Category: dance

“Unlike the American choreographer Merce Cunningham, 90, whose company recently outlined a detailed plan under which it would fold but a trust would maintain its choreographer’s work, Ms. Bausch did not see any immediate need for such a plan.”

“Cuba has rarely hosted a performance by a foreign dance company in the years since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. So when the Royal Ballet announced that it would be the first ballet company for three decades to perform in Havana tomorrow, on its first visit to Cuba in its 78-year history – every ticket was sold within hours.”

“In 2008, Thrill the World dancers set a new record for people dancing to “Thriller” when 4,179 people in 10 countries simultaneously danced to the song, using the moves in Jackson’s John Landis-directed video. Currently, 56 events are planned in nine countries.”

The troupe’s recent two-week tour of China “received a rapturous response from press and audiences alike” and, thanks to performance fees, per diems and sponsorship, broke even completely. Says company general manager Amanda Skoog: “Touring to China is a lot less stressful than touring around New Zealand, where we take full financial risk.”

Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Laura Dean and Mark Morris talk about the relationship between modern dance and classical ballet – and about working with companies of each type.

The 32-year-old Belgian choreographer “is a rising star of European dance, and the fact that he agreed to collaborate with Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet on his first piece for an American company, spending months on the process, is a major artistic coup for the bold young troupe.” The new dance, titled Orbo Novo, premieres this week at Jacob’s Pillow.

That name would be My Turkey Sandwich. The part-time Salt Lake City company launched last year with a program (titled “Between the Bread”) featuring only the two co-founders as dancers; this year, there will be 14 onstage for “Open-Faced – With a Side of M.A.Y.O.” (That stands for “Movement Activists Yielding Oeuvre.”)

“Pittsburgh’s Dance Alloy Theater has appointed Greer Reed-Jones as artistic director and Susan Sparks as director, replacing executive artistic director Beth Corning, who left effective July 3.”

The teen star “has revealed that he is taking ballet classes in an effort to protect his career after his Harry Potter glory days have ended. The 19-year-old explained to Esquire magazine that he knows he will soon have to compete with other actors his age when they have completed their training in drama schools which have taught them to sing and dance.”

“Emily Molnar, a principal dancer with Ballet BC who is also an emerging choreographer, has been appointed interim artistic director of the financially troubled Vancouver ballet company. Molnar has been given the task of steering Ballet BC over the next year as the company struggles to regain its financial footing and build audiences.”