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DANCE

Theater’s Dance Audition Call Becomes TikTok Craze

"What began as a legitimate audition call for the St. Louis theatre had become a micro-trend on TikTok, the short-form video app that has become a culture-wide phenomenon. The Muny Legally Blonde dance call had gone viral." - American Theatre

Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky Quits Bolshoi Project

Mr. Ratmansky, who grew up in Kyiv and danced there early in his career, immediately decided to leave Moscow, and with the help of the Bolshoi, made arrangements to travel home to New York via Warsaw, along with the rest of his international creative team. - The New York Times

London’s Royal Opera House Cancels Bolshoi Ballet Appearances

The Moscow-based ballet company were set to return to London this summer but their tour has been called off as Ukraine was hit by air strikes and Russian fighters closed in on the country's capital Kyiv. - Daily Mail (UK)

An Asian American Dancer Was Attacked On His Way To A Performance

The dancer was on his way to a first-performance celebration at New York’s Public Theater when he was attacked "in what theater officials describe as the latest 'disgusting and heartbreaking' incident 'in a long history of violence against Asian Americans.'" - Deadline

Scottish Ballet Is Latest Arts Company To Sever Ties With BP Funding

Campaigners have urged the arts and culture sector to cut all ties to oil companies over claims of greenwashing. BP said it was proud of the 10-year partnership, which Scottish Ballet said had reached a "natural conclusion". - BBC

Paloma Herrera Walks Away From The Helm Of Buenos Aires’s Leading Ballet Company

In 2017, after 20 years as a principal at ABT, Herrera became artistic director of the Ballet Estable del Teatro Colón, where she trained as a child. Early this month, she resigned in frustration, saying that the company's work rules make consistent excellence impossible. (in Spanish) - La Nación (Argentina)

Exploring Dance As Therapy

Experts have said that exploring non-medical interventions which can be prescribed more quickly, such as dance programmes, should be considered as part of the overall management of mental health problems in young people. - The Scotsman

David Hallberg Is Getting Back Onstage To Dance

When he became artistic director of the Australian Ballet in 2020, only to have COVID strike, Hallberg had figured his performing days were over. But this year, for opening nights in Sydney (late April) and Melbourne (June), he'll be dancing in the big four-choreographer program titled Kunstkamer. (video) - ABC (Australia)

Rescuing A Group Of Afghan Hip-Hop Dancers

A group of 19 breakdancers, parkourists, rappers and family members escaped Kabul days after the Taliban arrived and are now in hiding in a neighboring country. Asia One, a California breakdancing star who's been a long-distance mentor, is mobilizing to get them out safely. - The Guardian

The New Online Choreographers

Among this blossoming crop of teachers and influencers, and the legions of creators making their moves into memes on TikTok, Angela Trimbur, 40, stands out. Underpinned by an intimate, self-revealing aesthetic, she fluidly navigates from sweaty group class to phone screen to ambitious project. - The New York Times

Serge Diaghilev Was Not A Good Guy: Bronislava Nijinska

The pathbreaking choreographer once wrote, " He victimised the ballet artists when they left his company and tried by all means possible to prevent their employment by other companies. … To create one's own and to destroy somebody else's – this was his principle." - The Observer (UK)

Do College Dance Programs Really Need To Be Ranked?

Honestly, "most ranking systems are focused on academics; they aren’t designed to reflect the quality of artistic education. So do dance program rankings matter at all?" - Dance Magazine

Mark Morris Says No, Artists Are Definitely Not OK Right Now

Morris, on dance rehearsal: "It was horrible. ... Everyone was freaked out. You’re scared being next to each other, and you’re scared to talk to anybody, and as soon as you touch something it’s sanitized, and then you go home and take a shower right away." - Washington Post

San Francisco Ballet Pulls Itself Apart Over Diversity

A public Instagram account detailed dancers’ and staff members’ accounts of inequities. Amid the fallout, Executive Director Kelly Tweeddale, hired in 2019, stepped down in 2021. - KQED

Here’s The Man With The Key To The Past At Jacob’s Pillow

"As director of preservation (and archivist), Norton Owen oversees exhibitions, the growing online resource Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive, PillowTalks, pre- and post-show lectures, and film programs. Owen describes his motto as having 'one eye looking backward and one eye on what's happening currently." - Dance Magazine

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