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DANCE

Five Takeaways From The Dallas Black Dance Theatre Fiasco, Now That It’s Over

Bad publicity, funding lost and regained, a change in leadership, “community trust,” and so on. - KERA (Dalllas)

City Council Restores Funding To Dallas Black Dance Theatre

“On Wednesday, Dallas City Council voted to grant $225,000 for cultural programming to (DBDT). Last year, $248,000 in funding was cut in response to (DBDT’s) settlement with the National Labor Relations Board. The agency found merit to dozens of unfair labor practice charges …, including the firing of dancers due to union efforts.” - KERA (Dallas)

Choreography In Space: Exploring The Possibilities

“How? The answer in (one) case was Velcro-covered suits, … just one form of technology that dancers are using to simulate the effects of weightlessness here on Earth. But for some, the end goal is to experience a true lack of gravity by bringing dance to space.” - Dance Magazine

Lucinda Childs’s Niece Comes Into Her Own As A Choreographer

“As (Ruth) Childs carved her own path as a freelance dancer (in Europe), the specter of her aunt’s work loomed. It continued to deter her from making her own choreography, until it inspired her to try.” - The New York Times

They Were Dancing ‘Nutcracker’ When An Earthquake Struck New Zealand

And they kept right on dancing. - Radio New Zealand

Toronto’s Only Purpose-Built Dance Venue To Reopen

The auditorium at Queens Quay had been called the Fleck Dance Theatre; early this year, the Harbourfront Centre, which manages Queens Quay, declined to renew the Fleck’s lease. Now the Toronto Stage Company will take over, presenting its own mainstage season there and making it available to dance organizations. - Ludwig Van

Why Robotics Companies Are Working With Dancers

“As moving machines like drones and self-driving cars become more integrated into our daily lives, the tech companies behind them are realizing they need experts who understand motion through space and time, and how the nuances of that motion affect the way we feel about their products. Translation: They need dance artists.” - Dance Magazine

When Dance Movement Is Constrained By Costumes

Josephine Flos was rehearsing the opening of “Figure,” a new dance piece created by the fashion designer Lisa Konno in collaboration with the choreographer Peter Leung, that tries to answer a simple question: What if choreography starts with the costumes? - The New York Times

Is Marseille Becoming A Dance Capital?

“The Ballet National de Marseille has also taken a bold new direction under the leadership of the experimental collective (LA)Horde, producing edgy performances drawing on internet-native styles like jumpstyle and TikTok choreography. Dancers and choreographers are relocating to the city, too.” - Dance Magazine

NYC’s Joyce Theatre Gets $15M Boost For Dance

Two of New York’s most prominent dance philanthropists are donating $15 million to the Joyce Theater, a leading dance stage in Manhattan, helping to assure the theater’s long-term financial stability at a time when dance organizations are struggling with declining financial support and audiences. - The New York Times

Choreography By AI?

AISOMA is a Google AI-powered choreography tool that acts as a creative catalyst by generating new, original dance rooted in my choreographic language. - Google

A New Hall Of Fame For Dance, Complete With Its First Inductees

“A new Dance Hall of Fame has been established to honor the significant contributions to the discipline of dance. Included in the freshman class of inductees are Alvin Ailey, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss, Misty Copeland, Bob Fosse, Martha Graham, Gene Kelly, Kenny Ortega, Jerome Robbins and Twyla Tharp.” - Broadway News

American Ballet Theatre @85

Ballet Theatre was renamed American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in 1957; journalists don’t often use “essay” as a verb anymore (though maybe we should); and the Company is now very diverse, with principal dancers and soloists hailing not only from the U.S. and Europe but also Argentina, Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico and South Korea. - Observer

The Costumers Behind Your Favorite Ballet Are Sewing As Fast As They Can

The Boston Ballet’s Howard Merlin: “During the dress rehearsal, something looks really, really bad. … It’s my job to make sure it looks really, really good by the next day.” - Boston Globe (Archive Today)

“No Thinking, No Rationale, No Explanation” — Yet Precise: Sharon Eyal’s Choreographic Process

“Everything you see on the stage starts with Eyal herself improvising, which is then mapped on to the dancers. ... Each movement idea could be slowed down, reversed or repeated. ... From a small amount of source material, Eyal will play with composition and timing and layering up movement.” - The Guardian

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