Ballet Zone

"In the U.K. next month, a dance artist who has epilepsy will attempt to induce a seizure on stage. Rita Marcalo has stopped taking her medication ahead of the event at the Bradford Playhouse, according to the BBC News. "If she has a seizure, an alarm will sound and the audience will be invited to film on their mobile phones," said the report."

“The important thing was to have the finance, administration, marketing — all of those things — managed full time by a professional that did not report to or through Peter in order for him to focus all of his time on the artistic aspects,” Mr. Vogelstein said."

"Now the torch has been passed to the Trisha Brown Dance Company, which, over the weekend, presented a sharply edited program of Ms. Brown’s early works (pieces created between 1968 and 1975) that took audiences on a fast-paced trip through seven galleries. "

New York City Ballet spends over $500,000 a year on pointe shoes! Each dancer goes through a pair a day on average.

"To say that the film, sumptuous in its length and graceful in its rhythm, is a feast for ballet lovers is to state the obvious and also to sell Mr. Wiseman’s achievement a bit short. Yes, this is one of the finest dance films ever made, but there’s more to it than that."

“Women’s biological clocks have a parallel journey that starts to clash horribly with the their creative journey around age 35."

“La Danse,” which opens at Film Forum in Manhattan on Nov. 4, is Mr. Wiseman’s second ballet documentary; he observed the American Ballet Theater in rehearsal and on tour for “Ballet” (1995). But he cautioned against thinking of the new movie as a sequel."

“I intend to give it everything I’ve got,” he said. “But I have to be realistic. I don’t know whether we will make it.”

"The company sets out to rouse spectators through a program of nonstop visual astonishment, and the biggest affront wouldn’t be boos but the reverential silence of a ballet recital."

New York City Ballet, the Joyce Theater Foundation and the New School are among the 18 cultural organizations that have won the Rockefeller Foundation’s annual New York City Cultural Innovation Fund competition, the foundation said on Wednesday.

Stephen Hanna, the former New York City Ballet dancer who portrays the role of Billy’s older self in that musical, will rejoin the company of City Ballet as a guest artist for its coming 2009-2010 winter season.

" Audiences don't want to see the kind of self-indulgent, boring dance that is so prevalent today."

"The prognosis for the Oakland Ballet Company looked grim in April when founding Artistic Director Ronn Guidi suddenly resigned (for the second time in a decade). "

"There are a lot of dancers who don't think of themselves as artists, so they come prepared to take dictation. But what I want is to give the dancers straw and have them turn it into gold. I want to give them sentences and have them structure it into poetry."

"Under the discouraging circumstances, ABT used its ingenuity, and commissioned a program of site-specific dances by Alexei Ratmansky (formerly the director of the Bolshoi Ballet, now ABT's Artist in Residence and already a favorite with American dance fans), and Benjamin Millepied and Aszure Barton, whose careers are conspicuously on the rise."

"The app is a one-stop-shop for fans who can now use their iPhone or iPod touch for deeper access to the hit show, complete with the latest elimination updates, video clips and other fun, interactive features."

"With their lithe, gravity-defying bodies and their wordless presence, ballet dancers often seem so otherworldly and ethereal that it's a shock to see them looking and acting like the rest of us normal slobs."

"PETA cited concerns about how great apes are separated from their mothers, beaten and shocked in training, and discarded once they become too large to handle safely. PETA also sent Green this short video, narrated by Anjelica Huston, which illustrates the many problems associated with using great apes on TV and in film."

"With his crowd-pleasing choreography, Chase Brock, at just 26, has set his sights firmly on Broadway. "

"The stars are still dancing on ABC this season, but the crowd cheering them on has thinned a bit."

"Forsythe returns with Decreation, a work that challenges our notions of dance in the 21st century and asserts his place as one of the world's most innovative choreographers."

"Lincoln was the only white man I was allowed to love unconditionally growing up..."

"As the numbers of subscribers and ticket buyers decline, dance groups are looking for enticements, beyond actual performances, to get audiences to queue up at the box office."

"It is Jenkins' particular genius that even on the crowded stage, she leaves a kind of mental space for our minds, for viewers to fill in the interstices with our own memories, experiences, impressions."

“It's very athletic,” she said. “Everybody was into aerobics then. So there's a lot of shuffling and jogging; it's an endurance challenge.”

"From the opening fanfare to the closing processional “Défilé,’’ Boston Ballet’s “Night of Stars’’ was a rousing celebration of the company’s official move to its new home, the Boston Opera House."

"Turning 50 this year, the National Ballet of China is showing its range with a slew of imported and original performances such as "Swan Lake" and "Raise the Red Lantern," but what audiences crave are the ballets born during the company's heady first decade, when in the name of revolution, ballerinas with rifles pirouetted across dirt stages."

"Taking class with out a dress-code and getting paid weekly are two things I am really liking about the company life."

"It's both powerfully romantic and deeply sexy, and Swayze clinches it not because of his acting but because he learned dance partnering."

"Patrick Swayze, the actor and classically trained dancer whose role in the enduringly popular "Dirty Dancing" made him a movie star, one who struggled with the alienation of fame and against being typecast as a leading man, died Monday."

“It’s about artistry,” Ms. Bar said. “You want to carve out your own space, but you’re always building on the people that came before you.”

“It’s about artistry,” Ms. Bar said. “You want to carve out your own space, but you’re always building on the people that came before you.”

"Dancing at 61 a contemporary program titled “Three Solos and a Duet,” Mikhail Baryshnikov doesn't make it easy on himself -- or his audience."

"Off Kilter will showcase the country's (Scotland's) eclectic dance traditions, and will include new work by choreographers Mark Morris and Ashley Page."

“Arlene has managed to get City Center back to a place dance audiences want to go,” said Alistair Spalding, the artistic director and chief executive of Sadler’s Wells."

"If you’re interested in the dance theater of Mark Morris, then the fragmentary dramas of his two new pieces, “Visitation” and “Empire Garden,” are strange and fascinating; they show him moving in unfamiliar directions."

"The piece was inspired by some poetry that I was reading by a couple different poets, but they were all about people’s memories and the types of flashbacks you get with memory that don’t have anything to do with the moment you’re living in"

"...Then Cunningham did something really radical, he added performances… dozens of smaller ones at the Mondavi Center, McClatchy high, in art galleries and mostly in the Ballet’s home studios. The revamped season was a gamble. For the dancers, it was grueling."

"Shows like ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance," MTV's "America's Best Dance Crew" and Oxygen's "Dance Your Ass Off" are drawing millions of viewers and helping expose audiences to the art of dance."

"Watching Balanchine’s Stravinsky Violin Concerto, I couldn’t help wondering how Chinese audiences, many members of which may be exposed to the choreographer’s angular, hip-jutting vocabulary will respond to the work. "

"It’s not yet a culture war, but the sniping at Rocco Landesman, the newly confirmed chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, has begun."

"He's Cuba's second most famous son, but when principal dancer Carlos Acosta brought the Royal Ballet home, there was a shock in store for Havana's classical dance lovers."

"Since 1964, New York City Ballet has called Lincoln Center home. In honor of the campus’s 50th anniversary, the ballet company will present a yearlong retrospective of its repertory."

"State government doesn’t normally shut down for ballet, but you wouldn’t have believed it judging by the dignitaries who spilled into the Joyce Theater on Monday night."

"On Thursday and Friday nights the Vail International Dance Festival looked both forward and back. An UpClose evening on Thursday, at the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek, was called 'Wendy Whelan: Dancer and Muse.'"

