Category: dance

Her name is Laurretta Summerscales. “Fans are already asking whether the baby of the English National Ballet, who has just triumphed in her first principal role, might be the new Darcey Bussell.”

“Young British dancers making their debuts at Paris’ Moulin Rouge are to be the subject of a fly on the wall documentary being developed for BBC3. The 60-minute programme … will begin with the female dancers preparing for their auditions at London dance studios Pineapple later this month and follow them to the point of their first appearance on stage at the famous venue.”

“So You Think You Can Dance (‘the search for Britain’s favourite dancer’) now features certain choreographers regularly, announcing them with X Factor-style fireworks ahead of the dance they have created…. Is the dance world excited by this – or horrified?”

The Nottingham-based company and its associated school “ceased trading on January 22, following the resignation of the company’s artistic director and co-founder Niall McMahon … [who] gave up his post due to ill health, having been on long-term sick leave since November last year.”

“The Paul Taylor Dance Foundation, which runs the company, said its executive director, Martin I. Kagan, resigned on Friday. He was effectively replaced by the company’s general manager, John Tomlinson, who was given the title of managing director of the foundation.”

The head of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama said “that he could see the school renaming itself as a result of including dance and … that changing the title to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, Dance and Drama would probably have to happen ‘sooner rather than later’.”

“This year sees more boys – 36 to the girls’ 34 – taking part for the very first time in the event’s 38-year history. … In all, 70 dancers from all over the world and aged between 15 and 18, have gathered in Lausanne for the week-long [ballet competition], which “rewards potential rather than present accomplishment.”

“Rightly or wrongly, Baltimore has a reputation as being inhospitable to dance. … Troupes with national profiles have tried and failed to find a large enough audience here to support them. So when [Cem and Elysabeth Catbas] arrived in town in the summer of 2000 and announced plans to found a professional dance company, and said that they were going to do it on a budget about as big as a sequin, many observers were skeptical.”

“A federal judge has ruled against a woman who was arrested for dancing with a group of 17 others at the memorial dedicated to President Jefferson.”

“Despite the choppy footage throughout the roughly 30 minutes of unedited film, there is something sacred about the way in which the dancers, both men and women, ride a wave of soundless rhythm. The movement is simple; it’s how deeply the dancers travel inside of the easy steps that matters the most.”