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"The Devil Ties My Tongue" by Amy Seiwert performed for the SKETCH Series, 2013. Photo by David DeSilva. Courtesy of Amy Seiwert's Imagery

Up to date announcements of company seasons, featured artists and special programming as well as grant of awards such as Princess Grace, or artistic appointments

New York Times: Dance on Film Is the Only Game in Town. BalletX Takes the Field.

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By Brian Seibert

24 September 2020

This much we know: Another fall season of ballet is beginning, and almost none of it will take place in person. Ballet companies need to make dance films, and they need to be better than the forgiveably slapdash “we’re still here” video postcards of the early pandemic period.

The big guns, like New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater, have announced plans for premieres in the coming months. But a much smaller troupe, BalletX in Philadelphia, is ahead of the game. On Wednesday night, it released four new works.

These works will remain available indefinitely, but they aren’t free. To watch them, you have to subscribe to BalletX Beyond, which also gives you access to premieres later in the season, along with extras like interviews and making-of documentaries. The cheapest plan is $15 a month — less than a ticket to a live show but almost as much as premium Netflix. It’s a necessary experiment, especially for companies without huge endowments. Somebody has to figure out how to get people to pay for digital dance.

One enticement is to offer films that at least look professional and try to take advantage of the medium. On this score, the new BalletX films succeed. The choreographers have collaborated with skilled filmmakers. And while not ranging far from Philadelphia, the locations suggest a world much wider, varied and visually exciting than a dance studio or the inside of a dancer’s apartment.
Read the full article here.

Cincinnati Business Courier: With Covid-19 protocols in place, Cincinnati Ballet returns joyously to the stage

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By Janelle Gelfand

24 September 2020

This weekend, Cincinnati Ballet will be one of the first dance companies in the nation to return to the stage since the Covid-19 lockdown. Three performances, the first in more than six months, sold out in an hour. An added fourth show sold out in five minutes.

It’s a cautious return – outdoors at Sawyer Point’s P&G Pavilion before a socially distanced audience and with myriad precautions for the dancers.

Each performance is free and will seat about 350 people, in circles from the same household.

Artistic director Victoria Morgan and two of her leading dancers – principal dancer Melissa Gelfin De-Poli and soloist David Morse – couldn’t contain their joy about returning to the studio and the stage.

“It’s a relief, it’s a joy, it just feels so right,” Morgan said. “Even though you sweat and you pant and you’re in a mask, I haven’t heard a single complaint. The dancers are really ready to take it on again. We’re desperate just to be there with our audiences and to feel that energy.”

For the past few weeks, Cincinnati Ballet dancers have been back in the studio, preparing for a fall season that most other companies have abandoned due to the coronavirus. Preparations have been complex, to say the least. They are rehearsing an art form with a large amount of personal contact. For that reason, the “Ballet in the Park” program will consist mainly of solos and pas de deux.

It is a mixture of new works and company favorites such as excerpts from “The Wizard of Oz,” “Don Quixote” and Morgan’s own “Black Coffee,” which Morgan choreographed to the music of k.d. lang.

Read the full article here.

 

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly’s 2020 fall dance season has abandoned all the rules – here’s what to expect

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By Nancy G. Heller

26 September 2020

Lucky for the rest of us, artists are unstoppable. In the face of seemingly insurmountable COVID-19-related restrictions, dancers have been working with filmmakers for the past six months to find exciting new ways to continue creating and sharing their creations. Thus, we can look forward to a surprisingly robust fall 2020 dance season, even as we are looking from home.

Two extraordinary, and very different, highlights of this season are available right now, online: The Philadelphia Matter, 1972/2020 by New York-based modern dance pioneer David Gordon (through Oct. 4, details at fringearts.com) and the first installment of BalletX Beyond (ongoing at balletx.org), an all-digital subscription series from the local contemporary ballet troupe.

In Gordon’s hour-long film, he collaborates with his longtime professional and life partner, British dancer Valda Setterfield, plus videographer Jorge Cousineau, to create a rich visual and aural collage, with images assembled into an ever-changing patchwork of various-sized rectangles that cover the screen — like a Zoom meeting gone berserk.

It centers on three of his signature pieces: Song and Dance (inspired by Gordon’s childhood love of Hollywood musicals), Up Close (an intimate, loving, and ultimately devastating duet made for him and his wife), and Chair (which evolved from the carefully calibrated exercises Gordon invented to help his wife recover from a terrible injury).

But the film also invites viewers to deeply explore some of the most basic questions related to dance on film: What are the differences between the filmed performance of a dance that was originally conceived for live theater and dance that was always intended to form part of a film? How about dance “numbers” in movie musicals?

