Category: dance

Fabienne Jean, a member of the country’s national theater, “is quite famous in Haiti … [appearing] in some big shows and in television commercials for the mobile-phone company Voila. We found her stretched out on a mattress on the concrete floor of a primary school classroom that was serving as an overflow ward for the city hospitals.”

Jin Xing was born male, and as a male he rose to the rank of colonel in the People’s Liberation Army (in the military’s performing arts company). At age 27, she became the first person in China to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Now, as a famous dancer and choreographer, she is founder and director of the nation’s only company with no state funding.

“A Venezuelan dancer is suing Festival Ballet Providence, alleging that the company discriminated against him because of his gender when it fired him last February.”

“Beauty met brawn on Tuesday when members of the Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB) joined the Crusaders [rugby squad] at training in Christchurch. Eight of the crew from the RNZB watched the Crusaders go through regular training drills and then joined them for speed and gym work.” One player described the experience as “pretty embarrassing to be honest.”

“No sooner did tickets go on sale Monday for Love Lies Bleeding, the new ballet inspired by the songs of Elton John, than they went off again.” Would-be buyers had crashed the site.

“The company is too full of underachievement. Above all, its dancing too seldom turns its music into movement that matters in space on opera-house scale.The pluses and minuses of City Ballet add up differently at every performance.”

“I am a continuation of what Alvin started. And what I wanted to do was broaden it — make it bigger, and certainly not have anyone forget who this man was, what he has done for the world of dance — what a great swath of intelligence and beauty, and a different way of looking at movement, and sharing the stage. He just made a big pathway for all of us to pursue our individual and collective goals.”

“Figure skating exists in a murky place — it’s tempting to find parallels to dance. Both forms feature movement in space and time set to music, and some skaters even study ballet. Still, when a certain recurring question crops up — is figure skating a sport or an art — I’m reminded of the jokes, and the answer is clear: it’s a sport with delusions of grandeur.”

“He was raised on ballets with large casts and is used to working with stars. Ballet companies practically worldwide ask him to add works to their repertories … When a person has a lust for choreographic adventure, as Wheeldon seems to have, it’s been difficult to imagine him limiting himself to running a small company that’s not yet on completely sound footing.”

“The West Australian Ballet has accused the Australia Council of thwarting its plans to become a fully fledged company and jeopardising a $1.2 million [Aus] annual grant from the state government, which is tied to more federal government funds.” The company’s plan is “to expand its ensemble to 32 dancers and stage four ballet seasons a year.”