March 26th: New & Experimental Works (NEW) Program, March 31st: SIA Foundation Grants, April 1st: Palm Desert Choreography Festival, April 1st: New England States Touring (NEST 1 and 2), April 17th: World Arts West (WAW) Cultural Dance Catalyst Fund, September 14th: New England Dance Fund, October 13th: Community Arts Grant - Zellerbach Family Foundation, December 1st: Culture Forward Grant - The Svane Family Foundation, December 31st: National Dance Project Presentation Grants - New England Foundation for the Arts, December 31st: National Dance Project Travel Fund, December 31st: New England Presenter Travel Fund
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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
We know some of our followers don’t have the time to read our full reports right away – that’s why DDP maintains a document of our most interesting findings. You can read the 2019 Highlights now for all the facts. Click the link below to download.
By Jane Howard
12 April 2019
In 2009, director Neil Armfield stood on the stage at Sydney’s Belvoir St Theatre and announced, for his swansong season as artistic director of the company he co-founded, a season of shows almost exclusively written and directed by men.
It was a moment that prompted considerable scrutiny of industry-wide gender disparity.
In that year, at the eight best-funded Australian theatre companies — members of the Major Performing Arts Group (MPAG) — just 24 per cent of plays were written by women, and 24 per cent were directed by women. A staggering 86 per cent of productions had at least one man as writer or director.
But in the decade since, something remarkable has happened. The balance has shifted.
In 2019, women will make up 47 per cent of playwrights and 58 per cent of directors at MPAG theatre companies. And, for the first time ever, more of these productions will have at least one woman in a lead creative role (67 per cent) than at least one man (60 per cent).
Read more in ABC Arts.
By Erin Jaffe
Columbia Classical Ballet’s new season arrives with a determined focus. This year’s programming will focus on female-driven productions, reflecting internal changes that Artistic Director Radenko Pavlovich feels were a long time coming.
“Well, to be honest, at the end of our last season, it occurred to me that the world is really changing,” he explains. With the #MeToo movement, women are rightfully demanding the respect they deserve. That movement and controversy even touched the ballet world, and it really shook me.”
“Honestly, women are what comes first to mind when people think about ballet, and yet women’s role in leadership positions have been almost exclusively limited to ballet mistresses or coaches,” he continues. “Only recently are there more female choreographers and artistic directors.
“I started thinking, ‘I want to change that in my company and I want the change to be from inside-out.’ I wanted a stronger female presence from the board to the artistic staff to the ballets the company will perform. This season is really a celebration about that change.”
Read the full article in The Post and Courier.
By Natalie de la Garza
16 October 2019
It’s a good time to be performing the great Martha Graham’s choreographic masterworks. But according to Janet Eilber, the artistic director of the Martha Graham Dance Company, that wasn’t always the case.
“There were a few decades in there where they were just old,” says Eilber. “But they are now old enough and they’ve proven themselves enough to be called classics.”
If you are one of the few who hears “classics” and expects the company to appear on stage with horns and a breast plate when they finally return to Houston after 15 years, well, you’ll be disappointed. With The EVE Project, Eilber says they are honoring Graham’s legacy of innovation through a theme that highlights Graham’s “revolutionary approach to female characters on stage.”
Read the full article in The Houston Press.
By Carla P. Gomez
15 October 2019
BACOLOD CITY –– Charges were filed against a ballet school owner and his two female dance instructors for allegedly abusing three female teen students.
Three complaints for violation of the Special Protection Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, were filed against the ballet school owner, who is also a dancer and choreographer, and his two female dance instructors at the Bacolod City Prosecutor’s Office on Monday.
The names of the respondents were withheld to protect the identities of the alleged victims.
The abuses began in January 2019 when certain requirements were imposed on the complainants who entered into a scholarship contract with the respondents’ school.
The three ballet students were allegedly subjected to an excessive dietary program that affected their health, as well as to physical, verbal and emotional abuses, said Jeremy Moreno, the lawyer of the three complainants.
Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1177760/ballet-school-owner-dance-instructors-face-raps-for-abuse-of-teen-students#ixzz62WSv3LA8
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
1. #MeToo — accusations overrun Hollywood
On October 5, 2017, film producer Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual harassment in a New York Times article. 10 days later, US actress Alyssa Milano urged women to write “me too” in answer to her post on Twitter if they, too, had experienced sexual harassment. This was the birth of the #MeToo movement, a worldwide debate about the sexual abuse of power.
