“New York City-based choreographer and director Jennifer Weber once worked on a project with a strict social media policy: ”Hire no one with less than 10K, period’ — and that was a few years ago,’ she says. ‘Ten thousand is a very small number now, especially on Instagram.’ … It’s unsurprising that profit-driven dance enterprises lead the pack when it comes to leveraging artists’ exposure; policies at nonprofit dance organizations are generally less defined or even in place. (Multiple major ballet companies declined to speak with us on the record for this story.)” – Dance Magazine
Category: dance
Don’t Call It Contemporary Dance On Ice
The Montreal-based touring company Le Patin Libre is “not interested in putting contemporary dance on ice, but in doing with skating what 20th-century modern art movements have done with other mediums, from dance to painting to sculpture. They are stripping away story and representation to leave the medium itself on full display.” Jenn Edwards, a former competitive figure skater and contemporary dancer who’s been a member of Le Patin Libre since April 2018, offers an inside view of the company’s work. – Dance International
Can Dance Be Meaningful For People Without Sight?
“The intangible exchange of energy between moving and witnessing bodies in real time is what makes the art form so impactful. It’s a beautiful and grandiose idea that I imagine resonates with many dance artists, but, in creating Translations, that belief was truly put to the test. If you take the visual away from dance, what is left? What are we performing when we aren’t being watched? What do we miss and what is revealed?” – Dance International
Going Through The Archives With Bill T. Jones
Reporter Michael Cooper joins the choreographer as he examines photos from the history of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company and tells stories of the time Robert Mapplethorpe photographed the diminutive Zane carrying the very large Jones on his shoulder, why he had to change the title of one of his most famous works from the original Last Supper at Uncle Tom’s Cabin Featuring 52 Handsome Nudes, and the evening he told an Italian audience, “Tonight, I am the Pope” and got denounced by the Vatican the next day. – The New York Times
The Exquisite Challenge Of Merce Cunningham Class
Siobhan Burke: “Those 90-minute lessons — advancing from a warm-up of the back and feet to more complex coordinations of the torso and legs to jumping sequences that flew across the room — were always a struggle. Yet I grew to love, even crave, the difficulty. I looked forward to coming back and trying again.” – The New York Times
Ballet Theatre Of Indiana Is Partner In Real Estate Deal That Will Include New Performance Venue
“The ballet company and a redevelopment company are joining forces to unveil a major arts-driven development for a well-established Carmel intersection. It includes a four-story mixed-use building with apartments and retail on one end and a new arts center on the other.” – The Indianapolis Star
At What Point Is A Dance Move Cultural Appropriation?
“People think that all you have to do is have certain postures, wear certain clothes, dance to certain music” to make it hip hop, Michele Byrd-McPhee says, pointing out that simply donning toe shoes and tutus and dancing to Tchaikovsky does not a ballerina make. “It’s that kind of disconnect from the origins of the culture and the people who created it that’s problematic.” – Dance Magazine
Dance Podcasts Are Proliferating, And Here Are Dance Magazine’s Top Three
Do you want a serious look at the world of dance; a more lighthearted, behind-the-scenes glance; or some potentially weird but eclectic and innovative podcasts involving hosts and guests? This list tells you which one to download for that commute to the studio (or, er, the office). – Dance Magazine
She Had Trouble Finding Dance Classes Online — So She Founded A $600 Million Startup
Payal Kadakia, New Jersey-born daughter of two Indian immigrant chemists, got a degree from MIT while setting up one Indian dance group and worked a professional job at Bain & Company while launching and running another. In a Q&A, she recounts how, as a way to address one of her biggest frustrations as a New York dancer, she built ClassPass. – The New York Times
What’s Going On In This Merce Cunningham Masterpiece? Nothing.
“Nothing but the world outside the human one.” Alastair Macaulay offers an analysis (if that’s the right word for a Cunningham piece) of the 1958 work Summerspace. – The New York Times