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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

Pointe: Modern Dance Choreographer Pam Tanowitz On Approaching The Ballet World as an “Outsider”

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By Chava Lansky

31 May 2019


Pam Tanowitz is on a roll. Though the choreographer long ago made a name for herself in the modern dance world, ballet companies are finally starting to take notice of her work. Earlier this month, Tanowitz created her first of two ballets for New York City Ballet; in June she’ll debut her first outdoor site-specific piece, conceived of with NYCB principal Sara Mearns; and tonight marks the premiere of Gustave Le Grey No. 1 at the Kennedy Center’s Ballet Across America festival, featuring dancers from Miami City Ballet and Dance Theatre of Harlem.

We caught up with Tanowitz just before she jetted off to London for a tour with her own company, Pam Tanowitz Dance, to hear about her relationship to ballet technique, her upcoming premiere and her advice for young dancers.

Ballet as an Influence

“I was never going to be the dancer/choreographer that started with three-year-old ballet class, so I’ve always been an outsider to this world,” says Tanowitz. “That’s actually a big influence on my work.” Tanowitz grew up studying modern dance in Westchester County, New York and later earned her degree in dance at Ohio State University, followed by an MFAat Sarah Lawrence College. It was there that she became enamored by Merce Cunningham’s technique, which continues to play a big role in her choreographic style. Yet ballet was always present: Not only did Tanowitz take classes, but she immersed herself deeply in dance history. “I watched tons of Balanchine and Robbins and Tharp,” she says, adding that her favorite ballet of all time is Jerome Robbins’ 1959 Moves.

Read the full article on Pointe’s blog.

Axios: Women’s sports are having a moment

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By Kendall Baker

8 May 2019

In the last few months, multiple big name brands have pumped significant dollars into women’s sports, signaling that an increase in media exposure could be having a seismic impact on the business of female athletics.

Driving the news: AT&T signed a multi-year partnership with the WNBA, becoming the first non-apparel company to have its logo featured on the front of all 12 team jerseys. Barclays made the “largest single investment in British women’s sports,” signing a three-year, $11 million sponsorship deal that will see the top league rebranded as the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.

  • Budweiser announced its first-ever sponsorship of women’s soccer, inking a deal with the English national team.
  • Nike has shifted its entire business around to take advantage of what they consider to be a massive opportunity.

WNBPA director Pam Wheeler told sports business outlet, JohnWallStreet, that she believes this heightened sponsorship interest is a byproduct of the increased visibility of women’s sports.

  • The proliferation of streaming services and the rise of social media has allowed the WNBA (and others) to reach more people, and the league recently parlayed that uptick in eyeballs into a multi-year deal with CBS Sports that will nearly double its national TV exposure.

The backdrop: Brands have historically ignored women’s pro sports, as have televised news and highlight shows — two realities that go hand-in-hand.

Read the full article on Axios.

New York Times: Employers Who Talk Up Gender Equity, but Silence Harassment Victims

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By Emily Steel

1 May 2019

SYDNEY, Australia — Kate Jenkins was hopeful when she opened Australia’s first national inquiry into workplace sexual harassment. As a longtime employment lawyer, she had negotiated settlements for companies dealing with harassment claims. Now, as the country’s sex discrimination commissioner, she knew chief executives who were emphatic about gender equity, in pay and promotion.

Yet when she asked businesses to waive nondisclosure agreements with employees — contracts that prevented people from confidentially telling the inquiry of past harassment — only about 30 companies and institutions signed off by the deadline.

Absent were the global consultants Deloitte, PWC and Accenture; the advertising groups Interpublic Group and Dentsu; and the bank Macquarie. All of them promote International Women’s Day, a celebration of women’s achievements, and many of their executives were listed with Male Champions of Change, an Australian group that encourages diversity in the workplace.

“They all gave me technical legal reasons, but as a lawyer, I know,” Ms Jenkins said. “It is not like murder. We are asking them to waive for just one purpose. They totally could have done it.”

Read the full article in The New York Times.

Gabrielle Lamb – Upcoming Works in NYC

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The work of choreographer Gabrielle Lamb, Full Circles, will take the stage in New Chamber Ballet‘s season finale this summer in New York. Lamb wrote for an email newsletter, “New Chamber Ballet performs with seating in the round, a unique arrangement that challenged me to look at my choreography from a 360 perspective.  Please join us June 7th (8pm) and 8th (7:30pm) in New York CIty Center’s Studio 5, and arrive early to get a seat in the inner circle.”

CelloPointe will perform a brand-new creation by Lamb in New York City, entitled Dandelion Clocks. You can buy tickets to this performance here.

Learn more about Gabrielle Lamb here.

Scene from Citizen, Choreography by Laurie Stallings, Courtesy of American Ballet Theatre, Photo by Rosalie O'Connor

American Ballet Theatre: From the Page to the Stage The American Premiere of JANE EYRE

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Watch ABT’s video below discussing the upcoming US premiere of Jane Eyre, a work of Cathy Marston. Video by Ezra Hurwitz.

