Category: dance

“Making the case for a serious art form for dancers who use wheelchairs meant a lot of advocacy. … ‘The first 10 years we spent just trying to convince people in the bigger dance world, the funding world, that what we were doing wasn’t ‘just therapy,” [said AXIS co-founder Judith Smith]. ‘We really wanted to be taken seriously as a dance company.’ … Today, AXIS’s work is fairly well known within the field of contemporary dance. It is less visible, however, to the general public for many reasons.”

“Behind the satin and tulle, the ‘work hard, play hard’ mentality thrives and some dancers depend on good genes to cancel out bad behavior. ‘I don’t know any group of people that treats their bodies worse than dancers,’ says [Miami City Ballet’s Simone] Messmer. ‘They don’t rehab from injuries, they drink too much, they eat a lot of sugar. The idea that all dancers are healthy is a big myth.'”

“As [director Kirill] Serebrennikov himself notes in a program interview: ‘I am doing an exotic, probably nonexisting job. Perhaps I am the only ballet stage director around.’ And so the big questions: Does having a director make a difference? And is Nureyev any good? The answers are yes and somewhat.” Roslyn Sulcas reports.

Retired ballet stars generally take a few select paths in their second stage of life, among them teaching, joining the artistic staff at their home company, directing some other troupe or running a university dance department. Not many continue filling their calendar with dance gigs.

I suddenly found myself getting giddy with the thought that a woman might lead New York City Ballet. I pictured a former NYCB principal coming in and calming the dancers down, respecting them, inspiring them, treating them like adults, listening to them and encouraging communication between all factions of the company.

The group of four includes “Jonathan Stafford, a ballet master and former principal dancer with the company. Joining him will be Justin Peck, City Ballet’s resident choreographer and soloist, along with Craig Hall and Rebecca Krohn, both ballet masters.”

Says Saratoga Performing Arts Center president Elizabeth Sobol, “Here is what I observed: 80 percent of the audience only buys tickets to one performance, 11 percent buys a ticket to two performances. Only 9 percent buy for two or more night. And while it’s wonderful to have this deeply passionate audience, by presenting two weeks we are doubling our expenses and cannibalizing our audience.”

“One of the most important directors in the ballet world, Martins, 71, said he would temporarily step away from both NYCB and its affiliated School of American Ballet, which he also heads, in a statement to The Washington Post on Thursday afternoon. He issued the statement after The Post sought Martins’s comment on a previously undisclosed claim by former NYCB soloist Kelly Cass Boal that Martins behaved violently toward her.”

Corrections NZ has invited the Royal New Zealand Ballet into a women’s prison to offer classes. A pair of journalists visit just as a group of inmates is getting ready for holiday performances. (audio and video)

The New York Times dance critics pick their favorites.