Category: dance

James Eroncig, the new MCB board president, “said concerns over [founder and artistic director Edward] Villella’s age and the lack of a successor made it difficult to raise funds for an endowment. ‘People want to know, if Edward should fail or something were to happen to him, what’s going to happen?’ he said.”

“A new report on New York City’s dance industry reveals that corporate support is the lowest source of private contributions to the field – behind foundations, organizational boards, and individual giving.”

That same report on dance finds that New York has “a strong start-up culture of dance. … Dance organizations in New York City are entrepreneurial and innovative, despite having to scramble for money and rely on part-time, contract and volunteer labor.”

“As hula dancing becomes popular on the mainland, some complain the dance is swaying from its traditional roots. A recent competition between four troupes in San Mateo, Calif., featured high-energy routines … [that] looked more like American Idol than a traditional hula competition, where the judges often are elderly teachers of the dance.”

“Prima ballerina Natalia Osipova, 25, and principal dancer Ivan Vasiliev, 22, will leave the newly renovated Bolshoi to work with the Mikhailovsky Theatre’s new Spanish artistic director Nacho Duato.

“According to a survey carried by YouGov, 21% of adults are “more interested in dancing” because of dance shows on television, while 20% currently participate in some form of dance.”

Artistic director Edward Villella, forced out at the Miami City Ballet, says he never could play political games. Board members who supported the ouster aren’t really talking. What gives?

Choreographer John Jasperse has a new show opening at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, but he’s still ambivalent about dance. “With me it’s very much like I’m simultaneously really committed to it and have a deep problem with it.”

“The question is, to what extent is it possible to laugh at the dance before it slips into cheap parody, and to what extent does the fact that men are dancing women’s roles here add to the performance? … In their rendition of Swan Lake, the Trockadero dancers attempt to elicit laughter by force.”

“Craig Hassall has worked for the ENB since 2005. He was previously deputy general manager at the Sydney Theatre Company.”