In dancer and choreographer Dada Masilo’s version, “her Odette is married off to Siegfried, who is in love with Odile. The catch: Odile is a man, although Ms. Masilo has him dance on point and, like all the swans, wear a tutu. The three principal characters are victims of social convention. As in the original ballet, it doesn’t end happily.”
Category: dance
Justin Peck Makes His Largest Dance Yet – And His First Story Ballet
The Most Incredible Thing, based on a Hans Christian Andersen tale, has a new score by Bryce Dessner and a cast of 56.
Watching Justin Peck Rehearse His New Ballet
“His manner was the same whether he was working with one dancer or dozens. By slightly lowering or raising his voice, he could shift seamlessly from giving a dancer a subtle note to rearranging major traffic patterns. He seemed aware of everything, and when the dancers took five, he did not, his mind whirring almost visibly.”
Ballet Dancers’ Brains Change As They Practice, Scans Prove
“‘We found that in the learning process, our brain function makes an inverted ‘U’ learning pattern from a slow pace at the start, accelerating to a peak at the midpoint, before returning to the original pace, once we have mastered the task,’ says DeSouza.”
Denmark Dancers Fight (Using Ballet, Of Course) To Change Country’s Perception Of Refugees
“It’s very important, especially in Denmark, where a lot of people are afraid of asylum seekers and refugees. I think it’s very important to see that they are human beings and they have all kind of skills and qualifications.”
Tap – Decline Of A Great American Dance Form
Tap dance today is as marginal to popular culture in America as it was in 1960. Why has so delightful and exhilarating a dance style as tap been so resistant to revival?
How Five American Indian Dancers Transformed Ballet In The 20th Century
“Yvonne Chouteau, one of the ‘Five Moons,’ as they were anointed, died this past Sunday at the age of 86. Along with Moscelyne Larkin (Shawnee, 1925–2012), Rosella Hightower (Choctaw, 1920–2008), Marjorie Tallchief (Osage, b. 1926), and, most famously, Maria Tallchief (Osage, 1925–2013), she rose in the ranks of dance when ballet was still not widely appreciated in this country.”
Judge Finds Against Pacific Northwest Ballet In Dispute With Transit Agency
“A King County Superior Court judge has ruled that Sound Transit may pay fair-market value for a ballet school in the route of the planned East Link light rail in Bellevue and not the higher replacement value the school sought.”
La Scala’s Ballet Company Gets A New Director
Following the October departure of Makhar Vaziev for the Bolshoi Ballet, the Milan opera house has selected Mauro Bigonzetti to head the troupe. Bigonzetti was artistic director (1997-2008) and subsequently principal choreographer of Aterballetto, which concentrates on contemporary repertoire and was Italy’s first ballet company independent of an opera house. (in Italian; Google Translate version here)
A Mom Talks About Race In Her Daughters’ Ballet Class
“There are 10 girls in the class. They’re dressed in oversized tutus with sequined trim, baggy pink tights, and pink ballet slippers. Watching my daughters, I take in these small details. But my thoughts are stuck on something else: Eight of the 10 girls, including the teacher, are white. My daughters (ages 3 and 5) are black.”