Category: dance

“At a time when … it is assumed that we all care more for the bottom line than for the artistic mission of our organizations,” Ballet Hispanico’s departing executive director, Verdery Roosevelt, “knew that good art creates good financial health and she was truly and properly supportive of her artists.”

“From the New York modern dance point of view, she will probably always be seen as an isolated West Coaster who led the way in using dance for ritual and therapy – and who influenced two generations of dancers, including Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown and Meredith Monk.”

“Despite an uneasy economy on many fronts, the Joffrey Ballet has managed to close its books for the past season in the black, marking the first time since 2005 that this was the case. This successful financial outcome also came as the company had its largest annual budget in the organization’s history – $14.2 million.”

“Ballet Nouveau Colorado issued a plea for financial help Thursday to avoid having to suspend operations. The nonprofit contemporary ballet company said in a letter posted on its website that it needs to raise $198,000 by July 31, when its fiscal year ends.”

“The duo – Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe – … are teaming up with choreographer Javier de Frutos and Royal Ballet principal Ivan Putrov on an adaptation of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy story.”

“Dance New Amsterdam, the large dance space in Lower Manhattan, faces possible eviction on July 14 from its city-owned home at 280 Broadway because the organization owes more than half a million dollars in rent.”

He’s Donald McKayle, 80, whom Judith Jamison calls “a pioneer, a precedent setter, and a formative talent by any measure.” He danced for Merce and Martha, choreographed for Broadway and Hollywood, “created works for companies around the world and he taught and administered dance programs at colleges throughout the United States, most recently at UC Irvine.”

Michael Flatley is “52, and under those well-cut clothes, there is a definite roll of middle-age spread. The Sunday Times Rich List has him down as worth £246 million. So why on earth would he want to put himself through the kind of punishing routines that — even the last time he danced them — left him lying for hours backstage, with his legs encased in ice?”

“I didn’t want to be a ballet dancer. My motivation was the musicals. Vaudeville was incredible. The Apollo, fantastic. Fred Astaire? When I auditioned for the High School of the Performing Arts, I rented top hat, white tie and tails, and sang ‘Steppin’ Out With My Baby.’ They took me not because I was good but because I had so much nerve.”

Every summer, in a little fitness studio in Saratoga Springs, about 20 or so devoted fans – mostly middle-aged women – take ballet classes led by City Ballet dancers.