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DANCE

A Dance Collective Formed In The Pandemic Decides To Go Big

The pandemic hit dancers hard. The president of a new dance network: "We all feel the rhythm in our hearts and we move, and so that's what we stand to do and that belief, that need existed long before the pandemic ... and it will exist long afterwards." - KLCC (Oregon)

A Virus Outbreak Has Delayed The La Scala Ballet Opening

The venue "has postponed its ballet season premiere after a coronavirus outbreak in its ranks, just days after the famed Milan theater staged its high-profile opera season opener with a full-capacity audience." - Voice of America News (AP)

How A Master Of Indian Classical Dance Is Subtly Transforming Her Genre

Bijayini Satpathy spent 25 years performing and teaching at Nrityagram, the famous dancers' village near Bangalore, before deciding to become a touring solo artist. She has pared back the ornate jewelry worn in Odissi style and changed the viewpoint from which key dances are performed. - Dance Magazine

New Report: Who Leads The World’s Ballet Companies

Of 179 artistic directors of major ballet companies, 59 are women (33%), while 119 are men (66%), and 1 is gender expansive (0.6%). Similarly, of artistic directors of the Largest 50 U.S. ballet companies, there are 15 women (29%) and 36 men (71%). - Dance Data Project

Justin Peck May Have Been The Perfect Person To Choreograph The Remake Of “West Side Story”

He grew up watching Jerome Robbins's original choreography in the film, and he's danced it himself in the West Side Story Suite Robbins created for New York City Ballet. So both Peck himself and the Robbins estate knew he could retain the original's spirit. - The Seattle Times

A Dance School Flourishes In Africa’s Largest Slum

The Kibera district of Nairobi is home to 250,000 people, most in extreme poverty. Michael Wamaya, a Kibera native, returned home from Europe in 2008 and began offering dance lessons to vulnerable children; by 2017, he was able to open a dance academy called Project Emilu. - Euronews

“Nutcracker” Is So Yesterday. Meet “Graham Cracker”

In this version, Clara tries to get her hands on a coveted s’more during a holiday bonfire. She successfully sneaks one away, soon slipping into a sugar-induced hallucination, where the love between chocolate and marshmallow is forbidden, for their clans have been enemies for years. - WPFL

The Best Books About Dance In 2021

By chance, this year unleashed a profusion of memoirs about Balanchine and New York City Ballet. This ever-present magnet in our field is counter-balanced by stories about major Black ballet dancers. - Wendy Perron

The Best Dance Scenes From Non-Dance Movies

It's perhaps a cliché now to have the cast dance in some fashion, even when they're not in a dance movie like Black Swan or Dirty Dancing - but some movies and stars perform better than others. - The Collider

Florida School Called TikTok High, After Dance Videos

The videos featuring students – many of them uniformed athletes at Venice High School – dancing at the school with the staircase as their backdrop, as well as parody and reaction videos, have racked up millions of views in recent weeks. - Patch

A Dancer Who Doesn’t Look Like The Others

The 23-year-old has returned to dance from injury and uses his wheelchair and crutches to perform. He said it should be easier for others like him to enter the profession in future. - BBC

The Pivot That Got One Of L.A.’s Biggest Dance Centers Through The Pandemic

"In August, the Los Angeles-area stalwart the Lab closed its dance space, a 12,000-square-foot location. … Instead, it has transformed from a dance studio into a 'creative agency and lifestyle brand,' as its website says — a feat of survival, and a strategic one." - The New York Times

The Choreographer Who Designs Movement For People To Use Computers With

Lins Derry "is one of the world's foremost experts on the design of choreographic interfaces: the practice of using carefully designed bodily motions (think: using 'pinch-to-zoom' or swiping right or left on your mobile device) to bring humans and computers into productive dialogue." - Dance Magazine

Why Sexual Grooming And Abuse Seem To Happen So Often In Ballet

"Unfortunately, ballet's rigid hierarchy, job scarcity and conditioning of dancers to be compliant makes it a comfortable environment for perpetrators to thrive in." Kathleen McGuire examines how it happens and what might be done to prevent it. - Pointe Magazine

It’s Been Ten Years Since Robert Battle Took Over Leading Alvin Ailey Company

“The knee-jerk thing is to overcorrect,” he continued. “But sometimes you need to double down in your mission. Sometimes you have to think about what doesn’t change, what shouldn’t change.” - The New York Times

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