Read the full article here.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Atlanta Ballet’s drive-in Nutcracker: an alternative holiday tradition

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By Bo Emerson

24 September 2020

Everything has changed this year and the holidays will change as well.

Door-to-door for Halloween? The CDC recommends against it. Getting the whole crowd together for Thanksgiving? That could be tricky.

And what of “The Nutcracker,” the wintertime staple that pays the rest of the year’s bills for the Atlanta Ballet?

Just assembling the dancers on stage and the orchestra in the pit would pose some challenges, say ballet officials. Plus, the new home of “The Nutcracker,” the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, has postponed all events until the new year.

But the Atlanta Ballet refuses to be stopped, and on Dec. 2-6 will go outside the footlights.

For five nights the ballet company will construct a pop-up drive-in movie theater on the Cobb Energy Centre’s surface parking lot, and will welcome patrons at $100 a carload ($150 for the front-row parking spaces).

On the screen will be a video version of Tchaikovsky’s marvelous music and Yuri Possokhov’s choreography, telling the story of an enchanted tree, a dreamlike journey and a climactic battle. The film will feature the new staging of “The Nutcracker,” with its outsize sets and startling video projections, introduced to Atlanta audiences in 2018 by artistic director Gennadi Nedvigin.

Read the full article here.

The Guardian: Royal Ballet announces October comeback with more than 70 dancers

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By Mark Brown

23 September 2020

One of the largest dance performances to happen anywhere in the world since the coronavirus pandemic began has been announced featuring the full company of the Royal Ballet – and while it will be socially distanced, there will be dance duets thanks to couples in bubbles.

The company has revealed ambitious details of its “comeback” after a seven-month break from full performances on the Covent Garden stage. The plan is for a celebration performance with more than 70 dancers and a full orchestra on 9 October, livestreamed around the world.

Pieces have been chosen that accommodate distanced dancing but it would not have been the same without the intimacy of duets, or pas de deux, according to the Royal Ballet’s director Kevin O’Hare.

The company already has three real-life couples in the shape of Mayara Magri and Matthew Ball, Francesca Hayward and Cesar Corrales, and Fumi Kaneko and Reece Clarke. It has created seven more bubbles to allow close contact including the superstar pairing of Marianela Nuñez and Vadim Muntagirov. Other pairs include Sarah Lamb and Ryoichi Hirano; Yasmine Naghdi and Nicol Edmonds; and Akane Takada and Federico Bonelli.

“Emotionally, it feels extraordinary to be returning,” O’Hare told the Guardian. “We have to be on stage. It is all about performing on stage as a company, there is nothing greater to us than that … to be there as one. People are feeling quite emotional about it and are desperate for it to happen.”

Read the full article here.

Washington Post: Ford Foundation fund to award an unprecedented $160 million to minority arts groups

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By Geoff Edgers

24 September 2020

Eduardo Vilaro, the artistic director and chief executive of New York’s Ballet Hispánico, has tried to ignore the slights. Well-heeled patrons who wouldn’t join his board because they favored older, Whiter organizations. Theater managers telling him they couldn’t present the company because they had already programmed a “minority-themed” group.

And like so many self-described institutions of color, Ballet Hispánico has a tiny endowment, about $1 million. New York City Ballet, just a cab ride away in Manhattan, has $220 million in the bank, according to its most recent audit. With so little saved up, Ballet Hispánico’s ambitions are perpetually limited.

But next year will be different. The Ford Foundation this week is announcing an unprecedented $160 million-and-growing initiative called America’s Cultural Treasures, with substantial grants going to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) organizations across the country. The grants are, in most cases, the largest ever for the 20 recipients in the first round. Ballet Hispánico will receive $4 million, more than half of its $7 million annual budget.

“It takes an ice pick to this huge glacier of structural white supremacy,” Vilaro says. “This is reorganizing and saying, ‘We have other national treasures that we need to refocus on.’ ”

This is the Ford Foundation’s latest and most dramatic salvo in President Darren Walker’s bid to reinvent how Americans — and most important, American philanthropists — value theater companies, museums and the arts overall. The gap between rich, largely White institutions and younger, BIPOC organizations is wide, but Walker says he sees an opportunity for change now. The killing of George Floyd brought attention to the systemic racism in American society. The pandemic shutdowns drew attention to the financial gulf in the arts world.

“Just as inequality is playing out in our society, in the arts it is playing out,” Walker says. “The Getty and the National Gallery of Art are in their own bubbles. Yes, they’re concerned about finances, but as one of them said to me, ‘This is terrible, but we can raise the money.’

“When you get to the medium and smaller arts organizations — that don’t have endowments, that don’t have rich boards, that don’t have huge amounts of operating cash flow — those organizations are panicked. If we don’t help them, they will be gone.”

