DDP Talks To
"The Devil Ties My Tongue" by Amy Seiwert performed for the SKETCH Series, 2013. Photo by David DeSilva. Courtesy of Amy Seiwert's Imagery
July 31st: Community Engagement Artists and Creatives Grant, December 31st: New England Presenter Travel Fund, December 31st: Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet Scholarship, December 31st: 24 Seven Dance Convention, December 31st: National Theater Project Presenter Travel Grant, December 31st: Breck Creek Artist-in-Residence Program
×"The Devil Ties My Tongue" by Amy Seiwert performed for the SKETCH Series, 2013. Photo by David DeSilva. Courtesy of Amy Seiwert's Imagery
Pennsylvania Ballet has found its next executive director. Beginning February 12, Shelly Power will take over as lead administrator of the 54-year old dance company, ending a hiring search that began five months ago.
Power will transition to her new role starting next month. She takes over for David Gray, who served as interim executive director in 2014 before being promoted full-time in 2015. Gray left to join his wife, who recently took a job at Indiana University.
Power was formerly artistic director and CEO of the Prix de Lausanne dance competition, a Swiss-based organization established in 1972. Boasting a combined 45 years as an administrator, Power worked with the Houston Ballet and ran the company’s dance academy between 2004-2016. Per the Houston Chronicle, enrollment at the academy doubled under Power’s watch during her first decade on the job. Powers has also held board positions at Sandra Organ Dance Company, the Houston Dance Coalition and the American Festival for the Arts.
In a statement prepared by the company, the 61-year-old noted her excitement for joining the company, citing that she already knows some of the company members. Her appointment comes at a contentious time for Pennsylvania Ballet. Artistic Director Angel Corella faced scrutiny during the 2016-17 season after 40 percent of the organization either left or were terminated. Others departed or retired shortly thereafter, fearing their contracts would not have been renewed otherwise.
The Pennsylvania Ballet’s total revenue in 2016 was $11.7 million, according to operating records obtained by the Philadelphia Business Journal. That’s down $14.7 million from the previous year. The organization is also struggling to put the finishing touches on a new facility that opened several years ago but has remained in a state of limbo.
Power expressed optimism for the future: “My passion, coupled with my deep knowledge of running a successful company, will guide the continued growth of Pennsylvania Ballet and will help to further strengthen the impact the organization will make for years to come.”
“A woman stands onstage, hunched over in what looks like a bulky snowsuit, the outer shell of many layers soon to be revealed. In a meticulous undressing, she peels away items of clothing, pulling a yellow sweater over her head like taffy, nesting her legs in a stretchy blue shirt on her way to taking it off.
This is the opening of Beth Gill’s exquisite and enigmatic ‘Brand New Sidewalk,’ which I saw in its New York premiere at Abrons Arts Center in September. Wide open to interpretation, the solo, danced by Danielle Goldman, is on one level about nothing more (or less) than color, shape and texture.
Yet in Ms. Goldman’s metamorphosis, I also found a potent, if oblique, political statement — about a woman’s control over her body and her subversion of any expectations we might have for it. At no moment could you say with certainty, ‘This is who she is,’ because she never stopped transforming.
In watching dance this fall, while rounding the corner of the first anniversary of the 2016 presidential election, I’ve been struck by the political resonance not only of Ms. Gill’s work, but of, well, just about everything. Even dances with no obvious agenda have seemed like quiet protests, simply by virtue of staking a claim to space, time and the attention, amid so much urgently vying for it, of the people gathered to watch.”
By Luke Jennings
12 November 2017
There is an increasingly acute issue surrounding women’s roles in ballet. In the last few seasons the Royal Ballet stage has seen record numbers of female characters brutalised and killed. Emily, Mary-Jane, and Annie eviscerated in Sweet Violets, Justine hanged and Elizabeth murdered in Frankenstein, Stephanie raped and Mary shot in Mayerling, the girl raped in The Invitation, the youngest sister hanged in Las Hermanas, and the woman raped and murdered in The Judas Tree. Consider this body-count alongside the number of recent abstract works in which women are split, splayed and otherwise manhandled, and certain embedded attitudes reveal themselves.
Read the full article in The Guardian.
Over the summer there was a palpable sense of enthusiasm when Patricia Barretto formally took the reins at Chicago’s Harris Theater for Music and Dance—a 1,525-seat performance venue nestled on the edge of Millennium Park. Barretto previously served as the Harris’s interim chief after the abrupt departure of former head Paul Organisak, and by many accounts, her appointment was the stability everyone hoped for and ultimately received.