2. #Aufschrei — Germany discusses sexism
Germany was in the midst of a heated debate on sexism as early as 2013, when a journalist wrote about an encounter with a German politician who stared at her breasts, and told her she could easily “fill a dirndl.” A German feminist immediately started the hashtag #aufschrei (outcry), and tens of thousands of women responded, sharing their experiences with everyday sexism. The issue found its way into the established media and politics, the first time ever that a hastag has had such clout in Germany.
Read the full list on DW.
Houston Ballet comes to New York City with Morris, Barton, and Peck.
Don’t Miss Work from Three of Today’s Most Acclaimed Choreographers on October 24-25.
Reposted from City Center:
Aszure Barton has been described as “brilliant” by The San Francisco Chronicle, “audacious” by The New York Times, and The Boston Globe considers her “a rare accomplishment in the world of contemporary dance.” Come In was a breakout work for Barton, placing her signature style of measured gesture and lyrical whimsy on the international dance map. In it, she uses a group of 14 men moving together in taut, spare unison, finding powerful stillness together and then breaking apart in gleeful exaltation to meditate on the nature of conformity and self-expression.
By Sheila Regan
12 October 2019
The first flakes of snow that fell on the Twin Cities on Friday night didn’t seem to stop Minnesota Dance Theatre from bringing a bit of spring to their fall concert. The company’s repertory piece, “Boccherini Dances,” choreographed by late founder Loyce Houlton in 1984 to the courtly music of Luigi Boccherini, feels like a spring romp.
The piece requires huge amounts of technical skill from the three pairs of dancers performing it, while also emitting a graceful airiness. Boccherini’s music has a complex structure, with lots of repetition and variation, as does Houlton’s choreography. It’s satisfying to watch the three pairs diverge, switch partners, and come back again, with each pair getting moments to shine with dazzling lifts and falls. There are a couple of times when the three male performers dance together, all of which are quite fun.
MDT’s fall season features two world premieres. The first is “The Gateless Gate,” by Alanna Morris-Van Tassel, who shows herself adept at molding groups of bodies in movement in the Lab’s vast space, and at playing with tempo, juxtaposing moments of slow motion and stillness with sudden sprinting breaks.
Read the full article in The Star Tribune.
COLUMBUS (October 11, 2018) – On the International Day of the Girl, Ruling Our eXperiences, Inc. (ROX) reveals new findings related to adolescent girls and careers from a national survey of more than 10,000 girls. The largest study of its kind, The Girls’ Index™: New Insights into the Complex World of Today’s Girls, provides a deeper understanding of the factors related to girls’ abilities, perceptions and aspirations for their futures.
The findings from this new report entitled, Girls, STEM and Careers: Decoding Girls’ Futures in an Age of Social Media, were released today at Intuit Headquarters in Mountain View, CA as part of this year’s International Day of the Girl celebration.
“The revelations contained in this research study effectively reframe the conversation and highlight the opportunities ahead as we empower the next generation of women leaders to take their seat at the table,” said Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit. “In a world where an understanding of STEM is quickly becoming table stakes, building confidence and capability in girls that their contributions measure up and matter is critical to their individual and our collective success. At Intuit, we have benefited greatly from talented women leading our company at every level, from the board room to our front lines, and we are champions of the important work that Ruling Our eXperiences (ROX) is driving to increase the pipeline of interested and capable girls in pursuit of their dreams.”
Learn more about this report on ROX.
By Brandy McDonnell
10 October 2019
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The middle portion of the triple bill will be a world premiere piece by Penny Saunders, whom Mills met when they were both selected in 2017 for the National Choreographers Initiative.
“She’s just very talented … and I want to perpetuate the idea of female choreographers,” he said. “There’s a lot of misogyny in ballet. … There’s not a lot of female choreographers.”
Looking to the ‘Future’
An add-on production to the subscription season, OKC Ballet will present “Future Voices: A Choreographic Showcase” March 12-15 in the Inasmuch Foundation Theatre at the Brackett Dance Center. Intended to be an annual event, the showcase will feature works by Mills, OKC Ballet staffers and dancers, as well as dance professors from local universities.
“This isn’t meant to be a finished performance. This is meant to be people coming into our building and learning about choreography,” Mills said. “If I hadn’t had similar opportunities like this, I wouldn’t have developed into the choreographer that I am.”
Read the full article in The Oklahoman.
