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DANCE

Boston Ballet Debuts Free Streaming Platform, Including Virtual Reality

ÜNI, as the site is called, wasn't created to stream the company's live performances: each work on the platform was choreographed especially for digital video, and a few of them includes VR versions that can be controlled by the viewer. - The Boston Globe

You’re A Budding Choreographer. How Do You Land Commissions, And What Do You Do When You Get One?

A couple of working contemporary choreographers offer ideas about how to get a foot in the door — and then what to consider in order to actually create in the piece in the two or three weeks you'll probably have. - Dance Magazine

She Has MS. She’s Continuing Her Career As A Ballet Dancer

Abby Phillips Maginity of Ballet Arizona was diagnosed while she was rehearsing for her first principal role — and just as the pandemic was getting serious. The first months stuck at home were hard, but, in treatment, with support from the company, she's back at work. - Pointe Magazine

Conducting Isn’t Easy, And Then You Add In The Dancers

Australia Ballet conductor-in-training Alexander Rodrigues says conducting an orchestra for ballet is a true challenge, thinking about the music's past, present, and future - "And you’re balancing the music with the dance, the tempos of that." - Sydney Morning Herald

Dance Alumni Sue UNC School Of The Arts, Alleging Pattern Of Sexual Abuse

Seven plaintiffs who attended UNCSA as undergraduates during the 1980s give detailed descriptions of predatory behavior, including long-term affairs, by instructors in the school's dance department. - The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC)

The 50 Largest Contemporary Dance Companies In The U.S.: A Look At The Numbers

Among the key finds in this new study are that, in the aggregate, contemporary dance in the U.S. operates with less than a quarter of the money that American ballet has, and that gender parity in leadership is achieved. - Dance Data Project

How Three New York City Ballet Dancers Prepared Themselves For An Uncertain Return To The Stage

Gia Kourlas: "To get a better understanding of what this strange time has been like, I checked in with … a member of the corps de ballet, a soloist and a principal to track their experiences … as they made their way to opening night." - The New York Times

Get M.A.D.D. — This Chicago Company Is Transforming Tap Dance

"Short for 'Making a Difference Dancing Rhythms,' the tap dance company marks its 20th official season this year. … Today, M.A.D.D. Rhythms remains deeply committed to improvisation, circling up to jam every time the dancers step onto the wood." - Dance Magazine

Why Some College Dance Classes That Went Online During The Pandemic May Stay Online For Good

Some dance departments have found that lecture courses such as dance history and anatomy work perfectly well virtually (and give students some scheduling flexibility as well). Others say that video conferencing opens new possibilities for artist residencies. - Dance Magazine

The Moms Selling Creepy Pictures Of Teen Ballerinas

She tried to defend herself by saying that she was “creating art,” and insisting that her daughter was “simply taking beautiful sporty poses in the pictures.” But, critics charge, “the only goal the mother had was to sell the photographs to sexually obsessed people.” - The Daily Beast

The Choreographers Who Ended Up On A Cruise Ship

Serious choreographers, pandemic, cruise ship? Yes: "The creative team has plunged into the challenges of making a work at sea as part of a large corporate enterprise." - The New York Times

How Choreographer Bill T. Jones Keeps His Creative Fires Burning

"If you see 45 gestures, made independently, strung together with various musicality and rhythms, against a beautiful song, and then the same gestures juxtaposed to a speech about civil rights, are they the same gestures? And I say they are and they are not." - Time

When Virgin Voyages Wanted A Dance Show For Its Cruises, It Did Not Go For Vegas-Style Showgirls

No, Richard Branson's grownups-only cruise line chose three choreographers from The Dance Cartel. The trio couldn't believe that a cruise ship wanted their avant-garde-dance-meets-house-party aesthetic, which they didn't water down for auditions. Now they're doing on the high seas what they'd do in Brooklyn. - The New York Times

Universities Are Screwing Over The Working Dancers Who Teach As Adjunct Professors

“Despite teaching seven classes a week, I was ineligible for health benefits. I had no job security and no time to look for other work. … If we lose our bodies to injury or exhaustion, we lose our ability to make money or artistic work." - Dance Magazine

The Case For The Greatness Of “Singin’ In The Rain”

In Singin’ in the Rain, the late Clive James felt he encountered “the absolute concentration of an entire popular culture at its most powerful.” As for Kelly, James said, “it took the whole of America, including all its modern history, to create one of him.” - The American Scholar

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