Tag: 10.07.01

Opposition is mounting against Scottish Ballet management’s decision to abandon classical dance and become a modern company. Scottish politicians called company leaders “gutless and spineless” in their treatment of the company’s artistic director and said the dancers had been dealt with in an ‘appalling’ way. Sunday Times 10/07/01

“The classics are infinitely renewable and in the public domain. They can also be the aesthetic equivalent of comfort food. Yet when invested with a life of their own, with the kind of faith and commitment that colored Soviet ballet performing in the mid-20th century, the classics do approach the pure vitality of dance. That ideal is probably too much to ask, however, of choreographers and performers living in so different a time.” The New York Times 10/07/01 (one-time registration required for access)

The outrage that greeted the first performances of the Stravinsky/Nijinsky collaboration ‘The Rite of Spring’ has never been equalled, and the ballet, credited with reinventing both musical and dance forms, has become nearly as innocuous a piece of the standard repertoire as ‘Swan Lake.’ So what can a forward-thinking company do to breathe new life into a work that was designed to shock and surprise? Chicago’s Joffrey has some ideas. Chicago Tribune 10/07/01