Category: dance

“The surplus [for 2009-10] was a modest $402,000[Cdn], but both box office and donor support was up, according to executive director Kevin Garland. In the previous year, the company had a $423,000 deficit.”

“[Ohad] Naharin may be today’s most widely worshiped guru of modern dance, thanks to Gaga, the sensation-driven, imagery-guided movement language that he began developing in the 1990s.”

“Flight attendants for a low-cost Philippine airline who dance to Lady Gaga to keep passengers from snoozing through an in-flight safety demonstration are the latest YouTube sensation.”

“I’m really passive,” Gat whispers to an interviewer. “I observe and make tiny corrections. I don’t impose choreography, I create an environment for choreography to grow. I don’t plan. I allow it to happen.”

“Mexican choreographer Tania Pérez-Salas labors in greater obscurity than most artists in her field. In her country, modern dance is peripheral and support is minimal. The recognition isn’t much better elsewhere in the world, where the image of Mexican dance tends to be … women swishing voluminous skirts and men stomping around in wide-brimmed hats.”

The company’s budget is $8 million, down from $8.3 million last year and $8.5 million in 2008.

When Murphy left the Sydney Dance Company after 31 years at its helm, 90% of the company’s repertoire was his work. With a new artistic director putting his own stamp on the SDC, a pair of Murphy’s former dancers has launched the Mod Dance Company, which aims to keep Murphy’s work alive.

“[I]nstead of just a danced version of Fonteyn’s life, [Queensland Ballet] is creating a production where dance and theatre cannot be separated.” The creators of Fonteyn Remembered “developed a structure for the production that would use actors and dancers together, with music accompanying both.”

The history of this Leeds-based troupe “is a story of small beginnings, high-flying, and a couple of crash landings. Along the way, lots of people have had lots of views about what it is or should be, with the result that this company has had more incarnations than a Hindu deity.”

“Dance, Dance, Dance will be broadcast on Sky’s new 3D channel this weekend, and will include Men Y Men, from the [English National Ballet], which uses ten male dancers, and Counterpoint, choreographed by Shobana Jeyasingh, which sees 20 female dancers perform to original music by Cassiel.”