After they left MCB, Iliana Lopez and Franklin Gamero launched a school in Fort Myers, training dancers and then watching them leave for elsewhere to find work. So they've launched Florida Gulfshore Ballet, with 16 fully professional dancers and three trainees from their academy. - Gulfshore Life (Bonita Springs, Florida)
Two weeks ago, Danielle St.Germain stepped down from the dance troupe without explanation. Now the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco have announced that she will be their chief philanthropic officer. (The bulk of her career has been as a fundraising executive outside the dance world.) - San Francisco Chronicle
"It's possible to see Balanchine as both a god and a bogeyman, responsible for everything that's wonderful or wrong about ballet. Of course, that's far too simplistic. … No one's calling for Balanchine to be cancelled, but we should carefully consider what has been passed on." - The Guardian
Harrison Ball was promoted to principal dancer at City Ballet last year, after years of being wild, getting sober, and living through the pandemic. But, at 30, he says his foot injuries have gotten too bad to continue. - The New York Times
"Black Sabbath: the Ballet, due to open in September in the band's home city, … is the vision of Birmingham Royal Ballet's artistic director, Carlos Acosta, who wanted to celebrate what he described as 'the most famous, and infamous, cultural entity to ever emerge from the city'." - The Guardian
Choreographer Liv Lorent settled in Newcastle 30 years ago; Esther Huss moved to a nearby former mining village more recently. Both see real advantages to being out of the London bubble, and not just the affordable housing: these no-nonsense Geordies are surprisingly open to both watching and performing. - The Guardian
He's found clips of the works in recent social media posts by the two companies — with his name removed. And, no surprise, they aren't paying him any royalties. The Mariinsky even had the chutzpah to ask him to reimburse the living expenses they paid for him. - The New York Times
"Neither Danielle St.Germain nor the Ballet gave any reason for the move. … If there's a sense of déjà vu about this, that's because the company went through a similar situation just two years ago. In June 2021, Executive Director Kelly Tweeddale resigned her position abruptly and without explanation." - San Francisco Chronicle
The legacy: "I remember being at barre on the first day, in Studio 3 with the beautiful red brick, and not having ever experienced seeing a multitude of beautiful Black and brown skin, I was like, 'Oh, this is different.'" - The New York Times
Smuin Contemporary Ballet may be named after a male (its founder, who died in 2007), but it now has women as artistic director, associate artistic director, managing director, and ballet master, and its programming has featured female choreographers for years. - San Francisco Chronicle
A law passed in November not only widened an existing prohibition on material considered to promote an LGBTQ+ lifestyle but also restricts the “demonstration” of LGBTQ+ behaviour. - The Guardian
Ballet is a particularly stark example of a broader system that conditions women to be obedient, to suffer for perfection, and never complain about any of it. - The New Republic
In 2004, the longtime ABT star was personally invited by President Saakashvili to direct the State Ballet of Georgia, which had fallen into late-Soviet and post-Soviet decay. Now she's leading a troupe full of dancers she trained herself on an international tour. - The New York Times
"While she didn't do it alone, Virginia Johnson" — who had previously danced with the company for 28 years — "played an important role in reviving the organization's gem, its storied professional company, which had been forced to go on hiatus for several years because of financial difficulties." - The New York Times