"The weekend engagement, scheduled as a regular part of the Evening Stars series in the River to River Festival in New York, will now function as a tribute to Cunningham, who died peacefully at his home on Sunday, at age 90. Shortly before his passing, the choreographer gave instructions for how to assemble the three 'Events' that the company will perform."

"Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal eschews its native language this week with an all-Italian program at Jacob's Pillow that is as sunny and sensual as a Tuscan summer."

"Since the company has grown in stature and size into a world-class arts organization, so have the artistic responsibilities. For example, right now we have renowned choreographer John Neumeier here, staging his beautiful, dramatic version of the Hans Christian Andersen story, 'The Little Mermaid.'"

"Miami City Ballet will make its Vail, Colorado debut Saturday at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater with a program of masterpieces by George Balanchine."

"George Balanchine (1904-1983) was the Stravinsky of dance. Like Stravinsky, his most frequent collaborator, Balanchine was a Russian émigré who moved to America via Paris. Both the choreographer and the composer were leading figures in their field – and defining forces of 20th-century art."

"It was an innovative move in a career marked by innovation. But with Cunningham’s death Sunday, his foundation finds itself in the difficult position of having to fund the $8-million plan as it simultaneously goes into effect."

"Leading the country's third-largest ballet company requires serious backup. Now instead of one right-hand man, San Francisco Ballet Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson has two."

"Singer said the idea to send supplies, announced last year, came from board members of the academy who wanted to help the struggling school, which was bombed several years ago."

"In bowing to a mentor, Ananiashvili was honoring the foundation of ballet, the handing down of technique and experience over the generations...While watching, I began to wonder how often ordinary women are rewarded in such palpable ways as this extravagant exchange."

"The funds will go to add an additional work week for all MCB dancers. As part of a 25% reduction in Miami City Ballet’s budget, the Company had cut the number of contract weeks for dancers from 38 to 35 for the upcoming season."

"Merce Cunningham, the American choreographer who was among a handful of 20th-century figures to make dance a major art and a major form of theater, died Sunday night at his home in Manhattan. He was 90.

"Cunningham once typed in his notes that dancing 'is not for unsteady souls.' His soul was supremely steady, but primed to embrace risk and make new discoveries. He woke up our eyes to see dancing for itself—as complex, fleeting, and often irrational as life. I will write at more length when I’ve accustomed myself to his absence."

"Ballet is an addictive art. There are fans who do not miss a single Ballet Theater performance in New York; if you think that dancers are what matter most in ballet, this spring season was the stuff to win you over to their line of thinking. But I want to urge another view."

"Choreographer Angel Corella has announced the U.S. debut of Corella Ballet Castilla y León, March 17 - 20 at New York City Center."

"The layoffs have produced a complicated set of responses among these dancers, who, since childhood, have endured grueling hours of cloistered study to achieve a remarkable level of artistry."

"Peter Martins, below, ballet master in chief of New York City Ballet, earned $699,000 in pay and benefits for the fiscal year ending June 2008, Bloomberg News reported, citing the company’s tax return."

"In a news release, producers for the show, which was adapted from the 2000 Stephen Daldry film, said that the tour would begin at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts in Chicago in March. Casting for the touring company was not announced."

"Wim Wenders has decided to forge ahead with Pina, his 3D dance film about legendary choreographer Pina Bausch, who died last month...At the time, Wenders put the project on hold, subject to consultation with Bausch's company, Tanztheater Wuppertal. Today, both sides confirmed that they would carry on the collaboration, citing letters from the public urging them to do so."

"Five members of Britain's Royal Ballet came down with the H1N1 swine flu virus during their just-ended visit to Cuba, but all have recovered, a spokeswoman for the dance company said on Monday."

"In June, Weeks won a silver medal at the prestigious Helsinki International Ballet Competition in Finland. The competition is considered the Olympics of ballet, and past-winners include Mikhail Baryshnikov."

"The choreographer Jean-Claude Gallotta, no fool apparently, gives the film center stage for several minutes during “Des Gens Qui Dansent,” which had its United States premiere on Wednesday night at Jacob’s Pillow, performed by his troupe, Groupe Émile Dubois, in its first appearance in this country in 20 years."

"There's nothing like the bustle of Saratoga Springs in the summer, and if there was any fear the recession would put a damper on the atmosphere of indulgence the season normally brings, some preliminary reports show there may not be much reason to worry."

"LeWitt occasionally froze the action, and when an immense image of Childs appears for the 20-minute solo that separates Dance's first and last parts, it looks like a still shot. Until she blinks. Glamorous, with beauty so severe that she makes Garbo at her stoniest look approachable, the Childs of 30 years ago made it clear that she was not out to seduce an audience, but to present intriguing equations."

"San Francisco Ballet principal Nicolas Blanc asked to be released from his contract for the 2010 season. In a statement issued by SFB, Blanc stated, 'It’s time for me to move to a new chapter in my life...'"

"A longtime union lawyer was arrested and charged on Tuesday with embezzling approximately $150,000 from a union representing dancers and stage managers at American Ballet Theater, federal prosecutors said. "

"London's Royal Ballet will devote on Wednesday its second performance in this capital to Prima Ballerina Assoluta Alicia Alonso, and first Cuban National Ballet (BNC) figures will join this homage."

"John Goding, 50, a founding member, ballet master and former principal dancer for the Washington Ballet, whose career with the company spanned more than 30 years, died July 10 at his vacation home in Cape Coral, Fla., after suffering a pulmonary embolism."

"Queen Margrethe unveiled the colorful costumes Wednesday for 'The Swineherd,' a ballet based on a story by Danish fairytale writer Hans Christian Andersen."

"Though the phenomenon feels new, it is of course part of one of the oldest trends in human history. People have been congregating to dance since civilization began. The digital means of dissemination are recent, but the act itself is as ancient as eating and sleeping."

"Alexander Vedernikov, who has fought for eight years to revive the fortunes of the renowned opera and ballet house, told the Financial Times on Tuesday he was quitting because of clashes over the theatre’s direction."

"The sudden death of the German choreographer Pina Bausch last month left a wrenching hole in the lives of the dancers who dedicated themselves to her work in Wuppertal, a small city east of Düsseldorf. And it raised an essential question for all dance companies that exist to serve a lone creative voice: What happens when that voice is silenced?"

"After years of teetering on the brink of financial disaster, Ballet Florida filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in West Palm Beach on Friday."

"Dane Shitagi of the Ballerina Project and I have teamed up to make one of his beautiful images available at a price everyone can afford."

"The Royal Ballet of London is making its first ever appearance in Cuba for a tribute to Cuba's National Ballet and its founder, renowned ballerina Alicia Alonso."

"It boasts a good, fresh lineup that showcases quality artists who represent the richness that is Bay Area dance. Including world premieres by experienced artists is always a good programming decision, and these are judiciously chosen."

"Expectation and fulfillment can make uneasy bedfellows: 'Orbo Novo' is not, unfortunately, a dazzler. Hints that it wouldn’t be, at least for the cynically inclined, could be found in the overly stuffed program notes..."

"The summer calendar has been marked for dancing since 1933 when American dance pioneer Ted Shawn and his company of Men Dancers gave their first performances at Jacob's Pillow, his 163-acre farm in Becket, Mass."

"New York City Ballet is back at its summer home, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. And though the company’s stay will be shortened to a mere two weeks, its 44th season here is not short on terrific dance and music."

"There's a certain unfettered joy, a cinematic moment when your dancing under the stars at Lincoln Center. The music is often timeless and the groups that attend come from various backgrounds and age groups. Its always a sizable, fervent crowd but never over-crowded."

"The Louisville Orchestra and Louisville Ballet are each getting $50,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts in job-stimulus funds, part of a total of $300,000 awarded to seven Kentucky groups."

