Category: dance

Alexei Ratmansky, the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, has confirmed that he is leaving the Bolshoi and is in negotiations with New York City Ballet to become its resident choreographer. He would replace Christopher Wheeldon, who is leaving at the end of this month.

She and the Royal Ballet divorced last year, ending an 18-year relationship. “I know they said I left the company because I didn’t want to do the big classical roles any more, but that’s not true.”

“Postmodern dance is so capable of giving you 10,000 ideas and no traffic signs. And how do you limit it, how do you choose? The choreographer has to make up how they make up a dance – that’s big.”

Trisha Brown is retiring at age 71 from a long career as a dancer and choreographer, and that she is doing so on her own terms is a miraculous thing. “Ms. Brown’s innovations and influence are hard to overestimate. In the last decade she has directed opera, experimented with motion-capture technology and increasingly exhibited her own visual artwork, mainly drawings.”

“Swedish officials say China is against shows planned for Stockholm and Linkoping because some of the US-based performers have links to Falun Gong. The spiritual movement is banned in China and accused by the Beijing government of being a cult.”

“Meltdown, by the Rambert Dance Company, has its premiere at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on Friday. It portrays Spears as she fends off the paparazzi, shaves off her hair and is carried off on a stretcher.”

Canada’s top five ballet companies are collaborating on a new summer training program for young dancers at the Banff Centre in Alberta.

“it appears that the 44-year-old Pennsylvania Ballet has taken an enormous leap – a financial and organizational grand jete – that will force culture vultures to find a different benchmark for failure. Not only has the ballet achieved a peace and stability few, if any, predicted – but also real ambition has returned.”

“The success of any art is subjective, and most viewers can list their choices for hideously ill-conceived designs. But to some, ballet visuals are particularly stodgy.”

Julie Tobiason and Timothy Lynch, are both former members of Pacific Northwest Ballet, as are several of the company members. All of the dancers are classically trained, but their backgrounds are diverse. They’ve created a new dance company – Seattle Dance Project…