Even such blue-chip institutions as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Boston Symphony Orchestra have made painful cuts in recent months, but Walker and other philanthropy leaders have feared that many organizations run by and serving people of color might have to shutter for good.

In June, the 84-year-old Ford Foundation, which has increasingly focused on fighting economic and racial disparity since Walker took over in 2013, announced that it would borrow $1 billion by issuing bonds to help nonprofit groups in every area it funds. And behind the scenes, Walker was working on something focused entirely on culture: A plan to distribute $85 million of that total to organizations run by and in communities of color for what would become America’s Cultural Treasures.

He would not do it alone. Walker began to recruit other foundations to join the mission. Kate Levin, who oversees the arts program at Bloomberg Philanthropies, particularly appreciated the reshuffling invoked by the initiative’s name. Bloomberg is giving $10 million.

“Calling them ‘America’s Cultural Treasures’ recognizes that they are excellent but have suffered the impact of systemic racism by being undercapitalized,” Levin says. “This is a situation that’s been in place a long time now, but it’s time to take action.”

The Ford plan is meant as more than a one-time coronavirus bailout. The network of foundations and donors is providing money that will go to the recipients over four years, presumably long after theaters and museums reopen. And the excitement over a establishing this new set of “treasures” has been contagious.

As of this week, Ford’s initial $85 million commitment spawned $80 million more in giving, which includes Bloomberg, the MacArthur Foundation ($5 million), the Abrams Foundation ($5 million) and the Alice L. Walton Foundation ($5 million).

The first 20 grant recipients, picked by Ford in consultation with the national donors, are geographically and racially diverse. They include the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Mich.; the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage; the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Apollo Theater in New York; the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico in San Juan; and the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience in Seattle. The $1 million to $6 million grants are unrestricted, so the recipients can use them on whatever they choose.

Read the entire article here.

Broadway World: ABT to Present World Premieres by Gemma Bond, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Christopher Rudd and Pam Tanowitz

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By BWW News Desk

22 September 2020

World Premieres by Gemma Bond, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Christopher Rudd and Pam Tanowitz are planned for digital release in Autumn 2020, it was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin Mckenzie.

These new commissions will be created in quarantined settings and filmed to premiere at ABT’s 80th Anniversary Fall 2020 Gala, Wednesday, November 18, on American Ballet Theatre’s YouTube Channel and www.abt.org.

To create these works for digital distribution, ABT dancers and choreographers have embarked on four and five-week residencies in ballet bubbles at two locations in New York State. Each creation period adheres to strict medical and safety guidelines with a quarantine and testing period prior to the start of rehearsals. Behind-the-scenes footage, along with interviews with dancers and creators, will be captured for viewing on ABT’s social media platforms. Two individual ballet bubbles began September 21, 2020 at the Silver Bay YMCA Conference and Family Retreat Center in Silver Bay, New York and at P.S. 21 in Chatham, New York.

In Silver Bay, New York, choreographer and former ABT dancer Gemma Bond will create a new work set to John Harbison’s Variations for Clarinet, Violin and Piano for ABT dancers Breanne Granlund, Hee Seo, Katherine Williams, Carlos Gonzalez and newly promoted Principal Dancer Thomas Forster. Bond’s new work is her second for ABT, following A Time There Was (2019).

Also at Silver Bay, choreographer Christopher Rudd will create with recently promoted ABT Principal Dancer Calvin Royal III and corps de ballet member João Menegussi. Rudd’s new work, Touché, a male duet, is set to Que Te Mate Desierto, from the original motion picture score by Woodkid,and Giuseppe Tornatore Suite from the motion picture Malèna by Ennio Morricone and recorded by Yo-Yo Ma. Commissioned in early 2020 and delayed due to the pandemic, Touché is Rudd’s first work for American Ballet Theatre.

Simultaneously in Chatham, New York, six dancers will quarantine, train and create with choreographer Darrell Grand Moultrie. Moultrie’s new work, his first for American Ballet Theatre, is a celebration of American jazz created to a score by Duke Ellington. The cast for Moultrie’s new work includes Anabel Katsnelson, Betsy McBride, Erica Lall, Jacob Clerico, Melvin Lawovi and Duncan McIlwaine.

Read the full article here.

Dance Magazine: Meet the 2020 Dance Magazine Award Honorees

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By Jennifer Stahl

21 September 2020

Since 1954, Dance Magazine has celebrated the living legends among us with the Dance Magazine Awards. This year, in light of deep reflections on racial equity inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, the selection committee decided to take a close look at exactly who the magazine has honored over the past seven decades. Unsurprisingly, the list is overwhelmingly white. Although it’s grown more diverse in recent years, many brilliant artists of color have been left out for far too long.

