“More and more pensioners are taking up ballet, according to the Royal Academy of Dance. It is putting the phenomenon down to the popularity of TV programmes like Strictly Come Dancing.”
Category: dance
Is It Really Best Practice To Review New Dance On Opening Night?
Judith Mackrell: “In the dance world … not only do most productions have to consider themselves officially ready for the (full) paying public on opening night, but also ready for review.” This despite the fact that, sometimes, the work under review has barely made it onstage.
Dancing Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale
“Adapting Atwood’s classic novel was a longtime dream of Royal Winnipeg Ballet artistic director André Lewis and American choreographer Lila York: the pair first began discussing the project about a decade ago.”
A Ballet About Crusading Computer Hackers? Yes.
“If you thought we already reached Peak Hacker, think again: the hacktivist collective Anonymous is set to hit the stage at Boston University Dance Theater in a ballet production called HackPolitik. Like, actually.”
Ballet’s Problem Is That It’s Becoming A Sport
Alice Robb: “Despite its physical similarities to gymnastics, ice-skating and ballroom dance, most ballet dancers would bristle at the suggestion that it’s a sport – and yet, many ballet teachers and directors have embraced Olympic-style competitions in which aspiring dancers compete for gold, silver and bronze medals, scholarships, contracts and even cash.”
Nederlands Dans Theater, Post-Kylian
“For more than two decades, the Nederlands Dans Theater’s international profile was defined by longtime artistic director Jiri Kylian. Since [he] stepped down, the company has begun to show the world the face it always presented at home in the Hague: that of a consistently creative troupe with a repertory showcasing a variety of choreographers, many of them current or former company members.”
San Francisco Ballet Concentrates On New Work, And Sells Out The House Doing It
Think audiences will only pay for familiar story ballets? At SFB, “several premieres happen every season, the repertory is packed with pieces created in recent years, and houses are reliably full. Under the leadership of Helgi Tomasson, the company has become one of the world’s most important vehicles for new ballet choreography.”
Hubbard Street Dance Makes A New Business Model Out Of Its Strengths
“Forging relationships with entrepreneurs and businesses may prove beneficial, as it could give Hubbard Street entree to organizations with deep pockets. Still… the program is new enough that it’s not yet clear whether it could or should be something that Hubbard Street charges clients for.”
Ballet: Go-To Training For A Winter Olympics Skeleton Racer
“There’s actually a pretty big crossover between the two sports.”
How Come It’s So Hard To Find Adults Dancing (Outside Of Reality TV Shows)?
“Dancing may have constituted a central aspect of socializing for almost every class and demographic just a few decades ago, but times have changed, and the music has stopped.”