Category: dance

“At year’s end Gideon Obarzanek intends to hand over leadership of the company. Obarzanek, 44, will stay involved for another year after his successor is appointed but his role will shift from creating new work to overseeing tours of the company’s existing shows.”

Gennady Yanin, 42, stepped down after “links to online material of a sexual nature casting Gennady Yanin in the worst possible light were sent to thousands of email addresses in Russia and abroad.” Dance critics and some other observers argue that Yanin is the victim of a smear campaign by a competitor.

“In October, the Flemish Ministry of Culture announced that the ballet company would merge with the Flemish opera, with both under a state-appointed administrator, or Intendant, who would manage the single organization. As the ballet company’s artistic director, Kathryn Bennetts, sees it, this would mean a loss of artistic autonomy, hamper international touring and mire her already underfunded company in greater practical and financial difficulties.”

“Labor lawyer Leonard Leibowitz has been indicted by a federal grand jury for embezzling funds from the International Artists of America, an independent union of dancers and stage managers that he helped create and for which he served as counsel from 1994 through 2007. He turned himself in March 14 to authorities and was arraigned in Manhattan federal court.”

“While comparable to corporate policies governing employees’ online conduct, the rules would be a departure from the laissez-faire approach taken by the ballet until this point.”

“What do you do when your last major show has been drowned out by boos from the stalls, called ‘ill-conceived and barkingly offensive’ by the critics, and banned by the BBC? How do you return to work when – because of that scandal – death threats have been left on your phone, you’ve been hospitalised with a nervous breakdown, and spent a year unemployed?”

Royal Ballet star Ivan Putrov asked the Boys to write him a bit of music. Says Chris Lowe, “Ivan wasn’t anticipating what we came up with, I think he was just asking for some music to the Seven Veils, he got a bit more than that – a full three-act ballet with a narrative.”

“Whatever else he may be, De Frutos is never risk-averse. Nothing is done in moderation, he doesn’t believe in good taste, and he values provocation above acceptance. He made his name as a soloist, exploring his own turbulent self in bare-all pieces …”

Debra Brown “specializes in creating bizarre, hair-raising stunts that seem physically impossible. In her 25 years with the company, she has helped transform the circus into an art form.”

“In fact, the exodus of dancers from the Cuban company is not new. Like other touring groups of Cuban performers, the ballet troupe bleeds dancers almost every time it travels abroad.”