So for 2020, in order to reckon with and take a step toward repairing that history, the committee chose an outstanding group of all-Black artists. I’m delighted to announce our incredible honorees for 2020:

 

Carlos Acosta

In addition to dancing with some of the world’s most prestigious companies, including The Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and Houston Ballet, Carlos Acosta has choreographed productions of Don Quixote and Carmen, plus Guys and Dolls for the West End. Acosta established his own dance company, Acosta Danza, in 2016 in his native Cuba, and opened a dance academy there through the Carlos Acosta International Dance Foundation a year later. He also became artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet in January 2020, and currently leads both organizations on either side of the Atlantic.

Debbie Allen

An internationally recognized director, choreographer, teacher, dancer and actor, Debbie Allen first made her mark on Broadway in revivals like West Side Story, for which she was nominated for a Tony. She became a household name with the movie-turned-television-classic “Fame,” and has since directed and produced several TV series including “A Different World,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and “Scandal.” Allen has been artist in residence at the Kennedy Center for over 15 years. She founded the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in Los Angeles, mentoring and inspiring hundreds of students. She is currently an executive producer, director and actress on ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Camille A. Brown

Camille A. Brown‘s prolific choreography merges her modern dance foundation with elements of African, social dance and musical theater to highlight deeply personal and complex Black experiences. In addition to being artistic director of Camille A. Brown & Dancers, she has been commissioned by companies like Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Urban Bush Women, Complexions Contemporary Ballet and Ballet Memphis. Her Broadway choreography credits include Choir Boy (for which she was nominated for a Tony) and Once On This Island. She also choreographed Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert on NBC, as well as The Metropolitan Opera’s Porgy and Bess. Netflix’s soon-to-be-released Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, directed by George C. Wolfe, will mark her feature film debut.

See the full list of honorees here.

All Arts: Watch: Misty Copeland Talks Books and Why She Champions Ballet

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By Isabella Boylston

17 September 2020

When I came up with my wish list of artists to interview for Ballerina Book Club, Misty was at the top. She’s changed the game and inspired me and so many. In addition to all of her accomplishments in the ballet world, she’s a best-selling author.

One of the things I missed most about this Met season was getting to share a dressing room with my sisters, Misty and Stella Abrera. Those times we spend together backstage create a unique bond that I treasure so deeply. Speaking of the Met season, Misty was slated for a historic performance of “Romeo and Juliet” opposite the stunning danseur noble Calvin Royal III, who’s this month’s “Friend Picks” interview.

Luckily, I was able to catch up with Misty over Zoom for this interview in May. I really enjoyed hearing Misty’s take on how writing and dancing are parallel creative process. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did!

Don’t miss her new children’s book “Bunheads,” available Sept. 29.

Watch the full interview in the video above. A modified transcript is below.

The following interview transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Hi, Misty. Welcome to “Ballerina Book Club.” We’re so happy that you’re here.

Thank you. I’m so, so excited. I’ve never done anything like this with my friends and colleagues.

I know. Okay, so, first thing: We should talk about when we first met.

Okay. Oh, my gosh. Do you remember this story?

I don’t think so. I mean, all I know is when I first came to ABT, obviously, I knew who you were. I had the Pointe Magazine with you on the cover. And I was just intimidated, frankly, because you were just this impressive figure and beautiful dancer and everything.

You’re crazy. No, I just remember you were new to the studio company, just starting with the new group. And we were at a party. I can’t remember whose house we were at. And you came up to me — maybe it was some type of donor thing, but I just remember it was a house and party situation — and you introduced yourself as Hildur. And then you were like, “Wait. I mean, Isabella. I mean, wait.” And I was like, “Huh?” And it was so adorable. And that was my first impression of you.

Read the full interview here.

ABC4: Legendary Hispanic Ballerina announced as new Director at Ballet West Academy

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By Tracy Smith

18 September 2020

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4 News) – World-renowned and legendary ballerina Evelyn Cisneros-Legate has been announced as the new Director of all four campuses of Utah’s Frederic Quinney Lawson Ballet West Academy.

Originally from Huntington Beach, California, Evelyn trained at the San Francisco Ballet School, and the School of American Ballet. She joined the San Francisco Ballet when it was under the direction of Lew Christensen, brother of Ballet West’s Found, William Christensen.

According to a press release sent to ABC4 News, “when she was performing she became the San Franciso Ballet’s “prima-ballerina” and then became an international star under Christensen, Michael Smuin, and Helgi Tómasson.”

While at San Francisco Ballet, Cisneros-Legate was the first Mexican American to be elevated to a Principal Dancer in the United States. She was named “100 Influentials” by Hispanic Business and the Huffington Post called her one of the “17 ballet icons who are changing the face of dance today.” Cisneros-Legate has been featured on the covers of Dance Magazine, Ballet News, and Hispanic Magazine.

Read the full article here.