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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

Sacramento Ballet

The Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Ballet focuses on steps toward gender equality in its new season

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By Claire Morgan

1 October 2019

Sacramento Ballet is doing something different this year. The ballet’s 2019-20 season – titled Sights Unseen, which kicks off Thursday night with “Mozart in Motion” – features works largely choreographed by women.

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Seiwert has been working hard to change the status quo since she took the role of artistic director in 2018. The company has been recognized as a leader in the gender equity movement sweeping through dance companies across the nation.

According to the Dance Data Project, a group dedicated to documenting gender-related issues in dance, a study in July found 79 percent of the works planned by the largest 50 ballet companies in the nation for the 2019-2020 ballet seasons are choreographed by men.

The Sacramento Ballet topped the list for presenting works choreographed by women this season – tied with New York City’s American Ballet Theater at 67 percent, the Dance Data Project found. The company also made the list for the 2018-2019 season.

“The Top 10 companies for staging work by women in both seasons are: American Ballet Theatre, Cincinnati Ballet, Eugene Ballet Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Sacramento Ballet,” the Dance Data Project report said. “There was 1 female-choreographed full-length world premiere for the 2018-2019 season, Sacramento Ballet’s commission of The Nutcracker, by artistic director Amy Seiwert.”

Seiwert said she is excited to be leading changes in gender equity at a large ballet company, especially since women have not typically been represented in many companies’ leadership.

“Ballet, as a field, historically has had issues with female inclusion at the leadership level,” Seiwert said. “Trends are slowly changing. But where the change is most apparent is in some of the smaller companies across the United States. I am proud that of the top 50 ballet companies in the country, Sacramento Ballet is at the forefront of commissioning works by women.”

Read the full article in The Sacramento Bee.

The Daily Californian: Alexandra Waterbury talks sexual assault, harassment in ballet at Berkeley Forum

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By Maxine Mouly

30 September 2019

Renowned ballet dancer, Columbia University junior and fashion model Alexandra Waterbury spoke about the origins of her sexual harassment lawsuit against the New York City Ballet, or NYCB, at a Berkeley Forum event Thursday.

Ankita Inamdar, the Berkeley Forum vice president of finance, invited Waterbury after being inspired by the many women who came out during the #MeToo movement. Inamdar said she was unaware of the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault and wants to continue the conversation to change women’s treatment in various professions.

Waterbury explained the origins of her lawsuit, which was filed in 2018. It started when she found group chats between her now ex-boyfriend Chase Finlay, Zachary Catazaro and Amar Ramasar, all of whom were male dancers with NYCB at the time. According to Waterbury, these men allegedly shared intimate photos and videos of her and other female dancers without their consent, apparently equivocating some women to “farm animals.”

According to Waterbury, Finlay stepped down from his position a few days before the lawsuit was filed, whereas Catazaro and Ramasar were suspended and later fired.

Catazaro and Ramasar were reinstated, however, after a union arbitration took place that did not take any evidence from Waterbury’s lawsuit. Waterbury said Catazaro chose to continue dancing in Europe and Ramasar resumed his position at NYCB.

Read the full article in The Daily Californian.

Broadway World: Ballet Hispánico With The Apollo Theater Presents Three World Premieres

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27 September 2019

Ballet Hispánico, the nation’s premier Latino dance organization, returns to the Apollo stage on Friday and Saturday, November 22 and 23, 2019 at 8:00pm with a program that continues its commitment to staging works by female, Latinx choreographers. Ballet Hispánico is sponsored by GOYA, which has sponsored the company since 1977.

In the World Premiere of Tiburones, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa addresses the discrimination and stereotypes placed upon Latinx culture and the power the media has in portraying these themes by diminishing the voices of Latinx artists. Ochoa will deconstruct gender roles and identity to revitalize an authentic perspective of Puerto Rican icons appropriated within the entertainment industry.

