Category: dance

Jean-Luc Choplin has suddenly left his controversial reign heading Sadler’s Wells. “One might have felt that Choplin had an unrealistic sense of what could be achieved at Sadler’s, but he was nothing if not ambitious, a man of big ideas. It would be a shame to lose his continental sensibility altogether.”

Mark Baldwin has a tough job. As artistic director of Britain’s Rambert Dance Company, there are expectations. “People regularly demand the impossible of Rambert: to show the latest young thing in dance, to bring a conservative public flooding to see it, and to be the world’s main ambassador for British dance creativity.”

The British government has announced a plan to help train and encourage dancers. “A network of dance training centres will be created around the country in the next few years, coupled with grants of between £600 and £3,000 a year to help children attend classes.”

“After 50 years of making dances, there’s still a dash of mystery about Paul Taylor. His sensibility remains complex and elusive, a particular American blend of physicality, naivete and wisdom that has left its mark on the international scene. His themes, music and tonal nuances remain, in all their variety, unparalleled and irresistible.”

“French dancer and actress Ludmilla Tcherina has died in Paris at the age of 79. Tcherina, one of the leading ballet dancers of her generation, appeared in several films including The Red Shoes and The Tales Of Hoffmann.”

American Ballet Theatre’s artistic director Kevin McKenzie says ABT’s financial worries aren’t serious. He “insists any financial shortfall is strictly a routine cash-flow crunch. “We have no long-term debt. We do have an operating deficit of around $1 million, but that’s the same as it has been for several years. We don’t owe vendors; we raised more money last year than ever before, and it’s a far cry from when I took over. Then, you’d call, tell people you were with ABT and they’d hang up.”

Though Boston’s Wang Center sent Boston Ballet packing for Nutcracker season next year (Wang evidently favors Rockettes over Sugar Plums), the theatre has signed a new deal with the dance company for the rest of its season. Under the new agreement, “Boston Ballet will be able to earn more money through sponsorships. And there will be more flexibility in scheduling ballet productions, for both sides.”

Johnathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion don’t do much in a piece of dance, writes Tobi Tobias. But what they do do is compelling. “Here’s what they do: shake their hands wildly in front of their chests, so their fingers look like sparklers; use one hand to count the fingers of the other with a child’s deliberation, as if the answer might be in doubt; stroke their palms along their trousered thighs; palpate the floor with their fingertips; curl their fingers into vivid mudras that yield no explicit meaning; extend their arms in semaphore signals or classical ports de bras. A couple of times they stand up for a few seconds, even go so far as to turn in place, repeating a raucous cry; once they shift the position of their chairs so that one lies in the other’s shadow. Such departures from what they’ve set up as the parameters of the piece have the impact of high drama—violent and haunting.”

“Ballet is very crotchy. Apart from gymnastics, it is the only job in which a female is allowed to make public use of the structures between her legs as an element of design. This may be one reason that so many girls want to go into ballet: they can use their whole bodies, just like men, and nobody makes rude comments. Indeed, no one comments at all. The Sugar Plum Fairy may turn, in supported arabesque, and show her full lower anatomy to four thousand opera-house patrons, and nobody says a word. Karole Armitage did say a word, or her work did. She took the pelvic action of the ballerina and pushed it further. Those legs were always open. She thereby extended ballet technique and got herself a reputation.”

“Sunday marked the 200th birthday of Johann Strauss I, a hugely popular composer of nearly 300 works, whose legacy lives on long after his death in 1849. Strauss’ music, along with that of a contemporary named Joseph Lanner, sparked what became known as the Viennese waltz, a faster, more elegant and more intimate version of the rigid box-step that preceded it. Originally dubbed the “forbidden dance” because couples touched while twirling about, the Viennese version was highly controversial when it first emerged in Austrian ballrooms and dance halls.”