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DANCE

Club To Harness Dancers’ Body Heat To Power Building

What if dance-floor catharsis could be good not only for the soul but also for the planet? This month, SWG3 and the geothermal energy consultancy TownRock Energy will begin installing a new renewable heating and cooling system that harnesses the body heat of dancing clubbers. - The New York Times 

Egyptians Love Belly Dancing, But They Give The Dancers No Respect

The roots of raqs sharqi go back centuries, but its practitioners are treated more like sex workers than artists. (Parents will happily hire a belly dancer for their son's wedding, but they won't let their daughter become one.) Amie Sultan is trying to change that. - The Guardian

A Dance World Reckoning Of Liam Scarlett’s Death

The shock of Scarlett’s death has gone on causing wave upon wave of complex emotion across and beyond the dance world. Large parts of his career were effectively terminated in 2019-2020 by an ambiguous investigation. - Alastair MaCaulay

After 35 Years, One Of America’s Best Ballet Schools Is Getting A New Director

Peter Stark, a former principal at Washington Ballet, has had students flocking to him as he taught in Maryland, then Orlando, then Boston; he trained future stars and strengthened institutions. Now he's taking the helm at the Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia. - MSN (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

This Nightclub Will Get Energy From The Heat Of Customers’ Dancing Bodies

"This month, (Glasgow nightclub) SWG3 and geothermal energy consultancy TownRock Energy will begin installing a new renewable heating and cooling system that harnesses the body heat of dancing clubbers. The plan should eventually reduce SWG3's total carbon output by 60 to 70 percent." - The New York Times

“Nutcracker” As Political Allegory

A foreign policy scholar suggests (with some evidence) that the Tchaikovsky/Petipa/Ivanov adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffmann's story was intended as a portrait of the calming of formerly hostile relations between Europe and Russia under Tsar Alexander III. - World Politics Review

Creating Choreography For Animated Characters

Sherrie Silver, who usually works with film stars and models, talks with a reporter about how she created, and then communicated to animators, the dance moves for Sing 2. - Variety

How Merce Cunningham Upended Concert Dance’s Conventions: Technology, Philosophy And Randomness

"This video from the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis explores six aspects to Cunningham's 70-year career, from dance maker, collaborator and chance taker, to innovator, film producer and teacher, to put his influence and legacy in context." - Aeon

Too Many Words! (The New York Times Dance Critic Has A Problem With Spielberg’s “West Side Story”)

Gia Kourlas: "With so much emphasis on dialogue and character development, the tension — the very glue of West Side Story — seeps away. Tony, we learn, is on parole for almost killing a kid. Who cares?" - The New York Times

A Choreographer Designs Movement For Robots So That Humans Will Trust Them (And Maybe Even Dance With Them)

Folks may love R2-D2 and WALL-E up on the screen, but they tend to be suspicious of robots in real life, especially when they don't look like people or movie characters. But even odd-looking machines can be given movement that lets humans relate to them. - Scientific American

A Small Ballet Company Bounces Back From Hurricane Ida

Flooding caused by the storm wrecked the studios of Roxey Ballet in Lambertville, NJ; said director Mark Roxey, "The building was submerged in water. It looked like everything had been flipped upside down and shaken in a snowglobe." Here's how the community came to the rescue. - Pointe Magazine

Brigitte Lefèvre Helped Transform France’s Entire Dance Scene Into What It Is Today

She led the way in introducing the country to contemporary dance, not least at the Paris Opera Ballet, which she ran for two decades, and she helped establish choreography centers with resident companies throughout France. Here she talks about her choices and her legacy. - The New York Times

For Her First Piece As Choreographer, Tamara Rojo Remakes Petipa’s “Raymonda”

Says the artistic director of English National Ballet, "I am by no means Petipa, but what I'm trying to do with Raymonda is what I've seen done in England with ... Shakespeare, which is to try and make the original work fit into a different context." - Bachtrack

Why London Dance Companies Can’t Do A Good “Nutcracker”

London’s big ballet companies are not where anyone should hope to find an even tolerable Nutcracker. - Alastair Macaulay

Dance Magazine’s 25 To Watch In 2022

Choreographers and performers from Africa and its diaspora have a notable presence on the coming year's list, as do dancers blurring gender boundaries and a sibling choreographer team from the Netherlands. - Dance Magazine

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