Category: dance

And that’s a problem for the future. The Nutcracker is “the production that helps make a lot of others possible. That holiday ballet can account for 20% of many companies’ ticket sales, and, in the case of a major company like Chicago’s Joffrey, about half of its annual earned revenue. Ashley Wheater, the artistic director of The Joffrey, told us the company has lost more than $12 million in earnings during the pandemic and has had to cancel newer works they had planned.” – NPR

There’s little question that Kayoko Everhart is a competent dancer: she’s been with CND for 16 years and a principal for eight. Last month, after a public competition, she was awarded the highest rank, estrella (equivalent to the Paris Opera Ballet’s étoile) — with a 20% pay raise. Then her colleagues found out that she had recently started dating the artistic director, former New York City Ballet star Joaquín de Luz. (in Spanish) – El Mundo (Spain)

Chloé Lopes Gomes, a French citizen, who joined the Staatsballett as a corps de ballet member in 2018, said she had faced recurrent racial abuse from her ballet mistress. In an interview with the Guardian she also accuses the company of institutional racism after managers failed to act even after various incidents were brought to their attention. – The Guardian

It could be an established company with a full-fledged theater and studios, a long-term residency at an institution, a live-work space such as a loft, or even just a regular job with a salary and benefits. Choreographer Kimberly Bartosik explores what the concept means for her and for such colleagues as Bebe Miller, Kyle Abraham, and Jonah Bokaer. – Dance Magazine

Well, besides the fact that the company saved his mangled foot. “I can’t tell you how nice it is to come into an organisation that has positivity embedded in it. It is a trait I admire in Australia itself. I lived in Moscow for years; there isn’t much positivity roaming around Moscow or the Bolshoi Theatre for that matter. I mean [the Bolshoi] is a fabulous, world-class company to which I am very grateful for the experience, but the AB has this can-do belief in doing the best they possibly can do.” – Dance Australia

The Olympics announced on Monday that the competitive dance form will be among the new sports set to debut during the 2024 games. The Olympics website states that breakdancing (named “breaking”), skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing will be new categories for the next summer Olympics. – Deadline

“I can’t imagine that once we’re back doing live performance that some of the things we’ve learned about filming dance and embracing that as a thing unto itself rather than only a response to not being able to be in the theater, but to go into the art of filming dance – and I think that’s what’s wonderful about what we did with ‘Revelations’.” – NPR

That is, Nutcracker, but make it about touch and sound. Blind and visually impaired students in these classes, now via video from the students’ homes, each receive “a package of Nutcracker artifacts: a pointe shoe, a candy cane, a long stretch of tulle (from which tutus are made), a story synopsis and glossary in large print or Braille, sheet music with sections of Tchaikovsky’s score, and, of course, a nutcracker.” – The New York Times