"This spring, at Red Bull’s Lords of the Floor competition, we watched Olympians bust out some of the moves they’ll showcase at the Summer Games and asked experts how some of breaking’s roots will be on display in Paris." - The New York Times
No, this doesn't mean the breaking competition. This is free performance before 13,500 spectators at the Trocadéro Champions Park, where the Algerian-French hip-hop choreographer's latest work combined hip-hop with circus arts, visual arts and martial arts. - AP
“To be dancing in the spotlight for that long, and also making sure it’s funny,” says actor Janelle James. But she was also considering "how the song affects people, particularly Black women. ... A lot of thought went into that little dance.” - Los Angeles Times (AOL)
"His job is huge. His friends and fellow artists ask him how he finds time to create when he is in charge of so much — planning seasons, devising programs for children and even overseeing a major renovation. And then there’s his own work." - The New York Times
What if the sport, and its judges, actually valued dance? “That would involve thinking of each floor routine as a miniature choreographic work: an organic whole that deserves to be enjoyed fully by every audience, live or on TV.” - The New York Times
Those lessons in a particular brand of “femininity” aren’t super. Ballerinas “are taught to dance through pain, to perform roles with troubling messages, and that the gaze of an audience (historically male, but even now, certainly patriarchal) gives them worth.” - Vogue
“Ballet22’s intense three-week rehearsal period is ‘treasured time,’ as dancer Trevor Williams puts it, a chance to learn roles forbidden at their usual dancing jobs and to take class every day in the iconic shoe that traditionally only cisgender women get to train in.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
“Given that there are few protections for choreographers’ intellectual property unless that property has been copyrighted, and that copyrighting choreography is highly uncommon and logistically fraught, this is more likely to be an ethical issue than a legal one.” But it’s still gross, and roiling the dance world. - Dance Magazine
"Two months after the University of the Arts in Philadelphia closed, the school’s dance program will be revived at Bennington College in Vermont, which will absorb the dance school, three staff members and nearly 50 students, the college announced on Thursday." - The New York Times
At the Olympics, that’s not really in question as it’s part of Paris’s “Cultural Olympiad, a program of multidisciplinary arts events directed by Dominique Hervieu, a choreographer, an experienced leader in the arts and a former dancer as well.” - The New York Times
Leanne Benjamin, a former principal and then coach at London's Royal Ballet, returned home to Queensland early this year to take the helm at the Brisbane-based company. She's stepping down because she feels Queensland Ballet lacks sufficient funding to achieve her artistic ambitions. - InReview (Australia)
In FY 2021, aggregate spending by the 150 largest U.S. ballet companies had fallen by 39% from FY 2019. In FY 2022, spending rose from the FY 2021 figures by 63%. However, 89% of that spending was by the 50 largest companies. - Dance Data Project
Ashley Benefield was acquitted of second-degree murder but convicted of manslaughter in the 2020 death of her ex-husband in Florida. The Benefields were the founders of the highly-publicized American National Ballet, which, in 2017, fell apart for lack of funding just as it was about to start rehearsals. - The Washington Post (MSN)
"Popularly known as horse dancing, dressage involves riders directing their horses to perform a series of moves, including pirouettes, that are thought to have military origins. … (British equestrian Becky Moody) explained what it takes to nurture and train an equine ballerina." - The New York Times
The proposal is twinned with the appointment of a music laureate. “If the legislation is ultimately signed into law, the home state of Jacob’s Pillow, Boston Ballet, and The Yard will get a shiny new government spotlight on dance.” - Dance Magazine
