Category: dance

Viengsay Valdés: “I will always defend classical technique as the artistic base for a good dancer, and from there one can grow into other types of choreography. What we must do is enrich what we have today, develop what we have. Without studying the past we can’t progress and, yes, we have to modernize.” – Yahoo! (AP)

An Austrian government commission found that, at the ballet academy at the Vienna State Opera, “it is clear that children and adolescents are not sufficiently protected from discrimination, neglect and negative medical effects,” with their training and performance schedules being overloaded and insufficient healthcare provided. And the young students are openly encouraged to smoke in order to stay thin. – Yahoo! (AFP)

“Breakout stars, paradigm shifters, game changers. Our annual list of the dancers, choreographers and companies that are on the verge of skyrocketing has a knack for illuminating where the dance world is headed. Here they are: the 25 up-and-coming artists we believe are ready to take our field by storm.” – Dance Magazine

Wendy Perron does a survey of this year’s books about dance. Ted Shawn, Tim Miller, Jerome Robbins, Ray Bolger, Merce Cunningham and more. – Wendy Perron

When she was an 11-year-old performing as a local dancer filling in at a Mariinsky Ballet performance in LA, Dana Nichols didn’t know she would be asked to perform in blackface until just before the dress rehearsal. “All I could manage to say was, ‘Do I need this?’ I became that thing in the room that no one had ever had to confront. Our chaperones exchanged glances and finally responded with an uncomfortable ‘Yes.’ One woman laughed nervously as she indicated that I still had to wear the makeup because my brown skin was many shades lighter than the color of the bodysuit and the paint selected to cover our skin.” – Dance Magazine

Despite – or perhaps emboldened further by – Misty Copeland’s criticism of the Bolshoi’s use of blackface, the theatre’s general director says, “La Bayadere ballet has been performed in this way thousands of times in Russia and abroad and the Bolshoi Theater will not engage in such a discussion.” The last time it was performed in NY, however, the Bolshoi chose to clad dancers in black clothes instead. – Radio Free Europe

In The New York Times‘ dance coverage, this week’s Instagram video hashtagged #SpeakingAboutDance features solos, duets, trios, and ensemble work to pianist Simone Dinnerstein’s performance of The Goldberg Variations. – The New York Times

Oh, well, why not dance, listen to music, and party into your 70s? After all, Mick Jagger still does it. “For those who do keep dancing, it can be much more than just a night out. What starts as an act of teenage transgression becomes radical in middle age.” – The Guardian (UK)

“I think I’m at the top of my game. I’m not retiring, I’m not doing this because of health. And I love teaching and coaching.” And, while he loves Chicago, he’s moving to L.A. “First of all, California is warmer, and I need that for a little while. Also California makes sense because a lot of things that I want to do could be movie-related. I also feel like it’s far away from ballet … and I like that challenge.” – Pointe Magazine

METdance, the city’s largest company after Houston Ballet, was disbanded this past summer, having never recovered financially from 2017’s Hurricane Harvey. Before the summer was over, Marlana Doyle had started both a school, the Institute of Contemporary Dance Houston, and the Houston Contemporary Dance Company, which gives its first performances this weekend. – Houston Chronicle