Category: dance

Last month, the Houston Ballet’s artistic director announced that he was stepping down, shocking the company’s dancers and board members. Now, after further consideration, Ben Stevenson says he will stay on, albeit in a joint role with his former assistant. Dallas Morning News

“In the sixties, modern dance, like the other arts, took a turn toward conceptualism. Music, stories, stars – all the things that could draw you into an illusion, make you lose yourself in the show – were banished. The result was cleansing, but it was also a dead end.” Twyla Tharp was one of those who brought us back from all that. The New Yorker

Choreographers Paul Taylor and Merce Cunningham are the reigning masters of dance. “Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Taylor have gone their own creative ways, sometimes raising eyebrows. But once choreographers achieve eminence, certain old aesthetic controversies may lose their steam.” The New York Times (one-time registration required for access)

Maina Gielgud, who resigned as artistic director of the Boston Ballet before beginning the job, is refusing to take the rap for budget problems and the firing of nine dancers. Ballet CEO Jeffrey Babcock, who’s already developed a reputation for antagonizing company members, appears to be on the hot seat right now. Boston Globe

Gielgud denies previous reports that she quit because the company wouldn’t allocate more money. “On the contrary, all I’ve been asking them is to tell me what they do have, or at least what they feel they can afford.” Sydney Morning Herald

The Paul Taylor Dance Company has a two-week season in New York every year. This year’s looks pretty good, according to the critics. In fact, it looks great. How’s this for a rave: “Taylor is quite simply the most extraordinary choreographer alive…. it is theater burned into the stage, and, even more, burned on the audience’s imagination.” New York Post

Last week, the Boston Ballet made serious waves when it dismissed a number of dancers from its ranks, apparently at the behest of newly appointed artistic director Maina Gielgud. Yesterday, Gielgud herself was severed, months before she was even scheduled to officially begin work. The move leaves the company more or less in a state of complete chaos. Boston Herald

Dance may not be today’s dominant art form, but, says an Israeli archaeologist, it was 9,000 to 5,000 years ago. He “thinks he has pieced together a significant body of evidence for dancing, if not at its beginning, at least at a decisive and poorly understood transitional stage of human culture.” The New York Times 02/27/01 (one-time registration required for access)

Dance, as a specific art form, tends to be rather difficult to catalogue. How can anyone set down on paper the mere motions of a body, let alone the passion and theory behind the dance? This conundrum has always caused legal problems for dance companies wanting to put on productions of famously choreographed works, and dancers say U.S. intellectual property law is getting in the way of their art. Boston Globe

Professional ballet companies thrive in places like Atlanta, Houston, Salt Lake City, and Seattle. So why can’t places like Detroit and San Deigo support them? It’s a delicate balance of talent, funding, audience, and luck. “Starting a ballet company is a crazy thing to do. But these were people who couldn’t help starting a ballet company, people who decided to give their lives to dance. So they wouldn’t give up.” Detroit News