Category: dance

“The Australian Ballet has begun sharing the costs of some productions with companies overseas in an attempt to rein in an operating deficit which blew out by $2.5 million in 2016.”

“The nation’s richest performing arts company posted a $4.1 million surplus from its 2016 program of 158 main-stage performances and numerous other activities, with a new production celebrating the life of dancer Nijinsky emerging as the season’s hit.”

In 2014, he was a genuine ballet celebrity, admired enough to become the first American ever invited to become a principal at the Bolshoi Ballet. Then he suffered a complex ankle injury, and a year later, he was ready to give up dancing entirely. (And he was already getting offers to direct companies.) But ABT artistic director Kevin McKenzie convinced him not to abandon the stage just yet. Candice Thompson has the story of how Hallberg struggled through a surprisingly difficult recovery, reworked his technique and returned to performing.

“While still in the corps of New York City Ballet, Jason Fowler was drawn to the role of répétiteur. … So it comes as little surprise that 20 years later, Fowler is a primary stager of Christopher Wheeldon’s ballets around the globe.”

Regular ballet slippers are no good for dancers’ feet, and pointe shoes? Forget it. “While they may run, jump, squat, leap and pivot like any NBA star, dancers do it without shock absorption, arch support or any foot-comfort features whatsoever.”

“I often get calls when a spot opens up, but I don’t see myself in that position. I believe myself to not be a director because of the system. Having a male artistic director is a tradition that’s passed down, and it becomes ingrained and it’s like, ‘Oh, fuck off.’ It’s a fake system. It’s hard to break it down unless you talk about it, and I think talking about it will slowly open it up, but even a feminist ballerina like me can still realize that I can be biased at times without knowing it.”

The idea is to teach staffers about both non-verbal communication (with customers and each other) and about gracefully negotiating tight spaces. Says one restaurant choreographer, “I went into it thinking it would be almost like movement coaching, but the amount of dance terminology, spatial composition, effort and tempo decisions left me feeling each experience couldn’t be more of a choreography gig if I tried.”

Unlike some incoming directors, Ms. Kent has not tried to remake the company in her image by quickly replacing large numbers of dancers with her recruits. (S he has not let anyone go, though she has added four dancers.) Ruthlessness is not her style.

“I went silent with shock [on hearing the news]. I have never been the type of person to burst into tears or visibly show my emotions, and my immediate thought was that I didn’t have the right to feel emotional about this. I had just arrived on the scene and had no real history with the man, or his work for that matter.”

“The production, called Within the Quota, criticized restrictive immigration laws that had been passed by Congress [in the 1920s]. … Now, to protest President Trump’s anti-immigrant stance, the Princeton University Ballet is reviving the production.” (includes audio)