The changes didn’t stop there. Soon after Barretto took over, the Harris promoted Laura Hanssel to Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Administration; Lori Dimun added Chief Operating Officer to her title as General Manager; and on the administrative side: long-time employees Meghan McNamara and Elizabeth Halajian were promoted to Director of Audience Engagement and Director of Development, respectively.
With a newly vaunted executive team, the Harris can claim bragging rights: it is one of the few venues in the country whose leadership predominantly skews female. That’s just one in a series of good things happening under Barretto’s watch, which got us thinking about other prominent female executives making waves in the Chicago cultural scene. Below are several worthy of recognition:
Among her many responsibilities, Chicago Dance Month might be Hartley’s most ambitious. It’s also one of her most important. The annual monthlong fest has exploded since it first began five years ago, and it’s given dance organizations something they’ve long wanted in a coalescing initiative of this size and scope: an opportunity to connect directly with people who might not otherwise know them. Credit Hartley for taking it from online initiative to full blown extravaganza, as evidenced by this past year’s kick-off celebration at Navy Pier, which welcomed a dozen dance companies from around the city to participate in a newly crafted cultural parade.
After Brett Batterson left for Memphis to become chief of Memphis’s Orpheum Theatre Group in 2016, the board tapped Moskalenko to run one of the most historic and most beautiful venues in the city. And judging from just a single season at the helm, Moskalenko’s influence is being felt on a grassroots level. The former President/CEO of the Center for the Performing Arts and the Great American Songbook Foundation in Indiana has shown a deep reverence for history, as evidenced by the theater’s “Golden Celebration of Dance,” an event honoring the 50th anniversary of the Auditorium’s grand re-opening following a prolonged closure that lasted more than a quarter century. The celebration features, among others, dancers of American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and the Joffrey Ballet.
Jeff Alexander took over the CSO from newly minted Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter in 2015. And he brought help. Cristina Rocca has made a career out of doing things differently than most, and it’s shown in CSO’s expansive repertoire over the last two years, highlighted by four new world premieres during the 2016-2017 season alone, commissioned in whole or in part by the orchestra. That was enough to warrant an uncharacteristic shout-out from classical music critic Lawrence Johnson, who asserted that Rocca “deserved plaudits for bringing the CSO back into the 21st century.” And while the latest season at the CSO was met with tepid skepticism, there’s no denying that old favorites have their place, proving that Rocca is keen to the sorts of delicate politicking required to satisfy loyal subscribers with deep pockets. What kind of splash is in store for 2019-2020? We’re guessing many people are anxious to find out.
Tucked away on Western Avenue, Links’s small but formidable venue plays incubator to some of Chicago’s most experimental and Avant Garde artists. And for respectable rental rates, we might add. One of the people responsible for that is Schmidt, who has directed Links Hall for the better part of 10 years—building relationships in the process and pumping up her rolodex with an envious assortment of contacts. But most impressively, she presided over a move that saw the former Links go from a small pair of studios in Wrigleyville to a substantial performance venue that arguably houses one of the most welcoming bars in the city. That may sound trivial, but the results speak for themselves: people enjoy a drink with a show, and the more they enjoy it, the more Links benefits from the revenue.
In 2014, Shapiro took over for the late-great Martha Lavey—a local icon. For most people, the task might seem daunting. But Shapiro has carved her own path while sticking to the founding principles that has made Steppenwolf successful for decades. That has proved to be both effective and forward-thinking, even if negotiating the two is delicate on multiple fronts. One doesn’t need to look far to see her work coming to fruition—from the opening of Steppenwolf’s new lounge area to a re-branding campaign that launched earlier in 2017. For Shapiro, the question always appears to be: What’s next?
By Siobhan Burke
11 July 2017
Suppose you’re a young choreographer running your own ballet company in New York, and one of the city’s main dance stages offers to present your work for three nights. You say yes, right?
For Emery LeCrone the choice wasn’t so obvious. When invited by the Joyce Theater to return to its Ballet Festival, a biennial event spotlighting independent and emerging ballet choreographers, she thought back to the 2015 festival when her troupe made its Joyce debut, performing for two nights. Despite selling out both shows, she came out of that experience in a state of what she calls “burnout, completely.”
