The worst fire in California destroyed Trudi Angel’s ballet school in Paradise, along with costumes and sets for the Nutcracker she’d been putting on there for 33 years (and along with pretty much everything in the entire town). But Angel’s young students pleaded with her to keep the show going this year — and the many people she knew in the wider ballet world pitched in to help. — San Francisco Chronicle
Category: dance
Orlando Ballet Asks Its Customers Flat-Out If They’re Willing To Pay Extra For Live Music
“A survey from the ballet has been arriving in email inboxes with only two questions for recipients: ‘How much does live music affect your decision to purchase tickets to Orlando Ballet?’ and ‘Would you be willing to pay a small increase in ticket prices for a performance with live music?'” — Orlando Sentinel
She’s A Choreographic Chameleon For Broadway
Camille Brown burst into Broadway with her choreography for the award-winning revival of Once on This Island, and now she’s everywhere, even using a dramaturg to help tell stories on Broadway, through dance. – Playbill
A Choreographer Pushing Community Against A World That ‘Is So Screwed Up’
Vicky Shick creates and edits at the same time, her dancers say, so they have to pay careful attention during rehearsals. “Shick’s works have become more exacting as they reveal the complexity of who she is: a 67-year-old choreographer who was born in Hungary and had dreams of becoming a ballerina, but instead carved out a career in postmodern dance. … With precision and strangeness, her dances celebrate the very thing she finds herself racked with: vulnerability.” – The New York Times
Pam Tanowitz Named First Choreographer In Residence At Bard Fisher Center
“For the position, a three-year residency to begin in February, Ms. Tanowitz will create three commissioned dances, including a collaboration with the New York City Ballet principal Sara Mearns; she will also develop a digital archive of her work.” — The New York Times
Now *Here’s* A Career For A Retired Ballerina: Aerialist
“When Ariana Lallone left Pacific Northwest Ballet after nearly 25 years, … [she] knew that she wanted to keep performing. Eight years later, look up, and there she is — an aerial artist with Teatro ZinZanni, dancing midair high above the dinner-theater audience, with a hoop as her partner.” — Seattle Times
How An Out-Of-Work Ballerina In The Great Depression Became One Of America’s Most Famous Women
The young lady née Helen Gould Beck found herself stranded in Chicago when the ballet company she was touring with collapsed, and the only job she could get was as a stripper at a nightclub in the Loop. She ended up as a star attraction at the 1939 World’s Fair, known for her fan dance and her “bubble dance” with a 65-inch balloon (and nothing else) — an act she toured with for years afterward as Sally Rand. — The Oregonian
They’re Both Native Americans And Native New Yorkers, And For 50-Odd Years They’ve Been Performing Native Dance In The City
The Thunderbird American Indian Dancers were formed in downtown Brooklyn in 1963 by a group of mostly Mohawk neighbors who were the first generation in their families born off the reservation. Now the group preserves and performs indigenous dances from across North America. Reporter Siobhan Burke talks with the Thunderbirds’ director, 82-year-old Louis Mofsie. — The New York Times
BBC’s Latest Dance Competition Show Has A Race Problem
Not that the producers or panelists are to blame: The Greatest Dancer features plenty of minority contestants. But it’s the studio audience that decides who proceeds to the next round, and it seems they just will not vote for Asian competitors, no matter how enthusiastic the panelists are. Same for black female contestants. — The Guardian
A Balanchine Original: Patricia McBride Lousada, 89
Ms. Lousada was a cast member of many central works created by Balanchine, including “The Four Temperaments,” which had its premiere on City Ballet’s opening night, Nov. 20, 1946, at the Central High School of Needle Trades. — The New York Times