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"The Devil Ties My Tongue" SKETCH Series 2013 | photo: David DeSilva
"The Devil Ties My Tongue" SKETCH Series 2013 | photo: David DeSilva
By Ellen O’Riordan
23 November 2020
“Alice, can you put the cat down now?” ballet teacher Miss Rita asks as music begins for pliés.
The young student is waltzing around her living room cradling her cat. Such are the opportunities for distraction when lessons are conducted via video link.
Movement is restricted to what can be done within a small space at home and what is visible to Miss Rita and her assistants on a Zoom video thumbnail.
Coffee tables have been pushed aside, rugs rolled up and younger siblings begged and bribed to stay clear of makeshift studios.
This is ballet class in the age of the pandemic.
The Metropolitan School of Dance, which operates from six locations across Dublin and Kildare, had been reopened for just a week when Level 3 restrictions came into force in the capital on September 18th.
“We were so excited about getting back to work,” school principal Maireád Langan said. “I had planned for the possibility of more restrictions and a return to Zoom; I just didn’t realise it would happen a week after reopening.”
Read the full article here.
By Erica Gonzalez
17 December 2020
Ballerina Melanie Hamrick wanted to do something to help the dance community months into a pandemic that put many of them out of work. “I hate seeing my friends and colleagues not getting to dance,” she tells BAZAAR.com. After lockdowns and social distancing measures were introduced this year, live performances went on hiatus. Prestigious companies like the New York City Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre had to close for the season. But Hamrick also thought about the audience members who wouldn’t be able to watch their favorite performances in person, especially during the holidays. “How can we also help them?” she thought.
The former ABT ballerina teamed up with ABT principal dancer Christine Shevchenko and choreographer Joanna DeFelice to produce a unique performance during the COVID-19 pandemic that gave dancers a chance to work while adhering to health and safety guidelines. Through their new production company, Live Arts Global, they created A Night at the Ballet, which features dancers from a variety of troupes: ABT, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Alvin Ailey, Dance Theater of Harlem, and even Mariinsky Theatre of St. Petersburg, Russia.
The one-hour streaming event goes live on YouTube on Live Arts Global’s channel starting at 7 p.m. ET on December 17, and lasts through December 20. The set will include pieces from The Nutcracker, Romeo & Juliet, Don Quixote, and more. And it’s completely free to watch; though, they’re asking for donations to benefit the performers and crew of the production.
While many dance companies are already showing virtual online performances to make up for their closed seasons, A Night at the Ballet was produced entirely during the coronavirus era rather than using footage from older performances. But that’s where the challenge came in: How does one do that safely?
Read the full article here.
By Monica Haider
17 December 2020
Two remarkably powerful women, Tina Tchen, President and CEO of TIME’S UP Now and TIME’S UP Foundation, and Misty Copeland, Principal Dancer at American Ballet Theater, have shattered glass ceilings and helped amplify the discourse on racial and gender equality. On a panel for the 2020 Forbes Power Women’s Summit moderated by ForbesWomen Editor Maggie McGrath, the changemakers shared their thoughts on dismantling barriers, and underscored the importance of empowering one another and building a new normal in a world that has much progress to make.
Copeland, who was the first African-American woman to become Principal Dancer in the American Ballet Theatre, didn’t let the pandemic hinder her work. In fact, she leveraged her experience and position to help the dance community in a time of need. She cofounded Swans for Relief, a fundraiser to support dancers who have been financially impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Together with 31 other female ballet dancers from 14 countries, Copeland performed “The Dying Swan,” which was released on YouTube in May 2020 and generated money for the Covid-19 relief funds of various dance companies.
Tina Tchen’s monumental work advocating for gender equity and workplace diversity, namely through TIME’S UP—which she cofounded in response to the Harvey Weinstein scandal—has remained strong in 2020. They documented stories of women working on the front lines of the pandemic, created a guide to equity and inclusion to advise companies on how to maintain anti-racist practices during a crisis, commissioned a survey showing Covid-19’s impact on the pay gap and launched a five-year initiative with Melinda Gates’ Pivotal Ventures to examine the impact of gender and racial inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic. TIME’S UP also started the “We Have Her Back” campaign this year, calling on the media to refrain from unfair coverage of women. Eliminating racist and sexist attacks is a focal point of the mission, which was widely highlighted when Biden announced that Kamala Harris would be his running mate.
Read the full article here.
By Charlene Co
15 December 2020
Under the unforgiving, highly competitive and elitist spotlight of classical ballet, Misty Copeland shines. Copeland, who in 2015 became the first African-American promoted to principal dancer at the prestigious American Ballet Theatre (ABT), moves with youthful exuberance, stunning artistry and sheer veracity.