While the Joyce offered its stage and the visibility that comes with it, Ms. LeCrone was responsible for most other production costs, from hiring costume and lighting designers to renting rehearsal space. To present a program of the caliber she wanted, with 10 dancers and live music, she raised the $43,000 she needed on her own.
So would she do it again?
Read the full article in the New York Times.
“How many times have I heard at the end of a ballet performance, ‘Why did the choreographer select that piece of music?’ Or, ‘I saw X choreograph that music much better.” Or, “The music didn’t fit the dance.’
While I don’t agree with Elizabeth Streb that music is the enemy of dance, some pieces of music are.
How do we help choreographers find an ally – a piece of music best suited to realize their artistic vision? Maybe by looking beyond what the herd is doing.”
On September 28, two men danced like they’d never done before. It was crisp, elegant and romantic. It was also the first of its kind, according to New York City Ballet, which opened its fall gala with a highly regarded program that featured new works from several established and rising stars.
But the one that caught many people’s attention was a world premiere by Lauren Lovette, a budding choreographer who presented her second original work for NYC Ballet during its fall 2017 fall gala. Her piece, titled Not Our Fate, explored love, race, and in this case, an ostensibly same-sex relationship. The players involved: company members Preston Chamblee and Taylor Stanley.
And it very nearly didn’t happen. As Lovette told the New York Times, “I wanted to find a dancer that had a very liquid quality—a strength but also a dramatic side and a contemporary feel and I wasn’t finding it,” she said. “Then I thought Taylor has that. That’s exactly Taylor. Why can’t I put two guys together?”
Why not indeed.
Lovette’s debut for New York City Ballet is perhaps one example of the generational shift taking place in companies and arts organizations across the world, and its message is clear: convention is dying, whether in matters related to romanticism or the perception that men and women are bound by tradition.
Not everyone is as forward-thinking. Shortly after Lovette’s debut, the choreographer Alexei Ratmansky drew heavy criticism for stating on his Facebook page that “sorry, there is no equality in ballet.” He went on to state that women have roles, men have theirs; it’s simply a matter of tradition. But if tradition is what counts, then people like Lovette might not be choreographing at all. That would be a loss for everyone.
“Back in the American ballet world, issues of diversity and equality are front and center. Many have pointed to a lack of female choreographers and heads of major companies. Millepied says that’s a problem that’s specific to ballet. ‘There are amazing choreographers in contemporary dance. If ballet schools made that more part of their mission, I think more women would be choreographing. More women would be interested. You don’t become a composer by just being a musician … you study composition. Ballet is the only art form where suddenly someone wants to become a choreographer and they’ve got to figure it out on their own.'”
Blogged by Isabelle Vail
With news of the Harvey Weinstein allegations causing a media frenzy in Hollywood and beyond, there’s no doubting that systematic change is needed now more than ever, whether we’re talking harassment or the power dynamics that exist between males and females.
The dance world is no exception. Extensive coverage about the need for more female leadership in the dance world has come about recently, but the torrent of allegations levied at Weinstein, James Toback, Bill Cosby, Bill O’Reilly, etc., begs the question: Is harassment happening in the dance world too?
The intimate dynamic between dancers—both male and female—is unique, as it pertains to a professional setting. Popular films and television shows have broached the idea, including the film Black Swan, in which a prominent male character engages in inappropriate behavior with several female dancers. It was discussed in a 2011 New York Times article: To Some Dancers, ‘Black Swan’ Is a Cautionary Tale. The popular television miniseries Flesh and Bone follows a young dancer who, within the first few episodes, was pressured into sleeping with a wealthy company donor by her artistic director.
Dramatized as these examples may be, it reveals a much more sinister compulsion that we don’t necessarily want to acknowledge. But as the Weinstein allegations show, it can’t be ignored.
“Pennsylvania Ballet and FringeArts are presenting a symposium “Challenges, Chances, Changes—Gender Equity in Concert Dance” on October 30, 2017. While more and more women have been actively engaging and renowned as choreographers and directors, it still is the undeniable fact that women face lack of opportunities in the field of dance, just like they do in so many other fields. How do we challenge the hurdle? How do we create and obtain new opportunities? How can we move towards equity? One of six panelists, Helen Pickett is premiering her ballet at Pennsylvania Ballet’s upcoming playbill The Edge. She talked about her experience as a dancer and choreographer, vision for the younger people in the dance world and her new ballet Tilt.”
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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