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November 1st: The Virginia B. Toulmin Fellowship for Women Leaders in Dance

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

DW: #MeToo and more — five hashtags for equality

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1. #MeToo — accusations overrun Hollywood

On October 5, 2017, film producer Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual harassment in a New York Times article. 10 days later, US actress Alyssa Milano urged women to write “me too” in answer to her post on Twitter if they, too, had experienced sexual harassment. This was the birth of the #MeToo movement, a worldwide debate about the sexual abuse of power.

2. #Aufschrei — Germany discusses sexism

Germany was in the midst of a heated debate on sexism as early as 2013, when a journalist wrote about an encounter with a German politician who stared at her breasts, and told her she could easily “fill a dirndl.” A German feminist immediately started the hashtag #aufschrei (outcry), and tens of thousands of women responded, sharing their experiences with everyday sexism. The issue found its way into the established media and politics, the first time ever that a hastag has had such clout in Germany.

Read the full list on DW.

Aszure Barton at City Center with Houston Ballet

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Houston Ballet comes to New York City with Morris, Barton, and Peck.

Don’t Miss Work from Three of Today’s Most Acclaimed Choreographers on October 24-25.

Reposted from City Center:

Aszure Barton has been described as “brilliant” by The San Francisco Chronicle, “audacious” by The New York Times, and The Boston Globe considers her “a rare accomplishment in the world of contemporary dance.” Come In was a breakout work for Barton, placing her signature style of measured gesture and lyrical whimsy on the international dance map. In it, she uses a group of 14 men moving together in taut, spare unison, finding powerful stillness together and then breaking apart in gleeful exaltation to meditate on the nature of conformity and self-expression.

Listen to Aszure Barton talk about the creation of Come In.

Star Tribune: Courtly dances, spiritual journeys and a rave at Minnesota Dance Theatre

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By Sheila Regan

12 October 2019

The first flakes of snow that fell on the Twin Cities on Friday night didn’t seem to stop Minnesota Dance Theatre from bringing a bit of spring to their fall concert. The company’s repertory piece, “Boccherini Dances,” choreographed by late founder Loyce Houlton in 1984 to the courtly music of Luigi Boccherini, feels like a spring romp.

The piece requires huge amounts of technical skill from the three pairs of dancers performing it, while also emitting a graceful airiness. Boccherini’s music has a complex structure, with lots of repetition and variation, as does Houlton’s choreography. It’s satisfying to watch the three pairs diverge, switch partners, and come back again, with each pair getting moments to shine with dazzling lifts and falls. There are a couple of times when the three male performers dance together, all of which are quite fun.

MDT’s fall season features two world premieres. The first is “The Gateless Gate,” by Alanna Morris-Van Tassel, who shows herself adept at molding groups of bodies in movement in the Lab’s vast space, and at playing with tempo, juxtaposing moments of slow motion and stillness with sudden sprinting breaks.

Read the full article in The Star Tribune.

Ruling Our Experiences: RESEARCH RELEASED TODAY SHOWS: GIRLS’ UNDERREPRESENTATION IN STEM CAREERS IS DRIVEN BY A LACK OF CONFIDENCE

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COLUMBUS (October 11, 2018) – On the International Day of the Girl, Ruling Our eXperiences, Inc. (ROX) reveals new findings related to adolescent girls and careers from a national survey of more than 10,000 girls. The largest study of its kind,  The Girls’ Index™: New Insights into the Complex World of Today’s Girls, provides a deeper understanding of the factors related to girls’ abilities, perceptions and aspirations for their futures.

The findings from this new report entitled, Girls, STEM and Careers: Decoding Girls’ Futures in an Age of Social Media, were released today at Intuit Headquarters in Mountain View, CA as part of this year’s International Day of the Girl celebration.

“The revelations contained in this research study effectively reframe the conversation and highlight the opportunities ahead as we empower the next generation of women leaders to take their seat at the table,” said Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit. “In a world where an understanding of STEM is quickly becoming table stakes, building confidence and capability in girls that their contributions measure up and matter is critical to their individual and our collective success. At Intuit, we have benefited greatly from talented women leading our company at every level, from the board room to our front lines, and we are champions of the important work that Ruling Our eXperiences (ROX) is driving to increase the pipeline of interested and capable girls in pursuit of their dreams.”

Learn more about this report on ROX.

The Oklahoman – Penny Saunders Commissioned by Oklahoma City Ballet

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From the article: On their toes: OKC Ballet leaping into 2019-2020 with October production Michael Pink’s ‘Dracula’

By Brandy McDonnell

10 October 2019

…

The middle portion of the triple bill will be a world premiere piece by Penny Saunders, whom Mills met when they were both selected in 2017 for the National Choreographers Initiative.

“She’s just very talented … and I want to perpetuate the idea of female choreographers,” he said. “There’s a lot of misogyny in ballet. … There’s not a lot of female choreographers.”

Looking to the ‘Future’

An add-on production to the subscription season, OKC Ballet will present “Future Voices: A Choreographic Showcase” March 12-15 in the Inasmuch Foundation Theatre at the Brackett Dance Center. Intended to be an annual event, the showcase will feature works by Mills, OKC Ballet staffers and dancers, as well as dance professors from local universities.

