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DANCE

Dance Data: Here’s What The 50 Largest Dance Companies Look Like

Within the Largest 50, the number of dancers within these companies ranges from 9 to 104, with the median number of dancers at 40.5. Within the Largest 10, the number of dancers within these companies ranges from 55 to 104, with the median number of dancers at 61. - Dance Data Project

A Rare All-Women Butoh Troupe

The four-member Tokyo-based company called Wozme isn't the first all-female butoh troupe, but it's the only one currently active in Japan — and, there as in the West, most people's image of butoh is a slowly-moving, near-naked man covered in white powder. - The Japan Times

Ballet Star Steven McRae’s Three-Year Recovery From “The Worst Injury A Dancer Can Have”

The Royal Ballet principal was mid-performance in London when his Achilles tendon snapped and he was carried from the stage screaming in pain. After a year of a full tendon reconstruction and merely learning to walk again followed by two years of physical rehab, at age 38 he's dancing again. - inews (UK)

By Age 25, She Had Choreographed For Commercial Dance, West End Musicals, Pop-Star Tours, and National Ballet Companies

Emma Portner is now almost 30, and the National Ballet of Canada has brought a major work of hers on tour to London. Yet the piece which really established her career, and which still gets her engagements, is a 3½-minute video to a Bruce Springsteen cover. - The Guardian

Bringing South Africa’s Unique Street Dancing To The World’s Stages

Pantsula is a dance style developed in the country's black townships by Africans who combined the tap dancing they saw in American movies with traditional movement. Vusi Mdoyi grew up doing pantsula and, in 1994, co-founded the company Step Afrika!, which professionalized the form. - The New York Times

The Raw, Brief Power of Dance

Emma Portner isn’t thrilled that people are still finding her choreography from a 2012 Facebook video. "The whole reason I got into performing is because it is this fleeting thing that disappears,” she says. “She feels mortified at having her youthful creative efforts permanently online.” - The Guardian (UK)

Atlanta’s Terminus Modern Ballet In A New Phase As Founding Members Depart And New Dancers Arrive

Terminus was founded in 2017-18 by five dancers who left Atlanta Ballet after longtime artistic director John McFall was forced out. Now four of those five charter members have retired from the stage, new dancers have replaced them, and the company has grown notably. - Atlanta Magazine

Why Adult Interest In Participating In Ballet Is Soaring

Interest in adult ballet has increased by 75% over the last three to five years... And the number of adult ballet summer intensive programs have nearly doubled since the pandemic, according to the weekly online ballet-centric magazine Pointe. - Los Angeles Times

Dallas Black Dance Theatre: Where Things Stand Now And What Comes Next

With DBDT management having fired all the dancers (with an unconvincing explanation) after they tried to unionize, both the National Labor Relations Board and the city of Dallas are investigating the company. There will be no quick resolution: NLRB investigations take months. - KERA (Dallas)

Longtime Houston Ballet Executive Director Steps Down

James Nelson who began his career as a dancer and went on to to serve in a succession of roles with Houston Ballet: company manager, general manager and then chief executive in February 2012, taking over from C.C. Conner. - Houston Press

Saving The Day: NYCBallet Dancer Subs In During Performance With Four Minutes Notice

In dancer shorthand, this is what’s known as being thrown on. It’s scary sounding, isn’t it? Phelan, on Instagram, wrote that she was given about four minutes’ notice. - The New York Times

Firings At Dallas Black Dance Theatre: A Generational Culture Clash?

When management fired the entire main company in August, the dancers said it was because they tried to unionize; management said that a social media video the dancers made violated longstanding rules covering DBDT members' behavior. The dancers respond that those rules are rigid and severely outdated. - KERA (Dallas)

At American Ballet Companies, Artistic Leadership Remains Largely Male

Dance Data Project's 2024 survey of the 150 largest ballet and classically-based companies in the U.S. shows little change in the gender balance among artistic directors, still roughly 60% male and 40% female. And more women were replaced by men last year than vice versa. - Dance Data Project

Why Is Executive Leadership Of Dance Companies So Difficult?

Unicorns are, unsurprisingly, hard to find. In dance, that’s led to a sort of executive director musical chairs, with some successful executives rotating through multiple organizations. - Dance Magazine

A Star Choreographer Issues A Major Apology

Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, accused by many former dancers and staff members of body shaming and bullying, apologized and said, “I embrace the idea that the leadership style that people expect today involves more open dialogue, and more awareness of — and respect for — everyone’s limits.” - The New York Times

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