ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

DANCE

Dance Everywhere (Except On A Stage)

Each performance produced by Duckler and her company, Heidi Duckler Dance, transforms spaces not traditionally used for dance into something new, as the choreography engages with themes of that environment. - LA Downtown News

ABT’s Gabe Stone Shayer Publicly Calls Out The Company For Seeing Him As Black Before It Sees Him As A Dancer

"Nothing bothered me more than being cast in Lifted, a 'groundbreaking' show designed to feature only ABT's Black dancers. … I trained to be an elite dancer, not a Black elite dancer. Emphasizing my race before my skill infantilizes me; there's no such thing as a Caucasian-American dancer." - The New York Times

Another Casualty Of The Shrinking Of Dance Criticism: US Work Visas For International Dancers

Part of the stack of paperwork required for an O-1 visa is evidence that the dancer or ensemble applying possesses "extraordinary ability." Reviews from recognized outlets (since CIS agents aren't usually dance experts) are just such evidence. Yet there are fewer and fewer reviews, even in major cities. - Dance Magazine

How Dancing Helps Rewire The Brain

“Dancers are better able to connect that incoming sensory information, whether it’s visually through the eyes, or through touch, and then connect that to motor output.” - WVTF

Washington Ballet’s Post-Julie Kent Transition Won’t Be Easy

As Kent is leaving the company's artistic directorship, nearly a quarter of the dancers are leaving with her, with five of them (all men) following Kent to Houston Ballet. Yet, as the company awaits its next artistic director, the mood is hopeful. - Washington City Paper

Virginia Johnson’s Groundbreaking Career

“I wanted to continue the way that Arthur Mitchell had started Dance Theatre of Harlem, and show how diverse ballet could be as an art form, how many different kinds of things it could say, and how many different ways it could say it." - Harper's Bazaar

What Dancers Do In The Off Season

They go to La Jolla, of course. The new company PointeWorks "is intended to 'create a space and platform for artists to perform and for choreographers to show their work' when they are not committed to other projects" - that is, during the summer. - La Jolla Light

Trisha Brown Dance Gets A New Director

Most recently, Kristin Kapustik served as the Executive Director for six years at The House Foundation for the Arts, Inc, a nonprofit that produces the work of multi-disciplinary artist Meredith Monk. - Broadway World

Virginia Johnson Joined Dance Theatre Of Harlem In 1969 As A Dancer. Now She’s Retiring As Artistic Director

"Those early years of Dance Theatre of Harlem were extremely — it was a lean time for us. It was a small company. We did a lot of bus and truck tours. We were going into small cities. People were thinking they were going to see the Harlem Globetrotters." - NPR

In US Contemporary Dance Companies, The Leadership Is Largely Female: Dance Data Project

"Clearly, the contemporary and modern dance world offer far more leadership opportunities for women than classical dance. However, as noted in the first report, the budget size is orders of magnitude smaller." - Dance Data Project

Going Virtual During COVID Turned Into A Major Success For Dallas Black Dance Theatre

"(Executive director Zenetta) Drew said the theatre's (online) programming has continued to net six figures each year and has also brought in new audiences from across the world. Since 2020, DBDT has reached 38 states and 35 countries outside the U.S. with paid virtual content." - KERA (Dallas)

Why Ayodele Casel Did An Autobiographical Tap-Dance Show With Voiceover

"When I got to do While I Have the Floor, that was me really saying, okay, I can be in control of the narrative. If there's not work out there that can honor the depth of my expression ... in both acting and dancing, then I can write it myself." - Slate

A Bronislava Nijinska Bio-Ballet

The Ballet de Santiago in Chile commissioned Spanish choreographer Avatâra Ayuso to create Nijinska, Secreto de la Vanguardia for this year, the centenary of Nijinska's most famous work, Les Noces (set to Stravinsky's score). Ayuso says that Lynn Garafola's biography of Nijinska last year saved her years of research. - Bachtrack

How Editor Robert Gottlieb Helped Shape Dance

"He brought a galaxy of dance luminaries into his list of authors when he was editor in chief of Alfred A. Knopf. ... He ran influential works of dance criticism as editor of The New Yorker, and he later became a dance critic himself." - The New York Times

What Do You Get When You Cross Hip-Hop With Ballet?

Hiplet, of course. (That's pronounced "hip-lay.") "The dance style — a captivating fusion of hip hop and ballet, with some jazz and modern thrown in — has roots in the 1990s, got its name in 2005 and was trademarked in 2009." Here's a guide for the perplexed. - Observer

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