Category: dance

Bolshoi Controversy The inauguration of a new auditorium in the Bolshoi theatre complex “marks the end of the first phase of a £300 million restoration of one of the best-known buildings in Russia. But the rest of the project is in jeopardy as traditionalists and theatre administrators fight over the fate of the Beauvais Portico – the 10 marble columns around which the theatre was built. “Theatre managers want to see it moved from its current position – inside the stageworks of the old auditorium – to make room for improved stage machinery.” The Guardian (UK) 11/28/02

A Dance Between Friends Balanchine and Stravinsky had a long and brilliant career together – the two collaborated in a partnership that inspired both. “For each, music was the ‘floor’ without which there could be no dance: ‘The composer creates time,’ said Balanchine, ‘and we have to dance to it.’ As such, Balanchine revered Stravinsky and deferred to him willingly. Balanchine transformed classical ballet from a lyrical, romantic, fairy-tale art into a gripping, sharp-edged, plotless drama of pure movement, and Stravinsky’s music led him to some of his most innovative choreography.” New York Review of Books 11/29/02

Pina Bausch – Old Is In When Pina Bausch decided to restage one of her classic works with dancers over the age of 60, she had 120 volunteers. “They all had some kind of shimmer in their eyes. They saw this as the chance of a fabulous new life experience, a new adventure.” The Guardian (UK) 11/27/02

No Permission To Move Why are police raiding clubs in New York? To stop people from dancing? Village Voice 11/26/02

A Life In Dance New York City Ballet dancer Robert La Fosse is retiring after 16 years. He “has performed here with, and for, most of the great ballet names for a quarter century, and he was one of the last of a handful of dancers still onstage who were central figures in the dance boom of the 70’s and early 80’s.” The New York Times 11/24/02

Slimming Down To Greatness Matthew Bourne is famous for his subversive rewrites of familiar ballets. But as his success got bigger and bigger through the 90s, he got more caught up in keeping his company viable. “It was all getting a bit grand. I felt that I was running an office rather than a company.” So he pulled back. Now he’s back to choreographing low-budget shows… The Guardian (UK) 11/20/02

Former National Ballet Dancer Dies In Motorcycle Accident William Marri, 33, a former principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, died Saturday after being in a motorcycle accident in New York. Marri had left the National last March to join the cast of the Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp show Movin Out, which recently landed on Broadway. “Marri was riding his motorcycle before an evening performance when he crashed.” Calgary Herald (CP) 11/19/02

Australian Dance Theatre on Top: Adelaide’s Australian Dance Theatre has won three of eight top awards in the sixth annual Australian Dance Awards. The Age (Melbourne) 11/17/02

Who Owns Dance? Who owns a dance once it’s been done? “In the 18th and 19th centuries, choreographers were rated so low that it was the composer’s name which usually headed the posters. The ownership of a ballet, if contested, would generally have been considered the right of the theatre. This meant, if you were a choreographer, that your ballet was fair game for the subsequent improving hands of producers acquiring it for other companies or staging it after your death.” Prospect 11/02

Is the Large-Scale Ballet Passe? In Boston, where the Boston Ballet recently underwent a very public overhaul, everything has changed, and nothing has changed. The big ballet company is still struggling to sell tickets, despite an undeniable uptick in artistic quality. Meanwhile, the city’s smaller, more daring dance companies are thriving, mirroring a trend in countless cities around the U.S. But does the success of the little guys necessarily mean failure for large-scale classical ballet? Boston Globe 11/17/02

Monday October 29

DANCE 10, SONGS 10 (IF YOU LIKE BILLY): The Twyla Tharp/Billy Joel Broadway collaboration continues to get respectful reviews. Joan Accocella: “At this point, Tharp needs no arguing for as a choreographer. She is the most inventive dance-maker of her generation, and her crossing of classical ballet with popular forms, which in other hands might have been tendentious (‘We’ll show those ballet snobs’)—and, come to think of it, was a little tendentious, once, even in her hands—has by now yielded her a full, eloquent, and unself-conscious language.” The New Yorker 10/28/02

ON THE LINE: Three years of intense training for Australia’s top young dancers culminates with a single event – a pas de deux exhibition that could make their careers. “Watching closely is David McAllister, the Australian Ballet’s artistic director. He has between three and five places available for next year. On stage tonight are 14 talented young dancers, all desperately wanting one of them. The dancers know that most of them will miss out.” The Age (Melbourne) 10/29/02

MACMILLAN CHARGES ROYAL INCOMPETENCE: One of the reasons Ross Stretton was forced out as director of the Royal Ballet was because Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s widow was ready to withdraw rights for his work. She says Stretton was just a small problem compared to the general incompetence of the Royal’s management. “We are talking about a huge business at Covent Garden, about people’s livelihoods. Though I don’t have any argument with the Royal Ballet’s professional managers, unfortunately, in dance terms, the Opera House has had at its helm a bunch of amateurs.” The Telegraph (UK) 10/29/02

Sunday October 27

ABT, BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER? It was only a year ago that the future of the American Ballet Theatre seemed decidedly uncertain, with lawsuits and backstage infighting overshadowing what should have been a period of celebrated artistic growth within the company. But these days, with a new management team in place and cooler heads prevailing, the ABT is reintroducing itself to the American dance scene, with a well-reviewed New York production celebrating the diverse music of Richard Rodgers and George Harrison. Chicago Tribune 10/27/02

Friday October 25

IF IT WALKS LIKE A DUCK… The Twyla Tharp/Billy Joel project now on Broadway is playing in a theatre theatre, writes Clive Barnes. “But if it looks like a ballet, sounds like a ballet, feels like a ballet and dances like a ballet – it is a ballet, the first full-evening Broadway ballet, at least since Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake a few years back got Broadway’s feet wet. No praise can be too high for the dancing.” New York Post 10/25/02

• THE MOVEMENT BEHIND THE CLICHES: Ben Brantley writes that Tharp’s choreographic dynamic “keeps you engaged through what, baldly described, sounds like a snoozy series of clichés — the kinds of things regularly sung about, as a matter of fact, in Top 40 pop ballads of the 1970’s. Yet Ms. Tharp and her vivid team of dancers unearth the reasons certain clichés keep resonating and, more important, make them gleam as if they had just been minted.” The New York Times 10/25/02

ABT’S NEW BEATLES HIT: “American Ballet Theatre’s tribute to George Harrison, Within You Without You, given its world premiere at City Center last weekend, is not the first Beatles ballet, but it is the most ambitious. What could have been a gimmick has emerged as a signature piece for ABT.” New York Post 10/25/02

Tuesday October 22

IS DEREK DEANE RIGHT FOR THE ROYAL BALLET? Who will be the Royal Ballet’s next artistic director? “Typical wish-lists can be broadly divided into three categories: superstars, old boys and wannabes. Big names such as Mark Morris, Mikhail Baryshnikov or ABT’s Kevin McKenzie might have international cachet but the house’s arcane management structure and its reputation for ancestor worship might prove hard to bear.” So what about cheeky former English National director Derek Deane? The Telegraph (UK) 10/22/02

TWYLA’S LABEL PROBLEM: So just what do you call the new Twyla Tharp/Billy Joel collaboration that’s hit Broadway? It’s not really a musical. Not strictly dance either. Is it art? A pop entertainment? “I just think dance is very grand. And I think it’s very, very capable – dance can express anything. So you tell me if it’s art.” New York Magazine 10/21/02

Monday October 21

STRIVING TO THRIVE: Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal is one of Canada’s major dance companies. But it’s currently in reduced circumstances, and most of its 35 members have been with the company only a few seasons. “Depending on how one looks at it, Les Grands can be thought of as either the most versatile or the least consistent of Canada’s major ballet companies.” Toronto Star 10/19/02

SOUTH CAROLINA’S NEW BALLET: South Carolina’s Greenville Ballet has changed its name to South Carolina Ballet, and has ambitious plans to grow a professional resident company. “For now, the company will work with guest artistic directors and professional dancers. However, by the 2003-04 season, South Carolina Ballet hopes to have its own corps of professional dancers in place.” Greenville News (SC) 10/19/02

Sunday October 20

THE NEW CLASSICS: Remakes of old ballets are an enduring tradition. But “the newest ballet remakes, created by a generation of mostly European choreographers, are different: They want audiences to remember the originals. Many of them prove daring about nudity and sex. Others put classically trained dancers through deliberately anti-classical moves to blur the line between ballet and modern dance. But the biggest change may be their sense of historical precedent. These ballets build on the past and acknowledge it every step of the way.” Los Angeles Times 10/20/02

Friday October 18

DANCING ON SCREEN: “The art of the dance film, a marriage of two art forms as old as the first moving pictures, grows more innovative by the year. No longer a simple matter of turning a camera on a stage performance, dance film and video makers borrow from music videography, from animation and computer-generated film techniques, and from stage technology to create choreography not only seen through the lens but created by contemporary audio-visual capabilities.” Toronto Star 10/18/02

Wednesday October 16

STAR POWER: Dance is a hard sell to a wider audience. Maybe what’s needed is some compelling star personalities… The Telegraph (UK) 10/16/02

Friday October 11

WHO OWNS DANCE? Once a dance is created, its recreation often depends on the memories or records of those who were there at the creation. But who owns the work once the choreographer is gone? “Questions revolve around whether choreographers in fact own their own dances and even wanted those dances to be seen after their deaths.” The New York Times 10/10/02

Wednesday October 9

ROYAL BALLET REMAKES ITS SEASON: After ousting Ross Stretton from the top job at the Royal Ballet in London, the company has dramatically remade its schedule for the current season, dropping ballets and changing soloists. The Guardian (UK) 10/09/02

ALBERTA BOUNCES BACK: A year ago, Alberta Ballet was staring at a $460,000 deficit on a $6-million budget. As anyone in the arts world knows, the past year has been an even worse one financially than the year before. So it was a big surprise last week when Alberta Ballet announced it “has not only eradicated the deficit but even managed to post an accumulated surplus of $44,500.” The financial feat has not been accomplished without some pain, however… National Post (Canada) 10/09/02

Tuesday October 8

ROYAL BALLET IN NO RUSH: London’s Royal Ballet says it is in no rush to appoint a new artistic director, after Ross Stretton was forced out of the job last week. “It has dismissed as speculation reports that the artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre, is the front-runner to take over following the resignation of Ross Stretton.” BBC 10/07/02

Sunday October 6

SAN FRANCISCO CONNECTION: “Unlike other world-class ensembles, San Francisco Ballet does not have a first-rate ‘heritage repertory,’ a repository of great works that grounds a company even as it is building its future.” But in the 17 years since former New York City Ballet star Helgi Tomasson took over the San Francisco Ballet, “he has transformed a respected regional company with a Balanchine tradition into an internationally prominent one, known for the excellence of its dancers and the smartness of its repertory.” The New York Times 10/06/02

Friday October 4

ABT HEAD IN RUNNING FOR ROYAL JOB: Kevin McKenzie is the early frontrunner to take the artistic director job at London’s Royal Ballet. For the past decade, McKenzie has been artistic director of American Ballet Theatre in New York. “Ironically, the former dancer… is the man who plucked the Australian choreographer Ross Stretton from relative obscurity.” Stretton was pushed out of the Royal last week after only a year on the job. The Guardian (UK) 10/04/02

• BROKEN SYSTEM: Ross Stretton’s quick ouster from the artistic helm of the Royal Ballet has less to do with the kind of job he did than with the deeply flawed process by which he was chosen. The governance of the Royal is an impossible concoction that breeds a culture of irresponsibility, writes Norman Lebrecht. “The artists who risk limb and sometimes life in performance, are obliged to doff their caps to dilettantes and are the last to be told of decisions that affect and often prejudice their individual and collective destinies.” London Evening Standard 10/03/02

Sunday September 29

SOUND MOVEMENT: “No one goes to the ballet for the conductor. But conductors matter.” Music matters too – and there can be a tension between what serves the music and what serves the movement. Which should take the lead? The New York Times 09/29/02

DANCE DIALOGUE: Boston has traditionally been a tough sell for modern dance. So presenters have started a program to not only bring significant dance companies to the city, but also create a dialogue for them with the city. ”We’re hoping to create an across-the-board ferment of interest in dance, to raise the level of awareness.” Boston Globe 09/29/02

Friday September 27

ROUSTING ROSS: Ross Stretton’s ouster as director of London’s Royal Ballet was the result of many factors. “They certainly made the right decision, artistically. Stretton’s first two seasons showed that he had little instinct for either the scope of the job or the character of the company. If he had carried on, it was reasonable to fear for the loss of the Royal Ballet’s unique character, as programming became blandly internationalised.” The Telegraph (UK) 09/27/02