"The National Endowment for the Arts announced 631 local arts groups have received direct grants totaling $29,775,000 as part of the American Economic Recovery & Reinvestment Act."

"Modern-dance pieces are now widespread in ballet repertories, and Mr. Reinhart said he wanted to pay homage to Mr. Taylor, Ms. Tharp, Ms. Dean and Mr. Morris for their efforts to unite the two arenas."

"Mr. Gomes, a Brazilian principal capable of comedy, tragedy and almost everything between, who has always been an intoxicating romantic lead at Ballet Theater, has this season surpassed himself."

"Emily Molnar, a principal dancer with Vancouver-based Ballet British Columbia has been appointed as the interim artistic director of the company as it reorganizes following the departure of John Alleyne."

"He told 'Esquire' magazine: 'I'm learning the basics of ballet. The thing is, in a few years I'll be 21, 22, and that's when all the guys who've been at drama school will come out. They've been learning dance or singing and all that stuff and I'm going to need to compete with them because I won't have ‘Harry Potter’ as my safety net any more.'"

"It’s in the full-length ballets that Diana Vishneva offers gifts no other ballerina today can claim. In Giselle, Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet, this star of the Kirov and of American Ballet Theatre brings her heroine’s imagined past and looming future to bear on the steps.

"On the Town and West Side Story made him the king of Broadway, but Jerome Robbins was a man beset with anxieties, writes Sanjoy Roy."

"I'm not saying you can't tweet a review. You can, and plenty of people do. I'm saying that tweeting a review in its entirety misses out on one of Twitter's major strengths: turning people on to something cool."

"Director Wim Wenders has stopped production on the planned 3D dance film 'Pina' following the death of the film's subject -- the legendary choreographer Pina Bausch."

"At 32, Cherkaoui is a rising star of European dance, and the fact that he agreed to collaborate with Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet on his first piece for an American company, spending months on the process, is a major artistic coup for the bold young troupe."

"Ballet superstar Carlos Acosta is to headline Spring Dance 2010 at the London Coliseum, performing with the whole company of Ballet Nacional de Cuba for the first time in the UK."

"Ultimately, Bausch’s gift wasn’t for destruction but creation. She was a tough-as-nails realist ready to see the dark side of things. But whatever falls apart in her work sooner or later gets put back together again. She made catharsis a profound picking up of the pieces. And she was also good for a laugh and for coming up with a tune that stuck with you. How are we going to get along without her?"

"igel Lythgoe announced today that he is teaming up with director Adam Shankman, 'Dancing with the Stars' judge Carrie Ann Inaba and actress Katie Holmes to launch the Dizzy Feet Foundation, a foundation for the dance community that will provide scholarships and assistance to talented underserved youth."

"Pina Bausch, the German dancer and choreographer who died aged 68 on Tuesday, five days after being diagnosed with cancer, was the most influential figure in European contemporary dance for the past 30 years, creating a much-imitated fusion of radical theatre, surreal art, sexual drama and danced body language, known as Tanztheater."

"Even with the $1,000-plus price tag, Tulanian says the meeting is easily worth it. 'I am a dance aficionado, so I wanted to give a little something back to the community for the many hours of joy that I have received from seeing these incredibly talented artists.'"

"You can count on one hand the number of modern-dance-makers who have changed the landscape – and Pina Bausch was one of them. Even though she never created a style that could be taught in the classroom, as Martha Graham or Merce Cunningham did, her influence went far and deep."

"The festival, which will run from Sept. 22 through Oct. 3, will open with a Boston Ballet performance of Nijinsky’s 'Afternoon of a Faun,' originally created for the Ballets Russes at its Paris premiere."

"I can’t think how many hours I spent hunched over the video monitors at the library for the performing arts, watching grainy footage of her early, iconic pieces. And then being blown away when I finally saw one of her epic dance-theater works live."

"I had the pleasure of traveling to Jacob’s Pillow last weekend to photograph Avi Scher and Dancers performing in a series called 'Inside/Out.'"

"While the world mourns Michael Jackson – and, yes, the late king of pop played this medieval city in 1988 – there is scant evidence of moonwalking at this year’s annual Montpellier Dance Festival."

"A documentary made about Acosta a few years ago was called 'The Reluctant Ballet Dancer,' and there's no doubt, from the book, that he was."

"Although the beauty and mystique that surround the art often make it easy to forget, that's just what ballet dancing is: a job. A tough and often thankless one. Even if you make it to the top, you'll still be faced with short-term contracts and early redundancy."

"The Royal’s opening on Tuesday reminded me of why it helped me fall in love with ballet and showed why it remains a singularly cherishable company today."

"'Diaghilev's Theater of Marvels: The Ballets Russes and Its Aftermath' opens today at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, following exhibitions at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford and at the Harvard Theatre Collection in Cambridge, Mass."

"Creating iMixes is easy and it's a fun way to promote upcoming performances to the huge number of iPhone/iPod owners. In addition, through the widget, you can encourage fans and online supporters to embed the song list on their websites and blogs."

"Reichlen can't yet lay claim to the sudden plunges from the vertical that made Suzanne Farrell's celebrated interpretation so sensuous and exciting, but perhaps that is never to be."

"Overall, no single dancer was deemed impressive enough to win the Marina Semyonova grand prix — the competition is dedicated to the legendary Russian dancer — and the $10,000 cash prize that goes along with it."

"This year's six-week program highlights community-based projects, including workshops at El Centro Hispano, ADF's first partnership with the center."

"After tons of time going over and over music and steps, I have finally finished choreographing my first ballet. I used music by Shostakovitch and hopefully I can get a video of a studio-run and post it to show you."

What happened? An article describing the recent VOD outage.

"The Olympic ballet gala, featuring contemporary dance from the two classical ballet companies, is one of 35 new arts projects announced Monday by Vancouver 2010 organizers."

"Her special relationship with ABT, however, comes to a close this season. On June 27, Ananiashvili will bid farewell to the company with a final performance of 'Swan Lake.'"

"With the move to the Durham Performing Arts Center, the festival gets a major upgrade, but a budgetary crisis has forced the festival to cut a full week — and a quarter of its marquee mainstage productions — from its calendar."

"After a furious three-week fund-raising effort that included a spectacular gala performance last week, the ballet announced that it has surpassed its $750,000 target, the amount it needed to guarantee that it could continue beyond June 30."

"In her remarks at the press conference announcing the upcoming season, Charriere also singled out the ballet dancers’ 'Save the Ballet' fundraising initiative for generating $840,000."

"This dark ending of 'La Sylphide,' which American Ballet Theater performs all this week at the Metropolitan Opera House, hurtles at us with brilliant surprise."

"Last Tuesday evening, at his last class before the summer break, he joined students more than six decades younger in push-ups, sit-ups and stretches at the barre."

"Here are the numbers (as of yesterday,) for Oregon Ballet Theatre's drive to raise $750,000 by June 30. According to Erik Jones at the ballet, the gala brought in $330,000 of ticket revenue from 2750 patrons. And the total raised is $710,000."

"Bridgett Zehr, who danced the role of Giselle in the National Ballet of Canada's production this season, has been promoted to principal dancer at the Toronto-based ballet company. Born and raised in Sarasota, Fla., Zehr joined the National Ballet in 2006 after three years with the Houston Ballet."

"On Wednesday night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater unleashed some real choreography. It was, blessedly, an all-Ailey program with two important bookends: 'Blues Suite,' from 1958, and 'Revelations,' his 1960 masterpiece."

"Ballet conducting programs are essentially unheard-of and for this reason, violinist, John Stubbs of the San Diego Symphony and music director for California Ballet Company (CBC), has launched 'Conducting Preparations,' a unique mentoring program designed to inspire young music artists in pursuing the art of ballet conducting."

