ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

DANCE

A Rock Writer Watches The Gestation Of Carlos Acosta’s Black Sabbath Ballet

"While others try to persuade me that Acosta is a diehard Sabbath fan, he's a little more careful. He's Cuban, and Sabbath meant nothing to him as a kid because rock'n'roll was taboo, he explains. But he understands what they represented. 'I'm working class – I am Black Sabbath." - The Guardian

“The Floor Is Moving!” The Challenges Of Performing Ballet On A Cruise

"The dancers on this unusual summer voyage" — English National Ballet was performing in the 1,000-seat theater aboard the Queen Mary 2 last month — "were accustomed to the laws of aerodynamics. But here in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, hydrodynamics were their newfound adversary." - MSN (The Washington Post)

Martha Graham Dance Company Is 100 Years Old In 2026. The Party is Starting Now.

"The result is Graham100, a three-year celebration that starts this fall at the Soraya. The (timing) is deliberate. 'We couldn't fit it all into one season,' (artistic director Janet) Eilber says. 'The company and Martha Graham's influence is just so pervasive that we needed three seasons.'" - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)

The Transition From A Dance Career To Coaching Figure Skating

"There's a common misconception that experience on the ice is a prerequisite for working with skaters. But for many dancers who have transitioned into coaching and choreographing for skaters, the skills they bring to the rink are exactly those they've honed in the studio and on the stage." - Dance Magazine

Trying Out Virtual Reality At Birmingham Royal Ballet

"A pioneering 'virtual stage' launched by Birmingham Royal Ballet will use immersive technology to help neurodivergent audiences access their shows for the first time. The project uses virtual and augmented reality to create performances and immersive experiences (for) audiences who may otherwise be unable to go to the theatre." - The Guardian

Street Dancers All Over L.A. Are Bringing New Excitement To The Shuffle

"A passionate cohort of dancers (have) repackaged the footwork for a new generation. MC Hammer's running man and underground raves in the '80s popularized the moves, and now it's in the zeitgeist once more, courtesy of viral TikTok and Instagram videos." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)

What’s The Delay With Building Philadelphia Ballet’s New Headquarters?

"Nearly a year after a ceremonial groundbreaking for (the company's) new headquarters on North Broad Street, no actual ground has been broken and construction has yet to begin. The project has been set back by various factors pertaining to financing (and supply chains), the ballet says." - MSN (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Have US Ballet Companies Been Performing More Works By Women Choreographers? Yes And No.

Dance Data Project's research on this past season found that 32% of ballets presented by the largest 150 classically trained companies were by women, up from 29% in 2021-22. But for the 50 largest of those companies, the figure fell from 27% to 23%. - Dance Data Project

A Project To Connect Funders With Chicago Black Dance Companies

“We are such a siloed city. We’re each in our little parts of Chicago trying to get funding, we all have our heads down. We know of each other and we love each other and we share dancers, but there was never an intentional moment when we came up for air.” - The New York Times

Alexei Ratmansky Says He Doesn’t Want His Ballets Ever Staged In Russia Again

Ratmansky, "the most significant classical choreographer of the current era," was born in Ukraine and trained in Moscow. He left the Bolshoi when Russia invaded his homeland, and now he feels guilty for staying so long. - The Guardian (UK)

The School Where Choreographers Learn To Dance With Spreadsheets

The whole idea is "that choreographers use their considerable creative powers to help imagine structures better suited to their needs." - The New York Times

Did The Choreographer Who Smeared Dog Poop On A Critic’s Face Get His Old Job Back?

Marco Goecke, who was director of the ballet at the Hannover State Opera in Germany before the February incident, was invited to lead rehearsals of his older work as a freelancer, and he told Hannover's newspaper he'd been rehired. The state culture minister declared that "unacceptable." (in German) - NDR (Germany)

Reviving Merce Cunningham’s “Beach Birds” On An Actual Beach

"The glittering scene seemed like a dream. Surveying the shoreline of Rockaway Beach on a recent morning, Patricia Lent, from the Merce Cunningham Trust, was elated. 'This is a dream come true,' she said, adding: 'It's someone else's dream — but it is a dream come true.'" - The New York Times

Remember Choreographer Yvonne Rainer’s “No Manifesto”? She Didn’t Really Mean It.

The 1965 declaration was absolutist: "No to spectacle. No to virtuosity. No to transformations and magic and make-believe ... no to moving or being moved." Today she says, "Oh no. That was a certain point in art history. ... I never meant it as a doctrine to govern my decisions." - The Guardian

Pre-Inca People Built Floors Like Drums On Which Dancers Stomped Beats

Different layers of soil, ash and guano created a floor that absorbed shocks while emitting resonant sounds when people stomped on it. This ceremonial surface worked like a large drum that groups of 20 to 25 people could have played with their feet. - Science News

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss

function my_excerpt_length($length){ return 200; } add_filter('excerpt_length', 'my_excerpt_length');