• WONDERING WHY STRETTON RESIGNED: More speculation about why Ross Stretton quit as director of London’s Royal Ballet, including “accusations of sexual liaisons with ballerinas and a series of behind-the-scenes-rows”. But “ballet unions and management yesterday denied the alleged affairs had played a part in the departure of Stretton, 50, as artistic director.” The Age (Melbourne) 09/27/02
• ON THE OUTS: Stretton was always the outsider – in Australia when he ran the Australian Ballet, and at the Royal. “Ross is a one-man show. He does it his way. He could do that in Australia but not at the Royal Ballet. That’s not the way it works. It’s too big, and there are too many people involved.” Sydney Morning Herald 09/27/02

Thursday September 26

UNHAPPY DEPARTURE: Ross Stretton’s abrupt departure from the artistic directorship of the Royal Ballet was messy. “After months of mounting resentment about his management style, and whispered accusations of favouritism, his departure after only a year is a humiliating blow to Covent Garden. Publicly, dancers had accused him of confusing audiences by changing advertised casts and making them feel uncertain whether they would be performing in productions until the last minute. Privately, more fundamental concerns were expressed.” The Guardian (UK) 09/26/02

TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE TO THE SIDE: So how is the Boston Ballet faring under its new leader? Mikko Nissinen has certainly brought buzz back to the city’s dance scene, and most reviewers agree that the quality of performance was up in this season’s opener. But an artistic director can only do so much, and Boston Ballet continues to have something of a bush-league feel: “All four musicians’ names are unconscionably omitted from the program; the insert and the program diverge on the number of intermissions (there are two, not one); the running time is badly underestimated (it’s close to two and a half hours); and after 10 years they still can’t spell principal ballerina Pollyana Ribeiro’s name right.” Boston Phoenix 09/26/02

Wednesday September 25

STRETTON RESIGNS: Ross Stretton, controversial artistic director of London’s Royal Ballet for only one season, has resigned. “Recent reports that dancers were ‘infuriated’ by the Australian’s methods were followed by a series of negotiations to resolve ‘a number of casting and management issues’.” But the negoiations failed and Stretton is gone. BBC 09/25/02

Friday September 20

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT: “In the most anticipated event in Boston dance in the last decade, Boston Ballet opened its 39th season last night – the first season with new artistic director Mikko Nissinen in charge.” It didn’t take Nissinen long to break with local tradition, scrapping the customary season-opening “story ballet” for a series of modern shorts. Time will tell if he can take the company past its recent history of infighting and high-profile flops, but his debut is awfully promising. Boston Globe 09/20/02

Thursday September 19

DIABLO SAVED: The Bay Area’s Diablo Ballet has escaped oblivion after benefactors came through at the last minute and the company raised the $150,000 it needed to continue. “We have no operating funds and the dancers are waiting in the wings. We’re all on unemployment here. It would have been the end of the company, because I would have had to get a full-time job, as would the staff and the dancers.” Contra Costa Times 09/19/02

Tuesday September 17

CHINESE CONNECTION: Seven dancers from China have been brought to America to teach and perform in Silicon Valley for a year. “Given the outlandish economics of life in Silicon Valley, all seven – five men and two women – are sharing a single three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment.” San Jose Mercury News 09/17/02

Thursday September 12

REVIVING GRAHAM: A judge’s ruling in favor of the Martha Graham Company and against Graham heir Ron Protas means the company can begin dancing again. The judge ruled that Graham created her work “for hire” and so it is owned by the company. But “retrieving the fullness of Graham’s legacy will prove an uphill task. In his time as director Ron Protas estranged many of Graham’s veteran performers, the very people who knew her works in their bones. Throughout the 1990s, as the company sank further into financial decline, it performed less and its seasons became progressively shorter.” Ballet.magazine 09/02

Tuesday September 10

NOT EMBARRASSING (AS IT COULD HAVE BEEN) BUT AS A PIECE OF ART… One of the most famous (infamous?) attempts at a piece of art about 9/11 so far is Canadian choreographer Brian MacDonald’s Requiem 9/11 ballet, set to Verdi’s Requiem. Even before it hit the stage, the project has been slammed for cluttering up Verdi’s music. Some have charged “that the whole thing smacked of opportunism and was tasteless and gratuitous.” The piece debuted this week at Ottawa’s National Arts Center, and Michael Crabb reports that while not as bad as it could have been, “Macdonald’s actual choreography is uninspired to the point of being academic and prosaic.” National Post 09/09/02

NOTHING SIMPLE: Merce Cunningham gets ever more complex as he gets older (he’s 80). He creates his dances now with a computer: “I am finding out that movement is ever more complicated. I began to see this through working with the camera, because when you look through it you don’t have to think of it as a stage space – you can just move the camera to get a dancer out of sight. With the computer you are asking ‘How does that movement translate to a dancer who is trained to move in another way?’ ” The Telegraph (UK) 09/10/02

SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED: Darcey Bussell has been a star of London’s Royal Ballet for 13 years. “She received an OBE at 25; she has modelled for Vogue; appeared on French and Saunders; her statue is in Madame Tussaud’s; her painting is in the National Portrait Gallery and, if you look her up on the internet, you’ll find 5,880 websites matching her name.” But what she’d really like to be – is a Bond girl. The Telegraph (UK) 09/10/02

Monday September 9

UNION ASSESSING STRETTON: The British performers union Equity is meeting this week with dancers of the Royal Ballet in London. “The union is investigating a series of complaints about maverick Australian [artistic director Ross Stretton], who has been accused of infuriating his company by making last-minute casting changes that leave them unsure if and when they are to perform.” The Independent 09/08/02

CHICAGO (DANCE) BLUES: Why don’t more major dance companies visit Chicago? “Despite some innovative smaller programming and the year-round presence of two of the nation’s leading dance companies, the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, this city suffers some disadvantages that rank it lower than even third when it comes to high-profile visiting dance. Ironically, that’s partly because we are so big: Competition for the entertainment dollar here is fierce, starting with a world-renowned music scene and the second busiest theater industry in the land.” Chicago Tribune 09/08/02

Sunday September 8

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES: When Cleveland’s Public Theatre decided to shut its doors for six months this year to save money and revitalize itself, the decision was applauded as a fiscally sound method of saving a beloved Cleveland institution. But the closing is having a devastating effect on several local dance groups which have called the Public home. The theatre’s management has been working to find a home for some of the troupes, but others are in serious danger of having to shut down their entire seasons. The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 09/08/02

DANCE MEETS THE TECHNOGEEKS: “With the formal opening on Oct. 2 of the new Dance Theater Workshop in Chelsea, New York dance officially enters the cyber universe. The new D.T.W. is the most technologically sophisticated dance theater space in the nation and perhaps the world, judging by anecdotal evidence from touring dance companies… Every room in the complex is wired for video and computers. Even more impressive is the in-house Artist Resource and Media Laboratory, which will provide arts technicians and dance artists with extensive access to video-editing, digital video creation, graphics layout and digital performance playback.” The New York Times 09/08/02

Friday September 6

THE KIROV’S BACK: “Perhaps no ballet company in the world is more daunting to write about than the Kirov. The company has a deep and detailed past which is the stuff of scholars, and a performance history that is hard to know given restrictions during the Cold War.” Yet the book on the company in recent years is that it lost a step or two. The cliche goes something like: “if the Kirov watches us enough they’ll learn how to dance. Actually, maybe it’s time for us to watch them.” New Criterion 09/02

SAVING DANCE: Dance is an ephemeral artform. After it is performed, it is often lost, usually recreated from the memories of those who were taught it. A video archive project attempts to record the teaching of important roles. “During a taping session, which lasts from one to three days, the teacher coaches young dancers through the principal roles – not the entire ballet – in an informal studio setting; the teacher also takes time for interviews and commentary with a selected dance scholar or critic. The tapes are edited into a final version that is usually about an hour in length. Copies are kept at selected libraries around the world, where they are available for on-site viewing.” Fort Worth Star-Telegram 09/01/02

Thursday September 5

WHY MERCE DOESN’T WATCH DANCE: Merce Cunningham, “rarely watches other dance performances. He says it is because he has too little time, but he also admits, as politely as he knows how, that too much of what he sees is dull. Cunningham, whose company celebrates its 50th anniversary this season, has dominated modern dance for so long that he has acquired the status of guru, wise man, even saint. Changing fashions, artistic burnout and underfunding limit most choreographers’ careers to a decade or so; yet Merce has survived to become a still point.” The Guardian (UK) 09/05/02

Tuesday September 3

GRAHAM COMPANY IS BACK: The Martha Graham Company is preparing to dance again. “The prospect of performing again came with a victory on Aug. 23 in the long and bitter legal struggle over the rights to the name and work of Martha Graham. As soon as the federal district court decision was announced, calls and e-mails went out to the Graham dancers, who had been laid off when the center suspended operations for financial reasons in May 2000. Understandably, they were overjoyed.” The New York Times 09/02/02

DANCE OR FIGHT: Is capoeira – developed 400 years ago in Brazil by African slaves – the next big thing in participatory movement? “It is half a fight and half a dance, beautiful as ballet, brutal like kung fu, and just breaking into the American mainstream, popping up in dance revues and on college campuses, in video games and on the big screen. It is by many accounts the next big thing in the world of . . . well, martial arts, music, dance, cultural studies or all four. “It is physical theater, language with the body, communication without words.” Chicago Tribune 09/03/02

Sunday September 1

GOOD BEAT, BUT CAN YOU DANCE TO IT? Selecting music is one of the hardest jobs a choreographer has. Audiences judge a performance almost as much by what they hear as by what they see, and a score which is grating, or too complex, or, heaven forbid, too pop-based, can ruin a perfectly good dance for a large chunk of the crowd. So when Christopher Wheeldon choreographed a trio of dances to the music of noted atonal, arhythmic composer Gyorgi Ligeti this year, eyebrows were raised all across the dance world. The central question, of course, is what makes a piece of music danceable? The New York Times 09/01/02

Friday August 30

WHY BILLY’S LEAVING: Long before William Forsythe announced this week he would quit the Frankfurt Ballet, there had been rumors. Rumors his contract might not be renewed. Rumors city funding was to be cut. Critics have charged that Frankfurt’s cultural policy has been half-hearted, and that its commitment to excellence is weak. “The short-sighted discussions on whether the culturally derelict banking city wants to keep financing a choreographer of world renown has been simmering for quite a while.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 08/30/02

• Previously: CAN YOU FIGURE OUT WHY HE’S LEAVING? Here’s a resignation speech for you. William Forsyth announcing he’ll leave the helm of Frankfurt Ballet (which he tuned into one of Europe’s most experimental contemporary companies) in 2004 after 20 years: “For the present, I feel strongly that my own methodological evolution would be best served if conducted in a context less integrated into a field of political practice that is, understandably, challenged by the task of establishing primary descriptive models of cultural policy that can be accurately represented by numbers.” The New York Times 08/29/02

AUSTRALIAN BALLET’S NEW ERA: Richard Evans is, at 35, Australian Ballet’s youngest-ever executive director, as he begins the job this week. “This organisation being 40 years old, there’s a lot of conversation about what’s happened in the past, about the ‘golden age’ of the Australian Ballet… but the essence I’m interested in is the future, and what we can do in the next few years to mix a bit of alchemy ourselves and to really take it to a whole other level.” The Age (Melbourne) 08/30/02

Thursday August 29

CAN YOU FIGURE OUT WHY HE’S LEAVING? Here’s a resignation speech for you. William Forsyth announcing he’ll leave the helm of Frankfurt Ballet (which he tuned into one of Europe’s most experimental contemporary companies) in 2004 after 20 years: “For the present, I feel strongly that my own methodological evolution would be best served if conducted in a context less integrated into a field of political practice that is, understandably, challenged by the task of establishing primary descriptive models of cultural policy that can be accurately represented by numbers.” The New York Times 08/29/02

Wednesday August 28

WHO OWNS A DANCE? “A federal judge has ruled that the majority of dances that modern dance legend Martha Graham created belong to the Martha Graham Dance Center, dealing the second blow in as many months to Graham’s heir. Ronald A. Protas had claimed sole ownership to Graham’s dances and their sets and costumes. But U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum ruled that Protas only has the rights to one dance, “Seraphic Dialogue,” a dramatic piece about Joan of Arc. The Martha Graham Center dismissed Protas, who was a close companion of Graham, as artistic director more than a year ago. Graham died in April 1991.” Baltimore Sun (AP) 08/27/02

Sunday August 25

WHAT BECOMES A CLASSIC? “Just what makes a ballet a classic? Consider what happens, or doesn’t happen, in certain productions of supposed classics. We often don’t know what ballet’s classics really are choreographically. Company directors claim to revere the classics. Stars long to dance them. Audiences flock to see them. But what is it that they are seeing or dancing? The choreography for many works has eroded. Some scenes have been altered, some have been omitted and others have been added.” The New York Times 08/25/02

