Category: dance

“All in a dance scene undiminished by tough times.”

“Maybe I’m a solitary crank, but ‘Black Swan’ left me disheartened. I love the idea of a ballet horror movie – hot bodies, hot tempers; why hasn’t it been done before? But watching this attempt I found myself thinking: Surely someone could make a scary-sexy ballet flick that doesn’t portray the art as a form of torture and the ballerinas – every last one – as insubstantial freaks.”

“Ailey wasn’t the first artist, nor will he be the last, to try to deflect the public’s interest from an early, runaway hit in hopes of gaining attention for some later efforts. But, however much artists want to move along, individual works of art have their ways of demanding attention.”

“Over the past two years, tango dancing has become increasingly popular in the Middle East, from Syria to Turkey to the United Arab Emirates. … Milongas, or tango dance parties, take place in restaurants and hotels almost every night of the week in main cities.”

At the annual holiday show of the SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, “the audience straps on tutus and storms the dance floor. Imagine a ballerina’s mosh-pit with tinsel wands and street shoes, and you’ve got the right idea.”

“As “Nutcracker” tourism this has all been gorgeous. But why does this ballet proliferate across the States more than anywhere else on the planet? What’s American here?”

“Making it as a ballerina in San Diego often means getting an extra job to bring in more money. City Ballet members do everything from working at bars or bookstores to teaching dance and appearing as guest artists with other companies.”

“After fifteen years as Artistic Director and CEO of leading Australian and world-renowned dance company, Chunky Move, Gideon Obarzanek has announced that he will be stepping down at the end of 2011 to pursue other freelance opportunities in dance and other art forms.”

Gillian Murphy: “The mean-spiritedness portrayed in the movie was disturbing to me. That atmosphere and the lecherousness of the director – they have nothing to do with my personal experience.” David Hallberg: “It is a competitive art form … but what isn’t a reality is the cutthroat, vicious attitude about it.”

Says the Joffrey Ballet’s Matthew Adamczyk, “Over the course of the run I think I’ll be dancing 13 or 14 different roles, including the Snow King and the Prince, and, for the first time this year, Drosselmeyer … I’m also responsible for knowing the Arabian dance, the Trepack [Russian dance], the Waltz of the Flowers and five different party scene roles.”