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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

The Patriot Ledger: Boston Ballet’s ‘The Nutcracker’ leaps onto TV this holiday season

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By Iris Fanger

14 September 2020

NBC Boston to air Boston’s beloved holiday ballet. The company also plans six virtual programs beginning Nov. 21; in-person events at the Opera House won’t happen until next May.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to add the date of a televised performance of “The Nutcracker.”

On March 11th, the Boston Ballet dancers were on stage at Citizens Bank Opera House in full costume and makeup for the dress rehearsal of Jorma Elo’s “Carmen,” with the musicians of the Boston Ballet orchestra seated in the pit. The following afternoon, just hours before opening night, Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen walked onto the stage to announce that the show — and the two weekend run — were canceled due to the threat of the deadly novel coronavirus.

That same day, Margaret Tracey, director of the Boston Ballet School, sent her young students home because she feared a possible exposure to the virus. Within 24 hours, the school was officially closed. Tracey thought classes would start up again “in a few weeks,” she recalled. Nissinen commented that “everything fell apart in March.” No one knew that the dancers of the Boston Ballet would remain off stage for the rest of the 2019-2020 season and far into the next.

Read the full article here.

DW: Berlin’s state ballet school confronts allegations of abuse

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By Verena Greb

9 September 2020

One of Germany’s most prominent ballet training institutions stands accused of fostering a “culture of fear.” With the investigation report now public, the future remains uncertain as teaching reform is demanded.

Professional ballet schools have a reputation for cut-throat competition and harsh demands, from bloody toes and caloric deprivation to submitting to an iron-clad training regime, often far from home and at a vulnerable preteen age. Germany’s schools are no exception.

Recently, the Berlin State Ballet School and School for Acrobatic Arts (SBB), as well as the Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera in Austria, had to confront accusations of structurally endangering children’s well-being. Both institutions were forced to close temporarily as special commissions examined the allegations.

On Monday, the report of the Berlin examination was published . The review was conducted from early this year through mid-August by an independent commission of experts and involved interviews with more than 150 parents, students and teachers at the SBB.

Read the full article here.

New York Times: For New York City Ballet, Another Digital Season

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By Peter Libbey

10 September 2020

New York City Ballet will not be returning to the David H. Koch Theater this fall, but the company’s coming digital season will culminate with performances of new dances by Pam Tanowitz, Jamar Roberts, Justin Peck, Sidra Bell and Andrea Miller. The commissioned ballets will be recorded outdoors in New York City and shared with audiences, one each night, from Oct. 27 to Oct. 31.

“We couldn’t go a whole year without creating new works,” Jonathan Stafford, City Ballet’s artistic director, said in an interview. “It’s simply not in our D.N.A.”

The choreographers chosen for this mini festival, all of whom were set to make new pieces for the company this year before the pandemic struck, face various restrictions as they prepare their new works. The number of dancers in each piece has been capped at four, and dancers who are not in a couple or otherwise in isolation together must maintain social distancing while performing. “The choreographers, I think, are really into the limitations,” said Wendy Whelan, the company’s associate artistic director. “They all seem very keen to play within the rules and create with the new elements.”

Read the full article here.

Broadway World: Pennsylvania Ballet Welcomes New Talent and Announces 2020/2021 Promotions

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BWW Newsdesk

9 September 2020

Pennsylvania Ballet’s Artistic Director Angel Corella announced today the addition of six dancers to the company, including two newcomers and four former Pennsylvania Ballet II (PBII) dancers. The company also welcomed new PBII dancers and announced a batch of promotions in preparation for the upcoming season.

“We are dedicated to preserving and extending the legacy of our celebrated organization by adding incredible talent to the fold and promoting those who have shown great promise over the years,” says Angel Corella. “We’ve been met with several challenges this year, but with the addition of our incredibly rich roster of dancers, we’re eager to get back on stage and deliver an unforgettable performance next season.”