Friday August 23

WHY WE DANCE: Dance is one of the most basic arts. Millions of people dance. So “why do many people still find dance, the friendliest art, so mysterious when they encounter it on a concert stage? Perhaps the problem is communication. When we see another human body, we expect it to look familiar. We also expect to read with ease the physical signals that other people’s bodies send us. Yet choreographers – the artists who make concert dances – give the body an exceptional appearance.” Newark Star-Ledger 08/23/02

Wednesday August 22

ROCKETTES SETTLE: Radio City Music Hall has made a settlement with its Rockettes, averting a strike. The Hall will buy out 41 of the veteran dancers for $2 million – between $30,000 and $120,000 per dancer, depending on length of service. “It’s not the price the Rockettes wanted, but in the context of the negotiations, it was a reasonable price.” The New York Times 08/22/02

BAD MOVES: New York Magazine miscalculated when it fired dance critic Tobi Tobias. But the magazine has been cutting back on space for its other critics, and some might worry other cutbacks are in the works. “Eliminating a major voice from an important venue—either for budgetary reasons or to bring in someone trendier—is not merely a dance-world scandal, it’s a dark comment on the priorities of today’s journalism.” New York Observer [low down in the column] 08/21/02

Monday August 19

DECLINING DISCOURSE ON DANCE: What’s happening to dance criticism? There’s less and less of it. Major publications around the US have been cutting back on dance coverage. The latest to go is New York Magazine’s esteemed Toby Tobias, who was recently let go from the magazine. Orange County Register 08/18/02

Sunday August 18

DANCE FESTIVAL BRIBE SCANDAL: Thirty thousand people are expected in Liverpool to attend Creamfields, Britain’s largest outdoor dance festival. But the festival has been hit with charges of corruption after police “arrested one of the organisers for allegedly bribing a council officer responsible for awarding its licence.” The Guardian (UK) 08/17/02

DANCE FESTIVAL CALLS IT QUITS: Los Angeles dance presenter Dance Kaleidoscope has folded after failing to find a new director. “In its heyday, Dance Kaleidoscope was the city’s premier showcase for local dance, presenting a multi-week festival of modern, classical and world dance performances. In summer 2000, the event included five performances of nearly 30 artists or groups in four locations over three weekends.” Los Angeles Times 08/17/02

Thursday August 15

ROYAL DANCERS WON’T STRIKE: Dancers of the London’s Royal Ballet may be unhappy with artistic director Ross Stretton (they were talking strike earlier this week). But after talks with Covent Garden chief, the dancers have decided not to take a job action. BBC 08/14/02

Wednesday August 14

ROCKETTES REJECT CONTRACT: The Radio City Music Hall and its 41 Rockettes have broken off negotiations on a new contract. Owners of Radio City want to buy out the dancers and hold auditions for each new show. Cablevision, owner of the Rockettes, is holding a firesale of its assets, and trying to cut down on expenses. For now the Rockettes will work without a contract. Newsday 08/14/02

Tuesday August 13

BOURNE AGAIN: Star choreographer Matthew Bourne has had a rough couple of years. “He lost control of his celebrated production of Swan Lake and of his company, Adventures in Motion Pictures, and the big plans to settle as resident company at London’s Old Vic collapsed.” But he’s staging a comeback “His team of loyal dancers, once familiar AMP faces, have formed a new company, aptly called New Adventures.” The Telegraph (UK) 08/13/02

FAILED PROMISE? Ross Stretton’s fortunes as director of London’s Royal Ballet took a quick dive in his first season. “Only last September the Australian walked into Covent Garden as the Royal Ballet’s new boss, full of plans to move the company forward. Today his own dancers are so upset with his style of management that they are threatening to strike.” The Times (UK) 08/13/02

• NATIONAL SNOBBERY? “There are two main reasons why the first year of Stretton’s three-year contract has ended badly. The first reason is chauvinism. The attitude in the British ballet world is this: Australia does not tell us what to do – we tell it… Sydney Morning Herald 08/13/02

Monday August 12

THE LATEST TRENDS IN DANCE: Toronto’s Festival of Independent Dance Artists is Canada’s largest international dance festival. “The first half of the festival reveals several interesting trends: There is an emphasis on beautiful dance, anchored in strong technique and form. There are also more group pieces rather than a long line of solos. The solos themselves are less introspective and self-indulgent than in previous years. Humour is making a welcome return.” The Globe & Mail (Canada) 08/12/02

ENDANGERED ROCKETTES: Is Rockefeller Center getting ready to toss out its high-stepping Rockettes? “The corporate owner of the landmark concert venue wants to replace the standing roster of Rockettes with a system of open auditions. The dancers with the trademark high-leg kicks have been working without a contract since February.” Nando Times (AP) 08/11/02

Sunday August 11

UNHAPPY ROYAL DANCERS: Dancers in the London’s Royal Ballet are unhappy with director Ross Stretton, who just completed his first season with the company. “The performers’ principal gripe concerns Stretton’s casting decisions, which are said to have left dancers uncertain whether they would be performing in productions until the last minute, and the public attending performances not featuring the advertised cast.” Dancers have considered taking a no-confidence vote in Stretton’s regime. The Guardian (UK) 08/10/02

Friday August 9

ATLANTA HIRES NEW EXEC DIRECTOR: Atlanta Ballet has hired Terri Rouse as its new executive director. Rouse comes from the visual arts world, where she has run museums. “She joins Artistic Director John McFall at the helm of the ballet, which has a $7 million annual budget. The company, with 22 full-time dancers, is coming off a season of critical kudos but struggling with a $1.2 million deficit.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution 08/08/02

Wednesday August 7

DANCING WITHOUT A NET: “Nowhere in the nation is there anything like Boulder’s Aerial Dance Festival. It is unique. It is cutting-edge. And during the next few days, students will converge on Boulder to study with the greats of this emerging art form… What, exactly, is aerial dance?” Think low-flying trapeze work, combined with elements of modern and classical dance. Weird? You betcha. Dangerous? Sure. But hey, it’s art. Denver Post 08/07/02

Tuesday August 6

DISAPPOINTING FIRST YEAR: Ross Stretton has just finished his first year as director of London’s National Ballet. How’d he do? “Yes, ballet is a hazardous job and every company gets its share of injuries, but the Royal Ballet right now seems worse than most. Possible causes are choice of repertoire, overworking dancers through casting policies, and the quality (or lack of it) in teaching – all of which must end up on the director’s plate. Not a wonderful end for Ross Stretton’s first year in charge.” The Independent (UK) 08/05/02

DANCE PIONEER DIES: Freidann Parker, co-founder of the Colorado Ballet, has died at the age of 77. Parker and her lifelong business associate and companion, Lillian Covillo, established the Colorado Concert Ballet in 1961 and saw it through a number of incarnations. Today, the Colorado Ballet has a company roster of 30 professional dancers and 30 apprentices. Denver Post 08/06/02

Monday August 5

SCOTTISH BALLET’S NEW COURSE: Ashley Page is about to take over as director of the troubled Scottish Ballet. The company’s directors have declared the company will be remade into a modern company. Page says that will mean expanding the company. He also says that “under his directorship the ballet would be performing an ‘eclectic’ mix of work, which may require the addition of another 10 contemporary-skilled dancers to the company.” The Herald (Glasgow) 08/04/02

Sunday August 4

THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE: Is New York dance on the road to extinction, or at least irrelevance? On the surface, it seems like a silly question. After all, the Big Apple is the undisputed capitol of American dance, and one of the world’s great centers of the art. Certainly, there is “a strong circumstantial case for New York still being the dance capital of the world – until you notice that every one of these attractions relies on a presiding talent that is either middle-aged, old or dead.” So once the Baryshnikovs and the Cunninghams are gone, will young innovators like Mark Morris and Christopher Wheeldon really be able to carry on the tradition of great American dance? The Telegraph (UK) 08/03/02

Wednesday July 31

NEW TURN IN HOUSTON: It’s been 27 years since Houston Ballet last hired an artistic director. With Ben Stevenson’s resignation, the company’s choice of a new leader will say much about what direction it wants to go. “The perception is that it’s a very good dancing classical company, not a great dancing classical company. … That it had reached a very high level of (technical ability), but it has fallen back a bit,” he said. “Everyone feels there’s a company that they can personally improve. Whether or not that is a reality may be more because of what they’ve toured than what the company really is.” Houston Chronicle 07/28/02

Monday July 29

DANCING AS A CRIME: An Iranian American visiting Iran is arrested there for the crime of dancing. Is dancing dangerous? “The truth is that dance can be about communication, rumination and celebration. It embodies ideas about religion, politics, culture, individuality, survival and more. Is dance dangerous? The governments and religions that try to control and ban it think so. The Khordadian case is not just about one dancer. Before him, people have died for the right to dance or, sometimes, they have just died inside without it.” Los Angeles Times 07/28/02

BUILDING A BRAND: A little good marketing and branding would get England’s National Ballet back on the right track again. “Why has high culture such reticence to get down there and exploit its international reputation to bring in hard cash? Tuesday night showed the wealth of talent in the Royal Ballet, and the genuine charisma and star quality of their principals. But, for all the massive interest in dance, they remain known only to a relatively small and select audience.” The Independent (UK) 07/27/02

Sunday July 28

9/11 REQUIEM: Hopes have not been high for a Banff Centre Canadian-government-funded memorial dance to September 11 set to Verdi’s Requiem. The project has seemed, to many observers, as a bit over-the-top. But the work premiered this week and “if not for the title and a brief still image at the end, Requiem 9/11 has the potential to be a nicely costumed, well-lit and beautifully danced generic expression of mankind’s aspiration to triumph over evil.” National Post (Canada) 07/28/02

Wednesday July 24

STILL MOVING INTO NEW TERRITORY: Merce Cunningham is 83, and the subject of a retrospective at Linoln Center this summer. “For all his reputation as a master producer of impenetrably difficult modern dance, Mr. Cunningham’s long voyage through the art of dance has been surprisingly simple. At heart, this journey of six decades has been a matter of ‘how adroitly you get one foot to the next,’ as he describes his notion of rhythm.” The New York Times 07/24/02

Monday July 22

NOT READY TO CONCEDE THE POINTE: “As regulars at Covent Garden will know, the Royal Ballet is changing. Under the new artistic director Ross Stretton the company is becoming less classical and more modern, less traditional and more adventurous. Today’s ballet dancers need to be versatile, to try anything, even if it means going barefoot.” That’s not good news for the company’s more classically inclined dancers. Dancers like Miyako Yoshida, who are not about to give up a career-long devotion to classical training. The Times (UK) 07/22/02

Sunday July 21

RESTLESS IN PORTLAND: Some people just aren’t meant to stay in one place for too long. Such was the case last winter when James Canfield, the 42-year-old Joffrey alum and choreographer of the Oregon Ballet Theater, called his most senior dancers to his office and announced to them his intention to step down from the company. Canfield has built the OBT into one of the nation’s respected ballet troupes, and was certainly facing no pressure to move on, but he described a restlessness that has become a familiar theme in his professional life, one that has almost always resulted in a career move. What’s next for Canfield is uncertain, but there is no doubt that there will be a next. The New York Times 07/21/02

Friday July 19

AUSTRALIA’S GREATEST DANCER: Russell Page was only 33 when he died suddenly this week. Thursday he was eulogized as “perhaps the most talented dancer Australia has produced, skilled in both the old traditional dances and contemporary forms.” A fiery principal dance with Bangarra Dance Theatre “Page was an amateur daredevil and a truly ‘deadly’footballer, often sneaking off from dance practice to play touch footy with Redfern’s street kids.” Sydney Morning Herald 07/19/02

Wednesday July 17

CITY BALLET FALL: A consensus seems to be building among the critics – New York City Ballet is in a state of alarming decline. Why? “The problem at City Ballet lies partly in what’s being danced. Not only is there less and less Balanchine on view, but much of what’s replacing him comes from a very different, often antagonistic, aesthetic.” New York Observer 07/17/02

Monday July 15

DANCING SOUTH AFRICA: “South African dance is the latest global trend to capture the attention of British audiences. Whether it’s been Vincent Sekwati Mantsoe’s ritual dances of possession, or Gregory Maquoma’s wittily constructed statements of personal and political uncertainty, South African dance has seemed to display an identity refreshingly different from our own.” But coming out of a culture of Apartheid, South African dance is in a precarious state, warns one of its leading practitioners. The Guardian (UK) 07/15/02

BALLET TO OPERA? Kevin Garland’s defection from working on building a new opera house for the Caadian Opera Company to becoming director of the National Ballet of Canada has fired speculation about whether the companies might work together. Is the Ballet going to share the Opera Company’s newly brokered home? The Globe & Mail (Canada) 07/13/02

CHOREOGRAPHER KILLED: Noted Russian choreographer Yevgeny Panifilov was found stabbed to death in his apartment. “Panfilov, 47, became popular in the early 1980s when he was among the first to create a Russian modern dance group. He was particularly well known for his choreography of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet, which has been performed in major Russian theaters and around the world under his direction.” Nando Times (AP) 07/15/02

