“Fox got good ratings with its summer dance competition ‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ and the viewer enthusiasm didn’t end with last week’s finale. The 10 finalists are going on tour, and all 37 dates, which went on sale last Saturday, sold out in just a few hours.”
Category: dance
A Summer DanceSchool To Die For
When Thomas Melone’s daughter couldn’t find a dance partner, Melone invited an ABT star to make an appearance. Then he built a beautiful dance studio/school in Martha’s Vineyard and recuited stars of the dance world to come run it in the summer. The result: a dance program to die for…
Mark Morris Back On Track?
“There hasn’t been a new work to rank with his finest for a number of years now. His recent Sylvia got a mixed reception here (I was one of the doubters), and an even more recent King Arthur has been mauled by critics in London. Which explains the relief that many of us are feeling over his latest major effort, Mozart Dances, which just played to three sold-out houses at the New York State Theater as part of this summer’s Mostly Mozart Festival.”
Dance Out In The Wild
What happens when you ask choreographers to make a dance in a non-traditional location? “The idea was to inform five choreographers only five days before the event of the site where they would be performing.”
How Hip-Hop Caught On
“Hip-hop’s artistry – including martial arts-style acrobatics, furious legwork and body parts isolating in complex polyrhythms – is gradually being recognized by major presenters.”
NY Ballet’s All In The Family
“At New York’s two major ballet companies — City Ballet and American Ballet Theater — siblings are increasingly common…”
The New Brazilian Dance
“In Brazil dance has emerged from religion and folklore within the heart of the community or from outsiders: teachers or visitors drawn there by the opulence of the Carnival or other cultural events. They stayed and influenced the culture with their ideas and teaching methods. In staying and sharing, they, too, were influenced by the culture.”
The New Superstars Of The Steppes
In Soviet times, scouts from Moscow and Leningrad regularly roamed into the USSR’s furthest outposts, discovering children for free training – the Siberian Rudolf Nureyev, the Kazakhi Altynai Asylmuratova, the Uzbekh Farouk Ruzimatov and the Georgian Nina Ananiashvili, for example. Since the end of communism, regions have lost free access to the Mariinsky and Bolshoi schools, and increasingly the companies’ profile is narrowing on to a north-western population. This has opened interesting opportunities for ex-republics such as Georgia who are building their own…
Getting To Know You…
Ensemble dance companies have a rhythm to them that repeat visitors learn to enjoy. But watching such companies when one is unfamiliar with the dancers provides a different expereience, writes John Rockwell.
At Bolshoi, Swan No Longer Requires Resurrection
London audiences at the Bolshoi’s “Swan Lake” will witness a departure from the company’s Soviet past in that “the swan actually dies. The balletomanes among you may snort indignantly that of course the swan dies, that Odette’s death is integral to the story and that it is, in essence, the pivotal point of the plot. But you are not reckoning with the thought police of the old Soviet Union, or the mind processes of its Ministry of Culture, and you clearly did not see the Bolshoi production designed by the famous Yuri Grigorovich in 1969 and performed by the company until the collapse of the old order.”