Category: dance

“In the past year, Ballet Oklahoma has gone from a financially strapped organization that considered merging with Tulsa Ballet to reinventing itself as an autonomous organization known as the Oklahoma City Ballet” that’s completely solvent and is about to start a four-ballet season.

“Choreographer Michael Lowe couldn’t say no when the Oakland Ballet asked him to step in as a guest artistic director in the wake of founder Ronn Guidi’s sudden resignation in April. … Lowe and another Oakland Ballet veteran, ballerina Jenna McClintock, have been hired on an interim basis to keep the company dancing.”

Australian Judith Lanigan, “a street and international freelance circus artist, is best known for her interpretation of the ballet piece The Dying Swan [originally choreographed for Pavlova], which she performs with 30 hula hoops.”

“The changes at the Joffrey Ballet during the past half year have been more substantial than usual, with many longtime company members moving on and a slew of new hires now being announced.”

“Boston Ballet leaders hope the Opera House deal brings stability to an organization that has had to deal with several years of financial turmoil which led to staffing cuts and a reduction in the number of dancers in the company.”

“Thousands gathered in front of Mexico City’s Monument of the Revolution to participate in a giant Thriller dance, led by a Jackson impersonator. Organizers say 12,937 moved to the music, breaking the world record for most people doing the Thriller dance — something the Guinness World Records book could confirm in a week.”

“Fall for Dance has redefined the theater’s identity. Since its first incarnation the festival has been a phenomenon, with lines for tickets going around City Center’s midtown block; all 2,700 seats selling out for almost every performance; and strikingly youthful audiences.”

“It appears to be a good time for Mikhail Baryshnikov. A new theater downstairs is nearly done, the youngest of his four children is now a teenager, and his performing career is both ample and varied.”

“We’re plucking kids out of the community, they get the training and we launch their career here or anywhere in the world. But there hasn’t been enough of a bloodline, if you will, through the academy and how our education and outreach programs feed into the academy.”

The journey from awful to amazing is what really matters and Strictly is the only reality show in the world that makes a virtue of celebrating effort rather than fame.