She’s come a long way from her days of attending ballet classes on the basketball court of a local youth community centre. There, at the late age of 13, she learned her pliés and elevés while living in a motel room, struggling for a space to sleep on the floor with her five other siblings. But as most awe-inspiring stories go, this rough journey propelled her to successes she never thought was even remotely possible.
Over her 25-year career, Copeland has taken on a range of both classical and contemporary roles – among her most notable ones was in 2012, when she performed the title role in The Firebird, choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky, and the lead role of Odette/Odile in ABT’s Swan Lake in 2014, making history as the first black woman to assume the role. In 2015, she was promoted to principal dancer at ABT, and in the same year named by Time magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people. Copeland’s professional success provided her with a platform from which she continues to rally passionately behind racial and gender equality, and inspires aspiring young ballerinas, especially those of colour and from less privileged circumstances.
Read the full article here.
Instead of streaming the same old Nutcrackers this year, we’d recommend exploring something outside the usual male-choreographed, big city productions…
By Abigail Rasminsky For Dance Spirit
02 December 2020
To ensure the show would feel authentic, the creators set out to cast dancers who could act, not actors who’d require dance doubles. The process spanned three months and many continents. It often felt—especially when casting two of the leads, roles that ultimately went to Kylie Jefferson and Barton Cowperthwaite—like “trying to find unicorns,” head choreographer and dance consultant Jennifer Nichols says. “To be at that level of dance skill is already a huge feat, and to be a brilliant actor on top of that is hard.”
Nichols was also tasked with making sure every other element of the production accurately reflected the ballet world. “The team consulted about how the shoe room would really look, how the studio was set up, how to tie a pointe shoe ribbon,” Nichols explains. “These are all dead giveaways unless they’re supervised by someone in the dance world. I was worried we wouldn’t have the time and money to make it all look right, but it was never pushed aside.”
“Tiny Pretty Things” explores issues many young ballet dancers grapple with: How do you befriend your biggest competition? How has racism stained the ballet world? How does a young dancer figure out their sexuality? How common are eating disorders among dancers? “In the past, entertainment often hasn’t done justice to the dance world,” Nichols says. “Not just the ups and downs of it, but also all the difficult work that goes into it.” Oren, played by Barton Cowperthwaite, struggles with his sexual identity and an eating disorder. June, played by Daniela Norman, is tortured by a mother who doesn’t believe in her talent. Bette, played by Casimere Jollette, lives in the shadow of her more gifted sister, a principal dancer in the company. Shane, played by Brennan Clost, worries that his male lover will leave him for a woman.
Kylie Jefferson, 25, who plays Neveah and earned her BFA at The Boston Conservatory, says her character’s storyline reflects her own experiences with racism in ballet from “top to bottom.” In the first episode, the head of the ballet school, played by Lauren Holly, glibly claims that Neveah, who is Black, was plucked out of Compton (she wasn’t); fellow dancers make fun of a YouTube clip of her dancing hip hop; and her ballet teacher critiques her every move (and clothing choice).
Read the full article here.
By Haley Hilton
24 November 2020
It’s clear that COVID-19 has grossly impacted every facet of American life, but could it lead to the decentralization of the dance industry? In the wake of the pandemic, major cities saw dancers leave hot zones and epicenters for middle America—many relocating indefinitely in the face of lost income as the crisis endures. Some are wondering if this sudden scattering may alter the size and makeup of the field, leading to a geographic shift in the dance industry.
In mid-March, service organization Dance/NYC began collecting data on how COVID-19 was impacting the New York City dance landscape. While Dance/NYC did not specifically ask if dancers were migrating away from the city, some sources volunteered that information in open-ended responses. Out of 1,166 respondents, 7 percent noted they had relocated to stay with family and “escape the virus,” with additional respondents stating they were considering leaving.
The exorbitant cost of living in New York City has long plagued dancers striving to make ends meet on artist wages. With coronavirus cutting off income from performances as well as service and retail industry side hustles, the city has become unaffordable for many. Dance/NYC executive director Alejandra Duque Cifuentes fears some dancers may stop dancing altogether post-pandemic. “This crisis has highlighted the severity of income inequality,” she says. “People may need to change careers entirely in order to afford to eat.”
Read the entire article here.
by Emmaly Wiederholt
16 November 2020
Can you tell me a little about your dance history – what shaped who you are today?
