Category: dance

They’re both classic combinations that not everyone likes. “Some Balanchine ballets strike newcomers as being cold – without sets, costumes or stories, it’s hard to know what to focus on. And Stravinsky’s music can be complicated – the tempos change quickly and melodies can be sparse. But when the two are combined, the result is intricately complicated yet crisply spare. They fit together in a clean fusion, like a gin and tonic. If it doesn’t take the first time, it pays to keep on drinking.”

Indian classical dancer Manjari Chaturvedi says she doesn’t care about beauty. Her “startling pronouncement — a dancer, shunning physical beauty? — puts her in rare company. Especially when she goes on to say that she’s uninterested in impressing audiences with her technical mastery or complicated rhythms.”

As the Black Swan choreographer (and partner of Natalie Portman) gears up his L.A. Dance Project, the city gives him “an unprecedented artistic freedom in which he can more fully embrace his early training in modern and African dance.”

“New York State’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, is used to considering weighty issues, like same-sex marriage and the death penalty. But on Wednesday, its august chambers entertained a debate of perhaps less significance but far more prurience: whether lap dancing constitutes a form of art.”

“The ranks of ballet companies contain dancers of varied backgrounds; race-blind casting and interracial partnerships have been widespread for decades. Yet clichéd and sometimes offensive views of race remain alive and well across the art form.”

“I want to get on with my life. I have more to contribute and I want to start contributing.” On possibly bringing a lawsuit: “I don’t want to jeopardize the company in any way. … I don’t want to do anything that would be detrimental to my dancers – my former dancers.”

“Classical ballet celebrates pale princesses and fair swans. It’s a world where dancers cake their limbs in white powder, and where performers with darker skin don’t always feel welcome.”

“‘Over the weekend [Villella] and the MCB Board leadership decided it was in the best interest of the company to speed the transition,’ the announcement from Villella and ballet officials said. It went on to say that incoming artistic director Lourdes Lopez, appointed last spring, would take over immediately.”

As protests went on during three separate performances by the Batsheva Dance Company, “the dancers stood stock still on stage, the curtain was lowered and the house lights brought up until the protesters were ejected.”

“In recent years the form has become a high-profile fixture in museums, galleries and international exhibitions. What at first seemed like a run-of-the-mill trend has developed into a thoughtful integration. … And performance series are being incorporated into historical surveys.”