The legacy: "I remember being at barre on the first day, in Studio 3 with the beautiful red brick, and not having ever experienced seeing a multitude of beautiful Black and brown skin, I was like, 'Oh, this is different.'" - The New York Times
Smuin Contemporary Ballet may be named after a male (its founder, who died in 2007), but it now has women as artistic director, associate artistic director, managing director, and ballet master, and its programming has featured female choreographers for years. - San Francisco Chronicle
A law passed in November not only widened an existing prohibition on material considered to promote an LGBTQ+ lifestyle but also restricts the “demonstration” of LGBTQ+ behaviour. - The Guardian
Ballet is a particularly stark example of a broader system that conditions women to be obedient, to suffer for perfection, and never complain about any of it. - The New Republic
In 2004, the longtime ABT star was personally invited by President Saakashvili to direct the State Ballet of Georgia, which had fallen into late-Soviet and post-Soviet decay. Now she's leading a troupe full of dancers she trained herself on an international tour. - The New York Times
"While she didn't do it alone, Virginia Johnson" — who had previously danced with the company for 28 years — "played an important role in reviving the organization's gem, its storied professional company, which had been forced to go on hiatus for several years because of financial difficulties." - The New York Times
Noam Gagnon, who runs dance company Vision Impure, is premiering a solo work online at the Vancouver International Dance Festival. "My physicality is still pretty much the same," he says. "It's a little bit more textured and a little bit more colourful." - CBC
"Of the 198 artistic directors DDP identified at classically-based companies in both the U.S. and around the world, 58 (29%) are women and 140 (71%) are men. In the December 2021 Report, DDP identified 179 artistic directors globally, 59 of whom were women (33%)." - Dance Data Project
"Merritt Moore … is walking, talking, dancing proof that you can build a career in both science and art. She has a PhD in quantum optics from the University of Oxford in the UK, and has also danced professionally with numerous world-class ballet companies." - Physics World
Students, both female and male, at the Kalakshetra Foundation's Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts in Chennai have alleged sexual advances by faculty members and claim that the college wouldn't take their complaints seriously until after 200 students went on strike. One professor has been arrested. - BBC
"TikTok creators, professional dancers, choreographers, and dance companies … said the app had changed the way they choreographed, helped them earn more money, and given them access to career opportunities they otherwise wouldn't have had." - Insider
A performance titled Passions croisées (Crossed Passions) in a historic Strasbourg church featured Pergolesi's Stabat Mater accompanied by athletic (and non-raunchy) pole and silk dancing by former champion Vincent Grobelny. The priest of the church rented for the performance then received letters saying he should be beheaded. - Yahoo! (AFP)
It's the first live work in North America for beloved Dutch choreographer Nanine Linning, and among her many collaborators are video artist Heleen Blanken and scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who provided video material and extensive consultations with the creative team. - MSN (The Boston Globe)