Fernanda Oliveira has been named a member of Pennsylvania Ballet’s corps de ballet for the 2020-2021 season, while Mine Kusano, Paloma Berjano Torrado, Emily Wilson, Isaac Hollis and Jeremy Power are appointed as apprentices with the Company.

Read the full article here.

 

Pointe Magazine: American Ballet Theatre Promotes 6 Dancers to Principal, 1 to Soloist

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By Amy Brandt

10 September 2020

This spring was supposed to be one of highly anticipated debuts at American Ballet Theatre, a chance for many soloists to test their mettle in major leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera House. While the coronavirus pandemic shutdown put those debuts on pause, the company has shown a major leap of faith in its up-and-coming dancers: This morning, in a sweeping move, ABT promoted six of its soloists—Cassandra Trenary, Skylar Brandt, Calvin Royal III, Joo Won Ahn, Thomas Forster and Aran Bell—to principal dancer. Longtime corps standout Gabe Stone Shayer is promoted to soloist.

 

The announcement ushers in an exciting new era of young, home-grown stars, and adds welcome diversity to ABT’s top ranks. It also comes as veteran principals Stella Abrera and David Hallberg make their exits, with Abrera now the artistic director of Kaatsbaan Cultural Park for Dance and Hallberg taking on his new post as artistic director of The Australian Ballet in January. (He recently told the New York Times that he hopes to have a farewell performance at ABT next spring.) Soloists Alexandre Hammoudi and Arron Scott also announced their retirements over the summer.

Read the full announcement here.

The Guardian: Side hustle essential: how Covid brought dancers to their knees

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By Lyndsey Winship

7 September 2020

When lockdown hit in March, it didn’t stop dancers dancing. The flood of online classes, short films and Instagram clips are testimony to that. But it did stop many of them earning. Outside the big ballet companies, most dancers and choreographers are freelance (81% according to One Dance UK). Some were eligible for financial support, others fell through the cracks. Ever creative, some have found new ways to make money, like Sam Coren, formerly of the Hofesh Shechter Company, who started fixing and building bikes. Or Daisy West, a dancer with Mark Bruce Company, who designs greetings cards on the side. But it turns out having a second job is nothing new to most dancers, in a competitive industry where contracts are often short and pay is poor. A 2015 survey by Dancers Pro found that more than 50% of dancers earned less than £5,000 a year from performing. The current ITC/Equity minimum fee for an independent production is £494 a week. “There’s always been a need for a side hustle,” says West.

The precariousness of the dancer’s life has come into sharp focus during lockdown, and many artists now want to see a change when we come out the other side. “The systemic injustices of the industry have been unveiled more than ever,” says dancer and Rolfing practitioner Hayley Matthews. “For too long there’s been a prescribed necessity for dancers to live precarious financial lives.” Lockdown has “exposed a lot that was really fragile and difficult about this industry”, says Rachel Elderkin, a dancer, writer and podcaster who also works front of house in the West End and has a sideline dressing as a Disney princess for kids’ parties. “Even though [as a dance artist] you’re the people who create work, the money goes to organisations and as a freelancer you have to apply for opportunities.” The funds don’t always trickle down.

Dancer, choreographer, writer and model Valerie Ebuwa was due to have her first solo project, Body Data, screened at the V&A in April, but coronavirus put paid to that. She released the film and accompanying talk online. Dancers are “always at the bottom of the pile”, she says in her talk on Instagram. “Why don’t dancers get paid as much as musicians, or any other [artists]?”

Read the full article online here.

 

New York Times: Dance Companies Take Baby Steps Back to Rehearsal

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By Alex Marshall

28 May 2020

Eight dancers from the Ballet du Rhin were partway through a class at their studio in Mulhouse, eastern France, recently, when the company’s artistic director decided to step things up.

The dancers had been doing gentle exercises at the barre. Then, the director, Bruno Bouché, asked them to perform a short routine, heavy on pirouettes, in socially distanced pairs.

Alice Pernão, 22, one of the first dancers to try, performed the spins with the relish of a dancer moving her limbs fully for the first time in months.

