Category: dance

“What if Americans really do want dance that provokes and stimulates? What if funders paid for it and people flocked to see it and had impassioned conversations about it afterward? Sounds like paradise. Or, maybe, ‘Hell’.”

“When the Joffrey Ballet’s Gerald Arpino steps aside July 1 as head of the troupe he co-founded 50 years ago, it will signal a momentous change for the world-renowned company, based in Chicago for the last 11 years. When the new artistic director is in place, which could be this fall, the Joffrey will be led by someone other than a co-founder for the first time in its half-century history.”

The 30-year-old, self-described “ginger freak” Edward Watson “has been all over the Royal Ballet cast lists this season.” He’s still not 100% comfortable with his role as a rising star in London’s dance scene, but then, that’s part of his undeniable appeal.

Chicago’s Hubbard Street Dance company is losing its longtime executive director, Gail Kalver. “The troupe ended its fiscal year in August with a $130,000 surplus, no small feat in an era of not-for-profit deficits,” and the organization is confident that Kalver has taken care to ensure a smooth transition.

“Hubbard Street Dance Chicago ensemble members Cheryl Mann and Tobin Del Cuore are well-known on-stage partners. But they’ve also carried their playful chemistry into unusual backstage roles as the modern troupe’s archivists. What may sound like a stuffy job becomes creative magic in their unconventional hands.”

A new documentary delves into the twisted history of the Ballet Russes, and winds up revealing much about the state of modern classical dance. More importantly, it proves that “there was ballet in the United States before Balanchine got here. And there were other forces kindling the flame far beyond New York.”

Ohio Ballet may be dead, but “Continuing an annual tradition that began in 1975, Akron will present free dance performances in its parks this summer in tribute to Heinz Poll, the late founding artistic director of Ohio Ballet.”

“The chief complaint against Matthew Bourne’s choreography is that it lacks invention. He has no signature voice, people say, no personal vocabulary of movement–what normally distinguishes a great choreographer. This much is true, but what Bourne has instead is a wide knowledge of dance, a strong memory, and an uncommon deftness in sampling eclectically in order to achieve the effects he wants.”

“Belinda Wright, a British ballerina who toured the world and excelled in the 19th-century Romantic and classical repertory, died on Sunday in Zurich, Switzerland. She was 78.”

Indian choreographer Nina Rajarani has won 2006’s Place Prize for choreography. “The Place Prize is the dance world’s equivalent of the Turner, and Rajarani’s work was a big hit with both audiences, who voted her their favourite, and a judging panel that included Brian Eno and Chris Ofili.”