Category: dance

Hip hop is popular. Wildly popular. But it’s not like what you see in the pop culture, says Rennie Harris. “This culture, and specifically pop culture, has kind of convinced people that hip-hop dance is sort of a series of steps and patterns. A monkey can do that. They do regimented, synchronized movements in the military, but you don’t call it dance. This is not to disrespect that; the point is to let you know that what you are doing right now is not hip-hop, it has evolved into something else. And once it loses the soul, it is no longer dance.”

Paul Taylor has legions of fans. “Taking his cue from Martha Graham, once his teacher and mentor, he has generally continued the modern-dance project of unchaining dance from rigid balletic constraints. But unlike more radical figures such as Merce Cunningham, he has also shied away from pure abstraction and has generally retained figurative elements, narrative and lyricism. The result is a highly personal style charged with energy and humour.”

“The Canadian ballet company had planned to take Mark Godden’s critically acclaimed production of “Dracula” to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou on an 18-day tour, beginning May 25, but heeding a travel advisory issued by Health Canada, a department of the Canadian government, the company has canceled the trip” because of concerns about SARS.

Ohio Ballet is fading away. “Once a company of more than 20 dancers, the ensemble has been reduced to 12. Once a beloved cultural jewel with a subscription base of about 3,500 patrons, it now has a total of 848 subscribers in Cleveland and Akron.”

“Some small and medium-size American troupes may be on to something artistically important. Without feeling it necessary to confine themselves to a standard repertory or to tailor all productions to opera-house proportions, they can present a rich mixture of one-act works, each a crowd pleaser in its own way.”

Bill Shannon is a street and stage performer, sculptor and video artist, but he is widely recognized for his distinctive dance style. Known in the club-dance world as Crutchmaster, he uses his curved-bottomed crutches to extend his limbs in the way ballerinas use point shoes. The crutches enable him ‘to streamline methods of weight distribution’ and to make ‘level changes from floor work to standing.’ To describe what he calls the ‘Shannon technique,’ he uses terms taken from the worlds of skateboarding and the breakdancing of b-boys.”

Brenda Bufalino has spent her career trying to re-popularize tap dancing. “Now in her mid-60s, Bufalino is credited as a major force in the renaissance of tap worldwide. She has formed tap orchestras and tap festivals, and helped inspire a new generation of performers – such as the young black tap superstar Savion Glover. She still tours and performs worldwide, acting as a unique bridge between tap’s ‘golden era’ and its contemporary development.”

Trying to appeal to a younger demographic, American Ballet Theatre has commissioned a hip new ad campaign. “Rather than targeting the ballet’s traditional audience, older patrons and aficionados of the arts, the campaign takes aim at younger set. According to the U.S. Census, young adults ages 18-24 is the fastest-growing segment in arts attendance. The “Be moved” campaign aims to change people’s perception of the company from stodgy to sensual. ‘We wanted to really make it aspirational, but also accessible’.”

What would have happened if Rudolf Nureyev had become head of London’s Royal Ballet? Nureyev wanted the job, and Royal managing director John Tooley talked with him. “The Royal Ballet needed a new director in the mid-Seventies and approached Nureyev. Tooley remembers several discussions with him, in which Nureyev finally said that he would like the job but would also need to continue dancing. He never made any secret of his need to be on stage, but he also needed a fall-back if he proved unsuited to directing. Tooley answered that if Nureyev continued dancing to the extent he wanted, this simply wouldn’t meet the company’s needs. End of negotiations.”

Auditioning for a job at one of America’s major ballet companies is a grueling experience combining the harshest aspects of a Hollywood screen test, an Olympic floor routine, and the judges’ table at American Idol. Dancers at these auditions must perform extremely difficult maneuvers en masse, and are dismissed casually and without explanation if they don’t meet one of the dozens of physical, artistic, and athletic criteria of the people judging them. Thousands of dancers graduate from top schools every year – only a few will land full-time jobs. When you come right down to it, dance is one of the most competitive job markets in the arts world.