In this restaging of Nací (2009), choreographer Andrea Miller draws from the duality of her Spanish and Jewish-American background and employs her distinctive movement style to investigate the Sephardic culture of Spain, with its Moorish influence and profound sense of community, despite hardship.

Read the full article on Broadway World.

New York Times: Review: At New York City Ballet, an Intriguing Glimpse of the Future

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By Gia Kourlas

27 September 2019

You don’t need many fingers to count the female New York City Ballet members who have choreographed during their tenure as dancers. The sad number is five, one hand: Ruthanna Boris, Miriam Mahdaviani, Barbara Milberg, Melissa Barak and Lauren Lovette.

Still, that’s better than it was when Edwaard Liang joined City Ballet in 1993; then, the number was three. What was striking about his return to the company — this time as a choreographer for its annual Fall Fashion Gala program — was the realization of how much the landscape and culture of ballet has changed.

His work, “Lineage,” carried a strong dose of nostalgia. With Anna Sui’s folk-inspired costumes and Mr. Liang’s acrobatic partnering — at one point, a male dancer spun his female counterpart by hooking an arm under her bent back knee — it felt like we were back in the ’90s. Mr. Liang spoke about his inspirations on “City Ballet the Podcast,” and one was clear in performance: The dancers’ gazes were continually drawn to a corner of the stage, as if seeking the spot where the revered choreographer George Balanchine, a founder of City Ballet, watched performances from the wing. (It wasn’t the correct side of the stage, but the sentiment was there.)

Ms. Lovette, a principal with the company, took a radically different approach in “The Shaded Line,” the other premiere on the program. Her dance wasn’t about homage, but about the future of the art form: how ballet might a find a way to sit within the larger world, where gender norms are unraveling, where women can become ballet choreographers and where all dancers can express their strength and fear.

Read the full article in The New York Times.

The Cut: How New York City Ballet’s Lauren Lovette Gets It Done

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By Brittany Stephanis

26 September 2019

Lauren Lovette isn’t just a principal dancer with New York City Ballet — she’s also a choreographer. Since joining the company as a corps member in 2010, she’s captivated audiences around the world with her undeniable talent and charm. In this episode of Doing the Most, Lauren walks the Cut through her typical day from rehearsals to performances and everything in between. Her latest ballet, The Shaded Line, premieres at the company’s fall gala, and performances continue through October 13.

See the original article/video on The Cut.

Photo by Liza Voll. Courtesy of Boston Ballet.

CBS Boston: Boston Ballet Initiative Empowers Women Choreographers

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BOSTON (CBS) — For years, women have been under-represented on the creative side of the ballet world. Boston Ballet is trying to change that.

The year-old ChoreograpHER Initiative encourages female members of the company to put their own stamp on the work we see on stage.In the season opener, “Giselle,” the woman who once danced the title role has restaged the production for the next generation.

Larissa Ponomarenko says there’s no need to do too much to a classical ballet that was created in 1841.

“There’s no need to redo too much, just some adjustments to amount of people on stage, because the size of the company is different,” Ponomarenko said.  “Just maybe aiding slightly different technical elements to make it more interesting for male dancers.”

Principal dancer Lia Cirio is one of several women playing Giselle during the run at the Citizen’s Bank Opera House.

She is grateful for Ponomarenko’s guidance. “Getting to see her impart her knowledge of the role is just incredible. It pushes me to become even better.”

Cirio has also participated in the ChoreograpHER Initiative, although she never thought she’d want to be a choreographer.

She said “when a sign went up, I was like, ‘oh, I’ll just try it,’ and then it became this amazing thing for women…For so long, the woman was this object, almost, and the man was like ‘you do this, you do this’ and I think it’s really cool that now we can say, ‘I would like you to do this.’ Roles have reversed a little which is great.”

Cirio is now working on her third piece. “I’m really pushing myself and trying to experiment and take risks which is cool because that is what this project is about,” she said.

Read the full article on CBS Boston.