My name is Bradford, and I use he/him/his pronouns. I am a San Francisco native, which is becoming increasingly rare and comes with its own privileges. I did not take my first ballet or modern classes until I was a freshman in college at Cal State Long Beach. I started as a pre-med biology major. I was introduced to and encouraged to dance at the end of high school by Nina Mayer, but as far as what people would consider “formal training” in Western dance culture, it wasn’t until college. Somehow, I got into the program when I auditioned to minor, which happened to be the same audition to major, and then I switched.
I had a very conservative Christian upbringing coupled with my experience as an Asian American. Undergrad, for me, was a lot of struggle, both internally and externally. I was trying to navigate my sexuality without having role models or support. Doing that alone, along with not having familial support on my new dance journey, was really hard. But it also felt like the right path, and those experiences informed my interest in the minoritized student experience in Western dance culture. I didn’t have the vocabulary to iterate or understand the questions I was dealing with at the time. It’s only after I’ve graduated and continued with this line of work that I’ve been able to contextualize it.
As a freelance choreographer, my questioning revolves around Western dance performance practices, conventions of Western dance theater, why we do the funny things we do, what is it about the choreographer/dancer/audience relationship, etc. Unpacking that led me into questioning how educational practices in dance continue to perpetuate those practices in performance.
I have had the privilege of working with marginalized student populations, like students from very low-income households, people of color, and people with disabilities, which has significantly impacted my pedagogy and how I consider equity in dance. I’m currently a dancer and teaching artist with AXIS Dance Company, a physically integrated dance company which is one of the world’s leaders in inclusive dance education. Physically integrated means we have dancers with and without physical disabilities.
All these experiences continue to build on my questioning of Western dance practices, and now I’m going into the next iteration of these research interests: How does inequality impact the aesthetics of Western concert dance?
Read the entire article here.
By Paula Citron
21 November 2020
Choreographer, educator, writer, collaborator, producer, dancer – Patricia Beatty’s influence has touched generations of contemporary dance artists who work in every corner of this country. Inspired by American dance pioneer Martha Graham, Beatty became a pioneer of modern dance in Canada. She is credited as being among the first to introduce Graham technique to this country.
As a youngster, the overly energetic, Toronto-born Beatty was sent to Jean Macpherson’s creative dance classes for children, followed by ballet studies with Gladys Forrester and Gweneth Lloyd. As Beatty told me in a 1998 interview, she felt hemmed in by ballet’s autocratic system. Her liberation came when she attended Bennington College in Vermont whose liberal arts curriculum stressed creativity. Although she had never seen contemporary dance, Beatty enrolled in the dance program as a performance and choreography major under teacher William Bales. She also attended the summer programs at Connecticut College, where the New York modern dance luminaries gathered.
After graduation she studied at the José Limón School, but switched to the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, mentored by Bertram Ross and Helen McGehee. As she said, “I became enamoured with the modern dance principle of internal, organic movement. I changed from Limón to Graham technique because I needed to be more grounded than was possible with the lighter Limón style.”
Read the full article here.
By Mike Scutari
19 November 2020
Over the summer, Inside Philanthropy surveyed performing arts professionals about COVID-19’s impact on the sector’s fundraising fortunes. Their pessimistic outlook reminded me of an old quote by Stephen King: “There’s no harm in hoping for the best as long as you’re prepared for the worst.”
I realize it’s pretty macabre to cite the “master of horror” when talking about the state of performing arts fundraising, but these aren’t normal times, and if recent research from TRG Arts and arts data specialists at Purple Seven is any indication, respondents’ worst fears are now coming to pass.
The report found that in the first nine months of 2020, the number of gifts received by performing arts organizations in North America increased by 15%, but the average value of those gifts fell by 24% from the previous year. And while gifts from “super-active patrons”—defined as those who had donated to the organization and/or attended performances at least 10 times—were up 47%, total revenue and average gift size were down 38% and 8% for the nine-month period.
The report is all the more unsettling given the broader economic context. TRG Arts/Purple Seven found that aggregate gift revenue from June to September was down 29% compared to 2019. Yet that tried-and-true barometer of philanthropic giving, the S&P 500 Index, was up 8.4% from June to September 2020, and up 12.9% from September 2019 to September 2020.
“If donors don’t support arts organizations now, when stocks are doing well, they may not be around in the future when the market is uncertain,” said Suzanne Appel, managing director of New York’s Vineyard Theater.
With performing arts nonprofits facing what Julie Wake, executive director of the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, calls a “long and dark winter,” the TRG Arts/Purple Seven report highlights two questions that will make fundraisers feel as if they just read “The Shining” in a darkened room: Why are donors dialing back giving when the market is enjoying a historic run, and what can they do to ensure their organizations can hang on for another 12 to 18 months?
Read the entire article here.
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"The Devil Ties My Tongue" SKETCH Series 2013 | photo: David DeSilva