Ballet West in Salt Lake City reported Monday a “dramatic spike” in people “arriving at performances with fake or invalid tickets purchased from third-party sellers.” - The Salt Lake Tribune
“Having worked with the Ballets Russes, most notably with Vaslav Nijinsky …, Marie Rambert became a pioneer in British ballet: setting up a ballet school, and then establishing her own company, the first in the UK, Ballet Rambert, which she led for 40 years after its founding in 1926.” - Bachtrack
“Average seat occupancy is 97 percent, among the highest in Europe. … Now with confidence in its survival skills” — and an adept, energetic director — “the ballet company is eager to raise its profile from a company of regional importance to one that can rank among Europe’s best.” - The New York Times
The magazine, called something else earlier, has been around since before the Great Depression. In the 1960s, though, "dance emerged as a potent form of political expression.” - Dance Magazine
“(LA)HORDE is a choreographic collective running the National Ballet of Marseille and rewriting the ballet rulebook for a new era. Their work blends classical techniques with surprising influences, from queer nightlife to the political history of social dance.” - BBC (video)
Pittsburgh’s production has evolved its own traditions and superstitions. During some performances, performers pass a Heinz ketchup packet while onstage, like a hot potato. Whoever has it at the end loses. Another tradition: Dancers owe a dollar for every mistake. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The National Ballet of Canada’s costumes, designed by Broadway mainstay Santo Loquasto, have absorbed a lot of wear, tear, and sweat over three decades. Here wardrobe chief Stacy Dimitropoulos, resident cutter Chris Read, and several company dancers talk about costume care and maintenance. - Toronto Life
And he’s not going to be a rule-breaker, trying to revolutionize the art form: “There’s nothing wrong with organic movement. … There’s a reason why it’s attractive, in the way nature’s attractive. There’s an inbuilt idea of beauty, and you can play with that.” - The Guardian
Richard A. Freeman Jr. served on an interim basis for two seasons, including holding the company together through the turmoil following the firing of 10 dancers for attempting to unionize. - KERA (Dallas)
Jane Raleigh: “There was definitely an overarching feeling of waiting for the shoe to drop. I was committed to staying until I was removed, (but) I did believe from the beginning that everyone would be fired at some point. … Basically every payday Friday was mass firings day.” - Forward
Mack, who did two stints as a principal dancer with the company (and got a master’s degree in-between), says her vision is to balance between Alvin Ailey’s own “powerful, visceral” choreography and new pieces by Fredrick Earl Mosley, Matthew Neenan, Jamar Roberts, and Urban Bush Women founder Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. - NPR
“As with other artistic attempts to track the mind more accurately — like the stream-of-consciousness of Virginia Woolf and James Joyce — O’Connor’s coexistence-of-everything choreography can appear off-putting and abstruse. But O’Connor isn’t trying to be difficult, he said.” - The New York Times
August Bournonville directed the company in the mid-19th century, and his works and style became thoroughly identified with the institution. Yet for some years the RDB turned away from Bournonville toward contemporary ballet; new artistic director Amy Watson is bringing his works and style back to the company’s heart. - The New York Times
