Category: dance

“Who is to stop Daniil Simkin, a principal dancer at American Ballet Theater, from photographing his friends inside the ‘bubble’ of one of the world’s leading classical ballet companies?”

“‘It is opening night at the Metropolitan Opera – the gala performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aïda. It is the first time in the history of the venerable opera house that it has a black artist on its roster. Let me tell you, my friend, I am just as surprised as anyone else.’ It was 1951, and Janet Collins, the author of these words, was that black artist.”

Shelley Eva Haden: “When choreographer Rosie Kay cast me as the only woman in a revival of her work 5 Soldiers, I didn’t fully appreciate what it meant until I spent five days with 4th Battalion the Rifles. The infantry were undergoing a full-battle exercise and I was the only female among more than 80 soldiers.”

“When she left the Bolshoi in 2013, [Joy] Womack joined the Kremlin Ballet Theatre where she still works, aged 20, as a principal ballerina; dancing close to the Russian president’s office, next to the cathedrals inside the red walls of the Kremlin.”

“Many opera and ballet companies employ stitchers on a freelance basis, making it an unattractive career choice for fashion graduates. And unlike general tailoring, which leading fashion houses now outsource to China, tutu-making is so specialised that it can’t be done on the cheap on the other side of the world.”

“As purely Russian as Diana Vishneva appears, she is one of the most cosmopolitan ballerinas of her generation. For over a decade she’s been a principal with both the Mariinsky Ballet in St Petersburg and American Ballet Theatre in New York, as well as jetting between numerous other companies worldwide.”

“The Royal Winnipeg Ballet has fired 28-year veteran instructor Bruce Monk amid a police investigation into nude and semi-nude photographs of young women dancers in the 1980s and 1990s.” (includes video)

“It wasn’t about dropping a bombshell – if I didn’t give a shit about young dancers, then I’d just keep quiet. I don’t need to work with British-trained dancers as we have a bunch of dancers from Asia and get half of those in our company from PARTS [in Brussels]. The only reason why I am saying this is because I care for these young people.”

“For the first time in a generation a dancer has made the cover of Time magazine: Misty Copeland, the American Ballet Theater soloist, was chosen as one of the magazine’s ‘100 most influential people,’ and is featured on one of the five different covers for its upcoming issue.”

“Called the Royal Ballet Young Choreographer Programme, the scheme is a year-long position in which the chosen choreographer will be mentored by Royal Ballet director Kevin O’Hare and choreographer Wayne McGregor. They will also shadow the company and create new work.”