Category: dance

A statement released by the board chairman said the company “received a letter alleging inappropriate communications made via personal text and email by three [principal] members of the company. … [An investigation] determined that each man had violated the norms of conduct that New York City Ballet expects from its employees.” As a result, Chase Finlay has resigned, and Amar Ramasar and Zachary Catazaro have been suspended without pay for the rest of 2018.

“‘Don’t look at the mirror, look at your feet,’ Michelle Dorrance corrects. Smiling at the counterintuitive suggestion, Gillian Murphy, Devon Teuscher and Christine Shevchenko — American Ballet Theatre principals accustomed to projecting up and out to opera house balconies — look down at their pointe shoes as they shuffle into a line of tight fifth positions. As polyrhythmic strains of music fill ABT’s studios, the trio flashes through small, quicksilver position changes while Teuscher quietly counts a steady 4/4 beat that isn’t yet audible in the music.”

“Classes are already running at Dance Base in Edinburgh and Scottish Ballet in Glasgow and a £295,000 grant from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation will help the programme expand to Greenock, Kilmarnock, Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness. Research has shown that dance can help people with the degenerative disease physically, mentally and socially.”

Says Garrett Anderson, “I want to create a company in which the dancers won’t just be relegated to the studio. They will understand the organization in a more holistic way, and feel a sense of agency that is not limited to choreography. That ownership will then allow them to take the choreography to a new level.”

In a paper posted to the arXiv preprint server this week, researchers at the University of California Berkeley demonstrate how they designed AI that, given video of an expert dancer and an amateur, can transfer the moves from one to the other and create convincing video of the amateur pulling off some seriously impressive rug-cutting. But that’s not all.

Joseph Gatti’s vision for his new troupe, United Ballet Theatre (which debuts this weekend), was inspired by a fracture in his foot three years ago: “The injury really opened my eyes to the organization of a company and the care and treatment that needs to be addressed constantly. I wanted to create a company that’s treating the dancers not just as artists but as athletes.” His plan, the Gatti Method, is “to build strength training, conditioning, recovery time and physical therapy into UBT’s daily schedule.”

The Kaleidoscope dance included segments from French, Scottish and other cultures as a tribute to Canada’s history. Serhij Koroliuk said at the time that the dance was created to honour Indigenous people. But it faced backlash on social media after a video was posted online by an Indigenous powwow dancer who was watching from the crowd.

“Video conferencing and smartphone apps make it possible to at least share the same screen space. But there are pros and cons to creating this way. Choreographers and dancers can be freed up for more opportunities. Yet almost all would still prefer to be in the same room, collaborating in real time. Here’s how some choreographers are making it happen.”

There’s a dynamic relationship between live performers and the audience. Just as dancers, actors and musicians amuse, provoke or otherwise move their public, the public moves them. Muttering in the seats can be heard onstage. So can the odd argument and ringtones. The sounds and behaviors of spectators can affect dancers’ psychology and even performance quality. They’re energized by cheers, of course, and demoralized when they’re expecting applause or laughter and there’s only silence. But they pick up on far more.

United Ballet Theatre gives its first performance on Sunday at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Reporter Matthew J. Palm talks to the company’s founder, 33-year-old former Orlando Ballet member Joseph Gatti, and others involved with UBT’s birth.