"The ballet is juicy with drama, and character dancers Victor Barbee and Martine Van Hamel will have a field day playing Madge, the venomous hag. The roles of James and the Sylphide, of course, are filled with technical and dramatic challenges."

"You always want to see her next work because you can sense the questioning spirit that leads her into unexpected terrain. Her own nine-year old company, im'ij-re — with its excellent dancers — is the place where she can experiment in the way the tight schedules of more traditional ballet companies (her latest commission was for Colorado Ballet this spring) don't always have the means to support."

"One of the world's most prestigious ballet competitions opened in Moscow's Bolshoi Theater on Thursday, with dancers hoping to pirouette their way to fame."

"Christiana Bennett, principal dancer with Ballet West, has performed to benefit scores of causes over the course of her career, yet she's never danced to save a ballet company from closing its doors."

"As an actress, Ms. Ananiashvili gives a good impression of spontaneity, but as a dancer she has the thing itself. Her limbs keep glowing and stretching in the air as if helium were entering into them; she becomes newly luminous."

"Several aspects of Ratmansky's choreography enthrall me. He alters the pressure and tempos of ballet's classical vocabulary to affect mood and drama. Even tricky or unusual twists look organic, and, although the stage is almost always awash in dancing, the story keeps unfolding through it."

"Shrinking the company like this is a major management challenge from a staff morale point of view. And it will be an artistic challenge, too."

"Dancing a character part isn’t like tearing through the fouettés or à la seconde turns of the Black Swan pas de deux — which many corps members are quite capable of performing — but these roles can be absolutely essential to the plot."

"As a huge unwieldy spectacle, this Bayadère is a hoot and a wonder. Some of it — the flailing fakirs; the high-leaping 'Indians' — could have come straight out of a Cecil B. DeMille movie. Everything is huge, from the extensions and leaps to the speed and elevations."

"Merce Cunningham, the nonagenarian choreographer, is planning for a world without him. He has decided that when he dies, or when the right time comes, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company will embark on a final two-year international tour and then shut down, the Cunningham Dance Foundation, which supports the company, announced on Tuesday."

"One day, when she was four and a half years old, she found a magazine that had blown against the orphanage gate. In it was a photo of a ballerina. Enchanted, she carefully tore it out and hid it, treasured it. Some day, she thought, she would dance like that woman."

"Oregon Ballet Theatre's three concerts this weekend were just about as freighted as dance concerts get. The company, as Portland Arts Watch readers know, has said that it needs to raise $750,000 by June 30 to guarantee that it can keep its doors open."

"The 11-story building in downtown Brooklyn, which also houses low income artists and the formerly homeless, is a collaboration between a real estate development company and a nonprofit affordable housing project. It will include a performance space, a school, and offices."

"On Sunday evening the mullet-haired businessman – known for his louche dress sense and garish red and yellow boots – was sighted at London's Royal Opera House at a tribute performance to mark the 100th anniversary of the Ballets Russes."

"Here are the biggest ballet-inspired fashions you have actually been wearing since you saw your first Nutcracker. The old-school trend from 'Swan Lake' is clearly the headband."

"'Billy Elliot,' the inspirational movie-turned-musical about a working-class Yorkshire kid who dances away from strife and poverty, dominated the 63rd annual Tony Awards, winning 10 Tony Awards, including the coveted best musical Tony."

"The program began with 'Glass Pieces' (1983). This has always been a hit, but I underrated it when it was new...I find now that its images stay vividly in the head and that, when re-encountered in the theater, they coalesce more powerfully as poetry."

"His rich, imaginative dance lexicon that strongly relies on ballet technique doesn't hinder his search for further versatile kinetic modes and subtle methods of expression.

"Ballet BC is facing yet another massive upheaval as it prepares to part ways with its longtime artistic director...The decision is part of a major restructuring plan that will leave the province without its flagship dance company during the 2010 Olympic Games."

"His arrival has many hoping he will revive the flagging fortunes of the famed company, whose audience has slumped in recent years. He will also direct the ballet's school."

"The arts are where hope lives. And right now, as the very tenets of civil society are being re-written, and as health and human service needs rise, there is legitimate concern about whether the arts will survive, how the arts can thrive."

"Mr. McIntyre taps into the music with vigor, and finally the dancers are more than just spirited performers; they are spirits in the flesh."

"Celebrating the 'screendance' genre, the Dance Camera West festival kicks off this weekend with its eighth year of screenings. More than 30 films -- most made independently -- will be screened at half a dozen L.A. venues during the three-week fest."

"'Dancing Across Borders' is an 88-minute love letter to Cambodia, to ballet, and to hard work. Like every good love letter, it conveys the preciousness of the intangible."

"The free series of events -- yes, all programs are free -- runs Aug. 18-22, expanding from three programs to four and promising the biggest names on the festival's line-up so far: New York City Ballet's Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall."

"Frederick Ashton's romantic tale of sea spirits and sailors will be relayed live from the Royal Opera House onto cinema screens across the UK on Wednesday night thanks to a tie-in with Arts Alliance Media."

"It is always exciting to see the curtain rise on a tableau of women who then morph into dancers; to see it done by students is especially thrilling. Their entire lives, virtually, have been pointed toward this goal, itself only a beginning."

"Mr. Ratmansky’s gift here is to make these psychological dances classically beautiful. (Mr. Gomes and Ms. Herrera, in particular, have never danced better.)"

"The awards, given by the Dance Resource Center of Greater Los Angeles, cite excellence in performance, choreography, design, music and other categories for L.A.-area dance presentations."

"Company staff members were in China last week finalizing details for the tour, which came together quickly after Chinese presenters Citystar Entertainment Ltd. approached the Ballet only two months ago."

"Roth says he works at CSN [College of Southern Nevada]' to preserve the integrity of dance' in a city better known for having dancing as a component of other entertainment, such as stage shows."

"Damrosch's reasons for helping OBT also help us form the basis for thinking about future rescue efforts -- and in this economy, all arts organizations are under stress. Here is her list..."

"Watching Pacific Northwest Ballet’s beautifully danced new production last weekend at McCaw Hall here — staged by Susan Hendl and Ben Huys — I felt more than ever the many layers of Robbins’s achievement."

"It was a Goldilocks sort of evening at the David H. Koch Theater on Friday, when New York City Ballet performed 'Donizetti Variations,' 'Stabat Mater' and 'Stravinsky Violin Concerto': too happy, too sad and then just right."

"The rehearsal process has been really great with him. He is pushing the dancers to their unknown limits, and its great to be apart of it."

"I want to bring to your attention an issue that is very important to me personally; Oregon Ballet Theatre needs your help. If we all don’t pull together and help this company it will have to close it’s doors."

"The ballerina is rehearsing the limpid 'Les Sylphides,' which she and Thomas Edur will perform with English National Ballet at Sadler’s Wells next month, bringing an end to a 19-year association with the company and to a remarkable stage partnership."

"After decades at Ballet Hispanico, the troupe's founder is hanging up her artistic director's hat. But only after her company makes its L.A. Music Center debut."

"Mr. Ratmansky’s first encounter with Ballet Theater dancers came in January, when he observed rehearsals in preparation for casting 'On the Dnieper.' That ballet will have its premiere Monday night at the Metropolitan Opera House."

"Nissinen’s season showcases the Company’s range and skill by featuring classic story ballets as well as works by renowned neoclassical and contemporary choreographers such as George Balanchine, Jiri Kylian and rising talents Helen Pickett and Viktor Plotnikov."

