Category: dance

“Revolution” is part Irish step dance, part American tap, part “So You Think You Can Dance” sexiness and straight-up rock and roll. It came into being when two 20-something dancers got mad.

TV dance shows are popular. But there is a tension between “new” dance and “old.” Traditional dance company dance has a certain artiness that can be at odds with those who are fans of the TV shows. “That perception hints at the gulf separating classical dance, often characterized as elitist and old-fashioned, and popular culture. While some on the show found him haughty, some ballet fans were incredulous that he would stoop so low.”

“Much is being made of this being the Graham company’s 80th anniversary. It’s to the eternal credit of the band of believers who persevered against the formidable odds that we have today a functioning Graham enterprise.”

“Of course dance doesn’t have the same splashy names to argue about as theatre, film and TV, and rarely attracts much gossip. But it seems that the dance world is happier to post comments on specialist sites and trade information on specialist issues. Here the aficionados come into their own.”

“Martha Graham, a tiny, raven-haired woman with the passion and fury of several armies, put modern dance on the map. And like any choreographer, she didn’t do it alone.” On Saturday at the Joyce Theater, some of those collaborators — her dancers — reunited to trade tales about working with her in a storytelling program called “From the Horse’s Mouth.”

“Modern dance in China is searching for its heart, and its identity, as it emerges from a tradition of collectivism that viewed all artists as cheerleaders for the Communist Party. With the government loosening its grip, practitioners of the art form are finding opportunities to experiment and grow. But while its star rises abroad, Chinese modern dance also finds itself confronting commercial pressures and more subtle forms of government entanglement, as well as a struggle to build a quality audience at home.”

“The British Balanchine has relaunched himself as an Anglo-American Diaghilev, a successor to the despotic impresario whose Ballets Russes brought together the early 20th-century’s finest musicians, dramatists, painters and dancers in an extravagant synthesis of all the arts.”

Early music is mainstream now. But Early Dance? “Like the field of early music, what might be called early dance is contentious and passionate terrain.”

Sure, dance shows are all the rage on TV right now. But should the serious dance world really consider this to be a positive development, when you’re more likely to see a purple elephant than a serious professional ballet dancer on the small screen? “Here’s the irony: The sharp rise in reality-show dance on TV is matched by a dizzying drop in public television broadcasts of the pros. In other words, the washed-up celebrities and adventurous athletes of ‘Dancing With the Stars’ are all that the viewing public knows of dance these days, since ballet and modern dance companies have been virtually voted off the air.”

Minneapolis-based James Sewell Ballet is not your typical big-city ballet company. (In fact, Minneapolis doesn’t even have one of those.) But for 15 years, the 8-member JSB has created some of the most innovative dance performances to be found anywhere, and has built a core of support for a company that might well have gone completely unnoticed in a larger town.