For one thing, there was a pandemic last year (and this year), which canceled darn near everything. Then, in November, came the fire that destroyed the Doris Duke Theatre. Pamela Tatge: "We all want to make as much dance as possible happen for our artists and our audience, so, to lose one of our primary spaces was devastating. ... What has been significant to us is people's attachment to that space and to Jacob's Pillow as a beacon for the field of dance. The outpouring of memories, of love and support, has been remarkable." - Berkshire Eagle
Black arts groups are "historically passed over for foundation funding of this magnitude," but the Lula Washington Dance Theatre won over its grantors. The history of Black arts groups needing funding to get more funding is long and depressing - but things may be changing. - Los Angeles Times
Ashton Edwards, an 18-year-old student at the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Professional Division, got tired of studying for and dancing "male roles." Last year, the dancer said was ready to go after something else - en pointe work. Peter Boal, the ballet's artistic director: "Ballet can be a little bit slow. We said, 'Why not? Lead us and we will work with you.' " - NPR
"Cory Lingner … using the app to tap alongside some of the most iconic movie stars, including Gene Kelly, Gregory Hines, Ann Miller and Shirley Temple. And, no, he doesn't have a time-traveling device. Lingner has perfected the use of the app's duet feature. On one side of the video is a clip of the tap-dancing icon and on the other is Lingner, dancing in unison." - Dance Spirit
Talking to Le Monde about diversity, racial equity, and blackface/yellowface in the ballet company, the world's oldest, new Paris Opera chief Alexander Neef said, "Some works will no doubt disappear from the repertoire." Critics on the political and cultural right in France immediately attacked the arrival of North American-style "cancel culture": Marine Le Pen tweeted about "anti-racism gone mad," and Le Monde's editor in chief groused that France is "slowly going down the American road, consisting of the runaway self-censorship of artists and programmers in order to avoid trouble." - Yahoo! (AFP)
Last week the former prima ballerina of the Bolshoi, ABT, and the Houston Ballet told the Georgian-language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that she had accepted the directorship of the ballet company at the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater in Russia's third-largest city. However, she wasn't even scheduled to meet the dancers until late January, and telling the press about the job before telling her new colleagues did not go down well. Her contract has been terminated. - Georgia Today
" Jones was first hired by ABT co-founder Lucia Chase when the company needed a short woman for the corps. She spent eight years as a dancer, … and began transitioning to the artistic staff in 1976 while assisting Twyla Tharp in Push Comes to Shove. … Maybe more than anything, Jones has been a trusted right hand for three artistic directors, guiding and coaching multiple generations of corps dancers at the company. As she celebrates her 50-year milestone, Dance Magazine decided to pick her brain about what she's seen as the key elements of success." - Dance Magazine
The ballet joins Kansas City's other major performing arts organizations, which will certainly have an economic impact on KC's central performing arts center. - Kansas City Star
The carefully designed and handmade costumes are priceless for the ballet company, but not useful for almost anyone else, says costume director Renee Forbes. "They can only be used in something like ballets and dance performances. It is not something everyday people need or use. ... These costumes are like my children." - KTVU (San Jose)
Dallas Black Dance Theatre envisions and is now developing a full complement of virtual activities. These include conservatory-level dance training at the same professional level as in-studio classes, student matinee/field trips, lecture/demonstrations, in-school dance residency programs, community outreach, and touring programs made available to presenters, as well as a home-school education program for those looking to incorporate dance into their curriculum. - Wallace Foundation
Once one of the biggest stars at both the Bolshoi and ABT, she returned to her native Georgia in 2004 (at President Saakashvili's personal invitation) to take charge of the national ballet company. On the condition that she can remain in that job as well, Ananiashvili has now accepted the dance directorship at the opera and ballet theater in Novosibirsk, Russia's third-largest city. - Agenda.ge
“The way we move has changed in the past year, indoor spaces seeming claustrophobic and our outdoor spaces not vast enough, backyards and gardens reinvented into havens. We’ve become resourceful and grateful for the places we occupy and with whom.” - The New York Times
"In Paris, its success was almost entirely predicated on lecherous social contracts. Sex work was a part of a ballerina's reality, and the city's grand opera house, the Palais Garnier, was designed with this in mind. A luxuriously appointed room located behind the stage, called the foyer de la danse, was a place where the dancers would warm up before performances. But it also served as a kind of men's club, where abonnés — wealthy male subscribers to the opera — could conduct business, socialize and proposition the ballerinas." - CNN
Since being named to the position in 1985, Tomasson, 78, has been hailed for his success at combining excellence in the classical ballet repertoire with a spirit of artistic innovation and the development of new work. Tomasson alone has created more than 50 dances for the company, as well as commissioning work from a wide range of contemporary masters and developing artists. - San Francisco Chronicle
The Emmys and Tonys give their Best Choreography trophies without the TV cameras running; the Oscars don't even have a category for dancemakers, and the credits for music videos these days often don't bother to mention them. With popular TV shows like So You Think You Can Dance making some choreographers famous, it's time for the rest of the industry to follow suit. - Dance Magazine