"A commemorative edition DVD of Judith Jamison's Emmy-winning 'A Hymn for Alvin Ailey' television special will be available along with the soundtrack to Alvin Ailey's landmark Blues Suite, on CD for the first time."

"Karl Lagerfeld, creative director of Chanel, has designed an exclusive costume for the 'The Dying Swan' as part of the English National Ballet's forthcoming 'Ballets Russes' season at Sadler's Wells theatre in London. This year marks the centenary of the first performance by Serge Diaghilev's ballet at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris."

"Ballet Florida has canceled its summer classes. Whether the shutdown will be permanent depends whether the troupe can sell its building at 500 Fern St. in West Palm Beach to raise the money to revive the professional company and continue the school."

"Unless the company raises $750,000 by June 30 to cover expenses and pay creditors, it may have to close its doors."

"

"A dancer with strength and elevation that belies her slender frame, a performer who moves audiences with her indelible interpretations of tragic heroines, from Juliet and Giselle to Tatiana in Onegin, Goh is gracefully retiring after 20 years on the stage."

"I spent more than two hours watching Suki Schorer coach students in 'Serenade.' A former Balanchine dancer at City Ballet long since based at the school, she has become the world’s most celebrated teacher of Balanchine technique."

"Anyone inclined to wrinkle his nose in disdain at American Ballet Theatre's star system should first consider a moment in choreographer George Balanchine's 'Allegro Brillante'..."

"As a whole, they suggest that the San Francisco Ballet School - which, after all, aspires to be among the leading ballet academies in the country - is strengthening under Associate Director Lola de Avila and her current faculty."

"'The (economic) downturn may have worked in our favor in that regard,' Cunningham said late last week at the ballet studio. 'The smaller-venue, in-studio works have been very successful for us. We've seen people walk through the doors here that we've never seen before.'"

"Ballet Theater’s spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House tends to be ballet at its most conformist, nowhere more so than in its opening-night jamboree."

"The Royal Ballet will make its first visit to Cuba in July with performances that include a homage to Cuban ballet legend Alicia Alonso, ballet executives said on Wednesday."

"My husband and I believe strongly that art education is essential for building innovative thinkers who will be our nation's leaders of tomorrow," she said."

"He is somewhat serious when he talks about the glue factory. Dancers don’t often get to perform this late in their lives, nor call so many of the shots. Particularly in ballet, stage retirement comes early."

"Palme d'Or winner and digital film enthusiast Wim Wenders' next project is 'Pina,' a collaboration with avant-garde choreographer Pina Bausch on what is being called the first 3-D dance feature."

"The main look of the characters in Mr. Elo’s 'Sacre' is one of sophistication and conformism. What a bizarre dance maker he is. Most choreographers make 'Sacre' their most unorthodox work — but not Mr. Elo."

"The film was to be presented by two of its most illustrious devotees, director Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker, Scorsese's longtime editor and Powell's widow."

"When he was appointed resident choreographer of the Royal Ballet in 2006, Wayne McGregor set about creating a formal system to discover and nurture talent within the company’s ranks. That policy seems to be bearing fruit: this is quite the best programme of new dance the RB has produced for ages."

"Maybe you went to the farmers’ market, had brunch with friends or saw 'Star Trek,' but for dance audiences, the past three days will go down in history as the weekend of the dueling Romeos."

"Perhaps the most important point to keep in mind about Mark Morris’s 'Romeo & Juliet, on Motifs of Shakespeare' is that it’s a dance, not a ballet."

"Los Angeles Ballet, founded in 2006, marked its latest stage of artistic growth by mounting a handsome production of 'La Sylphide' Saturday at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center."

"New York City Ballet’s spring gala on Wednesday night at the David H. Koch Theater began with two world premieres: one by Benjamin Millepied, a rising choreographer whose work is far from familiar; the other by Jiri Bubenicek, a Czech choreographer whose dances are unknown in the United States."

"This weekend, performers take their bows, the curtains close, and the 30 graduates of the Miami City Ballet School move on to the next step."

"Neither of these premieres, in fact, challenged its dancers as did the evening's finale, George Balanchine's "Theme and Variations."

"'The company laughs at me while I sit on the side of the stage reading American History books,' giggles Sabra Perry, a dancer with Complexions for nine years. A former member of the National Ballet of Canada, Perry works towards her BA Degree at Empire State College between seasons."

"The renowned Royal Danish Ballet, (RDB) founded in 1748, will start its Japan tour tonight at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan in Ueno, Tokyo, with "Napoli.'"

"For their performances in Prague, the Bubení?ek brothers will be collaborating with dancers from renowned European ballet ensembles such as the Hamburg Ballett, Zürich Ballet and Dresden Semperoper Ballett."

"Imagine Radiohead, James Levine, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Tracey Emin all collaborating on a multimedia extravaganza produced by George Lucas. That is what the early 20th century performing arts troupe Ballets Russes was like..."

"Mr. Spalding is using the Wells, the Lilian Baylis Studio...and the Peacock Theater...to present dance of all species. Last week, while attending each of these theaters, I caught part of an annual hip-hop festival ('Breakin’ Convention,' at the Wells and the Baylis); a Cuban dance-and-music extravaganza ('Havana Rakatan,' at the Peacock); and an evening devoted to connections between American and British forms of step dancing."

"Ballet West will cut four positions, freeze salaries, request furloughs and reduce pension contributions for its 35-member administrative staff, as part of a plan to reduce $1.2 million from the dance company's operating budget for the 2009-2010 season."

"The performance of the afternoon was Tiler Peck’s astounding debut in Balanchine’s 'Tarantella.' A short-notice replacement for Megan Fairchild, Ms. Peck took instant ownership of this dazzling, virtuosic bonbon."

"At the heart of the piece was Agnès Letestu, chic and shining in the Cigarette variation, her very presence raising the level of the rest of the company. It was a glorious start to the evening."

"As the director Mr. Woetzel lands big names — Savion Glover, Edward Villella and his Miami City Ballet, Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company — but aims for intimacy, inviting a few artists to talk as much as they perform."

"The sums at stake are comparatively small, but a contract dispute between a choreographer and the 92nd Street Y has caused a stir in the field — and provided a glimpse into the fraught relationship between struggling dance makers and presenters."

"Gone, in new work, is theater, spectacle, satire, flesh-and-blood characters, the ache of real life, the escape offered by a sharp, piercing little story. Now more than ever, American ballet, artistically speaking, is a homogeneous entity. We are a thoroughly Balanchine nation."

"As the curtain falls on the Joffrey Ballet's spring season at the Auditorium Theatre on Sunday afternoon, seven dancers will be taking their final bows with the company. Some plan to continue dancing. Some are heading back to school."

"Despite the tough economic landscape currently facing Bay Area arts groups, Ballet San Jose has decided to push forward with an ambitious expansion in its 2009-10 season."

"The lights dimmed and I made my way upstage center and felt my back press against the wall. My leg lifted from the ground, foot flexed, and I walked forward as the first piano chord struck; everything that followed is a complete blur."

"Alina Cojocaru, a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet of London, and her partner Johan Kobborg will be principal guest artists for the 2009-2010 season."

"Daniel Dolan is off to the world famous Bolshoi Ballet School in Russia after his dream came true."

"Although Redick, 37, had renewed a one-year contract in February, he shortly after reconsidered and moved up his retirement. The Boston Ballet this week announced his retirement, as well as the retirement of soloist Melanie Atkins."

City Ballet was founded in 2000 with the goal of creating a dance company that represents the diversity of Los Angeles. It offers dance lessons for children, including many from the inner city who can attend under a City Ballet scholarship program at no cost."

"Thematic or not, there is a certain art to designing mixed repertory programs. Some sort of arc, or juxtaposition, should be present to indicate that intelligent life is guiding the choices."