But as soon as she finished, Ms. Pernão performed a little extra routine that dancers worldwide might soon have to get used to: She flipped her face mask off an ear, and, breathing heavily, rushed back to her place at the barre to gulp down some water.

She then disinfected her hands with gel, put the mask back on, and tried to catch her breath for the next exercise.

Read the full New York Times article here.

Wall Street Journal: Remote Schools’ Hidden Cost: Parents Quit Work to Teach, Prompting New Recession Woes

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By Gwynn Guilford

7 September 2020

Clara Vazquez’s 7-year-old son, Kevin, asks her a troubling question before he goes to sleep each night. “‘Mom, who’s going to take care of me tomorrow?’ he asks me,” said the 27-year-old resident of Sunnyside, Wash. “I feel so bad because I have to say, ‘I don’t know.’”

She’ll have to come up with an answer soon, and it may cost Ms. Vazquez a big part of her livelihood. In two weeks, her son’s online-only classes start running from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. If she can’t find child care, she will give up at least one of her two jobs as a home health-care worker to help her son manage his studies.

“I don’t want to quit my job because it’s going to put us in financial strain,” said Ms. Vazquez, whose husband is a truck driver. “But I feel like I’m out of options.”

It is a trade-off that looms for millions of families across the U.S. whose children are returning to partial or completely remote learning at K-12 schools this fall, and the potential blow to the economy could be big enough to rival a small or medium-size recession.

Read the full article here.

New York Times: Nina Popova, Dancer Who Fled Bolsheviks and Nazis, Dies at 97

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By John Leland

21 August 2020

This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.

Nina Popova was a celebrated ballet dancer who escaped the Bolsheviks in Russia and the Nazis in Paris. It was the coronavirus that ultimately caught up to her.

She died on Aug. 7 at Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine, Fla., with a nurse holding her hand, her daughter, Irene Arriola, said. She was 97.

Nina Popova was born in Novorossiysk, Russia, on Oct. 20, 1922, two months before the Soviet Union was established. Her parents, Paul Popoff and Natalie Yacovleff, decided it was time to leave the country. They landed in Paris with their new baby in their arms. Mr. Popoff, who had been a hydroelectric engineer in his home country, joined the ranks of Russian cabdrivers there; his wife found work as a seamstress.

They envisioned a career in ballet for their daughter, enrolling her in a school with the children of other poor Russian refugees. Nina had a gift. At 12 she danced with the Russian opera in Barcelona, Spain, and at 14 she joined the Ballet de la Jeunesse, founded by the Russian ballerina Lubov Egorova.

As World War II and the Nazi occupation of France approached, she joined the Original Ballet Russe, directed by Wassily de Basil, which took her to Australia and eventually to Cuba, where she came to the attention of the directors of what would become American Ballet Theater in New York.

Read the full obituary here.

New York Times: Russian Ballet Returned to the Stage. Then a Covid Outbreak Hit.

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By Alex Marshall

19 August 2020

For the past three weeks, the Mariinsky Ballet, one of Russia’s most renowned companies, led the dance world in showing how ballet could return to the stage.

It hosted galas at its St. Petersburg theaters, featuring solos and duets performed by dancers who had undergone weekly tests for coronavirus.

More ambitiously, it had begun staging full-length ballets, with a run of the Romantic classic “La Sylphide.” Audience members were provided with masks and gloves, and seating was distanced, with an empty space between each viewer.

Then, on Aug. 13, the performances stopped. In a development that will concern other dance companies hoping to return to the stage, the Mariinsky Ballet has suspended all performances, classes and rehearsals, a spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. (The Mariinsky’s opera and orchestral programs continue uninterrupted, the statement added.)

She did not answer questions about the reason for that suspension. But on Monday, Interfax, the Russian news service, reported that about 30 people in the company had contracted the coronavirus. Xander Parish, a British dancer who is a principal soloist with the Mariinsky, confirmed in a telephone interview that there had been an outbreak.

“They’ve tried really hard to be safe,” he said. “It’s not like our rehearsals have been badly organized or anything.”

Read the full New York Times article.