Category: dance

“If you have ever tried to stand upright in a force 10 gale, then you know something of how it feels to be two metres away from Natalia Osipova’s leap.”

For classical ballet performers, who typically need to stop around (or before) age 40, it’s some version of, “I want to leave while I still love it, before my body is broken.” For contemporary dancers? Says one, “I thought I should retire and seek another profession when I was like 20. But then when I was 30, I was like, ‘Screw it.’ [I’ll keep going] until I end up in a state-funded nursing home.”

Meredith (Max) Hodges “succeeds Barry Hughson, who left the company in January to become executive director of the National Ballet of Canada. Hodges is currently executive director of Gallim Dance, a New York-based contemporary dance company.”

“How does a teenager turn into a cowboy at the School of American Ballet? It’s all in the chest. …’You’ve got to strut that girl around,’ [faculty member Susan] Pilarre said. ‘Just puff up, Chris. Blow up. Mr. B used to say, ‘Stuffed turkey on Thanksgiving.””

Ten years after he founded the Forsythe Company, based in Frankfurt and Dresden, following a controversial wavering of support from the city of Frankfurt (where he spent 20 years leading Ballet Frankfurt to international renown), William Forsythe is leaving his troupe on the hands of former Frankfurt dancer Jacopo Godani. (“I am assuming that the name of the company will change,” said Forsythe.)

“Two more years in classical. Next two seasons will be the final seasons. I will make a creation with the Royal Ballet, Carmen, and that will be my swan song. Then I probably will carry on doing some contemporary works. And then maybe I will employ a choreographer to choreography me sitting down.”

“What if you take away the pressure of ticket sales and reviews — what would you make? What would you create if there were no outside expectations?”

“Hailed by some as the new capoeira, passinho is a lightning-quick dance style that evokes 1980s b-boy battles in the Bronx, as performers push their physical limits in exhilarating head-to-head contests. Within the space of a decade, it has gone from a side attraction within the bailes funk – those raucous, illicit parties that light up Rio’s outer neighbourhoods – to a national phenomenon with primetime TV slots, lucrative sponsorships and star status for a lucky few.”

Jim Mitchell “served five years as executive director of the Arkansas Arts Council … [and] has direct management experience in every major arts discipline including dance, opera, symphony and theater, as well as capital campaign and strategic planning experience.”

“I discovered that there were many former dancers of great repute who were under-utilized, not necessarily by choice. I rounded up a nice group of greats who wish to give back to the art form. They form my Artistic Advisory Board. Each of them have a voice and had great careers and were notable for either their musicality, presence, dramatic qualities or purity.”