Sunday July 14

THROWBACK AT THE KIROV: “Makharbek Vaziev, the dynamic and opinionated 41-year-old director of the legendary Kirov Ballet, represents something of a break with the past. Unlike his recent predecessors, he was not a choreographer or a star dancer, although he danced respectably in principal roles through the early 1990’s. And unlike ballet directors of the Soviet era, he does not seek to modernize the 19th-century classics, the Kirov’s signature pieces. Instead, he has stirred controversy at home and abroad by presenting reconstructions of these ballets in virtually original versions, based on turn-of-the-century choreographic notation.” The New York Times 07/14/02

SORT OF AN ELITIST PR MAN: Gerald Myers has an interesting job, that of philosopher-in-residence at a dance festival. “In layman’s terms, he is trying to give dance the intellectual respectability that many of its practitioners say it lacks. He contends that scholars like the college president who dismissed dance ‘as that hopping and jumping going on down in the gym’ need enlightenment.” The New York Times 07/14/02

Friday July 12

SF BALLET GETS A WINDFALL: “[California governor] Gray Davis approved $20 million in bond financing Thursday to enable the San Francisco Ballet to renovate and expand its Franklin Street headquarters and fund the creation of new productions, including a new “Nutcracker” in 2004. The bonds will be issued by the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, and the Ballet has 30 years to repay the loan.” San Francisco Chronicle 07/12/02

SOFT LANDING: Jacob’s Pillow is 70 years old, and dance luminaries are gathering. “Ted Shawn started the tradition of welcoming the public to ‘Tea Lecture-Demonstrations’ in 1933, and then expanded his invitation into this annual summer festival. Jacob’s Pillow was recently named to the National Register of Historic Places as the oldest continuing dance festival in the United States.” Christian Science Monitor 07/12/02

Thursday July 11

GENERATIONAL MALAISE? Several longtime New York City Ballet stars retired this season. That means a new generation of dancers is being asked to step up. But too many of them seem underpowered and passionless. “This is all too true of many City Ballet dancers these days: technical facility combined with a near-total lack of expressivity.” New York Observer 07/11/02

DEATH STANDS ALONE: Reception to the news that the Canadian government is helping sponsor a dance production commemorating September 11 set to Verdi’s Requiem has not been good. Celia Franca, founder of Canada’s National Ballet: “The Requiem stands alone. It doesn’t need any embellishment. I’m speaking as a ballet dancer and I love ballet, but I feel I also have respect for music. I think it’s a matter of respect for the way Verdi wrote it, and Verdi didn’t write it with ballet in mind.” Ottawa Citizen 07/11/02

Tuesday July 9

REQUIEM 9/11: A flood of art about and commemorating September 11 is on its way. In Canada, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Ottawa’s Opera Lyra company, and the Banff Centre for the Arts are teaming up for a piece called Requiem 9/11 – a dance set to Verdi’s Requiem. The production funded in part by the Canadian government, has the feel of an official national commemoration. “I think they’re quite relieved to see that we have this unprecedented collaboration that’s truly national in scope and that’s practically been handed over to them.” National Post (Canada) 07/09/02

DANCE AS CORRUPTING FORCE: “A Tehran court has sentenced Iran’s best-known male dancer to a 10-year suspended jail term for promoting corruption among young people by setting up dance classes in the United States, his lawyer said Monday.” Nando Times (AP) 07/08/02

Friday July 5

TOP JOB SWAP: Kevin Garland, head of the Canadian Opera Company, is leaving to run the National Ballet of Canada. National Post (Canada) 07/04/02

Wednesday July 3

SCOTTISH BALLET CHIEF WALKS OUT: Scottish Ballet’s embattled director Robert North has quit is contract a month before it was to end. North has been critical of the company board’s decision to reinvent as a modern dance company. Glasgow Herald 07/02/02

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: Katherine Dunham’s name has never been as immediately recognizable as Martha Graham’s, but the 93-year-old dancer/choreographer has contributed arguably as much as Graham to the world of dance. An innovative choreographer, a quietly political crusader, and a devoted student of African and Western dance traditions, Dunham is finally starting to gain the recognition many aficionados feel she has long been deserving of. Boston Globe 07/03/02

Monday July 1

THE DOWN SIDE OF BEING THE TOP GUY: Christopher Wheeldon is arguably the world’s hottest choreographer right now. Does he have any aspirations to run one of the big companies? “I see what artistic directors are going through, and I think it must be one of the worst jobs in the world. You never seem to be able to do what’s right for the company. If you’re trying to push the envelope, you’re attacked for that. If you’re a great advocate for tradition, you are attacked for that.” The Age (Melbourne) 07/01/02

WANTED – A GOOD EDITOR: How long should a dance be? Hard to tell – and choreographers aren’t always the best ones to know. “Novelists submit to editors, and directors and playwrights have dramaturges to help them maximize theatrical impact. Filmmakers trust editors to make the final cut of movies. But choreographers get no such formal assistance while work is being created.” The New York Times 06/30/02

RUNNING OFF TO JOIN THE CIRCUS: For 15 years Sally Ann Isaacks was a star of the Miami City Ballet. But along the way she began to want something different. So she quit the ballet at the end of last season and ran off to join the circus – performing with the Cirque Du Soleil. Miami Herald 06/30/02

CAMP DANCE: Thousands of young dancers across America are off to dance camp. “From early June through late August, many such programs flourish across the country, attracting far more applicants than they accept. While no exact figures on summer programs exist, the January issue of Dance Magazine, in what is considered the most complete listing, included more than 400. The programs are chiefly for young dancers, many of whom hope their progress will be noticed by professionals.” The New York Times 06/30/02

PICTURING BARYSHNIKOV: A new book tells dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov life in pictures. But first he talks about a long career. “In this country, there’s so much dance, so much talent, so much choice. American tradition of entertainment is very strong. We are entertainers, you know, and there’s nothing wrong with that.” The Plain Dealer 07/01/02

Sunday June 30

BACK ON TRACK IN BOSTON? The Boston Ballet has had something of a tumultuous few years, with executives and dancers alike departing the company unexpectedly and under less than ideal circumstances. But this week, the company’s artistic director announced that the ballet will soon be hiring 16 new dancers and four new administrative staff. It’s probably too soon to declare a turnaround, but it’s the first positive sign in what the company hopes will be an eventual reestablishment of its national reputation. Boston Herald 06/29/02

JUILLIARD NAMES HARKARVY SUCCESSOR: “Lawrence Rhodes, an internationally known ballet dancer and administrator and the former director of the dance department at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, has been appointed artistic director of the dance division of the Juilliard School, effective on Monday. Mr. Rhodes succeeds Benjamin Harkarvy, who died in March.” The New York Times 06/29/02

Thursday June 27

DANCING TO VICTORY: The games have been fun. But this year’s World Cup has set a new standard for celebratory dances. “As every anthropologist knows, dance is one of the oldest, most potent ingredients in human ritual. If dance can function as the language of mating, prayer, supplication and commemoration, what more proper way for a team to mark its amazing progress in the World Cup?” The Guardian (UK) 06/27/02

Wednesday June 26

JAFFE’S LAST CURTAIN CALL: 40 may not be particularly old in most professions, but for a ballerina, it is a ripe old age, and one at which most dancers have already hung up their toe shoes. So it was for Susan Jaffe at the American Ballet Theater this week, as the company favorite took her final bows in a well-received performance at the Met. “The 25-minute ovation at the end left Ms. Jaffe, a heap of flowers at her feet, mouthing ‘I love you’ to the audience.” The New York Times 06/26/02

Monday June 24

MISSING INGREDIENTS? In the old days of New York City Ballet, it was a joy to watch talented young dancers come into the company and grow into artists right before your eyes. The stream of promising dancers continues. But somehow these dancers aren’t developing in the ways they once were. “Presumably, part of what is holding the dancers back is their new repertory.” The New Yorker 06/24/02

THE GREAT AMERICAN DANCER: Anyone with eyes can tell why Fred Astaire was considered the great American dancer. He was the first with the most — the pioneer who was also the supreme refiner. On the high end, Mikhail Baryshnikov hailed him as the dancer of the century, and Jerome Robbins created a ballet in tribute to Astaire’s I’m Old Fashioned dance with Rita Hayworth. Starchy Teutonic theorist Siegfried Kracauer praised him for injecting realism in Hollywood films by ‘dancing over table tops and down garden paths into the real world’.” Time 06/22/02

Friday June 21

TALKING ABOUT THE STATE OF DANCE: In Miami 400 dance adminstrators from around America gather for Dance USA. “As the artistic directors of ballet companies from across the country discussed the trials of the past year, money troubles seemed outweighed by advances, such as the number of troupes moving into new buildings or performing arts centers. And in a forum for modern dance choreographers, strategies for attracting audiences ranged from offering birthday cakes at concerts to casting local religious leaders in dances.” Miami Herald 06/21/02

DANCING IN THE REAL WORLD: How to grow the audience for dance? Take it to where people are – the pubs, the streets, the offices. “Site-specific choreography, as Ashford defines it, is a relatively recent phenomenon, although the use of unconventional venues, such as art galleries, museums, warehouses and lofts, for what is known as location-based dance, has a much longer history. These venues provide choreographers with a natural performance space, without the formality and conventions of the theatre. They also allow the audience to experience the performance in a different way.” London Evening Standard 06/21/02

TECHNO DANCE: A Bay Area dance group has created a piece that “combines animation, dance and electronic music to simulate a video game world. The 3-D animation of the characters was created using motion capture – the same technology used to make video games. ‘We’re emulating … the creation of a video game, but we’re creating live performance’.” Wired 06/21/02

POINTE OF DEPARTURE: At a time when many artists are just hitting maturity, dancers reach the end of their careers. This season two of New York’s most prominent ballerinas are retiring: Susan Jaffe of American Ballet Theatre and Helene Alexopoulos of New York City Ballet. New York Post 06/20/02

Thursday June 20

STEVENSON TO DFW: Houston Ballet director Ben Stevenson has been named artistic director of the Dallas Fort Worth Ballet. In 27 years in Houston, “Stevenson doubled the size of the Houston corps, built up a major school of ballet and recruited significant talent. As a choreographer, he gained attention for a great variety of works but was particularly acclaimed for evening-length ballets in the romantic tradition.” Fort Worth Star-Telegram 06/19/02

A NUTCRACKER GONE WRONG: Donald Byrd’s company is shutting down after 24 years. Of course it’s a funding issue, but Byrd says the company’s gamble on a major production didn’t pay off. “For the company, The Harlem Nutcracker was supposed be like capital campaigns for some organizations. It was supposed to push us to the next level of institutionalization. And when you fail at that, you’re like a presidential candidate who doesn’t win the election. You are tossed out and forgotten.” Los Angeles Times 06/19/02

UNCOMMON PRIMA BALLERINA: Royal Ballet star ballerina Darcey Bussell is “tall, beautiful and with that unconscious grace that marks out natural talent; the world has never seen a ballerina quite like Bussell. In today’s age of celebrity, she’s managed what few other dancers before her have: a fearless dedication to her art, as well as an enormous following that has brought her almost pop-star status, with fan clubs, websites, a stint modelling for Vogue, TV appearances, and even interest from Hollywood.” The Age (Melbourne) 06/20/02

Sunday June 16

DONALD BYRD COMPANY CLOSING: After 24 years, Donald Byrd/The Group is closing because of money problems. “A lot of it has to do with debt issues that have been ongoing since Harlem Nutcracker. The $1.2 million production, which had its premiere in 1996, was artistically successful and toured extensively throughout the United States. But Mr. Byrd said he had struggled for six years to pay off the debt arising from it, now about $400,000. His 10-member company, which has an annual budget of just under $1 million, also has an accumulated deficit of another $400,000. Byrd, 52, has been among the most innovative and busy of choreographers in recent years, tackling unusual themes in an unusually eclectic style.” The New York Times 06/15/02

Thursday June 13

TOO LONG AND ELECTRONIC: Generalizations are sometimes dangerous, but it is possible to hold a few obvious truths about this year’s Canada Dance Festival. Choreographers from Toronto and Montreal dominated, the pieces were too long (most were hour-long full-lengths designed to satisfy presenters), and original electronic music seems to be the accompaniment of choice “which seems to be developing a universal template that is best described as cinematic-cum-atmospheric soundscape.” The Globe & Mail (Canada) 06/13/02

BOULDER CUTS BACK: The Boulder Ballet and Philharmonic in Colorado is cutting back operations becauise of mounting deficits, reducing its $2.6 million budget by $400,000. The ballet cuts a production of Midsummer Night’s Dream, while the orchestra cuts two of its nine programs. “We have to stop the financial hemorrhaging and we’re close to doing that.” Denver Post 06/13/02

