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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

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.

Broadway World: AMERICAN MASTERS Announces New Documentary on Twyla Tharp

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8 September 2020

Stick Figure Entertainment, in association with AMERICAN MASTERS Pictures, is proud to announce Twyla Moves (w.t.), a feature documentary on legendary dancer, director and choreographer Twyla Tharp. The film will have its exclusive U.S. broadcast premiere as part of the AMERICAN MASTERS series on PBS, and will feature never-before seen interviews and select performances from Tharp’s vast array of more than 160 choreographed works, including 129 dances, 12 television specials, six major Hollywood movies, four full-length ballets, four Broadway shows and two FIGURE SKATING routines.

Twyla Moves (w.t.) will provide a first-hand glimpse into the legendary choreographer’s storied career and famously rigorous creative process. A pioneer of both modern dance and ballet, Tharp will share intimate details behind her trailblazing dances (“Fugue,” “Push Comes to Shove,” “Baker’s Dozen”), her cinematic partnership with Miloš Forman (Hair, Amadeus, Ragtime) and her wildly successful Broadway career alongside such luminaries as Billy Joel, Frank Sinatra and David Byrne. Tracing her influential career, the film follows Tharp as she builds a high-profile work from the ground up with an international cast of stars (Misty Copeland, Herman Cornejo, Maria Khoreva) who rehearse by video conference during the coronavirus pandemic.

Read the full article here.

Broadway World: Virtual Pathways Dance Festival 2020 to Feature Works by Helen Pickett, Yu Dance Theatre, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and More

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8 September 2020

Virtual Pathways Dance Festival 2020 (VPDF) is a virtual dance festival featuring cutting-edge archived dances, including works by Doug Varone & Dancers, Helen Pickett, Yu Dance Theatre, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. VPDF 2020 is produced by Alyssandra Katherine Dance (AKD), Co-Presented by ODC Theater online.

The roster features works spanning genres, highlighting the breadth and diversity of dance styles in a new digital format. AKD’s mission is to bring visibility to dance companies nationally, giving chosen companies an opportunity to showcase work to new audiences and widen their reach at no cost. We seek to use this festival as a platform to provide financial support to contributing artists and support innovative works through ticket sales. There will be 4 evenings, each with a theme: Identity, Healing, Home/Sanctuary, and Time/Scope.

Virtual Pathways Dance Festival is produced by 3 formidable female choreographers Marika Brussel, Carly Lave, and Alyssandra Wu. Brussel is a ballet choreographer who reshapes contemporary narratives, bringing ballet into the 21st Century. Lave is a contemporary choreographer whose work seeks to question the self through visceral immersive performance. Wu is a freelance choreographer whose work explores issues dealing with East Asian identity and mental illness.

Read the full article here.

Pointe: For Queer Women in Ballet, There’s a Profound Gap in Representation. These Dancers Hope to Change That.

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By Lauren Warnecke

9 September 2020

In her teens, Lauren Flower realized she was different. Originally from Fresno, California, Flowers moved to Arizona and trained with Tucson Regional Ballet and the school at Ballet Arts Tucson before accepting a scholarship with Houston Ballet II. It was in Houston that Flower started to think she might be gay, but didn’t feel she had anyone to talk to about it.

“I quickly shot all those feelings down,” says Flower. “I was petrified. I thought no one would get it or understand what I was realizing about myself.” When she returned to her home state to join Ballet Arizona in 2013, Flower remained closeted in her professional life. But she began to meet other queer women outside of ballet who helped her to embrace her identity. At age 22, Flower came out and joined Boston Ballet shortly afterward, committed to being fully out of the closet in her life there.

 

Flower says getting involved in the LGBTQ community made the absence of queer women in ballet more apparent to her. While there are plenty of examples of queer people in the dance world, Flower says ballet in particular is lacking role models for gay women. (Katy Pyle’s company, Ballez, is a notable exception.)

Traditional ballet companies do not typically shy away from celebrating the gay community, but for women there is a profound gap in representation. Earlier this year, a friend pointed out to Flower that Boston Ballet was featuring its gay male dancers in a series of Instagram posts celebrating Pride Month. No one approached Flower, one of two openly gay women in the company, about contributing to the social media campaign. It was only after bringing it up to the PR team that she was included.

Read the full article 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.