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"The Devil Ties My Tongue" SKETCH Series 2013 | photo: David DeSilva

New York Times: A Dance Theater of Harlem Classic With a Shot of Rhythm and Blues

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By Roslyn Sulcas

16 June 2020

Dance Theater of Harlem emerged from tragedy and uprisings; the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in 1968, was the catalyst for Arthur Mitchell, the first African-American principal dancer at New York City Ballet, to found (with his teacher, Karel Shook) a ballet school and a company that would offer dancers of color the chance to show that mastering classical dance had nothing to do with race.

There couldn’t be a better moment to spend some time watching this company, which was recently awarded a $4 million gift from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that will go, in part, to supporting new work by women and people of color.

Forced by the coronavirus to cancel its 50th anniversary season in April at New York City Center, the company is now offering a changing selection from its repertory online. On Saturday at 8 p.m. Eastern, Dance Theater of Harlem on Demand will offer Robert Garland’s 1999 “Return,” a homage to James Brown and Aretha Franklin that has become a signature piece for the company. Mr. Garland, the troupe’s resident choreographer, has described the work as “an attempt to fuse an urban physical sensibility and a neo-Classical one,” and it provides a terrific showcase for the dancers, who combine the rigor of ballet technique with the funk of vernacular forms. Starting Wednesday, there are also online talks with Mr. Garland and company members about “Return,” and a Juneteenth and Black Music Month Celebration Dance Party. (R.S.V.P. for this on the company website.)

Until Sunday at midnight, you can catch Darrell Grand Moultrie’s “Vessels,” a well-crafted and inventive neo-Classical ballet to music by Enzio Bosso. You can also watch a conversation between Mr. Moultrie and Virginia Johnson, the company’s artistic director, about the work, which also touches on his thoughts about the protests and foregrounding of the Black Lives Matter movement since the killing of George Floyd.

Read the full article online here. 

Playbill: Dance Theatre of Harlem Launches 7-Weeks of Online Programming

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By Mark Peikert

13 June 2020

With its 50th Anniversary Celebration cut short by COVID-19, Dance Theatre of Harlem has turned to its archives to continue honoring its five decades of work. The new weekly Virtual Ballet Series launched June 6 with Creole Giselle.

All of the full works (and accompanying videos and articles) will be available on DTH’s YouTube channel and Facebook page each Saturday beginning at 8 PM ET until 11:59 PM on Sunday. Creole Giselle will remain available to view until 11:59 PM ET June 19. The full lineup below, and consider giving to the DTH Emergency Relief Fund, if you are able.

READ: Dance Theatre of Harlem Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary at New York City Center

June 11
Vessels (Choreographed by Darell Grand Moultrie)

June 20
Return (Choreographed by Robert Garland)

 

See the full schedule online here.

Pointe: My Experience as a Black Ballerina in a World of Implicit Bias

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By Chyrstyn Mariah Fentroy

5 Jun 2020

I remember the first year that I competed at the Youth America Grand Prix. I was 17 years old and particularly excited to be participating in a competition that focused on ballet. First up for my age group was classical, where I danced Kitri’s Act I variation showing off all of my strengths: personality, speed and the ability to jump and turn. I felt really proud of how it went—imperfect, but not terrible.

The next day I performed my contemporary solo, a dance I choreographed to a jazzy version of The Beatles’ “Blackbird.” I danced in bare feet with my natural hair out. Halfway through the solo I forgot the steps and improvised my way through the rest. I felt mortified, defeated and heartbroken. Later that day, I was pulled aside by one of the competition’s organizers congratulating me (what?) and telling me that they wanted to work to get me a scholarship to The Ailey School. I had already participated in Ailey’s intensive the summer prior and had discovered that modern dance was not the language in which I wanted to develop. I wanted to do ballet.

At the time I didn’t understand why Ailey kept being pushed on me, but looking back I understand that in this moment, the reason had not much to do with my dancing and more to do with the texture of my hair and the color of my skin.

Well-intended ignorance. The ballet world is full of it. It took me years to see it. Why were the same three places—Dance Theatre of Harlem, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Houston Ballet—always mentioned to me when people recommended where to dance? Eventually it dawned on me that while two of these are well-known as historically Black companies, all three organizations had been known to have women of color at the forefront: Virginia Johnson, Judith Jamison, Lauren Anderson.