"King's unflagging invention, his curious turns of thought, and the dedication of his performers, who risk everything, make this program gripping."

"In commemoration of the group's 50th season, legendary dancer and Alvin Ailey veteran Renee Robinson reflects on the institution's golden anniversary."

"Turnover among dancers is not unusual when an artistic director is replaced, although Orlando's loss of a third of its dancers is high."

"Ms. Mason confirmed that Ms. Ansanelli, who is just 28, was not simply leaving the Royal Ballet, she was also going to stop dancing."

"It was only a matter of time before Boris Eifman faced off with Pushkin’s 1835 verse novel Eugene Onegin, but this time the playing field has been previously occupied by John Cranko’s 1965 dance drama, which remains an astonishingly durable treatment."

"Sure, it's hard for lots of people in a down economy, but for some dancers, this year has been a career killer."

"'Firebird', however, soars. Mara Galeazzi is feral and imperious in the title role, Gary Avis is at once cartoonish, uncanny and very funny as the evil Kostcheï, and the corps (wayward in Sylphides) are terrific."

"The unlikely story of a coal miner's son from Newcastle who becomes a professional ballet dancer has – perhaps even more surprisingly – become one of Broadway's biggest success stories this season, picking up 15 nods, four more than any other show."

"Arts administrators say they are fighting a subsidiary effect of the recession, a creeping perception among their largest and most reliable corporate supporters that contributing to the arts is somehow elitist and excessive at a time of rising unemployment and general economic hardship."

"Approximately 500 sixth-graders in the Shenendehowa School District attended a lecture and demonstration on classical ballet as part of their participation in Saratoga Performing Arts Center’s educational Class Action program."

"They were the leading lights of Serge Diaghilev's company, Ballets Russes - and now, 100 years on, dance companies around the world are marking the centenary of that tumultuous first Paris season."

"Two famous parrots and a bevy of YouTube videos have now convinced scientists that people aren't the only ones who can groove to a musical beat."

"Officials hope to use culture and art to improve America's image by sending the dancers to countries - such as Venezuela, Nigeria and Brazil - where its reputation has suffered in recent years."

"Ms. Cojocaru’s 'Giselle' was one of the great dance renditions of our time, one of those moments when the evanescence of live performance seems unbearably poignant. From the moment she stepped onstage, she was Giselle..."

"When Balanchine shook up dance with borrowings from jazz and vaudeville, it was evolutionary, but when Elo takes a page from street styles it's disrespectful. God forbid we should let a little hipness into the opera house."

"Maximova's dancing career at the Bolshoi spanned three decades, from her debut as Masha in 'The Nutcracker' in 1958 until 1988. Called "Ekaterina the Great," or Catherine the Great, for her impeccable technique and versatility, she danced most of the major female roles of classical ballet..."

"It would be good to remain longer in San Francisco, to watch these dancers grow in these roles and to appreciate their versatility across what is more or less the most diverse repertory of any American ballet company."

"The production is a new one by Marcia Haydée, renowned as a dramatic ballerina during her long career at the Stuttgart Ballet. She brings an undeniable theatrical potency to her staging."

"The 18-year-old ballerina from Brisbane beat three other finalists on the Network Ten program to become Australia's favourite dancer on Sunday night."

"This production, exquisite in design and text, is the one that Ninette de Valois staged in 1977 for the Royal Ballet, which danced it until 1992."

"When Corella left Madrid at age 19 in 1995 to join American Ballet Theatre, he quickly realized that he 'wanted to give dancers who left Spain an opportunity to come home and also create a company for pure, classical dance.'"

"The waif-like dancer has been off stage for almost a year, while rumours circulated that she had a broken neck."

"For King, the most significant change over the past quarter-century has been 'the popularity of hip-hop. Towards the mid '90s, we took a chance and took in one or two of the teachers. It has really, really thrived. Now we have equal measures of ballet, jazz, and hip-hop.'"

"Tulsa Ballet has named principal dancer Ma Cong as a resident choreographer. He is the second person to hold this title with company; Val Caniparoli, whose ballets include 'Vivace,' 'Going for Baroque' and 'Gustav’s Rooster,' has been Tulsa Ballet’s resident choreographer since 2001."

"The festival kicks off this weekend, offering free public events, including classes, rehearsals and performances, celebrating dance of every culture and genre."

"The ballet stars and real-life husband and wife are about to retire from the profession so it will be one of the last times they enjoy a pas de deux together."

"A Cheshire teenager has become only the third British boy to win a place at the elite Bolshoi Ballet School in the Russian academy's 233-year history."

"Mikko: 'This Sleeping Beauty is something really unique. We bought the sets and costumes from the Royal Ballet in London. When Boston Ballet bought the sets in the 1990's, they used to dance a Russian version to these sets. So when I came I reunited the sets with the choreography that they had in London.'"

This ambitious new production, performed Friday night at Gould Hall, retells her story through dialogue and movement, with the actress Patricia Conolly as the lead."

"This is not the first sudden retirement from Guidi, who founded the Oakland Ballet in 1965 and led it to international repute with revivals of rare Ballets Russes masterpieces in the 1990s."

"The directors of the Youth America Grand Prix competition have a message for ballet fans on the lookout for star talent: Remember that you saw them here first."

"Home season after home season, Lines Ballet consistently serves up stunningly soul-laid bare dancing, and the spring season that opened Friday is no exception."

"Creating the magazine's Green Issue cover with the dance company Momix."

"In the center of this display sat its raison d'être, in a wheelchair that, with him in it, became a throne, his all-black clothes topped with a shiny jet smoking jacket that suggested 'magician,' playing his role with understated, perfect-mannered elegance."

"Not long after, her family was told the terrible news: Ms. Liu had severely injured her vertebra and was paralyzed below the waist. It was unlikely that she would ever walk or dance again."

"The answer to staying healthy and happy as you age may be as close as the nearest dance floor, according to a chorus of studies. Dancing offers mental, physical, and social benefits, while perhaps reducing the risk of illness and even counteracting the ravages of aging."

"In a release the company said that the gift was the single largest it has received from a private donor, and that the money would be used to create the Toni and Martin Sosnoff New Works Fund, which will support all future works that it commissions."

"The Canadian-born ballet and modern-dance-trained ballerina — whose 'The Little Prince' debuts in Walnut Creek in May — is part of a long but ignored tradition of brainy classical dancers capable of expounding on topics far outside of pliés, developées and pirouettes."

"Some of the most famous work of Broadway choreographer Agnes de Mille will be recreated in the unique biographical 'dance drama,' Dance/Speak, a production by New York Theatre Ballet, premiering in Manhattan April 17-25."

"Canfield is doing away with the previous regime’s hierarchically tiered model, deleting titles of principal, soloist and corps de ballet. In other words, there are no more stars. Every dancer is on equal footing."

"The $2-million movie about actors auditioning for a musical is a multilayered, fugue-like celebration not only of what it means to be a professional dancer on Broadway but also of the iconic musical that captured it so well."

"For 40 years the Dance Theatre of Harlem has helped craft African American dancers into classically trained ballet performers."

"Part publicity stunt by its producers, part vanity trip by its participants, part opportunity to attract a younger crowd to classical music, the YouTube Symphony Orchestra gathered 93 musicians from more than 30 countries."

"Scott Black, who has served as executive director of the OK Mozart International Festival for three years, will become managing director of Tulsa Ballet."

"Facing 'a deficit situation' for the first time in years, the National Ballet of Canada has indefinitely postponed its fall tour of Western Canada."

"You don’t get much insight into the birth of the album or how it became a ballet, but you do get short stories from Shatner about his lifelong connection with music and his evolution in the arts."

