Category: dance

Renae Williams Niles, one of the most powerful dance people in L.A., “is highly regarded for her business acumen and knowledge of the art. Her unpretentiousness and sunny disposition have also won her fans. And she is an anomaly in the field: A rare female executive at a large multi-disciplinary performing arts facility who is young (38), African American, a former dancer (with the Lula Washington Dance Theatre) and a homegrown Angeleno (since age 13).”

“The middle of nowhere in County Longford is not the most obvious spot to stumble upon an international dance Mecca. But that is exactly the kind of strange fruit that has sprouted up on a former dairy farm just outside Legan since the arrival of South African ballet dancer and actor Anica Louw in 1978.”

“The venues have got bigger, and when you go on stage, you have to stand out. You’re not just doing Irish dancing any more, you’re giving a performance.”

“Strictly speaking, Dominic Wong isn’t a dancer. He’s a character. And, there’s little dispute, a comedic one.”

“From cramped conditions at His Majesty’s Theatre, the company has now moved into the $12 million heritage-listed State WA Ballet Centre in [suburban] Maylands, which has been transformed to contain purpose-built studios, a ballet school, costume workshops and a cafe.”

“A study by sociologists has revealed a sharp decline in the performance ability of Britain’s lap dancers since the financial crash of 2008. The study by Teela Sanders and Kate Hardy from Leeds University warns of ‘de-skilling’ across the industry. Dr Sanders said many dancers had ‘never even used a pole’.”

“The South African Ballet Theatre (SABT) – formed in 2001 by dancers after the closure of the State Theatre Ballet – and Mzansi Productions, a classically based contemporary dance company … founded in 2008,” are combining resources (not least, public funding) to create a classically-based troupe that can work in contemporary and African genres as well.

“[T]hroughout his 22-year, four-film cinematic career, Stillman has repeatedly turned to dancing for its potential as a narrative allegory, as a plot device, and as a remnant of the old social order he seems to long for. And also, yes, to underscore his characters’ lovable eccentricities.”

A leading exponent in Britain of physical theater, the genre that combines expressionistic, stylized, often unison movement with text, music and design, Hoggett is a choreographer who stretches the definition of the term. He’s never been a dancer and he has no technical training — he doesn’t so much design steps as elicit them from his performers.

In 2008, less than a year before he died, Cunningham took his dancers and musicians to a Minnesota quarry for what would be the last performances of his 90-minute masterpiece, Ocean. Charles Atlas, a longtime Cunningham collaborator, made an inventive and fascinating film of the event.