Category: dance

The Royal Danish Ballet’s history is inextricably linked with August Bournonville’s work. But how to keep the company pointed to the future while holding on to a grand tradition. Tobi Tobias checks out the company’s new Sylphide…

“In her 44 years, Barbie has appeared in more than 80 guises, from dentist to astronaut to rap star. One of the most popular dolls has been Ballet Barbie. So small wonder that two years ago, when the company decided Barbie was ready to make her video debut, the vehicle they chose was The Nutcracker, with Barbie playing Clara in an animated adaptation of the E. T. A. Hoffmann ballet classic. The video and DVD have sold 3.5 million copies.” Now, Barbie has been cast in Swan Lake, and the New York City Ballet has been enlisted to provide the very human movement behind the computer-generated dance sequences.

Montreal’s Festival International de Nouvelle Danse gets underway this week, and as usual, there is expected to be plenty of debate over the direction of modern dance, and the efficacy of choreographers who continually push the envelope. “What’s ironic is that FIND is a structured, conventional-style gathering of dancemakers who consciously work against structured conventional thinking.”

“In a seemingly short span of time, Kent Stowell and Francia Russell went from being the international ballet circuit’s ambitious and talented new kids on the block to its distinguished statesmen.” Stowell and Russell have jointly run the Seattle-based Pacific Northwest Ballet for more than a quarter-century, and they are among the longest-tenured arts leaders in the world. Such longevity is unusual in the arts world, and even rarer among dance companies, where frequent financial woes often lead to burnout among managers.

“The Milwaukee Ballet reported an operating deficit of $156,000 for 2003-’04 at its annual meeting Wednesday. The loss follows five consecutive years in the black for the company, which posted earned and contributed income of nearly $5 million.” Employee turnover, and a slump in sales for the holiday juggernaut The Nutcracker are being blamed for the shortfall.

The Scottish Ballet wants to move. But it “has attracted widespread condemnation from the visual arts world after revealing it is applying for lottery cash to convert Tramway 2 – an internationally respected exhibition space which launched the careers of artists such as Roderick Buchanan and Christine Borland – into rehearsal space.”

Since London’s Dance Umbrella festival launched in 1978, much has changed in the public perception of modern dance. These days, modern dance is arguably more popular than classical ballet, and the influence of contemporary choreographers is everywhere in the dance world, and even finds its way into pop culture. Dance Umbrella may not be able to claim credit for changing the way the world watches dance, but it has become an undeniably important cornerstone of London’s cultural scene.

“Contentious debates over artistic ownership generally seem to revolve around online music piracy or Mickey Mouse. But dance is facing unexpected and vexing questions about artists’ rights as well. Do choreographers own their dances? Or are they simply employees who give up ownership to organizations that commission or support their work? As dance moves out of studio and into the world of corporate support, such issues have become more urgent.”

Anastasia Volochkova, the ballerina fired this week by the Bolshoi Ballet after the company claimed she was overweight, says she may sue the company. “It’s a myth that partners refuse to dance with me. In fact, the managers are trying to discourage them from dancing with me.”

London’s experimental Dance Umbrella is 25 years old. “A couple of critics concluded that if they ignored this anti-dance malarkey, it would go away. But it stayed. Val Bourne, who has directed Dance Umbrella throughout its 25 years, is a woman of infinite tenacity and vision. Hopeful experiments and extreme ideas have always been precious to her. Of course, there have been seasons where the sight of dancers ardently meditating on their inner organs have tested the public’s patience…”