"American Ballet Theater has promoted Veronika Part to the position of principal dancer."

"Last week I had the pleasure of photographing one of my absolute favorite companies: Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. At the moment, the company is preparing for an upcoming full-length work titled 'Orbo Novo,' which is being choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui."

"The appointment of Ms. Johnson seems to signal a confidence on the part of the board that there is a future for Dance Theater, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary."

"Just as he mastered pirouettes years ago as a young dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov is getting the hang of asking friends and strangers to donate to his nonprofit Manhattan arts center."

"Boston Ballet's 2009-10 season, its first at the Opera House, will feature a mixture of the old and new, ranging from works by George Balanchine to a world premiere by Helen Pickett and revivals of recently staged productions of 'Giselle' and Jiri Kylian's 'Black and White.'"

"His mind is restlessly analytical, working now toward poetic drama, now toward pure-dance intricacy. His main concern is always dance itself."

"The Royal have historically claimed 'Sleeping Beauty' as their signature classic, the work that displays their style at its most distinctive and pure. But Giselle now feels the company's true showcase."

"The Ballets Russes symposium speaks to all of these strengths. It engages important scholars, dance critics, and artists in a discussion about one of the most innovative artistic enterprises of the 20th century."

"The San Francisco Ballet's 2010 season, choreographer Helgi Tomasson's 25th year as artistic director, will serve up world premieres by Christopher Wheeldon, Renato Zanella and Yuri Possokhov, the company's first performance of the 1911 Stravinsky/Fokine classic 'Petrouchka' and the U.S. premiere of 'The Little Mermaid.'"

"To develop her technique, Dunham, who was born in Chicago in 1909, trained in ballet at a time when most people believed African-American bodies were not suitable for that 'refined' art."

"The ensemble pieces suggested that these dancers can get beyond technique. With its youthful snap and rush, and jazzy Morton Gould score, Jerome Robbins’s 'Interplay' was perfectly suited to the company’s youthful energy and air of adolescent uncertainty."

"Esteban Hernandez could have been a star on Broadway, but when he was offered the role of Billy Elliot in the eponymous hit musical, the 14-year-old ballet whiz declined."

"Modern times for ballet began in Paris on May 19, 1909, when a troupe of dancers picked by impresario Serge Diaghilev from the Imperial theaters of St. Petersburg and Moscow, gave its opening performance."

"Attempting to conjure up my own choreographic concepts has been something on my mind for several years now. Often times, while listening to music, I would find myself visualizing dance movement inspired by that music."

"As always with Wheeldon, 'Golden Hour' is packed with novel motifs: stiffly swinging legs that evolve into all sorts of unexpected positions, rounded arms that suddenly become portals for a chain of men to thread through."

"Hepner starts on May 1 to replace Barry Hughson, who is leaving to take over the Boston Ballet."

"Leading local arts backers Jane Fortune and Robert Hesse are the driving forces behind Indianapolis City Ballet, a new professional dance company, IBJ learned this morning."

"The ballet will go on. Just don't expect a live orchestra at any OBT performances or quite as many dancers on stage next season."

"Ms. Evdokimova, who was also a gifted ballet teacher, began her performing career in 1966 with the Royal Danish Ballet. But it was at the Berlin Opera Ballet that she became a star, joining the company in 1969 and reigning as prima ballerina there from 1973 to 1985."

"Dance Theater Workshop is one of many organizations that have invested in buildings in recent years, hoping for homes in which to safeguard their artistic mission. But these spaces have become burdens, contributing to escalating deficits."

"Nearly every scene in this 'Midsummer Night's Dream' is choreographed with craft and care, even Bottom and company's play-within-the-play, and every character feels fully fleshed out.

"Woods understands that the current gloomy economic climate will offer a stiff challenge to the ballet’s fundraising goals."

"Moreno, surely the company's superstar, inhabits Puck like a second skin. Tossing off perfectly timed leaps and whirlwind turns with precision and the greatest of ease, he yet retains some of the mystery that every great jester needs."

"Rumor confirmed: the 2009 season will be one week shorter than usual, covering five and a half weeks from June 18-July 25. The festival has also cut the number of marquee main-stage presentations this year from 13 to 10, a reduction of almost 25 percent."

"James Sewell's dancers emote, clown around, and challenge the traditional placid expressions usually seen in classical ballet."

"Hougland and Whelan tell me this collaboration came up two years ago when one day in New York City they happened to be in a dance class together."

"Administrators, rather than audiences, will bear the brunt of the arts' current economic woes. So far, neither group has dramatically reduced its main public offerings."

"If the Sacramento Ballet's life since Jan. 22 were set to music, the soundtrack would be a combination of Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive' and the Beatles' 'With a Little Help From My Friends.'"

""There's a basic move that they do called a rond de jambe en l'air, where they lift the leg in the air, and that in particular helps them with kicking the ball in the air."

"The Sochi election committee barred on Friday former Bolshoi ballerina Anastasia Volochkova from running in the Black Sea resort city's upcoming mayoral elections."

"Vilaro, who danced with Ballet Hispanico for ten years prior to his move to Chicago in 1996, will replace Tina Ramirez, the Founder and Artistic Director of Ballet Hispanico, who will step down after 38 years."

"Miro Magloire seems quite happy with the formula he has devised for his New Chamber Ballet group."

"Once upon a time, Eliot Feld made beautiful, expressive ballets. Then he became fascinated by repetition, paring down his movement vocabulary to suit."

"I ran into some friends of mine the other day, and they wanted to come to a ballet performance, but were hesitant. I could tell that they were a little nervous that they wouldn't 'get it.'"

"A series of New York Theatre Ballet performances will screen exclusively in select movie theaters nationwide beginning in August..."

"After watching the drastic differences among Ms. Wiles, Ms. Part and Ms. Ansanelli’s performances, I am left more curious than before about the ballet as dance and drama, but also more frustrated."

"'North Star' was very well staged by Peggy Baker and John Dayger; the Juilliard dancers did them proud. In an age when "edginess" and inscrutability reign in dance, it must be a treat for them to be simply, liquidly, romantically lyrical."

"The site (synchronousobjects.osu.edu) is both a research tool for exploring the structures of a dance and a wildly creative extrapolation of the way that those structures can be pictorially expressed."

"Nothing is more indicative of Mr. Hübbe’s regime than the exemplary contributions made in supporting roles by newcomers he acquired in 2008."

"Miller has been accepted into a summer program of the Boston Ballet Company...but says he will not be able to attend unless he can raise the remaining cash."

"I know times are rough and budgets are tight. But I was shocked when I received an e-mail notice informing me that the budget for the New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA) was about to be slashed by 50%."

"Sadly, though, their revived 2000 production of 'Swan Lake' at the Coliseum is a thumping disappointment, a lovingly prepared soufflé that almost completely fails to rise."

"Miami-Dade's arts scene will get a national look Thursday as the county's director of cultural affairs testifies before a House committee looking at the effect of the slumping economy on the arts."

"Volochkova is a notorious figure in Russia, appearing regularly in fashion magazines, tabloids and on talk shows. She was famously dismissed from the Bolshoi Theater in 2003, following complaints from her dancing partners that she was 'overweight.'"

"Seattle is the last step in the audition process, which has already been to New York; Miami; Los Angeles; Denver; and Memphis, Tenn. From here, the producers head into callbacks, slated for April in Las Vegas."

"The soul of Ulanova?"

"If you’re going to suffer an eternity in hell for your unrepentant libertine ways, you might as well enjoy them, right?"

"Three years ago, OBT offered me a backstage pass and the opportunity to photograph during performances. I began to understand the dancers’ movements and how physical and intense their art is..This essay is about the dancers, not the dance, the private moments between performances."

