News
"The Devil Ties My Tongue" SKETCH Series 2013 | photo: David DeSilva
Children of all abilities glide from page to stage with the likes of American Ballet Theater and New York City Ballet pros.
Hyperallergic: A Brief Guide on How to Get Your Creative Work Seen, Funded, and Supported
By Eva Recinos
14 December 2020
There are two major aspects of being any type of creative person, in my experience: the challenge of creating the thing and the challenge of getting it seen. If you’re ready to dedicate more time to your craft and put yourself out there, let’s get started.
1. First Steps
To keep this brief, I am focusing on four key areas that can help you get your work seen, supported, and funded: grants and fellowships, residencies, competitions, and social media. By no means an end-all be-all guide, these tips focus on resources for emerging to mid-career creative people.
Here are some basic things you’ll want to gather:
- Your bio
- Samples of your work (images, audio, writing clips, etc.)
- Resume/CV
- Project description (if you have a specific project in mind)
- Current mailing address
- Website or online portfolio
- Social media handles
- References
Read the full guide here.
Datebook: Helgi Tomasson to step down at S.F. Ballet in 2022, after nearly 40 years at the helm
By J
6 January 2020
Helgi Tomasson will step down as artistic director and principal choreographer of the San Francisco Ballet by June 2022, the company announced Wednesday, Jan. 6. The move will put the seal on nearly four decades of artistic leadership that has helped propel the ballet company to the forefront of the dance world.
Since being named to the position in 1985, Tomasson, 78, has been hailed for his success at combining excellence in the classical ballet repertoire with a spirit of artistic innovation and the development of new work. Tomasson alone has created more than 50 dances for the company, as well as commissioning work from a wide range of contemporary masters and developing artists. Meanwhile, the technical level of execution on display at the War Memorial Opera House has made S.F. Ballet a beacon both nationally and internationally.
Six years ago, in an interview with The Chronicle, Tomasson waved away the prospect of retirement, saying he was too busy to even think about the possibility. But now, he says, the Ballet is well-positioned to forge ahead with a new chapter in its 88-year history — and he and his wife, Marlene, are eager to spend more time with family, including their two grandchildren in Germany.
“This had been on my mind for a while, even before the pandemic,” he said in a video interview over Zoom. “And as I assess where we are now, I feel the company has come through this very well.
“We’ve been rehearsing since September. We were able to create three new ballets and film them for streaming. That’s quite an accomplishment.”
Read the full article here.
Data Bytes: Leadership Changes 2020
Dance Data Project® (DDP) today announces Data Bytes, the latest category of research that illuminates trends in the ballet industry through a new format of quick and easy-to-read metrics. The first release in this new category, 2020 Leadership Changes – Our End of the Year Mini Report on Comings and Goings in the Industry, sorts by gender the leadership transitions throughout major ballet companies and allied organizations such as festivals.
Irish Times: Ballet schools push for official pirouette on ‘unfair’ Covid restrictions
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.
New York Times: 5 Dance Picture BooksChildren of all abilities glide from page to stage with the likes of American Ballet Theater and New York City Ballet pros.
Written by Nancy Bo Flood
Illustrated by Julianna Swaney
“I want to dance, but I can hardly move.”
In “I Will Dance,” Nancy Bo Flood parts the curtain on the life of a girl who was born with cerebral palsy and expected to live “one minute, maybe two, not 10 years of minutes.” Our young narrator — succinct, soulful and sitting in a wheelchair — cannot blow out the candles on her birthday cake. “Not enough strength.” But she has a wish: She wants to dance.
Any book that opens a child’s imagination to the art of movement is something I can get behind, but “I Will Dance” does more: It puts us in this child’s chair, in her tiny yearning body and in her mind, which is mobile and alive. When she speaks, what strikes you is her brevity. It’s as if she has no time to waste on unnecessary words. She is so soft-spoken, yet so firm. It’s not that she wants to dance, it’s that she will.
Of five new children’s dance books, “I Will Dance” is the only one to move away from ballet (once the unrequited birthday wish is divulged). That’s brave; as anyone with a child knows, tutus sell. But this approach is not the only thing that sets it apart: It’s also the details. Our heroine is so smitten with dance that a poster of Martha Graham in “Appalachian Spring” hangs next to her bed. This kills me. Still, when she learns of an audition for Young Dance (a real organization devoted to dancers of all abilities), she is racked by self-doubt: “I am safe in my steel chair, stationary wheels, a motor, me.” At the studio, dancers are arranged in a circle and told to “pass the touch.” The teacher, after kicking a leg behind her in a graceful arc, bends toward the girl and touches her fingers. “Something inside me changes.” As the chain continues, we see the power and harmony that builds from dancing bodies in Julianna Swaney’s illustrations, which glide across the page lending innocence to lightness, effervescence to urgency. “I Will Dance” rides on the sensation of movement; it’s simple yet sophisticated.
B IS FOR BALLET
A Dance Alphabet
Written by John Robert Allman
Illustrated by Rachael Dean
But can a more conventional book on the world of ballet lead a child to do more than, say, wear a tutu to school? Two collaborations with American Ballet Theater try, though neither sparkles. “B Is for Ballet,” by John Robert Allman, with illustrations by Rachael Dean, takes young readers through the alphabet, starting with A for arabesque. It is full of images of Ballet Theater dancers past and present, but they look like their aspirational Bitmojis rather than the actual people. And in a career as ageist as ballet, it’s disheartening to see Alessandra Ferri, one of the greatest dramatic ballerinas of all time, relegated to the letter I, as in “ice bath” for “soothing tired, tattered feet. After promenades in pointe shoes, relaxation can’t be beat.”
…
WELCOME TO BALLET SCHOOL
Written by Ashley Bouder
Illustrated by Julia Bereciartu
In “Welcome to Ballet School,” Bouder, a principal dancer at New York City Ballet, pays homage to her former teacher, the celebrated Marcia Dale Weary. Julia Bereciartu’s illustrations capture her charmingly, from her trademark blond bangs to her sensible skirt and cardigan. The scene is the first day of class for a diverse group of young people, including Violet, Bouder’s daughter in the book and in life. During the second half of the class, Bouder shows up to teach them sections of “Sleeping Beauty.” As they work their way through ballet positions, the children are given playful facial expressions by Bereciartu: Tongues stick out when steps become complicated; hilarious frozen smiles appear when they try to balance. Through it all, “Welcome” takes ballet seriously. Bouder explains ballet terminology with diagrams that resemble those in a training manual. (My younger self would have eaten it up.) She also moves beyond steps to the heart of dancing. When Violet topples over while stretching her leg high in a grand battement, Weary tells her, “It is better to try our hardest and fall down than to not try at all.” It’s something of an inside joke. Bouder, a dancer known for her virtuosity and daring, has delivered splendid crashes at City Ballet. And the message is correct: A fall is a sign that a dancer is going for it.
Read the full list from the New York Times here.
