in more than one way, when she started) makes the case. – Dance Magazine

Yvonne Rainer, David Gordon, Steve Paxton, Lucinda Childs, and Deborah Hay tell Alastair Macaulay what they learned from Cunningham that enabled them to transform modern dance. – The New York Times

As 43-year-old ballerina Crystal Brothers prepares to retire from Ballet Memphis, here’s what she has been doing each day to keep her body going in the brutal sport, er, art, of dance: She sleeps in therapy boots all night to reduce leg cramping, and then … “I ice my feet, I take at least three baths a day, I have heating pads attached to my body with elastic bands and thera-bands, and I’m, you know, shoving a heating pad down my pants for my lower back.” – WKNO (Tennessee)

Shamel Pitts, who grew up in Bed-Stuy and danced in The Ailey School and at Juilliard before leaving to dance with an Israeli group he saw at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, has moved back home – and is dancing his own creation in BAM, based on (but altered from) the Israeli dance called Gaga. – The Undefeated

“This Memorial Day weekend, Boston’s hometown ballet company is joining a lineup of major music stars for Boston Calling, a festival dubbed by some an ‘East Coast Coachella.’ It’s the first time in Boston Calling’s 10-year run that dance will be featured — and possibly the first time ballet has ever been given major stage time at such a high profile music festival.” – Dance Magazine

“More than any other composer, his music reflects his life, his situation, his country and his times. … I’ve always felt this very personal connection. It’s hard to explain but when it plays, my brain responds. I have steps in my head, I see images and drama. Even in Shostakovich’s symphonies, which some people consider heavy.” – The Guardian

Emily Carrico was diagnosed with slippage of the vertebrae when she was still a toddler; she had two lower vertebrae fused with the sacrum. Then she spent months in a cast, a year in rehab, and then, amazingly, started ballet classes. Here’s a look at how she keeps dancing and what her artistic director, Gennadi Nedvigin, has to say about her. – Dance Magazine

“Steven McMahon, 34, was named Artistic Director on Tuesday, taking over half the role occupied by company founder Dorothy Gunther Pugh since 1986. While Pugh will stay on as C.E.O., McMahon will take charge of the artistic and programming decisions and continue to choreograph new works.” He has been with the company as dancer and choreographer for 15 years. – KUAF (Memphis)

Amy Brandt, who danced in Farrell’s company in Washington, DC, talks with Farrell about her return to the troupe where she became a star, and watches her coach Sara Mearns and Russell Janzen in a piece that Balanchine choreographed on her: the “Diamonds” act of Jewels. – Pointe Magazine

“Despite running a ballet company — and his many commissions for ballet companies — Mr. Cherkaoui is still largely seen as a contemporary dance-maker … [and he] seem[s] half-amused, half-pained by the idea that he is seen as an outsider in the ballet world.” Reporter Roslyn Sulcas talks to the choreographer about his new work for London’s august ballet troupe, Medusa. – The New York Times

Jonah Bokaer says that working with Team USA ice dancers Lorraine McNamara and Quinn Carpenter has been one of the most rewarding projects of his life. – Dance Magazine

In the 17th and 18th centuries, there was a black population in Spain, mostly brought over from the Latin American colonies, and they did take part in the development of flamenco. “[But] as the 19th century progressed, the black population in Spain diminished, and in turn so did any documentation of the influence they had.” – The Dance Journal (Philadelphia)