Wednesday June 12

DANCE OLYMPICS: One hundred and eighteen dancers from 25 countries are converging on Jackson Mississippi this week for the USA International Ballet Competition. It’s held every four years, and “the competition is an expensive, stressful, and time-consuming proposition. But for dancers ages 15 to 26, it offers a chance to network and showcase their skills for representatives of some of the world’s most noted dance companies. Outstanding performers are often rewarded not only with prizes, but with job offers and guest opportunities- a real boon for emerging talents.” Boston Globe 06/12/02

IRELAND LEARNS TO DANCE: Contemporary dance has struggled in Ireland for decades. But last month an international festival of dance played to full houses. Is dance finally finding a place in Ireland? “The question is, can a country of fewer than four million with a capital city of about one million support a thriving contemporary dance scene? Fewer than 30 people in Ireland, mostly choreographers and administrators, rely on dance for full-time employment. If the calculation included all members of Irish dance companies, who mostly work part-time as actors or teachers, the total might reach 60.” The New York Times 06/12/02

Sunday June 9

SPEAKING UP FOR DANCE: Modern dance needs an advocate. As an artform it has a lot going against it in developing infrastructures and acceptance. Contemporary dance is often overlooked in mainstream culture. But in New York “some 400 dance companies, of every aesthetic stripe, are at work in the five boroughs. Dance/NYC aims to give them a unified voice.” The New York Times 06/09/02

BACKSTAGE AT THE BALLET: Running the backstage operations of American Ballet Theatre is a complcated manouevre, a ballet of its own, composed of “scene changes, the size and positioning of the sets, the wardrobe, lighting design and electrical needs. It requires coordination with the ballet masters over rehearsal schedules and artistic changes that crop up over the course of performances. And it demands adherence to a budget that comes out of the $4 million a year allocated to production costs.” The New York Times 06/09/02

KEEPERS OF THE FLAME: New York is home to two of the world’s great ballet companies. But “as excellent as the two companies still are on a good night, both seem to be struggling to reinvent themselves, to reach beyond powerful past identities. Ballet watchers have complained that ABT is neglecting its heritage – the profound works of Antony Tudor and the popular ones of Agnes de Mille. City Ballet’s public has complained about the stewardship of the company that Peter Martins has run since the 1983 death of its cofounder, George Balanchine. Martins hasn’t regularly invited key keepers of the Balanchine flame back into the fold to teach the ballets to a generation of City Ballet dancers who never knew the master. Former company luminaries are instead scattered across the country.” Boston Globe 06/08/02

Thursday June 6

BOLSHOI RESCUE: The Russian government has decided to allocate $180 million to fix up the badly-decaying Bolshoi Theatre. “Four and a half years of rebuilding work would start in 2003, performances would continue while work was being done, and the theatre would only be closed for a few months during the summer.” BBC 06/06/02

Tuesday June 4

ABT COMING UP FOR AIR? American Ballet Theatre is one of the country’s great dance companies. Also one of its most financially troubled in recent years. “After a financially trying two years in which productions were canceled, staff members quit, donors defected and the executive director was forced to resign, could Ballet Theater be heading for fiscal and spiritual health? Apparently not just yet.” The New York Times 06/04/02

REPRIEVE IN FRANKFURT? Last week it was reported that the City of Frankfurt planned to close Frankfurt Ballet and cancel director William Forsythe’s contract. Now Forsythe says that “Frankfurt city officials have told him they want his acclaimed dance company, the Frankfurt Ballet, to continue working in the city after his current contract ends in 2004. But he added that a deal was not assured, as the city’s finances are in dire straits.” The New York Times 06/04/02

Sunday June 2

THE BOLSHOI’S MARKET FORCES: For much of its 200+ year history, the Bolshoi has set its budgets based on artistic need rather than theatre economics. This meant ticket prices could be low. Now things are different, and the Bolshoi has implemented a new ticket pricing scheme that more properly reflects the marketplace for its efforts. “This new ticket-sales system increased ticket revenue by 82 percent in its first month. Further price increases, made possible by a new distribution system with many sales points, should push up ticket revenue to $10 million—almost three times higher than last year’s figures—in the 2001–02 season.” McKinsey Quarterly (registration required) 06/02

Friday May 31

COURT – LIBRARY FILTERING ILLEGAL: A US federal court has ruled that a law forcing public libraries to install filtering software on computers available to the public is unconstitutional. The filters are meant to screen out pornographic websites, and the law required libraries to use the software or see their federal funding stopped. Librarians had opposed the law. The “court unanimously said that a federal law designed to encourage the use of filtering software violated library patrons’ rights to access legitimate, non-pornographic websites.” Wired 05/31/02

Thursday May 30

DEAL WITH THE DEVIL? Appleton, Wisconsin, is a small town struggling to maintain an identity, keep its 70,000 residents at home, and provide some semblance of big-city ambience in a down-home atmosphere. Impossible? Not with the help of America’s largest radio monolith. Clear Channel Communications has teamed with Appleton to build a $45 million “Lambeau Field of the arts,” a cultural center designed to elevate the city to ‘national touring city’ status. They’ve already landed a commitment from the first national tour of ‘The Producers.’ Chicago Tribune 05/30/02

TOO MUCH AMERICA? American TV shows are all over British television, American plays clutter London’s West End, and American movies clog the cinemas. Way too much America, writes Michael Billington. “Whole weeks now go by in which, as a critic, I see nothing but American product and I learn far more about life in Manhattan or the midwest than Manchester or Midlothian. But that is merely a symbol of a far wider phenomenon in which our cultural and political agenda is increasingly set by the world’s one surviving superpower. You think I exaggerate?” The Guardian (UK) 05/30/02

Wednesday May 29

TIME TO PAY UP: Britain’s Labour Party has made a lot of political capital touting the country’s artists and creative capital. But prominent artists, led by David Hockney, say the government has not made enough investment in culture. A delegation is meeting with the chancellor and “will be told it’s payback time, time to save the nation’s least celebrated art treasures, housed under the leaking roofs and in the draughty stores of thousands of cash-starved regional museums and galleries.” The Guardian (UK) 05/28/02

MAKING AN IMPACT: Cincinnati arts groups have a new economic impact study to demonstrate their contributions to the local economy. “The 17 arts organizations that are part of the Fine Arts Fund attracted 1.75 million visitors and added $169 million into the Tristate economy last year.” The groups will use the study to lobby for more funding from local governments and corporations. Cincinnati Enquirer 05/28/02

FROM DISASTER AREA TO WORKSPACE: “What was once an indoor mall at the World Financial Center will become artist studios under a program designed to draw tenants and visitors back to the battered complex. Nine artists, who will move into space vacated after the World Trade Center attack, toured the financial center on Tuesday to see where they will work in coming months. Starting in October, the artists will exhibit works ranging from a computer-rendered history of downtown development to handcrafted artificial trees.” Nando Times (AP) 05/28/02

Tuesday May 28

UK ARTISTS LOBBY FOR MORE: British artists, including David Hockney, Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley and Bridget Riley have “joined forces to lobby the government to restore regional galleries and museums as ‘great cultural assets’. The group is asking Gordon Brown to find money to support a report published in 2001 arguing for major reforms to the sector.” BBC 05/28/02

WHAT WENT WRONG AT ADELAIDE: This year’s Adelaide Festival was a failure pretty much all around. The most expensive events failed to attract big crowds, and predictions of the end of the era of big splashy international festivals seemed to have come true. Further, “as the Adelaide Festival, which cost the South Australian Government $8 million, sold $1.7 million worth of tickets, the Fringe, which cost $800,000, sold $3.8 million.” The government is investigating new models. The Age (Melbourne) 05/28/02

Monday May 27

SPENDING DOUBLED IN A DECADE: According to data from the National Association of State Arts Agencies, state appropriations for the arts doubled between 1993 and 2002. Spending rose from $211 million in 1993 and peaked in 2001 at $447 million before declining to $419 million last year. “However, appropriation declines of $21 million in California and $5 million in New York account for nearly all of this decrease. When they are removed from total appropriations, the aggregate remains flat at zero percent change.” The total should decline dramatically next year as numerous states have proposed cutting arts budgets in recent weeks. National Association of State Arts Agencies 05/02

Sunday May 26

INTO THE BOG: So London’s South Bank has a new leader, plucked from Down Under. Good luck. South Bank is London’s cultural swamp, a bog where ideas drown and finding your way to solid ground a mystery known to few. “It is the place of perpetual crisis, the place of lost cultural vision, and the place on which the arts press loves to dump. It has become the emblematic arts crisis of the era.” So a few tips for the new head man… The Guardian (UK) 05/25/02

Friday May 24

CUTTING THE ARTS: Across the US states are trying to balance their budgets. And typically, one of the first things to be cut is funding for the arts. “After years of steady expansion, public financing for the arts has begun to drop substantially as a long economic boom ends.” Some of the cuts are as much as 60 percent. The New York Times 05/24/02

• SYMBOLIC CUTS HURT: California governor Gray Davis has been a friend to the arts, substantially increasing arts funding in the state over his time in office. But his arts budget got whacked in half last week when he submitted his proposal for the state budget. The cuts have arts officials perplexed – arts funding is still a tiny part of the state budget. “Any cut to arts funding is primarily symbolic. It’s not enough money to solve this budget crisis or any budget problem. There’s no point pretending that it does. It’s meaningless fiscally.” LA Weekly 05/23/02

ARTS MAKE BETTER STUDENTS: A new report that looks at “all the arts and make comparisons with academic achievement, performance on standardized tests, improvements in social skills and student motivation,” says that “schoolchildren exposed to drama, music and dance may do a better job at mastering reading, writing and math than those who focus solely on academics.” USAToday 05/23/02

BRITAIN’S NEW ‘IT’ CITY: Manchester is opening an arsenal of ambitious new buildings this summer. “For the first time since 1939, when Sir Owen Williams built his Daily Express building, it is possible to turn to Manchester not with a shudder but with keen anticipation. Given that Manchester was the city that gave us Piccadilly Plaza in the Sixties, which seemed to have been picked up and moved bodily from Moscow, and the brute ugliness of the Arndale Centre in the Seventies, which at one stroke cut off the north of the city from the centre, that is quite a change.” The Telegraph (UK) 05/24/02

Thursday May 23

RESIGNED SMITHSONIAN BIGWIG UNDER INVESTIGATION: When Smithsonian comptroller Edward Knapp resigned from his post last week, it didn’t make a big splash. But a Washington Post investigation has turned up evidence that the Smithsonian is probing into Knapp’s activities during his tenure at the nation’s flagship cultural institution. Details are still somewhat sketchy, but irregularities in expense accounts and awarded contracts are among the concerns of investigators. Knapp has been busted for fudging expense accounts before, back when he worked for the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Washington Post 05/23/02

A GOVERNOR PILEDRIVES ARTS FUNDING: Governor Jesse Ventura of Minnesota, he of the pro wrestling background and snarling visage, has used his veto pen to wipe out tens of millions of dollars of arts funding from this year’s state budget. Hardest hit is the nationally renowned Guthrie Theater, which had been scheduled to receive $24 million for a new theater on the Mississippi riverfront, and will now receive nothing at all. Ventura claims that government funding of the arts is a slippery slope (though he just signed a bill funding a $330 million ballpark for the local baseball team,) while the Guthrie’s artistic director calls the governor destructive and dictatorial. Minneapolis Star Tribune 05/23/02

Wednesday May 22

FROM DOWN UNDER TO THE SOUTH BANK: “The head of the Sydney Opera House is to lead a major redevelopment of London’s South Bank arts complex… The 27-acre area – considered by many to be a concrete jungle – is to be transformed at a cost of tens of millions of pounds.” BBC 05/22/02

BANNING AMERICA’S QUINTESSENTIAL AMBASSADOR? Iran has banned Barbie from stores. “Agents have been confiscating Barbie from toy stores since a vague proclamation earlier this month denouncing the un-Islamic sensibilities of the idol of girls worldwide.” The Age (AP) (Melbourne) 05/22/02

Tuesday May 21

FORMER UK ARTS MINISTER ATTACKS ARTS POLICY: Mark Fisher told BBC News Online that the government was only excited in ‘art created for and by young people’. And he said that this emphasis posed a threat to the UK’s great museum collections. ‘The emphasis they are giving to collections and scholarship and curatorial skills – the things that make the collections of museums and galleries particularly fine – is diminished, given a lesser priority’.” BBC 05/17/02

GEORGIA CUTS ARTS SPENDING: The state of Georgia ranks 47th among US states in per capita public spending on the arts. But that doesn’t stop the state from cutting this year’s arts budget. “The Georgia Council for the Arts has announced awards totaling $2.5 million to 177 nonprofit organizations around the state for the new fiscal year, beginning July 1. That’s down from $2.7 million to 181 groups last year. It’s the state’s smallest arts grants budget since 1989.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution 05/20/02

