Category: dance

“Ballet is an addictive art. There are fans who do not miss a single Ballet Theater performance in New York; if you think that dancers are what matter most in ballet, this spring season was the stuff to win you over to their line of thinking.”

“While ticket sales recovered part way through the year, many seats were sold at the cut-rate price of $20 to people between the ages of 16 and 29 as part of a program to attract a younger audience.”

“A court has granted Ballet British Columbia’s former artistic director the right to add his cancelled contract to the company’s list of debts.” John Alleyne’s claim for nearly C$143,000 “was based on his employment contract, which required 12 months notice or payment in lieu of notice.”

“Attendance for the first week of New York City Ballet’s two-week season at Saratoga Perfoeming Arts Center was 7 percent higher than the same time last year, according to a statement this morning by SPAC President and Executive Director Marcia J. White.”

“Queen Margrethe unveiled the colorful costumes Wednesday for The Swineherd, a ballet based on a story by Danish fairytale writer Hans Christian Andersen. She used stark colors – acid green, pink and purple – or large polka dots to give the costumes of the royal characters a cartoonesque touch. … It’s the fourth time Margrethe has designed costumes and sets for a stage adaptation of Andersen’s work.”

“During the 1960s, Suzushi Hanayagi ventured alone to New York, in an unusual act of courage for a Japanese woman of her generation, armed with training in traditional dance to forge a new form of Western-style modern dance. … Avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson, who worked with Hanayagi in the U.S., has created what he calls their ‘last collaboration’ titled – KOOL – Dancing in My Mind.”

“Greer Reed-Jones has been named to replace Beth Corning as artistic dire[c]tor of Dance Alloy Theater. Corning resigned last week and the board immediately promoted Reed-Jones,” the company’s education director, who is a former Alvin Ailey ensemble member and a former principal dancer for Dayton Contemporary Dance Ensemble.

“A longtime union lawyer was arrested and charged on Tuesday with embezzling approximately $150,000 from a union representing dancers and stage managers at American Ballet Theater, federal prosecutors said.”

“It seems that every few weeks or so brings a new YouTube video sensation that features people dancing in public, usually in unison and in large groups. … The popularity of these videos speaks to something innately attractive about watching random people subsume themselves into a larger mass of synchronized bodies. Is the appeal instinctual? Sociological? Psychological?”

“According to the nonprofit group’s bankruptcy petition, it has more than 100 creditors, debt of $1 million to $10 million, and a similar range for assets. For years, the organization has been bleeding money. It lost $1.5 million on total revenue of $3.1 million, according to its 2007 tax returns, the most recent return found.”