"When the choreographer Kenneth MacMillan died in 1992, some of his ballets died with him. But his widow, Deborah MacMillan, now guards the flame of her husband’s legacy with not just zeal but with active enterprise."

"Ballet Florida is not going away for good, however. The troupe will still perform 'The Nutcracker' in December, though the number of dancers will be cut from 19 to 10."

"Andre Silva, widely acknowledged as one of the star dancers for the Texas Ballet Theater, will be leaving the company after the ballet’s last performances this season to join one of Montreal’s leading ballet companies."

"Elena Lobsanova, 22, of the National Ballet and Cory Stearns, 23, of the American Ballet Theatre took the dance prize Wednesday at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto."

"Two of the Sarasota Ballet’s most popular principal dancers, Saneyuki Kawashima and Kyoko Takeichi have announced they are retiring from the company at the end of the season."

"Peter Martins, the ballet master in chief of New York City Ballet, said calls for aisles had increased over the years. 'I hear it more and more from people, almost on a nightly basis,' he said.

"The Washington Ballet last week honored Filipina Mary Saludares in a moving memorial service that celebrated the life of the 20-year-old ballerina who was fatally struck by a car on Feb. 20 after a performance in Harford County, Maryland."

"The past few weeks of my life have been incredibly busy and exciting, so I thought it was time for a Winger update. Not only did I celebrate my 23rd birthday, but last Sunday I had my debut as a moderator at the Guggenheim Museum for the Works & Process series."

"Despite tough times on the economic front, the dancers and staff of American Repertory Ballet are in the mood to celebrate."

"'It's a record -- and, as far as we know, the largest gift to support dance ever in America,' Music Center President Stephen D. Rountree said in an interview."

"Pascal: 'After a performance, I close the door at the ballet, so I can then open the door to my wife.'"

"Throughout his career Mr. Stiefel has worked tirelessly to promote classical ballet to a younger generation, as with his participation in 'Center Stage.'"

"There are ballets that are good for the box office, and then there are ballets that are good for the soul."

"Tamara Rojo, in the title role, tries heartbreakingly hard to save the ballet, her dancing communicating Isadora's blithe grace, her brave, careless sexuality and her vivid emotions."

"Franklin is still astoundingly fit and lively, and in performance embodies a vivid, theatrical style that's rarely seen in younger dancers."

"Atlanta Ballet Executive Director Barry C. Hughson will step down May 17 to lead the Boston Ballet. Hughson will begin his new position in Boston on June 1."

"The 86 dancers at American Ballet Theater have agreed to accept a proposal by management that would eliminate the company’s pension contributions and the dancers’ vacation pay in 2009."

"The company is down in four of its revenue-generating areas: ticket sales, contributions, academy tuition and special events. The changes were made to handle budget shortfalls."

"'West Side Story,' the 1957 musical that changed the way we think about how dance can tell a story, is reopening on March 19 at the Palace Theater. The show is directed by Arthur Laurents...and Joey McKneely has been charged with the difficult task of recreating Robbins’s choreography for a new American generation."

Modern choreography is not new on the stages of the two capitals...Still, it has been slow to reach Russia’s major ballet stages. The Mariinsky has been a step ahead of the Bolshoi, collaborating with the recognized headliners."

"Back in 1969, ballet wasn't seen as a dance form normally associated with African Americans. But against the backdrop of the continuing fight for civil rights, one man was inspired to change that view."

"It takes commitment, nerve, and ridiculous sums of money to build a successful ballet company. And that’s just the kindling."

"Dance is everywhere in the Bay Area. We have the highest amount of dance activity per capita in the United States."

"Over the past two years Baryshnikov used a digital camera to shoot dress rehearsals of master American dance choreographer Merce Cunningham's work. The result of his voyeuristic endeavour are photographs of surreal, cinematic quality."

"If Seiwert has yet to achieve widespread recognition, she is definitely on the way. Her works are in the repertory of such companies as the American Repertory Ballet, Carolina Ballet and Robert Moses' Kin."

"Four Boston Ballet soloists are stepping up into principal roles, artistic director Mikko Nissinen says. Kathleen Breen Combes, who just received a rave review from the New York Times, is being promoted, along with Melissa Hough, Misa Kuranaga, and James Whiteside."

"Ballet Gamonet, the determined contemporary ballet troupe run by former Miami City Ballet choreographer Jimmy Gamonet De Los Heros, has suspended operations for the rest of the season."

"Fortunately, a number of supporters stepped forward, in particular Richard Helmstetter, a retired senior executive of Callaway Golf, who has offered a $50,000 matching grant."

"Pennsylvania Ballet has launched its own YouTube channel, which will offer viewers an insider's look at one of the country's premier ballet companies."

"From what I remember, my first experience of 'La Belle' was via youtube. I was looking up clips of Les ballets de Monte-Carlo, trying to flood myself of all that I could, and I found the pas de deux du baiser, or 'The Kiss.'"

"We have all been keeping very busy here at MCB with the tour to New York City and a collaboration with the wonderful Cleveland Orchestra...Now that I’ve had some time to settle down and take it all in I figure it would be a good chance to write an update!"

"Still, the company has more going for itself than one masterpiece. For one thing, there are the dancers. They all are virtuosic, generous, and committed to each other."

"All six Swan Queens did justice to the timeless coupling of Tchaikovsky's score and Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa's choreography, updated by Tomasson. For a troupe whose international reputation tends to rest on stylish male dancing, the past week displayed a dazzling range of fully artistic ballerinas."

"This concurrence was newly absorbing when Kathleen Breen Combes performed the role on Friday, the second night of Boston Ballet’s new production of 'Jewels.' She is a soloist rather than a principal with the company, but on Thursday’s opening night, as the second female lead in the trilogy’s centerpiece, “Rubies,” she gave the evening’s best and most remarkable performance."

"The company has tended to pigeonhole too many dancers along the lines established by the ballerinas of Balanchine's last decade: Borree is cast as if she were Kay Mazzo reborn, Kowroski along the lines of Allegra Kent and Farrell; Fairchild is given the Patricia McBride parts; and so on."

"Flindt trained at the Royal Danish Theatre Ballet School in Copenhagen where he became a solo dancer at the age of 19. He later danced for the London Festival Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet from 1960 to 1966."

"Twenty years after his passing, the spark of Ailey's vision, famously encapsulated in his belief that "dance came from the people and should be delivered back to the people," continues to guide his company, which has performed in 71 countries on every continent except Antarctica."

"It's a program of ambitious visions and some thrilling moments. Credit both the choreographers and artistic director Dennis Nahat for taking chances on works that move the company in an impressive range of directions."

"With his new 'Marie,' a sympathetic telling of Marie Antoinette’s saga, Houston Ballet artistic director Stanton Welch offers a fresh solution. The French Revolutionary story is familiar from movies (most recently, Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette) and theater (Les Misérables) but has no choreographic baggage."

"n Ballet San Jose's 'Hidden Talents,' four current dancers — Karen Gabay, Tiffany Glenn, Alexsandra Meijer, Preston Dugger — and former company member Dalia Rawson put their perspectives on ballet's future with works they have choreographed."

"Driven by Johann Sebastian Bach’s speeding strings, four couples whirl like a cyclone around the room...It’s a grueling, precarious dance—and that’s appropriate. These days, Ballet B.C. is dancing for its life."

"For Guillem, life after classical ballet has turned into a golden age, one in which her sense of adventure has been rewarded time and again by the contemporary choreographers that she has chosen to work with."

Financial Times - Arts

This was so evocative you could almost smell the fading scent of lilacs