CALIFORNIA ARTISTS WEIGH CUTS: The state’s governor proposes a 57 percent cut in the state arts budget. “At this rate, every municipal reading series, every literary grant program, every local arts council from Calexico to Hopeless Pass can add ‘a future’ to its wish list, right up there alongside the volunteer proofreader and the used Mac.” San Francisco Chronicle 05/20/02

GERMAN CITIES CUT BACK CULTURE: Frankfurt, like many German cities, is reducing how much it spends on culture, as a way with trying to deal with public budget deficits. “A number of German cities have long been unable to afford themselves, the most striking example being that of Berlin. Frankfurt now seems no longer able to afford itself either. Or willing to do so.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 05/20/02

Monday May 20

UNIVERSITY CRISIS: A new government audit of British universities says they are “at least £1 billion a year short of the money needed to keep buildings and equipment in working order. The audit suggests institutions either need to scale down their activities at a time when they are supposed to be expanding to meet government targets – or receive a massive injection of extra money to avert disaster.” The Guardian (UK) 05/20/02

NY ARTS GROUPS RESIGNED TO CUTS? New York arts groups are protesting the major cuts in the city’s cultural budget proposed by mayor Michael Bloomberg. They’re just not protesting very hard. Is it because they’re already resigned to losing the money? “In his preliminary budget, Mayor Bloomberg proposed cuts of $19.1 million to the Cultural Affairs Department. This breaks down to reductions of about 18 percent to the 34 members of the Cultural Institutions Group, institutions whose buildings or land is owned in part or whole by the city, and about 13 percent to the more than 500 institutions that are considered program groups.” The New York Times 05/20/02

NOTHING FREE ABOUT CULTURAL TRADE: A Canadian activist lashes out at the World Trade Organization and the policy of free trade for cultural products. “Currently, cultural goods and services are treated merely as economic products under the free trade principle, with no particular consideration paid to dynamics of culture,’ he said, pointing out the perils of the dominance of U.S. cultural products and media conglomerates in other countries with weaker cultural industry backgrounds.” Korea Herald 05/15/02

AFTER 23 YEARS, MIAMI’S LINCOLN CENTER? Miami’s new performing arts center will cost $334 million – the largest public/private project in Miami history. It is “designed to rival the Lincoln Center in New York and scheduled to open in the fall of 2004.” The project’s new director says he sees the center being a “point of contact” between cultures and that he hopes “to be the only white guy” on the new center’s team. Miami Herald 05/19/02

Sunday May 18

KANSAS CITY GETS A SUPER-PAC: The trend towards huge, multiple-use performing arts centers is proceeding apace, with Kansas City the latest American metropolis to sign on for the ride. The city’s PAC, which comes with a $304 million price tag and looks something like the Sydney Opera House turned inside out with all the corners pounded flat, will include a “2,200-seat theater/opera house and an 1,800-seat orchestra hall. A 500-seat multipurpose ‘experimental theater’ remains part of a future phase of development and fund raising.” Kansas City Star 05/17/02

Friday May 17

COPYRIGHT POWERS THAT BE: Think there’s any chance of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act being changed? Think again. Despite plenty of challenges in the courts and criticism from the online digital community, the real powers in Washington like the law. This week “some of Washington’s most influential lobbyists and politicians sung the praises of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and said it had successfully limited piracy and promoted creativity.” Wired 05/17/02

CLEVELAND’S CULTURAL SUMMIT: No culture wars in Cleveland, where about 350 arts advocates gathered for a cultural conference to hear praises from the city’s politicians. In Cleveland “the arts represent a sizable economic sector, with 4,000 full-time workers and an economic impact one study estimated at $1.3 billion a year in Northeast Ohio.” The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 05/17/02

LOTTERY THINKS SMALLER: Britain’s Lottery Heritage Fund – responsible for funding a big part of the arts building boom of the past decade – is scaling back to smaller projects. “Although 25% of the money will still be reserved for big projects – there is no official ceiling on bids, but anyone seeking grants of over £1m will still have to raise at least 25% in matching funding – it is clear the fund believes the glory days are past of huge capital projects such as the British Museum’s Great Court or the rebuilding of the Walker Gallery in Merseyside.” The Guardian (UK) 05/16/02

NEW LETTERS: Why is arts coverage so bad? New letters from readers taking on San Diego Union-Tribune editor Chris Lavin’s remarks: “Critics so often take themselves so seriously they’re hard to take seriously. And where’s the sense of proportion? I don’t really care how many notes so-and-so missed. Tell me about how the artist is engaging with an idea.” ArtsJournal.com 05/16/02

Thursday May 16

GOLDEN STATE ARTS FUNDING GOES GRAY: California governor Gray Davis proposes to close a looming state budget gap by making cuts and raising taxes. Among the hardest hit – the state arts council which would see its budget cut by more than 50 percent. “Last year, Davis fattened its budget by $10 million, bringing the total budget to more than $29 million. Davis’ cuts would take the council’s budget to about $13 million, with only $6 million for its Arts in Education program.” San Francisco Chronicle 05/16/02

• CUTTING NY ARTS FUNDING: New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg proposes “a 20 percent cut in funding to the city’s largest institutions and a 15 percent cut to the smaller ones. In recent weeks, leaders of high-profile institutions like the Met, Carnegie Hall, the New York State Theater, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the outer-borough botanical gardens have been privately taking stock of what looks to be an extremely grim situation. Now the real-life implications of Mr. Bloomberg’s proposed cuts are sinking in, and they are causing widespread panic among leaders in the arts community.” New York Observer 05/15/02

REPLACING THE RSC: Only days after the Barbican Center chief blasted the Royal Shakespeare Company for leaving the center, the Barbican announces an ambitious new lineup of presentations meant to fill in gaps left by the RSC’s departure. “The Tony-nominated US director Mary Zimmerman will direct, her first production in Britain. Other highlights include a premiere of work from US choreographer Merce Cunningham to mark his dance company’s 50th anniversary. The German choreographer Pina Bausch comes to the Barbican for the first time with a piece for dancers aged over 65.” The Guardian (UK) 05/15/02

• Previously: BARBICAN CHIEF ROASTS RSC: The head of London’s Barbican Centre has lashed out at the Royal Shakespeare Company for abandoning its leases on two theatres at the complex. “The two stages the RSC used at the Barbican were built for it to its specifications and the company received £1.8m a year in Arts Council subsidy to perform on them. Graham Sheffield also criticised the Arts Council, which funded the RSC, for failing to exercise ‘either responsibility or common sense’ over the RSC’s decision to quit its long-time home in the capital.” The Independent (UK) 05/15/02

THE ARTS AS A POPULATION DRAW: For many cities, the arts are a frill, an afterthought to be stroked when times are good and ignored when budget crunches strike. But in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, the arts have long been seen as a crucial way to attract and keep residents in an area of the country widely believed to be out of the way, isolated, and very, very cold. Still, once a thriving arts scene is built, it requires maintenance, and with deficits looming all over the country, Minneapolis and Saint Paul residents find themselves wondering whether they can afford to reaffirm the commitment. ABC World News Tonight 05/15/02

• BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: Cleveland may be home to America’s (arguably) finest orchestra, but aside from that, the city is far better known for its insanely passionate sports fans than its arts aficionados, and the arts have often gotten short shrift from local politicians who believe that the city is just too blue-collar to become a serious arts destination. But Cleveland’s new mayor disagrees, and this week, Jane Campbell convened a summit of Northern Ohio’s artists and cultural leaders to discuss what City Hall can do to advance the cause of high art. The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 05/16/02

Wednesday May 15

WHO’S TO BLAME FOR BAD ARTS COVERAGE? Has coverage of the arts gotten worse in America? If more people go to arts events in a given week than to sports, then “why is the DAILY sports section of some newspapers 24 pages on a regular basis while the WEEKLY arts sections are small, and obviously, one-seventh as frequent – if they exist at all?” San Diego Union-Tribune editor Chris Lavin delivered a speech last week to the Association of Performing Arts Service Organization and charged there’s plenty of blame to go around – arts organizations who haven’t learned the art of promotion in the way football teams have, and editors and critics who don’t know how to tell stories and are unable to speak to a wider audience. “Reviews, almost by their definition, are narrowly focused – they speak to the theater community and to people who attended the show or are considering attending a show. I don’t believe they attract the eyes of the non-theater-going community nor do I think they are generally written in a way that makes the art form more accessible to a broad newspaper or television audience.” Poynter 05/14/02

• What do you think of Lavin’s case? Send us a letter and we’ll publish reactions.

SO MANY STUDENTS, SO FEW TEACHERS: Of California’s 300,000 full time public school teachers, only two percent teach music or art. But now the state has mandated each graduating student must have some arts training. Where will the teachers come from? The more determined schools have turned to the community… San Francisco Chronicle 05/15/02

• THE STEPS REQUIRED: Unless arts education is required in classrooms it’s not going to get taught. But it’s hard to get to that place “when California is facing a budget deficit of as much as $22 billion, teachers spend their own money for classroom supplies and lawmakers are hell-bent on raising test scores in reading, writing and arithmetic.” San Francisco Chronicle 05/15/02

DALLAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER GETS BOOST: Dallas’ proposed new performing arts center got a big boost Tuesday with a $42 million private donation. The contribution, “one of the largest philanthropic gifts in city history, puts the campaign to build the complex in the downtown Arts District at $110 million in gifts and pledges, nearly half of the estimated $250 million cost.” The new center would “provide performance space for the Dallas Opera, Dallas Theater Center, Fort Worth Dallas Ballet and Dallas Black Dance Theatre, among others.” Dallas Morning News 05/14/02

PLEASANT TO SEE YA: Houston’s new Hobby Center for the Performing Arts opened last weekend. What’s it look like? If architect Robert Stern has “not created something wildly original or challenging, he has created something that has the potential to be exceedingly pleasant. And in a city whose points of pleasantry are hardly legion, that’s not bad. Although Stern has tied the hall’s ornate, even gaudy, appearance to Broadway theaters designed by Henry B. Herts and Hugh Tallant early in the last century, there is clearly an echo of Stern’s own work for the Walt Disney Co., where he has shown a flair for playful, over-the-top, art deco-ish interiors. But that gleaming, open exterior? It would appear, for Stern, to be something brand-new.” Houston Chronicle 05/13/02

• Previously: MISGUIDED HOBBY: No question Houston’s new Hobby Center for the Performing Arts is a big addition to the city’s cultural landscape. But “architecturally, the Hobby Center is a dud. The sure command of materials and details evident in Robert A.M. Stern’s earlier country houses and public buildings has deserted him here. The exterior looks slapdash and a bit tacky. Budget probably played a part – astonishing as it sounds, $92 million is cheap for a performing arts center these days – but a more fundamental problem may have been Mr. Stern’s trying to be a modernist when his heart, and his hand, were not really in it.” Dallas Morning News 05/13/02

Tuesday May 14

CUT UNTIL IT BLEEDS: Just how bad has arts education been cut in California public schools? In San Francisco, arguably one of America’s most culturally active cities, “just 16 full-time music teachers are expected to serve 30,000 children enrolled in 70 elementary schools. To compensate for the lack of money, teachers have become experts at applying for grants; parents have become pros at planning auctions, art projects and candy drives; principals have forged partnerships with nonprofit arts groups; and arts providers have created ties with philanthropists.” San Francisco Chronicle 05/14/02

• WORK-AROUND SOLUTIONS: If California’s public schools have no resources to provide arts education, many schools have turned to community arts groups. “Bolstered by strong research that proves that learning occurs in many ways, school administrators here and in other communities look to nonprofit groups for the arts teaching and expertise squeezed by a generation of cramped budgets and new test-based priorities.” San Francisco Chronicle 05/14/02

Monday May 13

NAMING BLIGHTS: “As part of Lincoln Center’s $1.2 billion redevelopment plan, the performing arts center is considering whether to renovate Avery Fisher Hall substantially or to raze it and start from scratch. Executives have said they are leaning toward building anew, in part because it may cost as much to renovate as to start over and also because it is easier to raise funds for a new building than for an old one.” But the family of Avery Fisher says they would take legal action if the hall is renamed  (thereby making it difficult to attract a lead donation for the project). The New York Times 05/13/02

BRINGING ART BACK TO SCHOOL: School arts programs were gutted around the U.S. in the last two decades, and no state was hit harder than California, where theatre, visual art, and music programs all but disappeared from many schools. But somehow, the arts seem to be making a comeback these days, despite continued budget crunches and vocal opposition from the types of “three R’s” purists who always oppose such things. “Beginning in 2003, all students admitted to a California public university must have had one year of the arts in high school – and not just basket-weaving.” San Francisco Chronicle 05/13/02

