ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

DANCE

What Alvin Ailey Built

What he wanted to promote with his company was the idea that Black audiences—general Black audiences, like the folks Acocella probably saw applauding “Revelations”—should connect not only with their “ ’buked” and “scorned” selves onstage but with the feeling that performance can be a kind of balm, an embrace. - The New Yorker

Dancing On An Island In New York

No, not Manhattan. “On Governors Island, audience members gathered on the grass for Analphabetes, uncertain where to look for the performance or how to distinguish the performers from passers-by. Then four figures appeared on a hill in the distance, wearing retro windbreakers.” - The New York Times

Fiction Writers Can, And Should, Learn From Dance

“Like the swells of music or the climaxes of a musical theme, stories rise and fall as they move closer to a satisfying end. In the same way dancers dance ‘with' the music, or sometimes in counterpoint, characters in a novel rise and fall with the rhythm.” - LitHub

Meet Parris Goebel, The Popular Music Industry’s New Favorite Choreographer

"There’s a raw, instinctive quality to Goebel’s routines: The dancers look as if they aren’t just dancing but are following an elemental urge. … Goebel is reshaping what pop choreography looks like — and exploding our ideas of what makes a femme body desirable." - The New York Times Magazine

The Majorette Dancing Of HBCUs Is Going Mainstream

"At historically Black colleges and universities in the American South, the real stars of any football game are the majorettes. Their signature dance style … (combines) the precision of a kick line with the winking sensuality of burlesque. … More recently, majorette dance has entered the mainstream, taking center stage on reality television series, movies, and social media apps."...

Pittsburgh Ballet Advertises On Streaming Services And Sees Returns

Beginning last season the ballet company also began advertising its more family-friendly shows on big-name streaming services like Hulu and Disney+ and even in local movie theaters to maximize their advertising dollars. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Choreographer Hofesh Schechter On Why Audiences Have Such Powerful Reactions To His Work

"I think the simple answer is because the work is about people. It’s not about dance. Dance and music are tools (to get to) something that matters much more, which is human experience. In the end we’re having a visceral experience for an-hour-and-a-half and feeling like we went through something.” - The Guardian

Dance Data Project Counts Up U.S. Ballet Companies’ Financial Assets

This is DDP's first-ever report examining the value of ballet companies' endowments and the book values of buildings the companies own. - Dance Data Project

Ukrainian Ballet Dancers, Going On Despite Years Of War

“Keeping the National Ballet dancing, whether at home or abroad, is a matter of existential importance for Ukraine, Sukhorukov and his colleagues say. ‘Ballet in our culture — this is the face of the country.’” - Washington Post (MSN)

Oregon Ballet Theatre Is Shopping For A New HQ

The company is looking to more-than-triple its space, to 40,000 square feet from its current 13,000. … If it were a matter of accommodating just the studios and staff, the current space would suffice, albeit in a tight fit. But OBT is seeking to expand its educational offerings." - Portland Business Journal

Dance Data: Here’s What The 50 Largest Dance Companies Look Like

Within the Largest 50, the number of dancers within these companies ranges from 9 to 104, with the median number of dancers at 40.5. Within the Largest 10, the number of dancers within these companies ranges from 55 to 104, with the median number of dancers at 61. - Dance Data Project

A Rare All-Women Butoh Troupe

The four-member Tokyo-based company called Wozme isn't the first all-female butoh troupe, but it's the only one currently active in Japan — and, there as in the West, most people's image of butoh is a slowly-moving, near-naked man covered in white powder. - The Japan Times

Ballet Star Steven McRae’s Three-Year Recovery From “The Worst Injury A Dancer Can Have”

The Royal Ballet principal was mid-performance in London when his Achilles tendon snapped and he was carried from the stage screaming in pain. After a year of a full tendon reconstruction and merely learning to walk again followed by two years of physical rehab, at age 38 he's dancing again. - inews (UK)

By Age 25, She Had Choreographed For Commercial Dance, West End Musicals, Pop-Star Tours, and National Ballet Companies

Emma Portner is now almost 30, and the National Ballet of Canada has brought a major work of hers on tour to London. Yet the piece which really established her career, and which still gets her engagements, is a 3½-minute video to a Bruce Springsteen cover. - The Guardian

Bringing South Africa’s Unique Street Dancing To The World’s Stages

Pantsula is a dance style developed in the country's black townships by Africans who combined the tap dancing they saw in American movies with traditional movement. Vusi Mdoyi grew up doing pantsula and, in 1994, co-founded the company Step Afrika!, which professionalized the form. - The New York Times

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