DDP Founder & President Liza Yntema is a principal sponsor of Boston Ballet’s ChoreograpHER initiative.

Washington Post: Michelle Williams’s Emmy speech on pay equity and power is an instant classic

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By Kim Bellware

23 September 2019

With her first Emmy in hand, actor Michelle Williams got right down to business with her acceptance speech at Sunday’s award show: believe women and pay them fairly — particularly women of color.

The 39-year-old actor took fewer than 290 words to articulate her message and drew a standing ovation.

“The next time a woman — and especially a woman of color, because she stands to make 52 cents on the dollar compared to her white male counterparts — tells you what she needs in order to do her job, listen to her, believe her,” Williams said. “Because one day, she might stand in front of you and say thank you for allowing her to succeed because of her workplace environment and not in spite of it.”

Read the full article in The Washington Post.

Just Released: Spring/Summer Dance Festival Gender Equity Report

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Dance Data Project® released its sixth comprehensive report today, this time examining gender equity in spring/summer dance festival leadership and programming. For the first time in a DDP study, women make up a sizable majority in the category of artistic direction. As always, sources and limitations are cited at the end of the report.

Read more

Pacific Northwest Ballet Presents Eva Stone’s Choreography & It Features Music By Women, Too

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The Seattle Times: 6 dance performances to catch in the Seattle area in fall 2019

By Moira Macdonald and Megan Burbank

18 September 2019

A classic pointe-shoe ballet; a weekend of work examining masculinity, queerness, race and gender; and an array of new choreography all over town — yes, it’s fall in Seattle and the dance is begun. Here are a few highlights of the season.

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Locally Sourced

Here’s a welcome rarity at Pacific Northwest Ballet: an evening of all-new work, all from local choreographers. Presenting world-premiere ballets will be Eva Stone, founder/producer of CHOP SHOP: Bodies of Work; Donald Byrd, artistic director of Spectrum Dance Theater and a Tony Award-nominated choreographer (“The Color Purple”); and PNB corps member Miles Pertl, whose work has been seen at the company’s Next Step and PNB School performances. Stone’s work, “Foil,” will be set to music by female composers from centuries past (Nadia Boulanger, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann); Byrd’s, called “Love and Loss,” is set to music by Emmanuel Witzthum, and Pertl’s (as yet untitled) is scored by Jherek Bischoff. Nov. 8-17; Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St., Seattle; tickets from $37; 206-441-2424, pnb.org — M.M.

Read more in The Seattle Times.

Broadway World: Anabelle Lopez Ochoa Presents the World Premiere Of TIBURONES As Ballet Hispánico Returns To The Apollo Theater

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18 September 2019

Ballet Hispánico, the nation’s premier Latino dance organization, returns to the Apollo stage on Friday and Saturday, November 22 and 23, 2019 at 8:00pm with a program that continues its commitment to staging works by female, Latinx choreographers. Ballet Hispánico is sponsored by GOYA, which has sponsored the company since 1977.

In the World Premiere of Tiburones, Anabelle Lopez Ochoa reimagines the world of the The Sharks (from the award-winning musical West Side Story) from a Latinx and gender fluid perspective. Ochoa will embrace non-gender specific roles while deconstructing stereotypes and giving new life to an ever-appropriated cultural icon.

In this restaging of Nací (2009), choreographer Andrea Miller draws from the duality of her Spanish and Jewish-American background and employs her distinctive movement style to investigate the Sephardic culture of Spain, with its Moorish influence and profound sense of community, despite hardship.

Con Brazos Abiertos (2017) is a fun and frank look at life caught between two cultures. Michelle Manzanales utilizes iconic Mexican symbols that she was reluctant to embrace as a Mexican-American child growing up in Texas, to speak to the immigrant experience. Intertwining folkloric representations with humor and music that ranges from Julio Iglesias to Rock en Español, the work brings life to a Latino dilemma.

Read the full article on Broadway World.