RULES FOR SHARING: A new company is attempting to set up a system for sharing digital intellectual property. “The firm’s first project is to design a set of licenses stating the terms under which a given work can be copied and used by others. Musicians who want to build an audience, for instance, might permit people to copy songs for noncommercial use. Graphic designers might allow unlimited copying of certain work as long as it is credited. The goal is to make such licenses machine-readable, so that anyone could go to an Internet search engine and seek images or a genre of music, for example, that could be copied without legal entanglements.” The New York Times 05/13/02

Sunday May 12

ART WITHOUT A HOME: “Much has been said recently about the rights and wrongs of art being removed during wars from one owner or country to another. Yet the long history of such appropriations is rarely mentioned. It may be that Rome’s pillage of Corinth in 146 B.C., or Venice’s of Constantinople in 1204, now seem irrelevant because the spoils cannot be identified or because they have come to be associated with their new home. (The four horses of St. Mark’s is a case in point). But even when we know the fate of the booty, we accept the outcome after enough time has passed: in the long run, art has no permanent home.” New York Times 05/12/02

RECALIBRATING THE MISSION OF ART: “The shutdown of the Museum of Modern Art’s 53rd Street headquarters and its temporary move to Queens are only the most prominent examples of how the city’s modern and contemporary art scene will be transformed during the next few years. Most of New York’s major institutions have already begun to redefine themselves and recalibrate their missions in a new century.” Other cities are watching closely, and will likely follow suit if the New York moves are a success. Los Angeles Times 05/12/02

TOO MUCH REMEMBRANCE? “Are we in danger of 9/11 overload? Sometimes it seems as if every Off Broadway theater company, every musician, every artist wants to weigh in.” Are such tributes a measure of the country’s resilience and respect for the dead, or merely another example of Americans’ innate belief that nothing is more important than we are? Or are real Americans sick of the whole thing, even as the media continue to try to whip the viewing/reading audience into a frenzy of grief and anger? New York Times 05/12/02

Friday May 10

IS CENSORSHIP ALL BAD? Yet another silly book flap over an attempt to ban To Kill A Mockingbird for its use of the word ‘nigger’ is sparking discussion at the offices of Canada’s National Post. In a discussion with two editors, the paper’s cultural writer puts forward the unpopular notion that “the so-called intelligentsia… are too quick to slap around ordinary people who have entirely authentic concerns about the effect of language and even ideas on their constituencies.” Also, is censoring Harper Lee somehow more egregious an offense than censoring Agatha Christie? National Post (Canada) 05/10/02

Thursday May 9

COUCH POTATOES: A new study says Brits rarely get off the couch in their free time. “According to a survey commissioned by the European Union 70pc of people not only shun watching traditional high culture such as plays, but do not even bother to attend a football match, sing in a choir or play a musical instrument.” Western Mail (Wales) 05/08/02

WHO OWNS PUBLIC ART? A Seattle artist is suing the Seattle Symphony for using a picture of his public art project in a brochure. Though public art is paid for with public money, artists generally still own the copyright. For artist Jack Mackie, the issue is less about money than how images of his work are used. Morning Edition (NPR) [RealAudio link] 05/07/02

THE CLAP TRAP: “Even as we all complain that everybody talks in movie theatres these days, anecdotal evidence suggests we are becoming more deferential during live performances. Nineteenth-century audiences used to come and go at will and chat during plays and operas, while musical producers had to include loud numbers at the top of Act II to lure crowds back from the intermission. And opera buffs who liked a particular aria thought it quite permissible to interrupt a performance with persistent calls for a mid-show encore. Try that today, and you would probably be greeted with a chorus of huffy ssshhhhs and dark glares. Who invents all these rules anyway?” The Globe & Mail (Canada) 05/09/02

ART AND THE DISABLED: A new international organization to promote the interests of performers with disabilities has been set up. “The International Guild of Disabled Artists and Performers had its inaugural conference in Adelaide, South Australia.” BBC 05/08/02

Wednesday May 8

NAJP FELLOWS ANNOUNCED: Winners of arts journalism fellowships at Columbia University for 2002/2003 include New Republic theatre critic Robert Brustein, Boston Globe architecture critic Robert Campbell, Village Voice editor Robert Christgau, and New York Times cultural critic Margo Jefferson. NAJP 05/07/02

CULTURE’S JUST A FRILL? The state of Massachusetts is facing a budget crisis. Among the proposals to deal with it is a cut in the Massachusetts Cultural Council budget – “from just over $19 million this year to about $10 million. On a percentage basis, it is one of the largest cuts proposed for any agency in the state. The council distributes more than 7,000 grants for exhibitions, concerts, and cultural education programs. Most of the groups that receive funding from the council would face cuts of up to 50 percent next year.” Boston Globe 05/08/02

WHAT’S CULTURE WITHOUT DEBATE? Berlin has had a tough time culturally in the past couple years, with funding crises and confused debates about the role of culture. Many hoped that the city’s new cultural minister would initiate a cultural debate, but so far that hasn’t happened. “Culture ministers all over Germany have backed off from this debate. As a result, the back and forth of funding allocations and hefty cuts increasingly seems to be the work of a dark oracle acting on unfathomable secret counsel.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 05/08/02

Tuesday May 7

WHO CONTROLS INNOVATION: The current debate about how copyright adapts to the digital world is being won by the traditional media players at the expense of new innovators. “They’ve succeeded in making Washington believe this is a binary choice – between perfect protection or no protection. No one is seriously arguing for no protection. They are arguing for a balance that avoids the phenomenon we are seeing now – one where the last generation of technology controls the next generation of industry.” BusinessWeek 05/06/02

AWARDING AUSTRALIA’S PERFORMERS: Australia’s Helpmann Awards, were created last year “billed as Australia’s answers to Broadway’s Tonys.” Like the Tonys, the Helpmanns are not controversy-free. In fact, they’ve been “dogged by controversy over nominations, sponsorship support and voting procedures since they were established last year to reward ‘distinguished artistic achievement and excellence’ in the performing arts. Last night the judges opted for a mix of safe and surprising choices, giving the nod to blockbuster musicals, commercially risky operas and edgy independent productions.” Sydney Morning Herald 05/07/02

Monday May 6

THE RIGHT TO SURVIVE: Like many, American artist Lowry Burgess was outraged at the Taliban’s destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas last year. “His despair and outrage has moved him to create what might be called conceptual art: a manifesto urging the international community to prevent such destruction from ever happening again. Burgess sat down and wrote a statement calling for international protection of sites and artifacts embodying cultural memory, not just in wartime (as guaranteed in the Hague Accords), but at all times. He’s calling it the Toronto Manifesto: The Right to Historical Memory, and his goal is no less than to see it adopted internationally.” Philadelphia Inquirer 05/05/02

UNDERFUNDING BY INCOMPETENCE: The government of Italy has allocated more money for arts and culture. Only one problem – it’s not being spent. “A combination of incompetence and red tape have led to the absurd paradox that more money than ever is available for the arts, but 65% of the funds allocated to the cultural sphere is not being spent.” The Art Newspaper 05/03/02

PLAYING WITH FREE SPEECH: Are computer games speech? One judge rules yes. Another has ruled no. If the no side is upheld “that could be a disaster for anyone who wants to see games evolve into a medium every bit as culturally relevant as movies or books. It is, of course, indisputable that the world of gaming is replete with titles that have little redeeming value, just as it is true for every other artistic medium. But as Medal of Honor and other games demonstrate, computer gaming has created a new means of conveying complex, relevant ideas. One more uninformed ruling, and the potential of this medium could be curtailed even further, by legislators with elections to win, and ideologues who’ve pincered it from both sides of the political spectrum. The stakes really are the future of free expression.” Salon 05/06/02

Sunday May 5

HOUSTON’S NEW PERFORMING ARTS CENTER OPENS: Houston’s new Hobby Center for the Performing Arts opens in Houston. “Almost 20 years in the making, the Hobby replaces the Music Hall, a leaky, largely unlamented Depression-era project that occupied the same site until its demolition in 1998. You can’t walk more than a few steps in the massive complex without spotting star-shaped light fixtures. They’re in the ceiling, on the walls and on the side panels of theater seats. Even the bathroom stalls have silver stars on the doors. The stars – four-pointed, instead of traditional five-point stars of Texas – are part of architect Robert A.M. Stern’s effort to inject some razzle-dazzle into Houston’s downtown Theater District.” Houston Chronicle 05/04/02

STORYTELLING: “If you don’t understand a culture’s stories, then you’ll never understand – or be able to defend yourself against – the actions that spring from those stories.” It’s the power of myth to grab hold of the consciousness of a culture. Chicago Tribune 05/05/02

NOT DECLINE, BUT CHANGE: It’s hard to have a discussion about culture these days without talking about the decline of traditional culture. Julia Keller sat down with five chicago cultural luminaries to talk about culture in Chicago… Chicago Tribune 05/05/02

Friday May 3

PAY TO PLAY – IT’S COMING: Want access to a piece of music or a movie or book? Get ready – it’s going to cost you. “Total cultural capitalism – we must prepare for its arrival in the digital world within the next few years. Technically, it involves Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems that make it possible to control legitimate access to digital resources. The legal framework for the installation and protection of such systems is being set up in Europe right now.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 05/02/02

THE RISE OF CREATIVITY: “A new social and economic geography is emerging in America, one that does not correspond to old categories like East Coast versus West Coast or Sunbelt versus Frostbelt. Rather, it is more like the class divisions that have increasingly separated Americans by income and neighborhood, extended into the realm of city and region. The distinguishing characteristic of the creative class is that its members engage in work whose function is to ‘create meaningful new forms’. The key to economic growth lies not just in the ability to attract the creative class, but to translate that underlying advantage into creative economic outcomes in the form of new ideas, new high-tech businesses and regional growth. ” Washington Monthly 05/02

JUST FADE AWAY: Pop icons have always been used for endorsements. And “great efforts are being made to pitch deceased singers, actors and historical figures to Generations X and Y, as the luminaries’ estates seek to enhance legacies and keep profits flowing. There’s a problem, however. Young people today show almost no interest in legends from previous generations, youth marketers say. For people under 30, they’re dead brands.” That’s a concept difficult for boomers to understand. “It’s hard to understand why people don’t love the things you love, but young people haven’t shared your experiences, and they have different needs and heroes.” MSNBC (WSJ) 05/01/02

EVANESCING ONLINE: “In the last few years, prestigious universities rushed to start profit-seeking spinoffs, independent divisions that were going to develop online courses. The idea, fueled by the belief that students need not be physically present to receive a high-quality education, went beyond the mere introduction of online tools into traditional classes. American universities have spent at least $100 million on Web-based course offerings, according to Eduventures, an education research firm in Boston. Now the groves of academe are littered with the detritus of failed e-learning start-ups as those same universities struggle with the question of how to embrace online education but not hemorrhage money in the process.” The New York Times 05/03/02

Thursday May 2

OFF WITH THEIR HEADS! The turnover in top jobs at British arts institutions is remarkable. But given the hoops through which such managers have to jump, “it is a matter of some amazement that anyone should want the job. In the version of musical chairs we play with the arts, the rules are reversed: there are more empty seats than players to fill them and the winner is the last one to resign. The flaw in our system is not excessive freedom of speech but the growing exercise of thought control.” London Evening Standard 05/01/02

SILLS BOWS OUT: One month ago, Lincoln Center chairwoman Beverly Sills announced that she would step down from the job many thought she would never leave behind. This week, she leaves the job for good, and Lincoln Center will launch an international search to fill her position, which was an unpaid advisory post when Sills first assumed its title in 1984. Andante (UPI) 05/02/02

BOLSHOI ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY: “After almost a decade of turmoil, uncertainty and artistic decline, Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater seems on the road to recovery. The theater, which houses both a ballet and opera company under its venerable roof, has a newly reorganized leadership team and has released plans for an ambitious new season. But soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, a legendary figure at the theater until she left for the West in 1974, says that far more drastic changes are required.” Andante 05/02/02

Wednesday May 1

THE CITY LEFT BEHIND: In the past decade many English cities have dressed themselves up with the arts. But though Leeds, a city of one million, is more prosperous than many of the new arts centers, it has failed to participate in the cultural upgrade. Leeds “has no major museum or purpose-built concert hall, and its only theatre capable of hosting large-scale opera, ballet and musicals is falling to bits in a ghetto of kebab shops and ‘To Let’ boards. There’s a smugness about the place: its spirit is hard-headed and unsentimental.” The Telegraph (UK) 05/01/02

Friday May 31

BALLET VS OTHER: The School of American Ballet (SAB) at Lincoln Center and the La Guardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts across the street both enroll the city’s best dance students. But their styles are entirely different. “While their styles differ, the two schools have long had an amiable relationship. SAB is strictly a dance academy; students there must go elsewhere for high school courses. La Guardia, a public institution with a reputation for strong academics, has been a popular choice. But the dust has barely settled on a controversy that raises questions about the perpetuation of racism and elitism in the dance world, and the power of the private sector over public education.” Village Voice 05/28/02

