Category: dance

Reactions to the Berlin-based Mehmet Sasmaz – a/k/a “Zadiel” – have run a wide gamut: consternation from his Turkish immigrant parents, enthusiasm from European audiences, “culture shock for Turkish men from small villages”, admiration from students who flock to work with him. As for his devotion to what most people see as a feminine art form: “my audience may not realize it but what I am doing is extremely traditional.”

“In Morris’s latest efforts, the insight into the relationship between music and dance is still there, as are the brilliance of construction, the imagination, the naughty-boy wit and its opposite: acknowledgement of loss and mortality. …What’s missing in the newer works is Morris’s once-surging desire to choreograph. How did this happen?” Tobi Tobias has some ideas …

“Ballet is generally the domain of young girls in Ireland, but in China it is becoming a pastime of choice for the middle-aged. … Ballet has a strong focus on the individual, which does not sit easily with the mass focus of Maoist doctrine. It is also a western art form,” making the popularity of ballet classes “emblematic of China’s modernisation in the last 30 years of reform.”

“American Ballet Theater has announced that it will make its first trip to Beijing in November. Its six-performance engagement will be the first by an American ballet company at the new National Center for the Performing Arts, also known as the Egg.”

“The Original Copasetics was a fraternity of vividly individual tap dancers, each with his own casually authoritative style and specialty. … Formed [in 1949] on the death of Bill Bojangles Robinson, the international tap star, the group took its name from Robinson’s familiar observation that ‘everything is copasetic,’ or perfect.” Ernest Brown, the troupe’s last surviving member, died last week in Chicago at age 93

“It is one of the most elite ballet schools in the world and has an impressive track record for producing some of the industry’s greatest stars. Now, a teenager from Watford is set to become only the fourth British youngster in 230 years to train at the prestigious Bolshoi Ballet Academy.” If she makes it beyond the first year, the 16-year-old will have gotten farther than any of her British predecessors.

“Earlier this year, the company trimmed $100,000 from its budget through layoffs and the institution of two- to four-week furloughs. More expense cuts are on tap for 2009-10, when the budget is set to drop to $7 million from $7.3 million.”

“Though he was not a dancer, Diaghilev is credited with making ballet a modern, daring art form. His talent for cultivating and nurturing great artists of the early 20th century in the areas of music, visual arts and choreography and bringing them together to create a complete program of dance defined in part his great contribution to the medium.”

You have to be older than 60 for this group. “Though they are either retired or have day jobs such as teacher, therapist and legal secretary, the team members are united by a love of dancing. Some already are in dance groups with such names as the Happy Tappers or (inevitably) the Happy Hoofers. But all of them are challenged by hip-hop moves.”

“Equity is campaigning to prevent venues that host burlesque, pole and lap dancing from being classified as ‘sex encounter establishments’, warning that such a change will put dancers at risk of ‘physical danger’.”