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DANCE

Houston Ballet Tries Co-Artistic Directors

In July, Julie Kent joined Stanton Welch as co-director of the company, bringing with her the wealth of experience from her 30-year dance career at American Ballet Theatre and her seven years as artistic director of The Washington Ballet. - Pointe Magazine

Can This New Director Stabilize Germany’s Biggest, And Most Beleaguered, Ballet Company?

The Staatsballett Berlin, an amalgamation of three pre-1989 companies, went through three artistic directorships in less than a decade while also dealing with recalcitrant dancers, strikes over pay, and a racism scandal. Good thing that new director Christian Spuck is known for his "preternatural" calm and courtesy. - The New York Times

She Was Majoring In Dance When She Had To Have Her Leg Amputated. She Still Teaches Ballet Today.

Kara Skrubis recounts how she was diagnosed with bone cancer while in college. It was a long road to recovery, but when she got her prosthesis, she put a ballet shoe on it and went to dance class. Three years later, she danced a solo with her university program. - Insider

Houston Grand Opera Gives Dancers Center Stage

"It’s a big story, and dancers are an integral part of the storytelling force. ... They’re not just coming in for their number or routine." - The New York Times

The American Ballet Theater Coach Still Working At 90

Irina Kolpakova, who has worked with ABT for decades, "is a consummate coach, her skill evident in her rapid-fire suggestions delivered in an emphatic mix of Russian-English, her poses, her quick adjustment of a dancer’s chin or shoulders." - The New York Times

Why Does Ukraine’s National Ballet Perform For Only 400 People At A Time?

Because that's how many people the bomb shelter at their home theater in Kyiv can hold. (No, this is not a joke.) - Toronto Star

A Queer Cowboy Ballet? Yup.

Okay, not ballet, strictly speaking. For the tenth anniversary of his company, Dark Circles Contemporary Dance, artistic director Joshua L. Peugh has re-investigated his Southwestern roots and given them an LGBT twist to make the new piece Ten-Gallon. (The other half of the program is his queered Nutcracker.) - Dance Magazine

Choreographer Kyle Abraham On His “Dance With Purpose”

"If I’m making a piece, whether I’m meaning for it to be political or not, I have to be aware that if I have even just a singular Black body in space, it’s considered political, let alone if I have a white dancer (as well)." - W Magazine

As Breakdancing Becomes An Olympic Sport, Some Worry About A Drift From Its Hip-Hop Roots

"Now breaking is preparing for its biggest international spotlight yet when it bows as an Olympic sport at the Paris Games in 2024. … The new platform has left pioneers and younger breakers to grapple with issues of authenticity that some of hip-hop’s other tenets have already confronted." - The New York Times

The Ken Dream Ballet Sequence Almost Didn’t Happen

Barbie director Greta Gerwig: "There was a big meeting that was like, ‘Do you need this?' And I was like, ‘Everything in me needs this.' They were like, ‘What do you even mean? What is a dream ballet?' And I was like, ‘A dream ballet? Where do I begin!'" - MSN (Variety)

European Club Music Has Gotten Too Fast For Human Feet To Follow

The speed of music is being shaped by Gen Zers who are bursting with years of lockdown energy - and the fear it may happen again. - The New York Times

When Dancers Imitate Video Game Characters

This is 2023: On TikTok, "dancers are particularly adept at moving like a machine’s version of a human. That helps creators ... capture more of what makes video games distinctive, weird and funny." - The New York Times

How Ratmansky Became Ratmansky

Prolific and astonishingly versatile, he has absorbed a wide range of Western styles, from the fleet-footedness of Balanchine to the physicality and casualness of contemporary dance. He has also revitalized some of the great 19th-century story ballets. - The Wall Street Journal

The Gay Neo-Hula Master Of San Francisco Who Just Won A MacArthur “Genius Grant”

The MacArthur Foundation's citation for Patrick Makuakāne called him a "cultural preservationist," but it's not that simple. "I don’t take traditional dance elements and turn them on their head. But there’s no law against creating a hula to Roberta Flack’s 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.'" - Slate

New York City Ballet Has Paid Peter Martins Over $2.8 Million Since He Was Forced To Resign

"Martins, who resigned as the organization’s ballet master in chief in January 2018 in the wake of sexual harassment and physical and verbal abuse allegations, … earned more than anyone else employed by NYCB since resigning, according to the tax documents." - New York Post

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