Don’t miss the American Premiere of JANE EYRE June 4 – 10

Buy tickets via ABT.

BalletX Announces 2020 Choreographic Fellow – Nicole Caruana

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A small but powerhouse of a company, BalletX has had an extraordinary 13-year record of new works commissioned. Adding on to their stellar record, the company has announced that Nicole Caruana, winner of the Hanover International Competition for Choreographers and up-and-coming artist, will serve as the company’s 2020 Choreographic Fellow.

A beacon of a fiscally-sound company staging exceptional new choreographers, many of them women, like Caruana, BalletX is also premiering a full-length work by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa this summer. DDP Founder Liza Yntema will return to Philadelphia to attend the world premiere of this ballet, The Little Prince.

Read more about Nicole Caruana here.

Learn about The Little Prince here.

Just Released: “First Look” New Season Report: May 2019

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The following is a report on the gender distribution of choreographers in the upcoming seasons of the 50 largest ballet companies in the United States that have been reported so far this year (38 out of 50 as of May 23, 2019). The data is separated into subsections, focusing on different aspects of the distribution of male and female choreographic work included in the upcoming seasons. DDP cites sources and discusses limitations and important disclaimers at the end of the report.

Download the May 2019 Report

Read more

New York Times: When Twyla Tharp Made Ballet Modern

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By Gia Kourlas

22 May 2019

Twyla Tharp threw down a gauntlet in 1973: She mixed classical and modern dance to make the first crossover ballet, “Deuce Coupe.” It was a revolutionary work, and to pull it off she needed both the Joffrey Ballet and her own company. Its impact still reverberates through the dance world.

“‘Deuce Coupe’ said, O.K. look, we have modern dance over here and we have ballet over here and we have this big void in between,” Ms. Tharp said. “Why is there this gully in dance? I think everybody should be able to do everything.”

Set to songs by the Beach Boys — pairing pop music and ballet wasn’t the norm, either — “Deuce Coupe” was the introduction to a different world for Ms. Tharp too. Before its premiere, she said, she had never taken a bow. When she was handed a bouquet of flowers during the curtain call, she threw it back.

Read the full article in The New York Times.

Infosurhoy: Dance: Scottish Ballet: Digital Season on the Tramway, Glasgow

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By Denis Bedoya

21 May 2019

Two years ago, Scottish Ballet dipped a bold toe into new and uncharted waters with its first ever Digital Season: the short films, live streams and digital experiments put the company on screens – large and small – not just at home, but worldwide. Now, as part of this year’s 50th anniversary celebrations, a second (and more ambitious) Digital Season carries that initiative forward. The resulting works will be released online over the next four weeks.

First up is Tremble, co-directed and choreographed by Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple. There’s a wink of black humour in how 26 glam diners are, in quick succession, shape-shifted into athletic-balletic waiters bearing trays of wibbly- wobbly jellies.The role-reversal action is fast-paced, surreal – there’s even a Busby Berkeley moment, captured from above. Great fun, wittily clever. Frontiers is next, choreographed by Myles Thatcher, directed by Eve McConanachie and filmed amid the concrete pillars of the Kingston Bridge underpass. Here, six dancers – three women, three men – come and go in sudden close encounters where partners change in the blink of a lens, and aspects of gender and identity have a free-fall sense of self-discovery outwith ballet’s norms.

Read the full article on Infosurhoy.

Ballet Across America Focusing on Female-Led Companies

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BWW Interview: Theatre Life with Lourdes Lopez

By Elliot Lanes

21 May 2019

Since 2012 today’s subject Lourdes Lopez has been living her theatre life as the Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet. The company is performing May 31st through June 2nd at the Kennedy Center as part of Ballet Across America. The May 31st performance is a shared program with Dance Theatre of Harlem who will be performing May 28th through the 30th.

Ms. Lopez has a nearly 40-year career in dance, television, teaching and arts management. As a Soloist and Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet, Lopez danced for two legends of the art form, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Can you imagine being in the same room with those two on a daily basis?

Under the direction of George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, her star rose quickly at New York City Ballet; In 1984, she was promoted to Soloist, performing countless featured roles including Balanchine’s Violin Concerto, Liebeslieder Walzer, Firebird,Serenade, Symphony in C, Agon, The Four Temperaments; and Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering, Glass Pieces, Fancy Free, In the Night, Four Seasons and Brandenburg.

Upon her retirement from dancing, Lopez joined WNBC-TV in New York as a Cultural Arts reporter, writing and producing feature segments on the arts, artists and arts education. She was also a full-time senior faculty member and Director of Student Placement, Student Evaluation and Curriculum Planning at New York’s Ballet Academy East. She served on the dance faculty of Barnard College and guest taught at numerous dance institutions and festivals in the United States.

Read the full interview on Broadway World.