SCOTTISH BALLET CHOOSES NEW LEADER: The beleaguered Scottish Ballet has named a new artistic director – Ashley Page, the choreographer and former principal dancer with the Royal Ballet. The company has been rocked since announcing it was ousting its former director and reinventing as a contemporary dance troupe. The Scotsman 05/30/02

Thursday May 30

FRANKFURT KILLS DANCE: In what it hopes will be a money-saving move, the city of Frankfurt has decided to close down Ballett Frankfurt, the city’s acclaimed contemporary dance company. The company is led by choreographer William Forsythe and has earned an international reputation. Says Forsythe: “Ballett Frankfurt has the highest income rate in relation to public subsidy of any cultural institution in Germany. We have a 96 per cent attendance rate at our performances, and I have earned this city 40 million marks [about £12 million] with my touring. What single other person has contributed that kind of money to the city?” The Telegraph (UK) 05/30/02

REINVENTING THE ENGLISH NATIONAL: Why is the English National Ballet’s Matz Skoog trying to reinvent the company? Why not? “Ever since it was founded in 1950 (as Festival Ballet), it has played second fiddle to the Royal Ballet. Not only does it receive a fraction of the latter’s funding – £5m from the Arts Council as opposed to well over £9m – it has less access to the best dance talent.” The Guardian (UK) 05/30/02

Tuesday May 28

MEASURING SUCCESS: Australia’s Chunky Move dance company is exploring success and failure. So it sent out a survey to people around the country “asking them to indicate their favourite and least preferred dance movements – flexed feet, you may like to know, did not score well outside Tasmania – music, costumes and choreographic style. On the basis of a statistical breakdown of the survey results, [choreographer Gideon] Obarzanek has created Australia’s most and least wanted dance work.” The Age (Melbourne) 05/28/02

RESISTANT TO CHANGE: The English National Ballet “badly needs a shake-up. At a time when ballet needs more than ever to supply a young, live, theatrical challenge to the dominance of the internet and TV over today’s culture, the major British companies have been beating a retreat into safe programmes. Now ENB sees its box-office competition no longer as the top world ballet companies but as The Lion King.” But recognizing change is necessary and actually being able to accomplish it are two entirely different things, the company’s new director has discovered. The Telegraph (UK) 05/28/02

• ATTENTION SOCCER WIDOWS: Male dancers of the English National Ballet have posed in a giant poster ad “draped only in their national flags which are also those of 11 World Cup countries. It’s all in the best possible taste. The text promises: “For 180 minutes of pure artistry (and no penalty shoot-outs)”. We are targeting soccer widows. Our message is you don’t have to sit there on the sofa beside your old man – come and see our fantastic dancers instead.” The Guardian (UK) 05/27/02

Monday May 27

THE BOLSHOI’S MARKET FORCES: For much of its 200+ year history, the Bolshoi has set its budgets based on artistic need rather than theatre economics. This meant ticket prices could be low. Now things are different, and the Bolshoi has implemented a new ticket pricing scheme that more properly reflects the marketplace for its efforts. “This new ticket-sales system increased ticket revenue by 82 percent in its first month. Further price increases, made possible by a new distribution system with many sales points, should push up ticket revenue to $10 million—almost three times higher than last year’s figures—in the 2001–02 season.” McKinsey Quarterly (registration required) 06/02

Sunday May 26

END OF AN ERA? George Balanchine’s choreography built New York City Ballet into one of America’s great cultural institutions. “Now the unthinkable has happened: at the City Ballet, Balanchine ballets have become boring, pompous and passé. Since Balanchine’s death, what was once so vital has become dull and “established: a lifeless orthodoxy reigns. What happened? Balanchine’s ballets are not in trouble just because Balanchine died. They are in trouble because an era has ended.” The New York Times 05/26/02

JUSTIFY THE LOVE: In 1997, hoping to create and encourage an alternative contemporary dance company, Australia’s Victoria government put out a tender for a company it could support. A group called Chunky Move won the support, but ever since the group has been mired in controversy. “It is, perhaps, not unfair to suggest that by their excellence and versatility, the Australian Ballet and the Sydney Dance Company have unwittingly undermined the evolution of alternative groups such as Chunky Move.” But now it’s time for the company to prove “to the dance public and arts funding bodies that their investments and faith were not based on false judgment.” The Age (Melbourne) 05/25/02

BALLET IS GONE WITH THE WIND: Atlanta Ballet has canceled plans to create a ballet based on Gone with the Wind. “Board members felt the company could not take on the $1 million fund-raising drive to create the original full-scale ballet while it was trying to reduce its debt and balance its budget.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution 05/25/02

Thursday May 23

FORM OVER FLAMBOYANCE? It is the eternal question of every artistic competition, whether the subject be music, dance, or pairs figure skating: is flawless technique more important than artistic merit, or vice versa? Judges at such events, who tend to be professionals in the field, often prize technique, since they are trained to look for detail and minutiae, while critics and writers may take a broader view, preferring a passionate but flawed performance to one of careful calculation. A recent edition of one of North America’s premiere dance competitions illustrates the point. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 05/23/02

Wednesday May 22

WHAT EUROPE NEEDS: The three-year-old Carolina Ballet, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, travels to Europe with a production of Handel’s Messiah. This is, writes one German critic, the kind of dance not seen in Europe anymore. It should be. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 05/21/02

Tuesday May 21

IF YOU CAN MAKE IT THERE… Is the Paris Opera ballet school the best in the world? ” The school was founded by Louis XIV in 171. Of the 300 or so who apply for entry each year, some 30 are accepted; after one year, 10 survive; and of these, only a handful graduate.” The New York Times 05/21/02

A REAL NATIONAL DANCE? Classical ballet is struggling in Ireland in a cut-down form. “So should we still aspire to having a full-time national ballet company in Ireland? ‘I don’t think the audience is there to sustain that type of company. A healthy dance culture should have all forms of dance but a full-time classical company certainly wouldn’t be viable.” Irish Times 05/16/02

• RESPONSE – DEFENDING THE FULL-LENGTH: Should Ballet Ireland give up traditional full-length classical ballets and think about becoming a modern company, as an Irish Times dance critic seems to have suggested? The director of Ballet Ireland argues full-lengths are just what the company’s audiences want. Irish Times 05/17/02

Monday May 20

BALLET SUMMIT: Artistic directors of 11 of the world’s leading ballet companies are meeting in Toronto to discuss the future of the art form. “Audiences are shrinking and many of the big companies, especially in North America, are finding it hard to compete in a crowded entertainment market. The economics of ballet companies, many of which live hand-to-mouth, make it almost impossible to take the kind of artistic risks needed to keep the art form vibrantly alive.” National Post 05/18/02

• SENSE OF CHANGE: In a public session, the artistic directors talk about the future: “The artistic process is about change. We shouldn’t assume that ballet will go on forever and ever, (Ballet) is a living art form. It’s not a museum and it’s not a church.” Toronto Star 05/20/02

DEFENDING THE FULL-LENGTH: Should Ballet Ireland give up traditional full-length classical ballets and think about becoming a modern company, as an Irish Times dance critic seems to have suggested? [Editor’s note: that story doesn’t appear to be online] The director of Ballet Ireland argues full-lengths are just what the company’s audiences want. Irish Times 05/17/02

Friday May 17

TURNING AROUND RAMBERT: When Christopher Bruce took over the Rambert Dance Company in 1994 “audiences had dwindled frighteningly, and Britain’s oldest dance company – 75 last year – was in danger of being killed off. ‘People were saying there was no place for a repertory company, and the sword was hanging over both London Contemporary Dance Theatre and Rambert. I didn’t believe this at all.” Now, after many years of struggle, Rambert seems to have stabilized, and Bruce is ready to move on. The Independent (UK) 05/13/02

Wednesday May 15

HARTFORD RIGHTS A WRONG: Five years ago Hartford Ballet fired Kirk Peterson, its dynamic young artistic director. He had built a viable company that was starting to get some respect, and after he left, the company eventually went bust. “After five years, the firing is seen by many as one of Hartford’s biggest boneheaded moves instigated by an ill-advised board.” Now reconstituted as Connecticut Ballet, new management has invited Peterson back as a guest choreographer. “It was a leap for both parties that showed imagination, risk and a love of dance.” Hartford Courant 05/12/02

Monday May 13

GOOD YEAR FOR AUSTRALIAN BALLET: The Australian Ballet reports a healthy year – the result of “good box office in Sydney, a short but successful season of Manon in Melbourne, and a substantial increase in government funding.” Sydney Morning Herald 05/13/02

Friday May 10

FOOT FETISH: Chris Wheeldon is “one of the few choreographers in the world today excited by classical ballet. While his European colleagues run amok in soft-shoed philosophising and radical revisionism, Wheeldon carries the torch for classicism. He does it mostly in America, his adopted home, but he’s now back in his native Britain to make a ballet at Covent Garden.” The Times 05/10/02

Tuesday May 7

BALLET’S LATEST STAR: Christopher Wheeldon has been a full-time choreographer for only two years. But it’s been a packed two years – he’s resident choreographer at New York City Ballet, where he’s been hailed a star. And “if anything, Wheeldon has almost too much to do. He’s in London now, making his first big work for the Royal Ballet. He came here from California, where he has just created his second production for the San Francisco Ballet, Continuum. And, just three weeks after arriving back from the Covent Garden premiere, he has another show on in New York.” The Independent (UK) 05/06/02

PORTRAIT OF THE NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AS A YOUNG MAN: Mikko Nissinen blows into town as the new director of Boston Ballet. It’s a rock star performance, meeting the staff, the dancers and the company’s supporters. Can he make them forget the company’s recent turbulent times? ”I’m in a great time in my life. I have a fantastic job. I’m one of the youngest directors of the major companies anywhere in the world. Isn’t that great? I’m going to be around for a long time.” Boston Globe 05/07/02

TURNING A BACK ON BALLET: Adam Cooper was a star of London’s Royal Ballet. He played the grown up Billy Elliott in the movie. Then he gave up ballet for musical theatre. Why? “I felt trapped at the Royal Ballet. It is such a tiny world and there is so much snobbery. Some people think ballet is the only important form of dance, and some dance critics perpetuate that view by the kind of work they cover. But there are so many more areas of dance to explore. I very much wanted to use all of myself, not just a tiny part.” The Guardian (UK) 05/07/02

Monday May 6

GRAHAM – FORCING THE ISSUE: Dancers of the former Martha Graham Company are performing this week for the first time since the company shut down in 2000. Rights to Graham’s choreography are still in dispute in the courts, and dancers say they’re performing not to force the rights issue but because they want to keep the work alive. Others fear the dispute will only be further deadlocked. “This is going to impale the dance community on the horns of a dilemma. I see it as a no-win situation.” Newsday 05/06/02

SAN FRANCISCO BALLET AT CROSSROADS: San Francisco Ballet is 70 years old – America’s oldest dance company. The season just ending was one of pleasant surprises and surprising disappointments. With some major retirements coming up, SFB is at a crossroads. San Francisco Chronicle 05/05/02

Sunday May 5

GRAHAM TO DANCE AGAIN EVEN WITH LAWSUIT: Ownership of Martha Graham’s dances is still in legal dispute. But dancers of the Martha Graham Dance Company, who haven’t performed together since May 2000 when the company closed because of financial problems, is putting on a performance of Graham’s work this week in New York. The New York Times 05/05/02

DIAMOND OUT OF THE ROUGH: New York City Ballet’s Diamond Project is ten years old. At least one critic’s expectations for its success at the beginning were quite low. But it has proven a major addition to American dance. “Essentially, the project proclaims that the classical idiom in dance is still worth exploring and exploiting. Part festival, part workshop, it has, at its best, challenged choreographers to stretch their creativity. At its weakest, it has presented the insignificant. Many of the 40 works created so far for the project by 23 choreographers have been discarded. Yet at least 14 Diamond ballets have been picked up by American and foreign dance companies, and more important, many have entered City Ballet’s repertory.” The New York Times 05/05/02

Thursday May 2

LOOKING FOR PRINCESS DI: Peter Schaufuss, the ex-New York City Ballet star, and ex-director of the Berlin Ballet, English National Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet is putting together a ballet on the life of Princess Diana. “The Princess Diana ballet will follow musicals and operas based on her life in Germany and New York.” BBC 05/01/02

BOLSHOI ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY: “After almost a decade of turmoil, uncertainty and artistic decline, Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater seems on the road to recovery. The theater, which houses both a ballet and opera company under its venerable roof, has a newly reorganized leadership team and has released plans for an ambitious new season. But soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, a legendary figure at the theater until she left for the West in 1974, says that far more drastic changes are required.” Andante 05/02/02