The Trouble At/With English National Ballet Judith Mackrell, commenting on Wayne Eagling's sudden resignation as artistic director: "ENB has always had a tricky position to maintain within the UK's dance culture: funded at a much lower level than the Royal Ballet, for example, and with a remit to tour widely, it has very little leeway for risk-taking."

The Guardian (UK) 02/21/12

email this story | Posted 02/22/12@12:06AM

Monica Mason Looks Back At 54 Years With Royal Ballet The retiring director of British dance's flagship company remember highlights of her long career.

BBC 02/21/12 (video)

email this story | Posted 02/22/12@12:03AM

English National Ballet Loses Artistic Director Wayne Eagling "The company gives no reason for this exceedingly short notice, which leaves them having to advertise the third most significant job in British ballet within the next few days, and a precipitate appointment procedure only weeks after the departure of their managing director."

The Arts Desk (London) 02/20/12

email this story | Posted 02/21/12@12:07AM

Anna Pavlova - What Made Her Great? "She evidently lacked the dynamic virtuosity of her contemporary Karsavina ... Her technique was, by modern standards, limited. But what she did have was a unique charm, matched to a lithe but wiry physique (including an exceptionally long, pliant neck and high-arched feet) which gave her musculature a feline ease and sensuality."

The Telegraph (UK) 02/20/12

email this story | Posted 02/21/12@12:03AM

How Many Ballet Dancers Does It Take To Screw In A Lightbulb? So how many does it take? The image goes viral - do the count for yourself.

Ballet News 02/19/12

email this story | Posted 02/19/12@09:17PM

Will Islamic Fundamentalism Put An End To Belly Dancing In Egypt? One Canadian dancer thinks so.

Vancouver Sun 02/19/12

email this story | Posted 02/19/12@08:57AM

Mass Resignations From Charleston Ballet Theatre's Board "Financial strain and concerns over management have prompted seven board members of the Charleston Ballet Theatre, including President Charles Patrick, to resign in recent days."

The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC) 02/17/12

email this story | Posted 02/17/12@12:10AM

Christopher Wheeldon To Create New Cinderella The new full-length version of the fairy tale is a co-commission of the Dutch National Ballet, where it will premiere this December, and San Francisco Ballet, which will present the work in 2013.

Ballet News (UK) 02/15/12

email this story | Posted 02/17/12@12:00AM

Is This The Ken Burns Of Dance? "Bob Hercules didn't set out to become the Ken Burns of the American dance world. But for the last three years, the Chicago-based documentary film writer and director has turned his focus on two of the country's high-profile dance ensembles: the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and the Joffrey Ballet."

Chicago Sun-Times 02/15/12

email this story | Posted 02/16/12@12:05AM

New Company Ballet Next Brings Audience Closer (Much Closer) To Dance Ballet Next, founded last year by former ABT principal Michele Wiles and former NYCB principal Charles Askegard is launching a new series of "exhibitions" in a small performing space that "will combine well-known choreography, new works, and discussions among dancers, musicians, choreographers and audience members."

The Wall Street Journal 02/14/12

email this story | Posted 02/15/12@12:02AM

Joffrey Ballet Returns To Cutting-Edge Choreography Says artistic director Ashley Wheater, "The Joffrey has a phenomenal history, and in my time" - he danced with the company in the 1980s - "there was an incredibly eclectic repertoire. We did Ashton and Fokine but also Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp, William Forsythe. But in the last 20 years the company did very little new work." Wheater has just changed that.

The New York Times 02/12/12

email this story | Posted 02/14/12@12:09AM

A Worthy Biographer For A Worthy Dancer How Brenda Dixon Gottschild came to write the biography of Philadelphia's Joan Myers Brown, legend of African-American dance.

Philadelphia Inquirer 02/12/12

email this story | Posted 02/13/12@07:54AM

Putting The H For History Back In Romance At The Oregon Ballet Theatre "The upper-class ballet lovers watching the curtain go up on opening night of Giselle in 1841 were sitting on a time bomb, and they knew it."

Oregon Ballet Theatre 02/10/12

email this story | Posted 02/12/12@08:18AM

Dancers At English National Opera Protest Their Pay Dancers working for English National Opera are calling for an overhaul of pay conditions, claiming their rate of less than £10 an hour is "disrespectful and absurd".

TheStage 02/08/12

email this story | Posted 02/10/12@07:08AM

Australia's Top Two State Ballet Companies Look To Leap Forward With relatively stable finances, recent artistic successes and artistic directorships to fill, West Australian Ballet and Queensland Ballet have plans to raise their game by hiring more dancers, doing more touring in their regions and (if possible) overseas, and performing innovative choreography that keeps them from looking like mini-mes of the Australian Ballet.

The Australian 02/09/12

email this story | Posted 02/10/12@12:03AM

Ethan Stiefel On The 'Ruggedness' Of Royal New Zealand Ballet "Being on the road a lot, going across the country every two years to so many different places makes us unique in that there is a real kind of rugged quality - and I mean that in the best possible sense. ... [My] dancers here deliver first-class performances in sometimes less-than-ideal conditions, and that's something that makes me proud."

