Category: dance

When it comes to digital site-specific work, there’s a thin line between a dance on film and a perfume ad. It’s dispiriting to say that in New York City Ballet’s New Works Festival we get plenty of eau de ballet. – The New York Times

Or at least part of it. In a new work, Zoom participants bang pots and pans in their kitchens, and then received the “score” as a PDF to complete on their own. For choreographer Yanira Castro, “It’s hopefully a gift that’s like, you can do this if you want. But “being present with the page” is also a form of performance. – The New York Times

It involves a lot of money saving, a lot of private lessons, and now a lot of Zooming. – CNBC

It took quite a lot of planning and (re-)thinking about everything from pricing and number of people per car to turning the parking lot into a performance space to setting up quarantine pods of dancers and choreographers. – Los Angeles Times

“We’re relatively small, yet boast a top-tier ballet company, the nation’s first repertory dance company, the first school of ballet at an American University, the world’s largest ballroom dance program and multiple powerhouse studios.” How did that happen? “Utah has a unique history that nourished dance,” says one local insider, and that history very much includes the Mormon settlers. – Salt Lake Magazine

Well, besides getting through COVID (and he has things to say on that, too). “I want to challenge the perception that ballet is for white people, this is for old people. … We are in Birmingham, with its own demographic, and we have to keep that in mind when commissioning. I want to highlight how important the city has been to the U.K. Heavy-metal music was born here, Led Zeppelin came from here — we’ll do those ballets! But this art form was born centuries ago, and we have a responsibility to cultivate that side, too.” – The New York Times

For the Joyce Theater’s online season, choreographer Molissa Fenley has revived State of Darkness, her 1988 adaptation of the Stravinsky ballet for a single performer, with seven different dancers — as different as Sara Mearns, Annique Roberts, and Michael Trusnovec — giving their own interpretations. Gia Kourlas reports on how the project has come together. – The New York Times

Copeland says that “for the first time in her 20-year career, people are starting to listen to her about the problem of diversity within the global ballet industry.” – BBC

Chase Finlay is the dancer who remains out of the dance world after his sharing of intimate photos of his then-girlfriend, fellow dancer Alexandra Waterbury, with others at City Ballet. He now claims “it was he who had been the victim of abuse at the hands of Ms. Waterbury.” – The New York Times

The dance company says it will make a return in the fall of 2021. “We’re deeply sad and we’re disappointed that we have to keep ourselves off the stage for this much longer.” The plan is to help the dancers, who are trying to stay fit at home, ramp up to City Ballet skill and performance levels. – The New York Times