Bereishit – a fast-rising young company that fuses modern dance, hip-hop, and martial arts – has already had to cancel its first date on the tour, Feb. 28 in Minneapolis; March performances in Pittsburgh and San Diego are in doubt. (South Korea isn’t on anyone’s travel-ban list, right?)
Category: dance
Washington Ballet Dancers’s Commercial For DC
The 1960s-inspired video was posted Wednesday on the website of the downtown shopping and dining development CityCenterDC. The dancers are from the Washington Ballet, and the video was choreographed by Septime Webre, the company’s former artistic director. Design Army, a D.C.-based design firm, approached Webre last summer about conveying the ad’s tagline “District of Joy.”
Washington Ballet Tries (A) To Make DC Seem Chic, Or (B) To Promote A Shopping Center
Sarah Kaufman writes about “a new video ad pokes fun at the city’s colorless rep and shows the limbering-up effects of a little retail therapy.”
Soviet Ballet Was Legendary. But Navigating The Politics? Brutal!
“The daunting auditions of Soviet legend—teachers scrutinizing preadolescents for the slightest physical imperfection—found an ideological parallel in the required inspections by censorship boards at the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky–Kirov theaters.”
Wendy Whelan And Brian Brooks On Making Dance Together
“On paper, Mr. Brooks is the choreographer, and Ms. Whelan the dancer and his partner onstage. But, as a recent conversation revealed, the lines between creation and interpretation have become increasingly blurred.” Marina Harss shares excerpts from that conversation.
How They Made That Freeway Dance Scene In La La Land
Susan Stamberg: “The scene was filmed with 30 professional dancers and more than 100 extras on a 104-degree day. They first rehearsed in a parking lot, and later the actual freeway at 3:00 o’clock in the morning. On paper, Moore and director Damien Chazelle mapped out where the cameras would go. That morphed into 3D on a model ramp with toy cars. Then it was show time, which meant shutting down the freeway ramp for two days of shooting. All in all, it took 47 takes — for a three-minute and 48-second dance number that occurs entirely before the movie title looms up on screen.”
David Hallberg To Be Australian Ballet’s First International Resident Guest Artist
He injured his foot 2½ years ago – far more seriously than he first realized. More than a year afterward, when he realized he still couldn’t perform, he traveled to the other end of the globe and put himself in the hands of Australian Ballet’s physiotherapy team. They healed him, and he’s very grateful.
If You Want Misty Copeland’s Shoes, You’d Best Be Prepared With Some Cash
Basically, “signed pointe shoes often become gift-shop items or special giveaways for ballet fans. But Copeland’s worn-out shoes are different. The principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre has achieved rare celebrity status.” In an auction that closes today at 7 pm Eastern, they – and some other memorabilia – are being sold as a Washington Ballet fundraiser.
In Tunisia, These Break Dancers Perform For Social Justice
This photo essay shows that the three-day festival “gives a lot of hope to the youth,” according to host Chouaib Cheu. “Tunisia’s hip-hop culture stems from the frustrations of the country’s disillusioned youth, who have sought to paint a picture of a society torn up by social injustice.”
How The Martha Graham Dance Company Revives A Work She Created Decades Before The Current Dancers Were Born
Marina Harss talks with company artistic director Janet Eilber and rehearsal director Denise Vale about recreating the stark 1931 piece Primitive Mysteries – and with PeiJu Chien-Pott, who’s dancing Graham’s own role and says it’s the hardest one she’s ever done.