At the Auckland Region Women’s Correction Facility, the Royal New Zealand Ballet has taken on a plan to make ballet more accessible. The teacher of the women who asked to join the class says, “Every week you can just see them become more confident. With confidence comes the drive to want to get better. They’re very engaged and very present.” – Stuff (New Zealand)
Category: dance
Parents, Do Not Enroll Your Preschooler In Ballet Class
Sarah Kaufman: “As a lifelong ballet lover but ambivalent dance mom, here’s my cri de coeur: Do your kids a favor and banish the thought. Yes, there are options galore for parents looking for a dance class for their toddlers — even for babies. Dance schools will be delighted to fulfill your sparkly pink dreams. But the best dance class for a very young child looks nothing like that.” – The Washington Post
What Is A Choreopoem?
Short answer: “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf.” The longer answer is movement set to and inspired by poetry. And it traces back to the 1970s and a writer who just had to move while she spoke her work. – The New York Times
How Do You Translate The Life Of A Forgotten, Insane Swiss Novelist Into Dance Theater?
Marina Harss: “The material feels both so deeply literary and, at the same time, so utterly deflating. The subject is a solitary man” — Robert Walser — “whose writings tended to track the minutiae of his solitary life, and who died alone in the snow — this hardly sounds like something to dance about. But that is precisely what the choreographer John Heginbotham and the illustrator Maira Kalman have set out to do … [in] Herz Schmerz.” – The New Yorker
B-Boy-Turned-Ballet Dancer Teaches His Moves To His Company
Diego Ramalho grew up breakdancing in a small city in Brazil and reluctantly started taking ballet lessons at age 18. Eight years later, he’s a full member of Ballet Edmonton, coaching his colleagues in break-style movement for a new work opening this month. – CBC
Royal Ballet’s New Star Marcelino Sambé On How He Got Into Dance
“It was hilarious. I showed up in tracksuit and trainers, didn’t know what ballet was. The atmosphere was sterile, the other kids were preppy and well prepared. I was nothing of the kind. But I could do the splits and I remember I kept doing the splits repeatedly [he laughs].” The panel was not impressed. “Then came the special moment when they asked us just to dance. – The Guardian
Breaking All The Rules Of The Tango To Make It Better, And To Make It Safe
Argentine feminists are fed up with the patriarchal, rigid roles of traditional tango, and they’ve published a new protocol that breaks old rules – and reinforces new ones. “The protocol provides suggested guidelines for tango venue organizers, including acceptance of couples who depart from heteronormative roles. It also offers guidance on how to handle instances of harassment and abuse, advising, for instance, that men accused of acting inappropriately on the dance floor be asked to leave.” – The New York Times
Letters From A Young Jerome Robbins When He Was Trying To Make It As A Dancer (And Failing)
“I shall be firm straight and even cruel to be faithful. I SHALL DANCE. Yes . . . I shall dance. Say it over and over and over to infinatum [sic]. I shall dance I shall dance . . . I will live to dance, eat to dance, sleep to dance. My classes shall be my daily worship and workshop. Every moment shall be devoted to these purposes.” – LitHub
Annie-B Parson On Choreographing For Non-Dancers (Such As David Byrne’s Band)
“Working with dancers, a lot gets communicated non-verbally, but with untrained dancers you need to find a specific and deliberate language around movement because there is no shared language, no baseline. I try to put myself in their shoes. It’s important to remind myself how scary and alien dancing is to the non-dancer.” – Dance Magazine
Angel Corella Is Reworking All Of Pennsylvania Ballet’s Story Ballets
“A full-length ballet is ‘like a Broadway show,’ according to [the company’s artistic director]. It’s generally a big, splashy production with elaborate sets and costumes, familiar music, and a story that’s known or easy to follow. People are eager to buy tickets. That’s why Corella has been rechoreographing full-length ballets, which he performed as a dancer countless times with companies all over the world. He knows what works and what he likes.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer