On retiring: "At this stage in my life, dancing takes up the whole day, for my body, the training. I have the energy for one thing or the other." On becoming the boss: "I’m actually really enjoying the management part, … which for me is quite surprising!" - Bachtrack
"Today’s shows are increasingly using movement makers from genres outside the musical theater world altogether, like experimental dance (David Neumann, Annie-B Parson, Raja Feather Kelly), commercial dance (Sonya Tayeh, JaQuel Knight, Keone and Mari Madrid), modern dance (Camille A. Brown), and physical theater (Steven Hoggett)." - Dance Magazine
In 2018, she became the prestigious New York conservatory's first woman of color to head the dance program — and the youngest person to do so. Graf Mack, 45, is shaking up what is taught and how to make art dance more relevant. - NPR
"We are here to provide data and analysis which journalists, funders and advocates can deploy to create a more interesting dance world. Artistic-director candidates have used our reports to demand pay equal to their male peers. Dancer representatives say they negotiated a 40% salary increase based on our work." - Classic Chicago Magazine
"From the abyss of my sadness witnessing the ongoing catastrophe ... I am writing to you. If the act of cancellation would have helped the Palestinians' cause I would boycott my own show. It is obvious that this cancellation does nothing to reduce the suffering of people in our region." - The Irish Times
The Iranian National Ballet, founded under the Shah in 1958, was disbanded by the new Islamist regime in 1979. The story of one of the company's last dancers has been adapted into a new work by choreographer Tara Ghassemieh, who hopes, yes, to bring it to Iran someday. - The New York Times
You know, housing crisis, gentrification, homelessness, houselessness. And so, to me, it's, it's, it's a ballet. But, you know, we have different, we have contemporary dance and, and hip hop and, Turf dancing, which is the local street dance there in Oakland, California. you know, it's art activism. - Axios
Why not? “By setting in a movie-land far west, and swapping Orientalist clichés for American ones, Chan said, the team was creating 'a form of exoticism that is about us, not about ‘them.’’” - The New York Times
For instance, the Joyce Theater in New York has purchased a six-story, 58,000-square-foot building in Manhattan's East Village. San Francisco's ODC bought its third building, one which is next door to its theater. The big risk, of course, is whether the organizations will always be able to afford upkeep. - Marketplace
As a tween, Sunny Choi was a serious gymnast on an Olympic track but decided she should get a real education and job — eventually becoming a senior exec at Estée Lauder. But when breaking was admitted to the Olympics, she decided to compete full-time. She's now ranked no. 1. - The Cut (MSN)
Pacific Northwest Ballet goes through 2,000 pairs per year; during Nutcracker season, New York City Ballet uses up 500 pairs a month. And they're not recyclable unless you pull them apart and separate individual materials. How to keep the shoes out of landfills? Well, here are three options. - Dance Magazine
Graham began her aesthetic experiments some 40 years before government arts funding was a gleam in anyone’s eye. The dancers sewed their own costumes, and Graham sometimes borrowed money from them. - Village Voice
"(Her) 60-year career … has included choreographing stage musicals, including Starlight Express and We Will Rock You, and films such as the 1982 version of Annie. She has created routines for music videos for a ridiculous number of superstars, including Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Elton John and Freddie Mercury." - The Guardian
A principal dancer and the director of Munich's Bavarian State Ballet explain that dancers are athletes as well as artists, they're thin because they're exerting themselves for at least eight hours every day, and "ballet is a competitive sport in an artistic guise." - South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
Dance makers of Hollywood are seeking recognition for their craft by pressing the Motion Picture Academy to add an Oscar for Best Choreography. That is understandable. But they must first recognize their own. - ArtsMeme
