Category: dance

The issue of age is omnipresent for ballet companies. Dance careers are so physically demanding that troupes must constantly replenish their supply of dancers, and the result is a near-constant tension between younger dancers and their aging mentors. New York City Ballet is currently in the midst of an “unusually intense replenishment,” and John Rockwell says that the results are visible onstage.

Hartford Ballet and Dance Connecticut both collapsed in debt. But “the demise of the Hartford Ballet has allowed smaller troupes, many of whom existed in its shadow, to gain attention, opening the door to experimental works in intimate settings that supporters hope will please experienced dance enthusiasts as well as attract new eyes. ‘The idea of a traditional company being a central institution in a city like Hartford may have played itself out’.”

ODC/Dance opens up a big new home in San Francisco. “Despite plaudits from dance world luminaries such as Bill T. Jones, the building has yet to attract the same media buzz as the Baryshnikov Arts Center in Manhattan, or the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn — even though the ODC complex is larger and more expensive than both of those projects. ‘The community idea is not glam, and we’re a culture that likes the star approach. Ultimately, substance can be attractive too, but it’s not sound bites’.”

Bright Sheng might not be the first person a ballet company would think of when contemplating the creation of a composer’s residency. (He’s never written a ballet score, or expressed any interest in doing so.) On the other hand, New York City Ballet is hardly the first arts organization you might assume would be in a position to strike a major, multi-year deal with one of the preeminent composers of the era. (Ballet companies are not exactly rolling in money these days.) But Sheng is enthusiastically embracing his newest task, commuting to New York from his home in Michigan nearly every week, and getting involved in fundraising and education as well as the artistic side of the organization.

Robert Farris Thompson’s gargantuan new critical study, “Tango: The Art History of Love,” argues that African rhythms are at the root of Argentina’s most alluring export.

There’s not exactly an opening yet in Norway’s National Ballet. But 90 dancers from around the world turned up to audition just on word that there might be extra money in the budget next year to hire for a couple of “temporary” positions. “Permanent dance contracts in Norway are viewed as attractive, because they provide a secure position until ‘retirement’ age at 41. That suggests more job security than elsewhere in the dance world, where many professionals move from assignment to assignment, always having to audition and prove themselves again and again.”

Elements of ballet are seeping into fitness classes as health experts continue beating the drum about the benefits of not just stretching movements but keeping one’s core strong and healthy.

What does it mean to dance at the various stages of life?

“The Joffrey Tower, at the corner of State and Randolph streets — directly across from the flagship Marshall Field’s (soon to be Macy’s) department store — will have retail tenants on the first two floors and condominiums on floors 5 through 32. The third and fourth floors will be the new permanent home of the Joffrey Ballet, which acquired naming rights when it purchased 45,000 square feet of space. The floors will include the Joffrey administrative offices plus seven state-of-the-art rehearsal studios and a black-box theatre.”

Dance has not fared particularly well in Northern Ohio in recent years. The old Cleveland/San Jose Ballet folded back in 2000, and this season, the Ohio Ballet, which performs in Cleveland and Akron, canceled many of its winter performances and laid off all but two full-time staffers. Now, the ballet has 60 days to determine whether it has the resources to rehire its dancers for April performances. More importantly, the company is attempting to assess whether there is really enough support in the area to sustain a resident ballet in the long term.