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DANCE

Making Contemporary Dance, With Ordinary Local People, In England’s De-Industrialized Northeast

Choreographer Liv Lorent settled in Newcastle 30 years ago; Esther Huss moved to a nearby former mining village more recently. Both see real advantages to being out of the London bubble, and not just the affordable housing: these no-nonsense Geordies are surprisingly open to both watching and performing. - The Guardian

Alexei Ratmansky Cut All Ties With Russia, But The Bolshoi And Mariinsky Are Still Doing His Ballets

He's found clips of the works in recent social media posts by the two companies — with his name removed. And, no surprise, they aren't paying him any royalties. The Mariinsky even had the chutzpah to ask him to reimburse the living expenses they paid for him. - The New York Times

San Francisco Ballet’s Executive Director Abruptly Resigns After One Year

"Neither Danielle St.Germain nor the Ballet gave any reason for the move. … If there's a sense of déjà vu about this, that's because the company went through a similar situation just two years ago. In June 2021, Executive Director Kelly Tweeddale resigned her position abruptly and without explanation." - San Francisco Chronicle

Poised For Change At The Dance Theater Of Harlem

The legacy: "I remember being at barre on the first day, in Studio 3 with the beautiful red brick, and not having ever experienced seeing a multitude of beautiful Black and brown skin, I was like, 'Oh, this is different.'" - The New York Times

Can EDM Get Milliennials And Gen Z Into Classical Ballet?

That's a gamble the San Francisco Ballet is willing to make. - San Francisco Standard

The San Francisco Ballet Company That’s Really Putting Gender Equity Into Practice

Smuin Contemporary Ballet may be named after a male (its founder, who died in 2007), but it now has women as artistic director, associate artistic director, managing director, and ballet master, and its programming has featured female choreographers for years. - San Francisco Chronicle

Bolshoi Ballet Drops “Nureyev” Ballet After Russian Anti-LGBT Law Kicks In

A law passed in November not only widened an existing prohibition on material considered to promote an LGBTQ+ lifestyle but also restricts the “demonstration” of LGBTQ+ behaviour. - The Guardian

The Struggle To Save Ballet

Ballet is a particularly stark example of a broader system that conditions women to be obedient, to suffer for perfection, and never complain about any of it. - The New Republic

Nina Ananiashvili Brings The National Ballet Company She Transformed Back To The US

In 2004, the longtime ABT star was personally invited by President Saakashvili to direct the State Ballet of Georgia, which had fallen into late-Soviet and post-Soviet decay. Now she's leading a troupe full of dancers she trained herself on an international tour. - The New York Times

The Director Who Saved Dance Theater Of Harlem Bids The Company Farewell

"While she didn't do it alone, Virginia Johnson" — who had previously danced with the company for 28 years — "played an important role in reviving the organization's gem, its storied professional company, which had been forced to go on hiatus for several years because of financial difficulties." - The New York Times

A Dancer Nearing 60 Says He’ll Never Leave The Profession

Noam Gagnon, who runs dance company Vision Impure, is premiering a solo work online at the Vancouver International Dance Festival. "My physicality is still pretty much the same," he says. "It's a little bit more textured and a little bit more colourful." - CBC

Fewer Than A Third Of Artistic Directors At Ballet Companies Worldwide Are Women, A Decrease From 2021

"Of the 198 artistic directors DDP identified at classically-based companies in both the U.S. and around the world, 58 (29%) are women and 140 (71%) are men. In the December 2021 Report, DDP identified 179 artistic directors globally, 59 of whom were women (33%)." - Dance Data Project

The Professional Ballerina And PhD Physicist Who Dances With Robots

"Merritt Moore … is walking, talking, dancing proof that you can build a career in both science and art. She has a PhD in quantum optics from the University of Oxford in the UK, and has also danced professionally with numerous world-class ballet companies." - Physics World

Sexual Harassment Allegations Rock India’s Top Bharatanatyam School

Students, both female and male, at the Kalakshetra Foundation's Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts in Chennai have alleged sexual advances by faculty members and claim that the college wouldn't take their complaints seriously until after 200 students went on strike. One professor has been arrested. - BBC

Another Thing TikTok Has Changed About Dance: Earning A Living

"TikTok creators, professional dancers, choreographers, and dance companies … said the app had changed the way they choreographed, helped them earn more money, and given them access to career opportunities they otherwise wouldn't have had." - Insider

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