Category: dance

Cameron Ball, Festival Manager of the UK’s U.Dance National Youth Dance Festival: “The energy of sharing a studio space and the buzz of a live audience is hard to imitate, so inevitable compromises have to be made when access is via video conference or social media stream. But this jolt into a new format has some benefits and has revealed some ways to work technology into future events, which will be retained once the industry rebuilds.” – Arts Professional

The character as passed down from the Diaghilev Ballets Russes original is not only painted in outlandish blackface makeup, he is, as Wendy Perron puts it, “mean and aggressive [and] prodigiously stupid.” In the ’90s, the Oakland and then San Francisco Ballets decided to make the character’s face blue (“the Avatar solution”), and both Perron and Michel Fokine’s granddaughter (and Petrouchka rights holder) Isabelle had thought that was an excellent solution. But Perron’s dance history students at Juilliard last semester would not have it: they found the character grotesque, offensive and irredeemable. Perron and the class reached out to Isabelle, and Perron tells us how things came out. – Dance Magazine

“Among students of dance, the recital is much more than just a performance. It’s the culmination of a year’s work and a social event: … When the pandemic hit, some studios made swift decisions to cancel their performances, while others held virtual ones they knew could not compare to the adrenaline-filled, sequin-covered excitement of the real thing. But others dug in their heels and resolved to find some way to put on their biggest show of the year.” Here’s how a few of them pulled it off. – The New York Times

From blending tap steps and rhythms with Puerto Rican and other Latin music to reviving the memory of great female tappers of the past to founding a rehearsal and performance space in the South Bronx to using the arts to teach leadership skills to young women from New York City charter schools, Casel is using “the power of this art form to speak to social justice, race, identity, politics.” – Dance Magazine

Organizers of the June 18 event, for which the company’s dancers gathered to tape performances which were streamed for attendees, say they followed all CDC and local health guidelines. Nevertheless, artistic director Julie Kent and one of the performers contracted COVID. “These human costs are devastating,” writes Sarah Kaufman, “and there is another victim here: trust. … Did the ballet make the right choices to fundraise in this way, and how much can we trust it on health matters in the future?” – The Washington Post

The former American Ballet Theatre star didn’t elaborate, but “at least three ballet employees became sick after the Washington Ballet’s online gala June 18, according to several people.” The gala was mostly online, and ballet officials say they followed CDC guidelines in filming the preparation for the gala. In her Instagram post, Kent wrote, “I have joined hundreds of thousands of people around the world that took every precaution, and still contracted this virus. No matter how careful we all are, this can happen to anyone. There is no stigma.” – The Washington Post

We’re all tired of the Netflix queue and staring out the window at life not being lived on our streets. So the smart, well-edited, fun video set to the Billy Idol classic song Dancing with Myself is just the safe dance party that we needed, six months into this pandemic, and counting. – Dance Magazine

The American Dance Festival in Durham, NC; Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, MA; and the Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston, ME all called off their summer 2020 events on the same day, March 31 — weeks before other summer festivals bowed to the inevitable. Why did those three decide so soon? As their execs tell Rachel Rizzuto, it came down to “necessity and courtesy.” – Dance Magazine

It’s Swan Lake Bath Ballet, “a contemporary take on the classic featuring 27 A-list ballet dancers performing from their own bathtubs. The BBC commissioned the project from choreographer Corey Baker. And while you might be imagining a lighthearted, soapy romp …, the result has striking beauty and complexity, as well as some gentle splashstick humor.” – Dance Spirit