Modern Healthcare: Women health workers are at risk for mental health issues during COVID-19

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The Washington Post: How Natalia Makarova changed the ballet world with this landmark production

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By Sarah L. Kaufman

Forty years ago almost to the day, American Ballet Theatre premiered a glittering extravaganza of Indian temple dancers, bejeweled Brahmins, an opium-aided trip to the afterlife and an earthquake watched over by a Buddha as big as a house.

By the time the curtain fell, the ballet landscape had changed.

Natalia Makarova created, directed and starred in that landmark production of “La Bayadere.” It became an ABT staple and eventually entered the repertoires of troupes around the world. As she was first bringing it to the stage, Makarova taught the ABT dancers every step and gesture of the three-hour production, with corps de ballet rookies and the company’s greats alike watching in fear and awe as the world-famous Russian ballerina commanded them to dance bigger, move freer and even breathe with more conviction.

Read the full article with a subscription to The Washington Post.

Pointe: Alabama Ballet’s Repertoire Offers Dancers Chances to Perform Works by Some of Ballet’s Biggest Names

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22 May 2020

By Rachel Hellwig

Flocks of swans, waltzing flowers, bourréeing phantoms and leaping princes are all regular sights in rehearsals at Alabama Ballet’s downtown Birmingham studios. Throughout its season, the company produces classical story ballets as well as works by major names like Twyla Tharp, Agnes de Mille and Jiří Kylián. “We’re classically based,” says artistic director Tracey Alvey, who trained at The Royal Ballet School and was a principal with London City Ballet.

But during Alabama Ballet’s annual Ovation showcase, the programming skews more toward the contemporary, as Alvey aims to “give the dancers something to extend their abilities. They need to be versatile, able to jump into any style and excel.” This May, the double-bill features pieces by two female choreographers: the lyrical Donnette Cannonie and German dancemaker Anna Vita.

Springing from three local organizations, Alabama Ballet traces its roots to the early 1980s, and was originally directed by noted Bulgarian dancer Sonia Arova and her husband, Thor Sutowski. Former American Ballet Theatre principal Wes Chapman served as artistic director next, from 1996 until Alvey’s arrival in 2007. Under Chapman’s leadership, the company began to present George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. In 1998, Alabama Ballet added a school, which became RAD certified under Alvey.

Alabama Ballet performs four main-stage productions per season plus an in-studio show. Story ballets are a staple, so audiences can expect full-lengths—such as Romeo & Juliet, La Sylphide and The Sleeping Beauty—alongside mixed-repertoire programs ranging from classical to contemporary. In recent years, these have included Act II of La Bayadère, Études by Harald Lander, Tharp’s In the Upper Room, de Mille’s Rodeo and Kylián’s Sechs Tänze. Associate artistic director and resident choreographer Roger VanFleteren also produces original work, like Bonnie and Clyde and Alice in Wonderland.

“I love the variety of the repertoire,” says Ariana Czernobil, who’s now in her ninth season. “It’s so different from year to year.” A graduate of University of North Carolina School of the Arts’ high school program, she became acquainted with Alabama Ballet as a teen because her sister was a company member. “Since we’re unranked, there are also opportunities for new dancers to perform solo roles,” says Czernobil. “An apprentice might be cast in the corps and also in a variation. We cheer everyone on.”

Read more here.

Vox: Women are burned out at work and at home

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18 May 2020

By Emily Stewart

Sheryl Sandberg on the “double-double shift” women are working during the coronavirus.

Amid the coronavirus crisis, millions of Americans are working from home and trying to balance their home lives. And women, specifically, are bearing the brunt of the labor.

New research from Lean In, the women’s organization founded by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, examines how women working from home are faring during the Covid-19 pandemic compared with men. Their findings, at least to many women in that situation, are likely unsurprising: Women with full-time jobs, a partner, and children report spending a combined 71 hours a week on child care, elder care, and household chores — compared with 51 hours for men.

A quarter of women are experiencing physical symptoms of severe anxiety, compared with just 11 percent of men. Women of color are facing an especially tough situation: 75 percent of black and Latina women spend a combined 21-plus hours per week on housework, compared with just over half of white women; they also spend more time on child care and elder care than their white counterparts.

“We know that when things get hard, women get hit the hardest,” says Sandberg. “The double whammy of what happens in the workforce and then what happens to demands on home help has never been higher.”

Read the full article here. 

The Guardian: BalletBoyz: Deluxe review – striking dances packed with talent

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26 March 2020

By Lyndsey Winship

With their 20th anniversary tour now on hold, BalletBoyz rise to meet the challenge of theatreland going digital, taking their new show Deluxe online to launch the Facebook Premieres series from Sadler’s Wells.

