Category: dance

Once a very promising young soloist at New York City Ballet, Morgan had to stop performing for years due to hypothyroidism (with its attendant weight gain) and an autoimmune disorder. In 2019, by then a social media star, she was hired by Miami City Ballet in a move that got both dancer and company plenty of positive news coverage. Last week, in a 33-minute video that went viral, she recounted difficulties at the company that culminated in her being humiliatingly cut from a role (she’d be “an embarrassment”) in front of her colleagues. – Pointe Magazine

On Monday, the arts world rallied in support of a young ballet dancer, pictured in a government-backed advert. The campaign to encourage young people into the world of tech pictures a dancer, named as Fatima, with the words “rethink, reskill, reboot”. – Classic FM

“I wondered, but didn’t ask, if, like mine, my castmates’ bodies had already grown thicker and felt shorter and moved slower. I wondered if, like me, they didn’t recognize themselves without choreography to move through and other people to move with; if, like me, they were hoping this wasn’t the moment they’d always known would come: the moment they would have to redefine who they are and who they’re going to be.” – Dance Magazine

“No one was ready, no one could even think that it would be possible that one day they would have to readjust ballet so that it would be social distancing in between,” say some Royal Ballet dancers. And yet, with various bubbles between dancers and “work spouses in the bubbles,” the ballet is going on at the Royal Opera House. – BBC

Not to be crass, but every ballet company in the U.S. and Canada knows the truth: Like bookstores and other businesses relying on high December sales, ballet companies rely on that sweet Nutcracker money. But that’s not the only thing the Christmas perennial provides. “Nutcracker performances are also a crucial marketing tool for dance companies, company directors say.” – CBC

It’s all about language choices, the ballerina says. For years she was told she had a great body for ballet, and then she joined American Ballet Theatre. Then she was being told to get rid of her muscles, her breasts, and her butt, told that suddenly she didn’t have a ballet body. “That’s language that’s used, because you’re in a visual art form, it’s about your aesthetic … so that’s what they say to Black and brown dancers to disguise saying ‘You don’t have the right skin color for ballet.'” – PopSugar

“At 41 it all went wrong.” (There was a ruptured ligament, then a broken foot. Then the pandemic put a stop to the new Wayne McGregor Dante Project he would star in. So he’s up and retired, aged 44.) “It becomes very revealing how much you’ve put your body through. What I’ve done for the last 30 years, it’s not normal to do that to your body. But it is possible.” – The Guardian

“Born and raised in Lagos, [Daniel Owoseni] Ajala is the founder and creative director of the Leap of Dance Academy, which provides ballet [instruction] for young dancers. His school has gained worldwide attention ever since June, when he posted a video of one of his students dancing in the rain at his home. The clip went viral, leading to major scholarship opportunities and coverage from news outlets around the world. [We] spoke to Ajala about how he’s used his love for culture and dance to create a ballet program for a community that had none.” – Dance Magazine