Category: dance

Her appointment as director of English National Ballet “sets up a fabulous prospect for the art form, for the Spaniard is astonishing in myriad ways: driven, ambitious, furiously intelligent, mischievous, occasionally cutting, always funny, inquisitive, probably far too open and, I can’t help mentioning, exquisitely beautiful.”

The French choreographer is known for such projects as a Romeo and Juliet in a totalitarian state and Casanova as a case study of advanced venereal disease. “But when Preljocaj announced he was planning a full-length Snow White … even his most loyal supporters panicked.”

In 1997, he was a teenager on tour in California with a French youth ballet troupe when SF Ballet director Helgi Tomasson walked right up to him backstage after a performance and offered him a contract – as a soloist.

“The American Guild of Musical Artists, which represents dancers in the United States, has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that the Dance Theatre of Harlem is refusing to recognize the union and will not renegotiate the dancers’ previous contract.”

“This season, after 38 years on the job, Ms. Waters will step down as artistic director of Ailey II, the second company of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, where her main triumph has been to cultivate dancers and nurture their inner stars. Ms. Waters’s track record of spotting talent is astounding; at the moment, 65 percent of the main company comes from Ailey II.”

“By leasing space at the Westbeth complex starting July 1, the Graham company and its school will be able to consolidate activities that have been spread throughout the city, including space for rehearsals, classes, offices, archives and scenery.”

Jack Widdowson, 19, was mugged and beaten last November on a vsit to Cardiff; the attack initially left him paralyzed from the neck down. Last week, “[he] performed his first jump since being injured – and was invited to perform with the English National Ballet” next month and again in June.

The choreographer “divulged that the organization will feature a total of seven dancers, none of whom is from L.A. … ‘It would’ve been my wish’ to hire local dancers, Millepied said. But he said he was looking for dancers of a certain quality and caliber, and ‘most people that great usually have jobs’.”

“The Spanish ballerina also has no hands-on experience of running a company, but she has been in training, as it were, for some time, going on directors’ courses at National Ballet of Canada and the annual DanceEast directors’ retreat.”

“In five years [Bodyelectric] dance school has built an underground cult following in Melbourne, with waiting lists for classes and hype around the shows. And their audience continues to expand.” Why? Because architects have inner dancers – or so says the school’s founder.