Category: dance

“Natalia Osipova, who recently joined the Royal Ballet as a principal dancer, sustained a mild concussion on Saturday afternoon in a collision with a fellow dancer… The cancellation of a ballet is highly unusual, because a second cast or understudies are usually available to replace an injured dancer.”

“After six decades in which the Paul Taylor Dance Company existed to dance almost nothing but Paul Taylor works, Mr. Taylor said that he wanted to broaden its mission to include presenting past masterworks of modern dance and works of contemporary choreographers in addition to his oeuvre and the dances he plans to continue to create.”

“‘Janet Sassoon gave her life to dance like the maiden to the volcano,” says choreographer Alonzo King, who has known Sassoon for decades. ‘Complete, total, unequivocally committed, as a performer, teacher and coach.'”

Veteran Hollywood choreographer Daniel Ezralow talks about how he handled his highest-profile show ever – and its loaded theme, nothing less than Russian history through the 20th century.

“Karl Paquette collapses in a heap, stage left. … His dance partner, the première danseuse Valentine Colasante, stands a little way away, chest heaving, hands on thighs, as their instructor, or ‘balletmaster’, Laurent Novis talks them through their performance.”

The artistic directors of half a dozen major ballet companies weigh in on which classic works could use a bit of a rest – and which newer works are beginning to earn classic status of their own.

“Humans on frozen ground are, generally, comical and sad. It is only a matter of time before the human is going to fall down, ingloriously, limbs akimbo, and hit the ground with a crunch.”

“Lighting designers used to be faceless backstage figures. Now the hottest choreographers can’t work without them. Judith Mackrell meets the new wave of trailblazers.”

Leonard Lopate interviews the director of a new documentary about Tanaquil Le Clercq, the New York City Ballet star who inspired George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins (and married Mr. B.), only to be paralyzed by polio at age 27.

On Channel Four’s Big Ballet, former Royal Ballet soloist Wayne Sleep and Ballet Ireland founder Monica Loughman train a newly-assembled company of larger women (many of whom studied dance seriously) for a new staging of Swan Lake.