Those lessons in a particular brand of “femininity” aren’t super. Ballerinas “are taught to dance through pain, to perform roles with troubling messages, and that the gaze of an audience (historically male, but even now, certainly patriarchal) gives them worth.” - Vogue
“Ballet22’s intense three-week rehearsal period is ‘treasured time,’ as dancer Trevor Williams puts it, a chance to learn roles forbidden at their usual dancing jobs and to take class every day in the iconic shoe that traditionally only cisgender women get to train in.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
“Given that there are few protections for choreographers’ intellectual property unless that property has been copyrighted, and that copyrighting choreography is highly uncommon and logistically fraught, this is more likely to be an ethical issue than a legal one.” But it’s still gross, and roiling the dance world. - Dance Magazine
"Two months after the University of the Arts in Philadelphia closed, the school’s dance program will be revived at Bennington College in Vermont, which will absorb the dance school, three staff members and nearly 50 students, the college announced on Thursday." - The New York Times
At the Olympics, that’s not really in question as it’s part of Paris’s “Cultural Olympiad, a program of multidisciplinary arts events directed by Dominique Hervieu, a choreographer, an experienced leader in the arts and a former dancer as well.” - The New York Times
Leanne Benjamin, a former principal and then coach at London's Royal Ballet, returned home to Queensland early this year to take the helm at the Brisbane-based company. She's stepping down because she feels Queensland Ballet lacks sufficient funding to achieve her artistic ambitions. - InReview (Australia)
In FY 2021, aggregate spending by the 150 largest U.S. ballet companies had fallen by 39% from FY 2019. In FY 2022, spending rose from the FY 2021 figures by 63%. However, 89% of that spending was by the 50 largest companies. - Dance Data Project
Ashley Benefield was acquitted of second-degree murder but convicted of manslaughter in the 2020 death of her ex-husband in Florida. The Benefields were the founders of the highly-publicized American National Ballet, which, in 2017, fell apart for lack of funding just as it was about to start rehearsals. - The Washington Post (MSN)
"Popularly known as horse dancing, dressage involves riders directing their horses to perform a series of moves, including pirouettes, that are thought to have military origins. … (British equestrian Becky Moody) explained what it takes to nurture and train an equine ballerina." - The New York Times
The proposal is twinned with the appointment of a music laureate. “If the legislation is ultimately signed into law, the home state of Jacob’s Pillow, Boston Ballet, and The Yard will get a shiny new government spotlight on dance.” - Dance Magazine
"We were so dissapointed. It started to Rain just before the Can Can began. 10 seconds before you saw us. We were trying to towel down and dry the stage off with rags." - Buzzfeed
Despite the long and serious effort to codify it as an athletic discipline, complete with approved moves, scoring, and judging criteria, pole dancing has had trouble escaping the association with striptease and sex work. On the other hand, some practitioners object to the erasure of sex work from the sport. - Slate (Yahoo!)
Van Cleef & Arpels has sponsored a months-long festival called Dance Reflections in London, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, New York, and, this year, Kyoto. And it supports residencies, revivals, new productions and touring through a network of partnerships with theaters, festivals and dance companies in 16 countries so far. - The New York Times
The dance was dreamt up by Kelley Heyer, a New York-based actor and content creator who decided to film herself making it up “on a whim”. - The Guardian
“In an open letter posted on his social media accounts, Glass says he has not given the ballet company permission to use his music, and he strongly urges them not to proceed with any such production.” - StereoGum