New Zealand Herald (Auckland) 02/09/12

email this story | Posted 02/10/12@12:02AM

A Family Affair: Georgia's National Folk Dance Troupe "Founded nearly 70 years ago by the husband and wife team of Iliko Sukhishvili and Nino Ramishvili and initially named the Georgian State Dance Company, the troupe" - currently called the Georgian National Ballet and not to be confused with Nina Ananiashvili's State Ballet of Georgia - "has travelled from the back offices of suspicious state and party officials in 1945 to some of the greatest stages in the world."

Reuters 02/09/12

email this story | Posted 02/09/12@11:57PM

Karma Bites: Mikhailovsky Ballet's First Big Plans For Stars Poached From Bolshoi Get Blocked By ABT "The Mikhailovsky Theater of St. Petersburg, Russia, scored a coup last fall by luring two of ballet's biggest stars" - Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev - "from the Bolshoi, and it was to have brought them to the United States this summer for a run of shows at Lincoln Center. But those plans have been scrapped ... because American Ballet Theater exercised a no-compete clause involving those very same dancers."

The New York Times 02/09/12

email this story | Posted 02/09/12@11:56PM

Battles At Miami City Ballet Over Villella's (Apparently Forced) Retirement The company "is being split by controversy over founder and artistic director Edward Villella's earlier-than-expected retirement, announced last September in a way that shocked company members and the dance world. ... [Some] board members, major donors and dancers are questioning the decision and contend he was forced out at the apex of his career."

The Miami Herald 02/08/12

email this story | Posted 02/09/12@12:04AM

Anorexia? There's No Anorexia Here, Say La Scala Dancers "The ballet company at Milan's famous La Scala opera house fought back Wednesday, after one of their leading dancers was fired for giving interviews in which she said the industry has an anorexia problem. ... 'There is no anorexia emergency, and whoever is part of our world knows that well,' said the company."

Agence France-Presse 02/08/12

email this story | Posted 02/08/12@11:59PM

London Plan For Free Dance Training For Boys In Regular Academic Programs "The Class would be a school for boys aged 11 to 16, located in London ... [where] every pupil will take daily ballet classes as well as trying other dance classes across the week and studying an English Baccalaureate-style curriculum."

The Stage (UK) 02/07/12

email this story | Posted 02/08/12@12:04AM

Ballerinas And Eating Disorders - They Didn't Always Go Together "Ballerinas used to be plump by modern standards; indeed, the great Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova was criticised in the late 1890s for being too thin (mocked for her long, slender limbs, she was nicknamed 'the broom' by fellow students)." My, how things have changed. (Might Balanchine bear a bit of the blame?)

The Guardian (UK) 02/06/12

email this story | Posted 02/07/12@11:58PM

Stripped-Down, High-Def Ballet Video Becomes Internet Hit Says National Ballet of Canada principal Guillaume Côté, who, with videographer Ben Shirinian, created In the Zone, "I wanted to get the tights off and I wanted to get the costumes off, and just show the sheer physicality of classical dance."

CBC 02/02/12 (includes video)

email this story | Posted 02/07/12@12:01AM

Chunky Move's New Director Slips Into Place Anouk van Dijk doesn't officially start her new job - replacing founder Gideon Obarzanek at the helm of Melbourne's top modern dance company - until July, but she's already in town off and on, auditioning dancers and making plans.

The Age (Melbourne) 02/03/12

email this story | Posted 02/06/12@11:51PM

With Departure Of NY City Opera, Lincoln Center Theatre Fills Void With Dance "The new effort, already under way, presents an opportunity for more dance companies, both local and international, to perform at the prestigious New York address--on a historic stage designed by George Balanchine."

The Wall Street Journal 02/03/12

email this story | Posted 02/06/12@06:47AM

La Scala Fires Ballerina Who Spoke Out About Anorexia "Mariafrancesca Garritano, 33, has been fired for 'damaging the image' of La Scala after claiming that one in five ballerinas suffered from anorexia."

The Guardian (UK) 02/05/12

email this story | Posted 02/05/12@01:21PM

Twyla Tharp On The Real Challenge Of Creating A Story Ballet "I think that needing to translate into words to tell the story of a ballet is a problem. The ballet needs to tell its own story in such a way it can be received without having to be translated into language. That the emotions can be felt, I think, that's another thing. Abstract can tend to be very sterile, and the so-called narrative has the capacity for an emotional connection."

The New York Times 02/05/12

email this story | Posted 02/05/12@01:17PM

With Twyla Tharp, Atlanta Ballet Takes Great Leap Forward "This is Tharp's first collaboration with the Atlanta Ballet and represents a major milestone for the dance company as it seeks to shape a distinct repertory profile featuring some of the nation's most influential choreographers. ... [Working with Tharp is] pushing the company through a growth spurt that's not without a few real-life trials."

