This new wave “is a consideration of the aesthetic possibilities of disability. It’s not about adaptation or accommodation. It’s about how unique bodies, minds, senses and phenomenological experiences of disability and impairment—along with the political aspects and intersectional identities—can create new work.” – Vice
Category: dance
The Virtuoso Of Light Who Paints It On Dance
Brandon Stirling Bake: “In the same way that a painter may use a brush to create phrases and mix color, I’m doing that with light. And lighting also has rhythm and pace. My friends back home will say, ‘Why did you give up music?’ But I never gave up music. I just use a different instrument now.” – The New York Times
Memories Of One Of ‘The Old Gang’ At Judson Dance Theater
Aileen Passloff, now 87 and still working as a choreographer, talks to Gia Kourlas about the 1950s and ’60s, when a new generation was transforming what dance could be; her studies with a Diaghilev alumna; and climbing up a fire escape in heels and sneaking into City Center. — The New York Times
Why The 87-Year-Old Founder Of Philadanco Dance Wants To Start A New School
Joan Myers Brown: “We started talking about how children are no longer interested in training. They see So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with the Stars and want to do ‘trick, trick, trick,’ rather than putting in the hours honing proper technique.“We wanted to change the system of teaching dance in their schools.” – Philadelphia Inquirer
‘Trust-Based Philanthropy’: The Long, Fruitful Relationship Between The Alvin Ailey Company And Prudential
“What makes this partnership special is not just its longevity, but the nature of support that has allowed Ailey to grow into a stable, globally recognized organization. Unlike many grantmaking organizations, in this case at least, Prudential has not only made significant, sometimes unrestricted financial commitments, they have leveraged their own relationships and knowledge for Ailey’s benefit.” — Nonprofit Quarterly
How Ballet’s Leg Lifts Extended To 180 Degrees (And Sometimes Beyond)
To the end of the 19th century, no matter how virtuosic a ballet dancer could be, the leg was not to be lifted above the hip. Emma Sandall recounts how that changed, from Diaghilev through Balanchine to the pathbreaking hyperextension of Sylvie Guillem. — Dance Magazine
Somebody Tried To Shame Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez By Posting A Video Of Her Dancing In College. Really?
Dance Critic Sarah Kaufman: “Perhaps, somewhere, there exists a small, sad sliver of the human population that still believes, 17th-century style, that dancing is sinful, that having fun is wrong, that music is corrupting, that a young woman playfully noodling around with her hair down must be some kind of wild, out-to-get-you Medusa. I guess the Puritan prejudice against a good time hasn’t entirely disappeared. Otherwise, how could anyone think that publicizing a video clip of a beautiful, college-age Ocasio-Cortez dancing with her friends could harm the Democratic congresswoman from New York?” – Washington Post
A Choreographer Creates An Homage To Fluidity, Biculturalism, And A Classic Third-Wave Feminist Book
That’s right, choreographer Miguel Gutierrez titled his new dance after the classic anthology This Bridge Called My Back – but with the word “ass” instead of back in his title. “‘What underlies ‘This Bridge,’ Mr. Gutierrez said, is a consideration of something that has long piqued him: ‘the perception that artists of color are always doing content work’ — dealing with identity politics — ‘and white artists are only doing form and line.'” – The New York Times
Ballet Isn’t Only Women – It’s Also Trans, Nonbinary, And Genderqueer Dancers
At least, that’s one push for 2019 from the dancers themselves, who are ready, whether the classical ballet world is or not, for more than just partner training for male-identified dancers and pointe training for those who identify as female. – Pointe Magazine
Here’s Another Cambodian Dance Form Brought Back From Brink Of Extinction
We’ve read about how Khmer royal court dance has been revived (and even queered). Less familiar is the masked dance-drama lakhon khol, which was nearly wiped out, along with the country’s other traditional art forms, by the Khmer Rouge. Sun Rithy, a 46-year-old whose father and grandfather performed in the genre and trained him in it, now has a company of young performers dedicated to preserving lakhon khol. — Reuters