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DANCE

Milwaukee’s Danceworks Changes Collective Leadership Model Amid Protests

A recent leadership change at Danceworks has led to the longtime artistic director's resignation and a letter from a co-founder criticizing the board of directors for "disempowering" the dancers who make up much of the staff.  - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet To Cease Performing

"The 25-year-old will eliminate its centerpiece: the professional performing arm of the company. The ballet schools and youth Folklórico programs in Santa Fe and Aspen, Colo., will continue to operate, but Aspen Santa Fe Ballet will shift its post-pandemic focus to creating and producing, as well as consulting other companies on their strategies for successful touring." - Santa...

Lauren Lovette, Only 29, Will Retire From New York City Ballet

"I spent a lot of last year feeling like I didn't make a difference. were saying some sweet things to me about different ways that I impacted their lives and how I could never leave. I sat there and I felt so embraced and comforted by everything that I was hearing, and loved — really, genuinely loved. …...

What’s Wrong With Just Stopping During The Pandemic?

"We are living through a collective trauma, a once-in-a-lifetime historical moment, and taking "time off" is not a symptom of laziness. In fact, I see this time as a gift. I am thrilled to see folks develop other interests and skills that support their income. I am inspired to see artists explore other parts of their creative practice. I...

Ballerina Dances On Frozen Bay To Raise Awareness Of Endangered Swans

This is Ilmira Bagrautinova's way of objecting against the construction of a port in Batareinaya Bay, a popular beach about 100 km west of St Petersburg, Russia's second largest city. - BBC

COVID Is Back At La Scala Ballet

The opera house's regular testing regimen revealed that 35 dancers and three administrative staffers at the ballet company had the novel coronavirus. Performances, rehearsals, and classes have been suspended. (On the opera side, there are currently no cases among the orchestra or chorus.) - Gramilano (Milan)

What Exactly Constitutes A Good Female Body For Ballet?

Gia Kourlas: "For Lovette, a member of New York City Ballet since 2010, this pause from performance has brought some clarity. 'I'm not going to be dancing at 94 pounds anymore,” she said. 'That's not going to be me.' Since the pandemic began nearly a year ago, similar questions have been spinning in my mind: How can body...

Dance Through The Mailbox

Audience members sit on stools in separated cubicles surrounding the stage, each with its own door and letter-drop slots through which they can watch the dancers. - Reuters

Has COVID Shutdown Made Dancers More Adaptable?

"I am hopeful that we will see a generation that has built a confidence and competence of cognitive flexibility. That is the ability to shift how one thinks about things, and use their own internal and external resources to figure out a solution to an otherwise difficult problem." - Dance Magazine

Texas Ballet Theatre Loses Its Headquarters To Winter Storm

The snow and frigid temperatures that struck Texas in late February caused "a massive water pipe break" at the company's office/studio complex in Fort Worth. "It is impossible to overstate the damage to the Fort Worth facility," said management in an email to patrons. "The building will remain inoperable for the near future." For the time being, TBT has...

Back In The Dance Bubble

At the beginning of the pandemic and its ballet shutdown, choreographer Alexei Ratmansky had big plans. Then reality hit, and he's spent hours organizing his photos and posting to Instagram. Hurray for the return to a dance bubble. - The New York Times

What It Was Like Being A Freelance Dancer During The First Year Of COVID-19

Maria Kochitkova left the San Francisco Ballet in 2018 to go freelance. Her career was going well; she had bookings out for many months. Then came March 2020. Everything - everything - was canceled. She and her ballet dancer partner "changed our living room into a studio space and bought a special floor and a ballet barre. I am...

London School Of Contemporary Dance Overhauls Everything To Become More Diverse

"The drive to create a more diverse dance curriculum and the aim to harness digital capabilities to prepare graduates for a post-Covid world means the way we teach dance needs to radically change, in order to better prepare graduates for the cultural landscape in which contemporary independent dance artists forge their career and which many of them go on...

Lessons From The Explosion Of Online Dance During The Pandemic

"With audiences and funders generally letting dancers decide what (and how much) to produce while distancing requirements are in place, the incentive to go virtual appears almost wholly self-imposed. … More than anything else, peer pressure is what led so many companies to produce so much content so early — setting a pace difficult to sustain as the pandemic...

16-Year-Old Dance Student Becomes First To Reach 100 Million TikTok Followers

Charli D’Amelio, the 16 year-old dance student and TikTok sensation was awarded $100,000 from TikTok when she reached 100 million followers in November of 2020. She donated her gift to the American Dance Movement with the guidelines to award 10 national dance centers $10,000 each.  - Group Upstate

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