The western Massachusetts dance festival had originally called off performances only for this past weekend following the death of production manager Kat Sirico in a workplace accident. But an announcement on Wednesday said that "the Jacob’s Pillow Board of Trustees and institutional leadership has decided that Festival 2025 will not continue." - CBS News
In a statement, the school said: “(Research) has led us to conclude that, in our specific context, young dancers may benefit from more time to develop before entering full-time vocational training. Students who begin full-time training slightly later, when they are more physically and emotionally prepared, are more likely to thrive long-term.” - Bachtrack
Lily Hyde: “They have appeared in contemporary ballets, such as Christopher Wheeldon’s Corybantic Games and Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works, but are by no means at the heart of the narrative. … I have concluded that there is not one problem responsible for this imbalance – there are several.” - Gramilano (Milan)
Production manager Kat Sirico and an intern lost control of a dolly carrying heavy platforms. Sirico tripped and fell, and the dolly and platforms fell on Sirico. All performances were canceled over the weekend. - The New York Times
Over the years, Fortnite has found itself in hot water for adding in-character dances that bear striking similarity to ones created by professional dancers, and it’s happening yet again. Felix Burgos is suing the video game over alleged theft of a dance he choreographed. - Vice
“The nineteenth century (was) this tumultuous period of emergence in the arts, sciences, in education, politically, culturally. … Something that came to the fore was the issue of systematization: putting information into classifications, and various kinds of taxonomies. … You can see this also in dance in the period, particularly in ballet.” - JSTOR Daily
“With the stress of federal and local funding cuts, as well as the January fires, many L.A. dance organizations are scaling back their programming and outreach. While small nonprofits and underserved communities have been impacted the most, larger companies are feeling the pain as well.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
“What (Yoann) Bourgeois plays with are the invisible physical forces that surround us – gravity, tension, suspension – and the interaction between those forces, the performers’ bodies and symbolic ideas.” - The Guardian
When Demis Volpi was sacked following public complaints by the company’s dancers and a steady stream of resignations, some local observers complained that Volpi hadn’t been given enough time to establish himself after the long tenure of predecessor John Neumeier. In fact, Volpi’s problems were bigger than that. - Tanznetz (Germany) (in English)
The dance team of the New York Liberty is a shot of adrenaline, a burst of vitality. All insist on the power of movement as the foundation for a full life. What these dancers offer is bigger than dancing. But dance is their expression, and dance they do. - The New York Times
“The Joffrey’s current lease was slated to end following the 2027 season, but this extension will keep the city’s top ballet company at the massive downtown opera house through 2034. Joffrey first began performing under Lyric’s roof in October 2021, after a delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.” - WBEZ (Chicago)
Mikhail Fokine’s idea for a ballet on the Greek myth was summarily rejected at Russia's Imperial Ballet. Sergei Diaghilev, however, was happy to take the project at his new Ballets Russes, and he hired Leon Bakst to design sets and costumes and Maurice Ravel to compose the music. Then the problems began. - Bachtrack
The showbiz-cynical attitude of “Chicago,” a tale of 1920s murderers who go into vaudeville, was inseparable from its choreographic style. “A Chorus Line” was about Broadway dancers, built from their real-life stories and framed as an audition. - The New York Times
Murphy joined Ballet Theater as a teenager in 1996 with technique that was glitteringly strong from the start and a clear joy for the stage. Murphy, whose vivid red hair gives her a Moira Shearer air, could make multiple pirouettes seem as natural as walking. Her aplomb was unassailable. - The New York Times