No strangers to the screen, directors Michael Nunn and William Trevitt often use behind-the-scenes video to connect with the audience, and this show’s opening dance was always going to be a film. The Intro is a short by new choreographer Sarah Golding. It’s a striking piece with jazz dance flavour, its camp edge offset by the blokeishness of the six dancers, an enjoyable dissonance that whets the appetite for more of Golding’s work.

Nunn and Trevitt are never predictable in their choices of collaborators, giving us the first UK commission for Chinese choreographer Xie Xin. Her piece Ripple would probably have benefitted from being seen live (or at least on a large screen with the lights off), being all about tapping into an energy state, a continuous ebb and flow of rolling tides, the dancers crossing each other’s paths like warp and weft to the raw strings and electronics of Shaofeng Jiang’s score.

Maxine Doyle’s Bradley 4.18 fares well on screen. Renowned as the choreographer behind immersive theatre megastars Punchdrunk, it’s great to see Doyle’s work stand by itself. Rather than a free-roaming experience, there’s focus with just one camera, and it’s beautifully shot and framed (great lighting too, from Andrew Ellis).

Read the full article. 

The Lily: ‘I had to choose being a mother’: With no child care or summer camps, women are being edged out of the workforce

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22 May 2020

By Caroline Kitchener

If day cares closed because of the novel coronavirus, Aimee expected her family to fare better than most. She worked full time as the chief executive of a tech company while her husband stayed home. He’d been taking some time off from his own tech career, managing a rental property while considering his options. He could look after their 3-year-old son, she thought — at least for a while.

“That lasted a grand total of three days,” Aimee said. (We have withheld Aimee’s last name and her husband’s name because of threats made against their family.)

Once her son was home full time, she realized they’d need a different solution. She was holed up in the guest room, wielding dual-monitors at her desk. Her husband was exhausted. “I can’t do it,” she remembers him saying: “I can’t watch him for this long.”

Aimee, 46, had been logging 70-hour weeks for years — and she was proud of the work she’d done. When she started her career in San Francisco, she was one of two women at a video game company, buying nondescript jeans and hoodies so she could be “one of the guys.” Eventually she came to run a company she co-founded, building open-source websites for clients like Stanford University. Aimee, who oversaw software development, co-led a diverse team of 13 employees. She was intentional about hiring women, minorities and others who challenged the stereotypes about Silicon Valley.

Read the full article.

Broadway World: San Francisco’s Ballet’s Free Weekly Streams Run Through The Month Of June

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22 May 2020

By BWW News Desk

San Francisco Ballet announces further free weekly streams on SF Ballet @ Home, featuring commissioned works from the 2018 Unbound festival and other notable ballets from SF Ballet’s repertory.

For each of the past eight weeks, SF Ballet has streamed a complete ballet from its archives on Facebook, IGTV, YouTube, and the SF Ballet website, calling on regional, national, and international audiences to relish the joy of dance while sheltering in place. SF Ballet @ Home is made possible through the generosity it has received from the community through the Critical Relief Fund. The recordings are produced under agreements with the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center, American Guild of Musical Artists, American Federation of Musicians, and International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.

The Friday, June 12 stream will feature Arthur Pita‘s Björk Ballet. In conjunction, SF Ballet will host a virtual, free Nite Out celebration in honor of the 50th anniversary of San Francisco Pride. Nite Out is the Company’s long-running series of performances and post-show parties that celebrate diversity and the LGBTQ+ community through dance. Hosted by an SF Ballet dancer, the June 12 Nite Out celebration includes a Meet the Artist interview on Facebook, DIY cocktail recipes, and a DJ-curated set list.

Over 60% of SF Ballet’s ambitious repertory season was curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. To commemorate the artists and creativity of the Company, SF Ballet will stream the complete program from the 2020 Opening Night Gala, Spellbound, on June 26 on SF Ballet @ Home. The stream includes the world premiere performance of Val Caniparoli’s Foreshadow, inspired by the love triangle in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, and the SF Ballet premiere of Danielle Rowe’s For Pixie. Other programming highlights include SF Ballet premiere of the pas de deux from David Dawson‘s Swan Lake, danced by departing principal dancers Sofiane Sylve and Carlo Di Lanno, and the world premiere of Myles Thatcher’s 05:49.

Read the full article here.