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DANCE

Sleep No More May Be Ending, But Its Dancers Will Carry The Show’s Legacy

Dancer Kelly Bartnik: “It changes you as a performer. … It changes you as a creator. It changes the quality of energetic exchange between performer and audience member.” - Dance Magazine

One Of Brazil’s Hottest Dance Scenes Is Under A Freeway Overpass In Rio

"Charme" is a popular dance style which developed in the 1980s as the Brazilian way to party to American soul and R&B. When COVID shuttered indoor clubs, this spot in a working-class Rio suburb became the happening place for charme, and a new generation has discovered it. - The New York Times

Meet Dance Magazine’s 25 To Watch For 2025

"Whether or not you’re already familiar with these up-and-comers, our editors and contributors from across the dance world predict that we’ll be hearing a lot more from these artists on the verge of a breakout in 2025 and beyond." - Dance Magazine

What A Ballet Company’s Shoe Manager Does

Yes, it's a real job, and not an easy one. - Dance Magazine

How Modern Dance Came To The People’s Republic Of China

Beginning in 1986, with funding from two foundations and the U.S. Department of State, American Dance Festival director Charles Reinhart sent American teachers to the Guangdong Dance Academy. Four years later, the country's first modern dance company was formed; among its alumni is choreographer Shen Wei. - The New York Times

How Shen Yun Dance Made $266 Million

By the end of last year, tax records show, it had more than a quarter of a billion dollars, stockpiling wealth at a pace that would be extraordinary for any company, let alone a nonprofit dance group from Orange County, N.Y. - The New York Times

2024 Was Supposed To Be Break Dancing’s Breakout Year. It Didn’t Happen

“We’re making the same mistakes in our culture. We’re allowing the appropriation, the exportation. We’re trying to fix it for everybody else except for ourselves.” - The New York Times

Why Breaking Didn’t Break Out At The Olympics

“Breaking has evolved greatly since he spun on cardboard in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. Today’s B-boys and B-girls are more diverse, athletic and powerful than ever.” - The New York Times

After Ten Years Away, Trey McIntyre Is Working With A Dance Company Again

"After his Trey McIntyre Project gave its final performances 10 years ago, choreographer Trey McIntyre didn’t think he’d work in-depth with another dance company. But then the Los Angeles–based BODYTRAFFIC changed his mind." - Dance Magazine

A Christmas Ballet In The Streets Of One Of Africa’s Largest Slums

Dozens of students from Nairobi's Kibera Ballet School, which provides free instruction to impoverished children and teens, donned Santa hats and sequined outfits to perform holiday choreography they had practiced for months. - AP

Lithuania Banned “Nutcracker” In Solidarity With Ukraine. Now It’s Back…

Darius Kuolys who was the first culture minister after a 1990 declaration of independence, said it was obvious that the Kremlin often exploited culture for political ends. But he added, “It never occurred to me as a minister to tell people what to watch or listen to.” - The New York Times

When Arlene Croce Took On Bill T. Jones (When the Critic Famously Didn’t See The Work)

In her contentious essay, Croce, one of the finest dance critics of the 20th century, railed against what she called victim art: “By working dying people into his act, Jones is putting himself beyond the reach of criticism. - The New York Times

Culture Minister Threatens To Cut Off Batsheva Dance Company’s Funding

"Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar asked Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to examine whether the Batsheva Dance Company is in violation of its state funding over a performance that included the Palestinian flag" — among 40 other flags onstage. - The Times Of Israel

So What Happens To Dallas Black Dance Theatre Now?

The dancers fired this summer won their case, but they've chosen to take severance pay rather than return to the company. The current dancers are new and all crossed picket lines to be there. And, because of all this turmoil, the city of Dallas has cut off funding. What next? - Dance Magazine

The Year And Reading About Dance

As in last year’s column, a couple of these books were published recently; the others earlier in the century. All, in one way or another, are about dancing and dance, the people who make it, practice it, teach it, and, no small thing, the passion that drives them. - Oregon ArtsWatch

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