Category: dance

Once again, Arizona State University’s dance program has been ranked in the top ten dance study programs in the US. “A student can concentrate in performance, choreography, dance education or what we call dance studies, which can be anything from ethnographic study of dance to a combination of dance and business.”

The Kennedy Center’s International Ballet Festival has, in many ways, “been successful – the sold-out houses, the fodder for discussions of style, form and substance, the views of dancers and works we do not often see here. One hopes it will inspire more such collaborative events. But in some ways the festival has been indifferently executed. In the parade of excerpts that has constituted the bulk of the festival, excerpts performed without sets, out of context and lacking atmosphere, what has been missing is the very thing this festival was designed to highlight: artistic impact and style. Why did the Kennedy Center allow the companies free rein?”

After a couple of tumultuous years, things were supposed to settle down at Boston Ballet with the arrival of new artistic director Mikko Nissinen. But two dancers who have quit mid-season suggest that the controversies aren’t over yet.

Milwaukee Ballet’s new artistic director Michael Pink isn’t wasting any time making changed to the company. Not only is the company’s repertoire changing, but at most, only 14 of the company’s 28 dancers will be back for a new season.

In a period when audiences for classical music, museums and opera have grown, the dance audience has shrunk. “Between 1993 and 2000, attendance in the United States for large ballet companies (with budgets of more than $6 million) fell by 25 percent. Audiences for mid-sized companies (with budgets that are $6 million or less) dropped 18.7 percent, according to Dance/USA. It is dramatically clear. By all measurements, audiences for ballet are down.”

Why doesn’t Baltimore have a significant dance company? “It’s not only that we don’t have a major resident dance company. We also don’t present key professional touring companies from around the U.S. Rightly or not, Baltimore has a reputation as a city that doesn’t appreciate dance, a reputation fueled by very public failures of flagship troupes.”

“Argentina is struggling to emerge from the worst economic crisis in its history, and a nine-day tango festival here, which ends on Sunday night, is a government-sponsored attempt to offer some solace to the population. But the event also raises questions not only about the place of tango in contemporary Argentine society but also about its vitality and future.”

The Kennedy Center’s International Ballet Festival presents the rare chance to see major companies daning side by side. “This first week of the festival, featuring the Royal Danish Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet and ABT performing at the Eisenhower Theater through Sunday, is not to be missed. The evening is buoyed by healthy competition; each company is trying to outdo the others with its best dancers and signature choreography. Does the festival offer a true representation of the performance styles that distinguish these troupes? Not exactly.”

San Francisco Ballet has cut four dancers from its roster, including two principals. “Friday’s dismissals will leave the ballet with 69 dancers under contract next season, which begins in February 2004. That will save the company about $350,000, said Ballet Executive Director Glenn McCoy. The administrative staff also has been reduced, by 12 percent, and salaries have been frozen.”

The Channel Islands Ballet in Southern California told its dancers last week it has a $150,000 debt and can’t afford to pay them. “While two performances have been canceled, the company’s board of directors is still hoping the money can be raised by April 1 so the troupe can finish the remainder of the season, which ends in June. The company had planned for two more performances in May and June.”