Category: dance

It centres on the rivalry between two dancers at a cutthroat ballet company in New York.

“Master restorer” Sergei Vikharev talks about the myriad challenges – cultural and psychological as well as scholarly – in reconstructing Marius Petipa’s original works from the notated “scores” made under his supervision at the old Imperial Theatre of St. Petersburg.

“Founded in 2005, Ferqet el-Samteen (commonly known as the Egyptian Deaf and Mute Modern Dance Company) is the first performance group of its kind in the world.” The company’s 30 dancers “may not be able to hear the music, but they can feel it … dancers react to the changing tempo of vibrations running through the floor from the speakers.”

“For sure I will go back because I am very deep to my roots. I would like to create a bridge from Cuba to the world so that all the [modern] choreographers like Russell Maliphant can come and maybe try different things with the dancers there, so we can bring dance up to date.”

The son of company ballet master Peter Martins “has quietly retired from the company after several seasons of dwindling appearances.” Nilas, who made headlines in 2007 when he was arrested for cocaine possession during City Ballet’s Saratoga season, has received a fellowship to study arts management at the Kennedy Center.

“Handpicked by Alvin Ailey himself to run the school in 1984, she led that enterprise for the past 26 years, mentoring numerous students, including many who later joined with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Martha Graham Dance Company, the Mark Morris Dance Group, the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and others.”

“The Bolshoi is arguably the most famous ballet company in the world; it all but stars in its own epic tale of fortune and failure, a story with more dramatic turns than a pirouetting prima ballerina.”

“Last month, Dance Theatre of Harlem’s ensemble performed to strong reviews at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts, the troupe’s first full season at the prestigious annual festival in more than 20 years. … After shutting down more than five years ago following years of mismanagement that resulted in a $2.3 million deficit, a shrinking of its board to three people, and declining enrollment at its school, the storied institution is staging an encore.”

Judith Mackrell: “The year was 1986 and the Bolshoi were returning to Britain after a long, cold war gap of 17 years. I was just starting out as a critic and had never seen them perform – but everyone talked about the company as if they were the Cossacks of the dance world, hot-blooded creatures of phenomenal prowess, whose arching jumps and multiple pirouettes scorched the stage.”

“Most ballet choreographers of any merit get the bug at school and work their way gradually up a ladder from elementary pieces for their classmates to the big stage. They are not supposed to spring virtually fully formed into the limelight, with a considerable talent attached. That, though, seems to be the uncommon case with the Royal Ballet principal man, Vyacheslav Samodurov.”