Category: dance

“In an effort to convey a heightened sense of urgency in its eleventh-hour fundraising drive, officials of Texas Ballet Theater told an emergency meeting of the board of trustees Tuesday that the ballet must still raise $1.4 million in the next two weeks or face the likelihood of declaring bankruptcy and closing its doors.”

“Sitting through the Genée International Ballet Competition in Toronto was an eye-opening experience. Some candidates shone from the beginning, while others came alive or faded from sight in the latter stages. The judges did not have an easy task.”

“A total of 53 dancers, including 10 from Canada, had been competing in the past week for one of 16 spots in finals. The Genée has been staged for the past 80 years by the Royal Academy in London and since 2002 has alternated between the U.K. and overseas.”

“We’re seeing surfacing in American contemporary dance work in recent years the deliberate use of strategies that have long been common artistic practice in other art forms. Appropriation, sampling, referencing and dialoguing with other artists’ works, notions of authorship, dissolving of genres, the rethinking of dance’s relationship with movement, and with audiences, etc., are all in play. Also in play is an impatience with the cherished notion of originality.”

The financially strapped company has canceled two of the three Dallas performances it had scheduled to kick off the 2008-09 season.

“The competition, named after the dancer and training organization’s co-founder, Adeline Genée, has been running annually since 1931.Only since 2000 has the Genée competition taken place outside London. The 57 semi-finalists, all but eight of them female, are ballet students aged 15 to 19, who passed the academy’s Advanced 2 examination with distinction or have been awarded a Solo Seal. This year’s candidates come from Australia, Canada, Britain, the U.S. and from as far away as Indonesia and Brazil, all told 11 of the 79 countries where the Royal Academy of Dance is active. “

As part of its plan to raise what it now says is “at least” $2 million by mid-September or face the prospect of closing its doors, Texas Ballet Theater plans to use recorded music for the 2008-09 performance season and will seek to “pay or settle” $850,000 in debt with creditors, including Bass Performance Hall and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

“Contemporary dance company Rambert is to have a new purpose-built home, following communities and local government secretary Hazel Blears’ decision to give the go-ahead to a controversial tower block on London’s South Bank.”

“The free event even attracted a long line of hopefuls waiting to grab any last-minute cancellations Monday, illustrating that problems attracting a dance audience just might be solved by more funding and lower ticket prices.”

“In yet another sign of the persistent financial woes facing the Texas Ballet Theater, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra reports that the dance company is months behind in signing a $350,000 contract with the orchestra for the upcoming season.”