Atlanta Journal-Constitution 02/05/12

email this story | Posted 02/05/12@12:27PM

Mixing Rodin And Breakdancing Choreographer Russell Maliphant was moved to create his Rodin Project by his visits to the sculptor's museum in Paris. Yet he realized that his typical fluid style didn't capture the size and weight of Rodin's bronzes. He found a solution to this problem at, of all places, a London street dance festival.

The Guardian (UK) 02/01/12

email this story | Posted 02/03/12@12:03AM

Akram Khan Suffers At Home As His Company Roams America "This is torture," moaned the immobilized choreographer in his South London home, his bandaged leg recovering from the snapped Achilles tendon he suffered in January. Yet his company has gone ahead with its winter US tour, dancing Khan's acclaimed work around a country where it's little-known.

The New York Times 02/03/12

email this story | Posted 02/02/12@11:59PM

A Dance Critic Watches Josephine Baker Judith Mackrell looks at the few, short surviving video clips of Baker at work - and is thrilled at how Baker animates and subverts her often stereotyped material with wit, precision, keen timing, and her "rare freedom, vigour and joy."

The Guardian (UK) 02/01/12

email this story | Posted 02/02/12@11:58PM

The Harder They Fall: When Dancers Get Injured Onstage Joan Acocella: "Sometimes, when it happens, you're not sure at first that it really did happen. Even if the dancer crawls offstage (I've seen it), it could be part of the choreography, no? ... For the audience, shamefully, an onstage injury is not just a misfortune. It's also an adventure, like something in a movie."

The New Yorker 02/01/12

email this story | Posted 02/02/12@12:09AM

Bolshoi Ballet Academy To See First U.S. Graduate This spring, Joy Womack, a 17-year-old from California and Texas, becomes the first American to complete the famously rigorous training program that produces the Bolshoi's Russian dancers. She says, "The technique and the artistry and the passion is something that is worth moving thousands of miles away."

Reuters 01/31/12 (includes slideshow)

email this story | Posted 02/02/12@12:00AM

Dancing About Israel's Perpetual Wagner Wars On The Dance Stage In The Misinterpretation of the Ring, or Hacking Wagner, choreographer Saar Magal (the grandchild of Holocaust survivors) "put[s] on stage the argument about hearing Wagner - and the whole issue of artistic-political censorship - as well as the issue of tendentious art, since the Nazis misused his music."

Ha'aretz (Israel) 02/01/12

email this story | Posted 02/01/12@11:55PM

Dancer Who Quit Royal Ballet Loses Right To Work In UK "Ukrainian-born Sergei Polunin, 22, has had his work permit revoked following his surprise walkout last week." The Royal Ballet "is legally required to alert the UK Border Agency as soon as any of its foreign dancers resign."

The Daily Mail (UK) 02/01/12

email this story | Posted 02/01/12@12:00AM

Promising BC Choreographer, Saying He Can't Get Funding, Quits Vancouver For New York Joshua Beamish, now 24, founded his own company at age 17; the troupe has since performed in Toronto, Montreal and New York and represented Canada at the Shanghai World Expo. Yet Beamish says he has received only minimal funding from the BC Arts Council because it doesn't see him as having a sufficient track record.

Vancouver Sun 01/31/12

email this story | Posted 01/31/12@11:59PM

Sergei Polunin Speaks For First Time Since Quitting Royal Ballet "It's a confusing time at the moment, I have made a big decision and the next one will be important so I don't want to rush it. ... I need a few days alone to think about what I'm doing as I haven't decided yet."

The Telegraph (UK) 01/28/12

email this story | Posted 01/31/12@12:02AM

NY City Ballet Dancer Tears Tendon Onstage "Jennie Somogyi, a principal dancer at New York City Ballet, tore the Achilles' tendon in her right foot during a performance Saturday night and will be out for the rest of the season, the company said on Monday."

The New York Times 01/30/12

email this story | Posted 01/31/12@12:01AM

Audience Member Could Face Jail Time For Booing 'Mammy' Dance When a children's dance company in northern Virginia did a skit called "Little Rabbit, Where's Your Mammy?," Jackie Carter, angered by the hoary old stereotype, began to boo. She returned the next evening, passed out fliers and made enough noise to disrupt the performance - whereupon she was arrested for disorderly conduct, a charge which carries up to one year in prison.

ARLnow.com (Arlington, VA) 01/30/12

email this story | Posted 01/30/12@11:49PM

Will 3-D Forever Change Dance Films? "Every classic dance film ever made would have infinitely more power with real dimensional space around, behind, above and in front of the dancers. Think about Fred Astaire gunning down the corps in 'Top Hat' or the fantastic colors and shapes in 'The Red Shoes' ballet or Baryshnikov defining male classicism for the whole century in 'The Turning Point.'"

Los Angeles Times 01/29/12

email this story | Posted 01/29/12@08:36PM