Category: dance

“Here was a company of astonishing dancers who continually circled the globe. But their repertoire did not always live up to their talent and range. The quandary? How do you maintain the Ailey’s identity, yet at the same time grow with the art form? How do you balance both the racial and “post-racial” nature of the world in dance terms?”

JR, the French street artist whose installation on the floor of City Ballet’s home theater went viral, will choreograph a new piece for the company (with the help of ballet master Peter Martins).

“Ballet is grace and perfection, but it’s also twisted ankles and stinky flats. We meet two young male ballet dancers whose passion for performance led them all the way to the State Ballet School of Berlin.” (audio)

It’s turfing, a style of street-dance that was created in the city about twenty years ago and is now booming.

“Jenifer Ringer, who retired this month from New York City Ballet, has been appointed head of the Colburn Dance Academy. The Colburn School, where music, dance and drama are currently taught, is starting the new, more specialized program in the fall, in partnership with the L.A. Dance Project and its director, Benjamin Millepied.”

The Spanish choreographer has extended his contract for an additional five years, through the company’s 50th anniversary season.

In a short video titled Dancing on Rough Ground, “Anastasia Kurkova describes the challenges she faced after leaving her home country to join one of the most competitive ballet companies in Germany.”

For seven years, the “Dancing in the Street” festival in Grand Center not only opened the entertainment district’s fall season, but also served as a showcase for local companies.

Gold-medal winners Davis and White “have a small window of opportunity. The Winter Olympics soon will be forgotten by general sports fans, who quickly will move on to other things, because spring training is heating up and then March Madness is right around the corner.”

“Have you ever seen a dancer’s feet? It’s a wonder the profession even exists. What other art form is as brutal as ballet?”