Port City Ballet Company in Halifax is currently in its first season, offering a full school program as well as professional performances (in the capital and throughout the province) and a living wage for Nova Scotia dancers at home. Founding artistic director Nova Johnstone talks about getting the company launched. (video) - CTV (Canada)
“The industry still has an obsession with ‘perfect’ feet. High arches have traditionally been praised in ballet, and some dancers today use farches (fake arches), which give the illusion that your foot is more bendy than it is, … (even though) flat-footed ballet professionals are out there and thriving.” - The Guardian
“Josiah Enriquez (Pojoaque and Isleta pueblos, Navajo Nation) has been distinguishing himself on what is widely considered to be the most prominent stage in competitive hoop dancing — the Heard Museum’s annual World Championship Hoop Dance Contest in Phoenix — winning his third consecutive world title in February.” - Santa Fe New Mexican
“Peninsula Lively Arts and its subsidiary Peninsula Ballet Theatre are closing after six decades teaching and performing dance in San Mateo County, leaving a gaping hole in the local dance scene.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
The company’s end wasn’t planned, but it became necessary when its artistic director and co-founder, Tina Finkelman Berkett, decided to step back from her role, citing fundraising fatigue and a desire for change. - Los Angeles Times
For two decades, NCI has offered four young choreographers the chance to spend three weeks creating works on professional dancers. In a Q&A, artistic director Molly Lynch talks about the initiative and why it is ending. - L.A. Dance Chronicle
“Though Christianity’s relationship with dance remains tangled, the full-bodied nature of Shaker devotion, revolutionary in the 18th century, is now an ideal for some Christians — and some dance artists.” - The New York Times
“Among the largest 150companies, … in all leadership categories except music directors/principal conductors, women comprised between 59% and 85% of artistic and administrative roles.” - Dance Data Project
“When the tanks entered Ukraine, Ratmansky gathered his artistic team and left for New York, severing ties with the Bolshoi and with Russia.” - New York Review of Books
“This is the frustration of working in the fine arts. The people who care about ballet, for example, care deeply. And most of those who don’t care think of ballet through stereotypes or quick hits of dancers on TikTok.” - The New York Times
“I feel as if I’m stretched a bit too far, but somehow in that stretch there’s a spark of creativity. There’s a place for outrage — sometimes outrage may be the most appropriate response to something happening in our world. But it’s more generative to approach these questions with curiosity and love.” - The Guardian
“Things gotta change, 100 percent,” Liu says. “I think the whole system’s got to scrap it and start over. The competition system and the setup just isn’t fit for consumption, honestly.” - The New York Times
“Calpulli Ocelocihuatl (is) one of roughly half-a-dozen Aztec dance groups active in San Jose. Other Aztec dance groups – some whose histories stretch back more than half a century — are also thriving along the West Coast, from Washington state down to Sacramento, Oakland, Salinas and San Diego.” - The Mercury News (San Jose)
Gentleman Jack, premiering this weekend at England’s Northern Ballet in Leeds, is Lopez Ochoa’s adaptation of a 2019 television series about Anne Lister, a 19th-century landowner considered to be one of the first modern lesbians known to us. - The New York Times
