Category: dance

“Digital broadcasts of dance generally fall into two categories: behind-the-scenes glimpses into rehearsals, like those offered by ballet companies around the globe on World Ballet Day, and live streams of in-demand theatrical performances, like those presented by the Guggenheim for its Works & Process performance series. In these latter cases, the broadcast usually supplements the live event; even without people tuning in remotely, the show would go on. “Marfa Dance Episodes,” directed by Benjamin Millepied, with choreography by him as well as several company members, differ in that the broadcast itself was the event; the series was created exclusively for an online audience, and the episodes, ranging from about seven to twenty minutes, were choreographed for—and with—the camera.”

When Dance Magazine published its list last week, the editors asked readers to tell them whom they unjustly left out. And readers definitely did.

“‘It’s easy to talk about the issues facing the dance sector, but I thought we had to do something,’ McGregor says, citing the cost (“around £2,000 per week,” or over $2,500) of renting a studio in London. As part of [his] FreeSpace [program], 5,000 hours of studio time will be gifted to 25 artists over one year. In exchange, for each week spent in the Studio they are asked to devote one day to outreach projects.

She’s opening a studio in St. Petersburg that will teach yoga and gymnastics as well as ballet; she’s running a dance festival that covers both that city and Moscow; she loves being a guest with other companies and wants to do more of it. In a Q&A with Gia Kourlas, she talks about her plans, ballet training today, and what she loves about American audiences.

“Using the sports marketing model, where major brands advertise to capture the sporting fan market,” the National Performing Arts Funding Exchange “will target corporate underwriters for various [small and independent] dance organizations. [Founder Cliff] Brody is convinced that companies will jump on the bandwagon to put their names behind dance.”

“There’s very little ballet that I like. I’m not interested in most of what’s happening in ballet. And so I think that women have been drawn to contemporary dance because it’s a more interesting field where you can see more interesting work. It draws upon more fields of art, there are more diverse influences. I think the problem with ballet, in general, is its insularity and the education that results from that.”

Siobhan Burke: “‘Greetings, folks,’ the email began, addressing a BCC-ed list of recipients to which I was sure I had been added by mistake. I read it twice, three times, refreshed the page. Because it’s not every day that you hear from Yvonne Rainer – the choreographer, dancer, writer, filmmaker and game-changing force in dance history – with an invitation to dance in her work.”

Dance Magazine’s got a list…

The festival’s new leader said, “There is a crisis of ambition in this country for choreographers. … Choreographers need space and time to experiment with new works.”

Germaine Acogny, who says dance is the mother of all the arts, “is best known for fusing West African and modern dance. She has been sharing her decades-old technique with young artists from across the continent at L’Ecole des Sables, French for the School of Sands, in a remote fishing village in Senegal.”