Category: dance

Mikko Nissinen vowed to have Boston Ballet back up to speed after two years. And it is — sort of.

AGMA executive director Alan Gordon: “The question the dancers ask now is not whether or not they should engage in some kind of job action, but what kind of job action to engage in and how destructive to make it, so the company is forced to pay attention to their needs.”

Jean Grand-Maitre: “They’re easier to make relevant. But … [when] you’re working with a song by Elton John, say, like ‘Rocket Man,’ that people have heard for decades and have their own images of what they ‘see’ to it, then the real challenge is how to take this music and make people ‘see’ it in a different way.”

“After a first season rich in premieres, the Vienna Ballet under director Manuel Legris will pack its bags next season for a couple of tours to build up its name on the international stage. So far, two tours are planned: to Monte Carlo in December for two evenings, and to Japan in April 2012.”

“A federal mediator has been brought in to help with the talks, which have grown unusually acrimonious over issues like salary increases, overtime, sick-pay policies and dancers’ participation in small off-season tours.”

“While cheerfully confirming that it is, to say the least, ‘a bit early’ in his career to apply for the directorship of the Royal Ballet when Monica Mason steps down next year,” company principal Steven McRae “says he’d definitely like to go for the job at some point.” (Christopher Wheeldon said roughly the same thing last week.)

“Ballet Theater announced Wednesday that Mr. Ratmansky, who had been committed to the troupe through 2013, agreed to the extension two years before his previous contract was up. The terms remain unchanged: he is to spend 20 weeks a season with the company and choreograph at least one new work a year or restage one of his older dances.”

“She demanded your full attention, and was demanding in terms of what she needed you to do. … She had such an amazing vocabulary. The difficult thing about talking with her was that she was always correcting your grammar.”

At 80, he is the last remaining pioneer of modern dance still alive, and, more to the point, still creating.

“Of all the details – and there are plenty – involved in Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins, the two most important when you’re talking about the new production at New York City Ballet are these: Wendy Whelan is dancing, and Patti LuPone is singing.”