"(Joan) DeJean ... died in December at age 75 and left BalletX a remarkable gift: $7.4 million. A donation of that size is substantial for any arts group. To BalletX, a bright but mid-sized star in the Philadelphia cultural firmament, it’s enormous." - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
“'It’s an amazing experience,’ Annia Hidalgo, one of the Queer the Ballet dancers, . ‘We all speak the same language. It’s movement, it’s art, it’s ballet, it’s queerness.’” - WPIX New York (MSN)
If the intertwined fates of Balanchine and Graham tell us anything, it should be that trajectories of dance styles and legacies of choreographers are just as much the products of money and institutional support as of artistic talent. - The Drift
Remi Wörtmeyer, an Australian-born choreographer and visual artist and a former principal of the Dutch National Ballet, succeeds Edwaard Liang, now artistic director of Washington Ballet. - The Columbus Dispatch
"'I get hate mail. ‘How dare you use the Ave Maria with a drag queen in it?’ It’s music. It’s sacred for you, but it doesn’t mean that it’s sacred for everyone.' And it’s not just LGBTQ+ elements. ... There’s been ignorance when he’s introduced Afro-Latine dance and culture into his ballet." - Remezcla
Yasmine Naghdi, a principal at London's Royal Ballet, was cast as the lead in Swan Lake (complete with the 32 fouettés) for a performance to be simulcast to cinemas around the globe, and she could feel herself freaking out and self-sabotaging. So she turned to sports psychologist Britt Tajet-Foxell. - The Guardian
"Audiences love big, stage-filling choreography with dramatic music and luscious dancing. But every once in a while, a short, spare dance packs a punch. And that’s what people remember when they walk out of the theater." Wendy Perron lists some of the greatest. - Dance Magazine
“As someone who’s interested in pushing the boundaries forward, we have to know what our past looks like and embody that. What do we really love about Bayadère? It’s the choreography to the music. So, we’ve kept it. We’ve made it better.” - JStor
"In 2019, she handed over the role of artistic director ... to two company members, Chanon Judson and Mame Diarra Speis. And (this weekend), she will debut what she has said is her final work for the troupe, Scat! … The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar." - The New York Times
"This report examines the gender distribution of critical leadership positions including artistic directors, executive directors, assistant artistic directors, heads of schools, and artistic directors of second companies. DDP has also expanded to include rehearsal directors for the first time." - Dance Data Project
As Jawole Willa Jo Zollar fully lets go of the reins, 40 years after founding the dance troupe Urban Bush Women, she’s created one last work to serve as a sort of origin story for the group. - The New York Times
To teach … about food safety, that is. “Science and art have several things in common,” says Eleonora Moratto, “and specifically ballet and science have storytelling.” - BBC
"Its branches seem to be growing at different speeds with different textures. Some are thick and sturdy, while others are wispy, frizzled at the ends. It sometimes seems as if live performances are just extensions of TikTok." - The New York Times
The dancers competing at the Olympics in Paris this summer may not know the theoretical physics or mathematics on which their moves depend, but they have a thorough, intuitive understanding of friction, inertia, linear momentum, angular momentum, torque, and axes of rotation. - The Conversation
"PC2170 would make dancers pay a fee to receive a certification and be able to practice professionally. Its purpose is to make dance a more legitimate profession and improve the working conditions of dancers, who have struggled with unfair wages and poor working conditions." Not everyone is convinced. - Remezcla
