Category: dance

In Urban Souls Dance Company’s Canvas and Choreography, “company dancers became human canvases and guests with pots of paint became the surprise artists.”

“Many professional dance companies in major U.S. cities dream of having more African American audiences for their work. Reality sets in as artistic and administrative staff look out over the crowd and wonder where all the African Americans audiences have gone.”

“After enthralling audiences around the world with his dancing, Carlos Acosta is making his entrance on to a different stage with a debut novel, Pig’s Foot, which has been picked as one of the most important literary debuts of the year by Waterstones.”

“The Paul Taylor Dance Company … will commemorate the 25th anniversary of Mr. Taylor’s Brandenburgs and Speaking in Tongues by selling $5 tickets to the March 6 performance of the two dances in four separate pop-up shops across Manhattan.”

“The newspaper photograph, he said, was of ‘Martha Graham, a shovel on the ground and me crying.'”

Philanthropist Gloria Kaufman: “I could’ve given money to a lot of different things, which I do, but I thought, this is something that brings joy, and I don’t think we have enough of it. I wanted to make a change. I wanted to make kids and people happy, because I was happy.”

“Toward Light: A Tribute to Rachel Browne”, playing in Toronto and Vancouver this month, offers eight works that “span 48 years, from her first choreography, the joyous solo Odetta’s Songs and Dances (1964), to the poignant trio Momentum (2012), which premiered a month before her death.”

“What we do know is that every dance company in the United States, no matter how large or well established, has a structural weakness.”

Artistic director Janet Eilber is “remaking the company’s profile. … In Graham’s opinion, Eilber says, ‘if there was only one person in the audience who understood the work, that was enough.’ That is not Eilber’s opinion, nor can it be. She feels she has to change Graham’s ‘musty image’ and also the package that the company offers presenters.”

“The New York City Ballet is speculating that, much like Billy Elliot, most young city-dwellers would love ballet if they just gave it a chance. In order to entice these folks to make that initial jeté into ballet, the NYCB is starting an annual collaboration with some contemporary artists, the fruits of which will be on display all around the city.”