Category: dance

Longtime New York Times arts writer John Rockwell is preparing to take on a new position as the Grey Lady’s chief dance critic, and he sees much to recommend a corner of the arts world which seems always to be on the edge of fiscal collapse. “Dancers are paid less than other performing artists. Dance companies, even the big ballet troupes, must furiously run in place, like terpsichorean hamsters, just to sustain themselves. But that means dancers do it for love, not fame or fortune, though some are famous, and a very few earn modest fortunes. Dance critics can still cover any and all forms of dance without feeling that they’re sullying themselves.”

The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre is seeking a pay cut from its pit musicians for the third time in three years, in a desperate effort to balance a budget which has been swimming in red ink in recent years. The situation was exacerbated by disappointing ticket sales for the company’s 2004 Nutcracker performances, after which PBT asked the musicians to reopen their contract, which officially expires in summer 2005.

Has dance lost its steam, ready to settle into being a “lesser” art? Anna Kisselgoff says not: “The dance boom that exploded at the end of the 60’s and lasted until the 90’s has shrunk into a holding pattern of recycled aesthetics. But even this consolidation of the familiar hints at potential fresh directions. True, no one has recently or radically changed how we look at dance, as Merce Cunningham, Graham and Balanchine once did. Still, dance remains a highly creative art form. Choreographers are searching for new movement, and there is a slow-motion swing from pure-dance pieces to storytelling, no matter how indirect.”

“The American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), which represents dancers and singers, has accused Washington Ballet of attempting to prevent its dancers from unionizing.”

Utah-based Ballet West has announced its intention to make big cuts in its performance schedule and company size in order to compensate for three years of red ink. The company “will drop its poorly attended fall repertory program, and begin its 2005-06 season with The Nutcracker next December. Other cuts include a reduction from 40 to 35 dancers, and a trim to artists’ contracts from 38 weeks to 35.”

The Rambert Dance Company is producing a new work based on Einstein’s theory of relativity. “The work is the inaugural choreographic piece from Rambert artistic director Mark Baldwin and was commissioned by the Institute of Physics. A professor of physics is working with Baldwin to advise on the technical aspects of the work.”

Musicians are protesting choreographer Matthew Bourne’s decision to tour his latest ballet outside of London using a 1980s-era recording rather than live musicians. “It smacks of, ‘It’s all right for audiences outside of London to put up with a recording, but London audiences shouldn’t have to accept that’.”

Joan Acocella checks in on the Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, currently celebrating its 30th anniversary. “Has success spoiled them? I don’t know—I wasn’t there in 1974—but when, last month at the Joyce, I watched the opening night of their thirtieth-anniversary season, thought, These people are delivering more bang fo the buck than most other classical companies in America.”

Savion Glover could do anything next in his career. So what has he chosen? Classical music. “I’ve been listening to classical music since my mom introduced us to it. So it’s nothing new, rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat, rat-a-rat-a-tat-tat.”

“It seems to me that watching Cunningham is like taking a nature walk. The shifting landscape you scan offers many beautiful (or fascinating or eerie) things, but in an entirely evenhanded way. It is your own wandering view, guided by your own temperament, that selects which of them to notice, which of them to enhance through deeper contemplation, which of them to elaborate with your personal fantasies. The choreographer has chosen to abstain from dictating in these matters. He is present in the scheme, absolutely, but mysterious and silent.”