SDC artistic director Rafael Bonachela has invited Obarzanek, who left the company to launch the leading Melbourne contemporary dance troupe, Chunky Move, to choreograph a work he hopes “will challenge dancers who have hitherto not been called on to work with speech and strong narratives, two hallmarks of Obarzanek’s work.”
Category: dance
What I Learned In Twerking Class (It’s Hard Work!)
“Despite its reputation as a highly sexual dance, I can’t say that I felt terribly sexy while doing it as I was too buy trying to keep the involuntary spasms in my quads under control so I didn’t fall over. The dance is punishing on the lower half, and requires a massive amount of muscle control, not to mention a core like granite.”
Ballet’s Color Problem, As Seen By A Royal Ballet Member
Eric Underwood: “In a corps de ballet, especially for women, the idea is to be identical: you’re trying to move the same and not call attention to yourself. For someone who isn’t white, that’s difficult. You’re left with a choice: you have to either become so great a dancer that you’re not left in a chorus or a line, or embrace your beauty and hope others do, too.”
What Exactly Does A Dance Outreach Program Look Like?
“With a sagging economy, lackluster ticket sales, and funding shifts, many mid-sized ballet organizations are experiencing a disconnect occurring at a certain point among them, outreach program participants, and their local communities.”
An App Built To Help Dance Go Viral?
“Trance is built to let dancers create and share minute-long video clips of their work with a dance-focused audience. The Trance platform is aimed at letting dancers show off their unique styles, and enabling dance fans to see the latest work from their favorite artists — and discover new artists to love.”
What’s The Most Important Thing Bill T. Jones Has Learned About Collaborating?
“You don’t have to win every fight. … Learning to say, ‘OK, let’s try it your way’ has been the most liberating thing for me. Solutions come when you don’t work too hard.”
Ballet’s First Screen Star
“Ellen Price, the early-20th-century Danish ballerina, has two claims to immortality. Firstly as the model for Edvard Eriksen’s statue of The Little Mermaid, the tourist face of Copenhagen; and secondly as one of the very first ballerinas whose dancing has been preserved on film.”
American Dancer David Hallberg Is Nervous, But He’s Still Going Back To The Bolshoi
“I questioned my safety — I don’t have a bodyguard, I have no protection — but what I didn’t question was my commitment to the company.”
UK Retailer Apologizes After Making Job Applicants Go Through Dance-Off
“A spokesman for Currys has said the impromptu dance performance is not part of their official recruitment guidelines, and they are inviting all applicants for another interview — this time likely without the musical component.”
In (The Non-Hipster Part Of) Brooklyn, A Dance School Shakily Returns
Covenant Ballet Theatre offered classes tailored to the Orthodox Jewish community – but then a key donor dropped out, and Hurricane Sandy hit.