“I had dreams in boot camp of doing pirouettes down the squad bay where we were sleeping. During the monotony of standing at attention, or patrolling villages, delivering aid, I would keep myself occupied by going through choreography in my head.”
Category: dance
American Dance institute To Close School, Refocus
“The institute plans to close its ballet school, which has around 300 students, at the end of the summer, and to begin offering scholarships to help young dancers study at schools of their choice. At the same time it plans to expand its Incubator program, which was established in 2011 to develop new works.”
Two Star Ailey Dancers Leave Company For St. Louis
“The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is losing two of its most treasured members this summer. Antonio Douthit-Boyd and Kirven Douthit-Boyd — who were married in 2013 — have been named the co-artistic directors of the Center of Creative Arts, the St. Louis organization where Antonio Douthit-Boyd trained.”
When Inspiration Won’t Strike: Six Choreographers Explain How They Get Their Groove Back
“Choreographer’s block. It’s the black cloud that all dancemakers – seasoned artists and green ones alike – experience at some point nearly every time they create. What separates the professionals from the novices is learning how to press on and not let it derail the work.”
Ballet Dancers Leap Into Instagram
“The photo-sharing app has become the go-to social-media platform for dancers of all ages, who post photos of bloody toes, mistakes in class, physical therapy and, of course, deliriously beautiful performances shot from the wings. As a virtual portal to the dance world, Instagram has also attracted an enthusiastic audience – and around that, a newly dance-centric marketing landscape has emerged.”
How I Re-Choreographed A Classic Of British Modern Dance
James Cousins: “It’s not every day that you get approached to reimagine a piece of choreography that will then be performed at the 90th birthday celebrations of the original choreographer. But this is the position I found myself in a few months ago. The work was Cell by Robert Cohan, which was created back in 1969 for London Contemporary Dance Theatre when Cohan was artistic director at the then newly formed dance organisation The Place.” (includes video)
Here’s What Angel Corella’s First Season Running Pennsylvania Ballet Will Look Like
“Justin Peck, Liam Scarlett, Wayne McGregor, Christopher Wheeldon: They’re among the hottest young choreographers in ballet today. And Pennsylvania Ballet will dance their works and more next year in a blockbuster-packed season, artistic director Angel Corella announced Monday. This is the sort of world-class programming that dance fans anticipated when Corella was hired in the fall.”
Cedar Lake Ballet Shows The Perils Of Relying On A Single – And Capricious – Funder
“The big message here is that whoever that founding donor is, unless they’re willing to put enormous endowments behind their vision, their organizations won’t survive if they don’t invite other people in.”
Seriously, Ballet, What Is Your Deal With Dancers Who Aren’t White?
“Dancers of color are again supplicants at the gate, begging to be accepted in an art form that literally can’t see us and so will not let us in.”
People Won’t Listen To Scientists ABout Climate Change? Fine, Then Let’s Dance Them To Undertsanding
“Scientists today believe that such critical information must be disseminated and quickly acted upon to avoid catastrophe. But that is not happening, as indicated by the ‘much talk, little action’ status of climate change. The central need is clearly not for more natural science research (although in many areas it would be very helpful). Rather, the social sciences and humanities need to be reorganized and refocused — ‘rebooted’ — to provide better understanding of human behaviors and how they can be altered.”