“This isn’t meant to be a finished performance. This is meant to be people coming into our building and learning about choreography,” Mills said. “If I hadn’t had similar opportunities like this, I wouldn’t have developed into the choreographer that I am.”

Read the full article in The Oklahoman.

New York Times: Review: In Merce Cunningham’s Honor, Pam Tanowitz Thrills

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By Roslyn Sulcas

11 October 2019

LONDON — Seven dancers, their backs to the audience, heads turned in profile, move on to the stage in silence, stepping to the left on a bent leg, then ceremoniously curving the right leg forward. Arms interlinked behind backs, the women in soft draped dresses, they look like ancient figures on a Greek vase. The music begins: not ancient at all, but jagged, abrasive strings. A lone man appears. He is performing the same sequence, but facing forward.

Pam Tanowitz’s “Everyone Keeps Me,” a new work for the Royal Ballet that premiered here on Thursday, has begun, and for 20 entrancing minutes, we are in her strange, resonantly poetic world.

The dance critic Edwin Denby once wrote that “the strange thing about making pieces that have no logical narrative or logical formal structure is that it needs an exceedingly dramatic gift.” He was talking about Merce Cunningham, but that’s true too of Ms. Tanowitz, a choreographer who labored quietly at her craft for decades and now is suddenly in demand everywhere. In the last year, she has created pieces for the New York City Ballet, the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Paul Taylor Company, among others.

Read the full article in The New York Times.

Washington Post: Suzanne Farrell returns to New York City Ballet to coach dancers

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By Sarah Kaufman

10 April 2019

Ballet eminences across the country hailed the news this week that Suzanne Farrell, the celebrated ballerina and choreographic inspiration to …

Read the full article in The Washington Post.

Joffrey Ballet’s Staging of Jane Eyre – A Full-Length Ballet By Cathy Marston – Hits Chicago

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In June, American Ballet Theatre performed the US premiere of Cathy Marston’s Jane Eyre at the Metropolitan Opera House. The ballet was brought to the United States through a joint collaboration with Joffrey Ballet, which will now perform the work in its fall season in Chicago.

Given the paucity of female-choreographed, full-length ballets for the main stage around the ballet world, Marston’s invitation and support by these two major companies is of no small significance. Programming women is vital to diversifying ballet company repertoire, and these companies are leading the way.

Learn more about the production in Joffrey Ballet’s Inside the Studio video below or visit the company’s website here.

Learn more about Cathy Marston here.

Dance Spirit: How 20-Year-Old Gianna Reisen Balances Choreographing for NYCB and Dancing With L.A. Dance Project

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By Olivia Manno

9 October 2019

It was fall 2016. Gianna Reisen—then 17 and in her final year at the School of American Ballet, New York City Ballet’s official training school—had just been made the offer of a lifetime: the chance to choreograph a work for the company’s fall gala. She would be the youngest person ever to do so.

Two weeks later, Reisen went from an all-time high to an all-time low: She found out she wouldn’t be getting an apprenticeship with NYCB. “I absolutely deflated,” she remembers. “Imagine if, after seven years of working towards something, it simply doesn’t happen. It’s sort of heartbreaking.”

But Reisen, now 20, handled the roller-coaster ride with aplomb. And her career has only accelerated since that fall. She’s created not just one ballet for NYCB but two: Composer’s Holiday, that first commission, which premiered in September 2017, and Judah, which premiered in September 2018. She spent a season at Dresden Semperoper Ballett before joining Benjamin Millepied’s trailblazing L.A. Dance Project, and recently created a new work for LADP.

With such a full plate, when does Reisen stop to catch her breath? As it turns out, she doesn’t need to: Constantly creating is her oxygen.

Read the full article in Dance Spirit.

Dance Business Weekly: 4 Things to Know Before You Open a Dance Studio—or Any Dance Business, for That Matter

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By Rachel Rizzuto

9 October 2019

Dreaming of opening a dance studio of your own? It might be more of a rude awakening than you’re imagining—especially if you’ve spent a few years as part of another studio’s faculty. Sure, you might have good ideas you’re ready to implement and a vision of yourself as the boss you’ve always wanted. But owning a business also means you’ll have to give up some of your favorite parts of your old job and learn or take on or even hire others for new roles and skills in order to keep your business moving forward. “If you’ve got the bug, it’s a magical adventure to own your own business,” says Genevieve Weeks, founder of Tutu School, a dance studio business with a successful franchise model that has grown to 34 locations throughout the country. “But some people are drawn to it because of the way they see it presented on Instagram. They’re not thinking about the layers underneath.” 

You’ll Need a Business Owner’s Mind-set

Owning a studio is a dramatic change in job description and requires a switch to a business mind-set—so here are four things to keep in mind before you launch.

1. Make sure you have enough capital to give yourself a really long runway for takeoff. 

“One of the primary reasons small businesses aren’t successful is that they’re not properly capitalized,” says Weeks. “You need enough of a runway to really give yourself a chance. You could be one month away from really turning a profit and becoming successful, but you have to shut down because you don’t have the next month’s rent or payroll.” 

Read the full article on Dance Business Weekly.