In recent years, the Israeli contemporary dance troupe has faced petitions and demonstrations by BDS activists almost everywhere it has performed abroad. Back home in Tel Aviv, the company’s planned dance center and arts complex, co-designed by David Adjaye for the site of the city’s old central bus station, is being heavily criticized by anti-gentrification campaigners. – Haaretz (Israel)
Category: dance
Caught In The Middle Of #MeToo: When The Same Union Represents Accusers And Accused
The dismissal and subsequent reinstatement of dancer Amar Ramasar at New York City Ballet is the most high-profile of several recent cases where a performer was fired after a credible complaint of sexual misconduct and his union pressed for reinstatement and/or compensation — very much against the wishes of other union members, among whom were the objects of the misconduct. – The New York Times
UK Dancer Denied Visa To Perform In Seattle This Weekend
The O-category visa includes a range of professions, however arts presenters across the country report an uptick in rejected visa applications. Most recently, two dancers from Russia’s famed Bolshoi Ballet were denied temporary entry to perform at a fundraising gala for a youth dance competition. – KUOW Seattle
Pennsylvania Ballet Adopts New Ranking System, And Lots Of Dancers Get Promotions
“Artistic director Ángel Corella has … add[ed] demi-soloist and first soloist levels to the mix. PAB now joins a handful of other U.S. companies, including Miami City Ballet, Houston Ballet, Ballet West and Tulsa Ballet, that have adopted a more European-style, multi-tiered ranking system.” – Pointe Magazine
Meet The Woman Who’s (Finally) Taking The Helm Of The National Ballet Of Cuba From Alicia Alonso
“Over the years, rumors of possible successors have surfaced and vanished, as [the now-98-year-old] Ms. Alonso, at least partially blind since the 1940s, talked of living to 200. But her grip has finally loosened. In January, the Cuban ministry of culture appointed Viengsay Valdés, the Ballet Nacional’s 42-year-old prima ballerina, as the troupe’s deputy artistic director … She is now responsible for all artistic decisions: programming, casting, promotions.” – The New York Times
Boston Ballet Principal Retires To Direct Rhode Island’s Largest Ballet Company
“Kathleen Breen Combes, a star of Boston Ballet who has earned acclaim everywhere from Boston to New York and London, is retiring from the company after 16 years to become the new executive director of Festival Ballet Providence. [Her] final performance … is scheduled for June 9.” – The Boston Globe
Royal Ballet Begins Major Education Project In Far-Off Yorkshire Town
Working under the umbrella of the Royal Opera House and in partnership with local government, over the next three years the company will be giving workshops at every school in the town of Doncaster, expanding its Chance to Dance program for disadvantaged children to every local dance school, and performing for the first time ever in Doncaster. – The Stage
What Dance Criticism Really Needs Is Outsiders (Says A Veteran Dance Critic)
“Bring on the outsiders! The writers and journalists who can’t raise their legs to their ears but can ask a brand-new, real good question and keep asking until it gets answered with clarity.” Eva Yaa Asantewaa (who was something of an outsider, in more than one way, when she started) makes the case. – Dance Magazine
How Merce Cunningham Made The Judson Dance Theater Revolution Possible
Yvonne Rainer, David Gordon, Steve Paxton, Lucinda Childs, and Deborah Hay tell Alastair Macaulay what they learned from Cunningham that enabled them to transform modern dance. – The New York Times
The Cost Of Being A Ballerina
As 43-year-old ballerina Crystal Brothers prepares to retire from Ballet Memphis, here’s what she has been doing each day to keep her body going in the brutal sport, er, art, of dance: She sleeps in therapy boots all night to reduce leg cramping, and then … “I ice my feet, I take at least three baths a day, I have heating pads attached to my body with elastic bands and thera-bands, and I’m, you know, shoving a heating pad down my pants for my lower back.” – WKNO (Tennessee)