Li Cunxin’s “drama-filled defection ranks alongside those of Nureyev and Baryshnikov as examples of ballet’s inexplicable ability to focus political tensions into one desperate and iconic personal moment; displaying the power of one individual to embody and to transcend the curdled complexities of history and politics.”
Category: dance
The First-Ever High School Performance Of “Appalachian Spring”
The reason no high school has ever performed “Appalachian Spring” before, according to Graham company artistic director Janet Eilber, is that no high school has ever asked.
Will Fans Get Their Money Back After Polunin Leaves Ballet?
“I have got nothing against the young man who is supposed to be taking over and I am sure he is a wonderful dancer, but I would not have bought a ticket to see Midnight Express with any other dancer.”
Dance Theater of Harlem Makes A Scrappy, Lean Return
“What does Dance Theater of Harlem mean today? Does a primarily black ballet company even need to exist?”
What’s *Really* Going On With The Dancer Who Didn’t Show Up?
“If a star performer like Polunin agrees to lead a production and then finds himself in conflict with it, what are the rights and wrongs of abandoning it?”
How Cambodian Dance Survived After Most Of Its Dancers Were Killed
“Only an estimated 10 to 20 percent of the royal dancers survived — about two dozen people who reconstructed what they could of an oral tradition and taught it to new generations.”
Sergei Polunin Walks Away From Yet Another Ballet
The charismatic 23-year-old made headlines worldwide when he abruptly left the Royal Ballet in the middle of last season. was back in London to dance the lead in a new adaptation of Midnight Express. But on Wednesday he simply didn’t show up for rehearsals and didn’t respond to calls.
How On Earth Does One Choreograph A Score Like The Rite Of Spring?
“Nijinsky set it in tunics, Pina Bausch as a brutal battle of the sexes – so just how do you dance to Stravinsky’s most violent score? Judith Mackrell talks to Akram Khan, Javier de Frutos and other leading choreographers about following the greats.”
Seven National Ballet Of Cuba Dancers Defect
“The seven young members of the internationally acclaimed National Ballet of Cuba who defected last month after a tour in Mexico came to the United States in search of wider artistic horizons, one of them has declared.”
The Dancing Filipino Inmates Star In A Documentary
“Six years and 52 million YouTube hits later, Filipino inmates who danced to ‘Thriller’ inside a prison courtyard are getting their stories told in a movie drama about redemption and corruption behind bars.”