Voice of Dance

"When Judith Jamison retires next year as artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, she will leave a company whose worldwide popularity is rivaled only by the magnificence of its dancing, now at its historic best."

"It tells us plenty about Mr. Taylor that at the time of the 2009 premiere of “Also Playing” (then called “Now Playing”), he said, in a public interview with Ms. Carbonneau, that his incentive came from the current economic climate and his awareness of how escapism had flourished in the popular entertainment of the Great Depression. "

"When we chatted with Zivolich recently at the ODC Dance Commons, the troupe had just returned from a four-week, four-nation State Department tour of Southeast Asia..."

"In this sequence of pictures below, taken by Erik Tomasson, you can see first-hand, how Richard has transformed me into the Charlatan, a very old, but dangerous man."

San Francisco Ballet names Building for Chris Hellman

"Obviously, there's been a huge turnaround in popularity and success (in U.S. ice dancing)," says White, a former hockey player with a head full of blond curls."

"This Belbin is ten lbs. heavier, and she couldn't be happier about that."

"The San Francisco dancers are a remarkably unmannered, elegant and grown-up company."

"The study also revealed that women would be more likely to continue dating a bad kisser who could dance, than a bad dancer who could kiss and that more women rated being able to dance well above being able to kiss well when asked about the skills they most rated in a prospective partner."

"The festival, which will run from July 27 to Aug. 10 under the direction of Damian Woetzel, will present 3 premieres and 11 performances. In addition there will be an artist in residence and a company residency."

"From ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ to ‘Dancing With The Stars’, America is in a love affair with dancing,” White said. “Hopefully that will lead to more American viewers getting into ice dance."

"It's something of an anomaly when a ballet fills you up with too much information."

"The threads that bind movement to music are nowhere more various or more subtle than in “The Sleeping Beauty.”

“Swan Lake,” at least the New York City Ballet way, is not a tale for those who relish happy endings, or even ambiguously happy endings. You won’t find such nonsense at this lakeside view."

"Very few ballet makers today create movement that is as completely dancy as Christopher Wheeldon does. “Ghosts,” his new creation for San Francisco Ballet, abounds in the felicities that for nine years have placed this still young choreographer in high national and international demand."

"In her first meeting with the director, Washington offered Cameron the "third eye" greeting, a light finger touch to the forehead by the Na'vis. Her familiarity with ritual got her the gig."

"Set tai chi to Bach, perform it on a stage sopped with water and lit with moonlight, and you have the singularly transporting experience of "Moon Water," performed by Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan over the weekend at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater."

"On Thursday, you could argue that the company's success in the daunting Seasons divertissement at the end of Act 1 represented a new advance: evidence of the leadership of Ashley C. Wheater, the Joffrey's artistic director since 2007."

"I'm a musician," Morris said by phone from his company's Brooklyn headquarters, "and my medium is dancing."

"They, and prisoners who have been previously interviewed, say the programme has been a huge success, with fighting among inmates down markedly since the dancing was introduced."

He then separates the dancers by gender, lines them up and asks each to perform a pair of ballet moves - a double pirouette and an arabesque that take just seconds to complete. Instantly, more than half of the would-be performers are eliminated.

"Swan Lake" may be about beautiful, pedigreed classical dancing, but it is also about the human condition, about taking responsibilities for our actions, even if they spell tragedy in the end."

"If there was ever any doubt that plotless dances are a myth, that every gesture can abound in meaning and unveil a universe of associations, they were eradicated by the exceptional pas de deux at the heart of Christopher Wheeldon's "Rhapsody Fantaisie," the concluding work on the West Coast debut program of Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company on Friday evening at Stanford University's Memorial Auditorium."

...And now there's ABBAWORLD — a new museum-cum-theme park in London with enough music, mementoes and memory-lane appeal to satisfy even the most fervent ABBA fan."

"Probably the elders in the bush would be laughing because they would be saying, 'Look how stupid these fellas are,' "

"It's always tricky when you mess with a ballet that many consider iconic, and it takes a steady hand to tackle the complexities of Igor Stravinsky, as the Savage Jazz Dance Company did with its premiere of "Agon," in the Laney College Theater on Thursday night."

"But there was also a hearty streak of defiance, sometimes even anger, running through the erotically charged program, which featured Ms. Zollar’s early investigations (largely from 1985 to 1995) into female sexuality."

"The 25th anniversary of Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson's union with the San Francisco Ballet was marked with a Silver Celebration gala fit for a Nordic king, or at least a fellow from Iceland, which he is."

"Arthur Mitchell, founding artistic director of Dance Theatre of Harlem in New York, has been chosen as the honorary chairman of the USA International Ballet Competition."

"It feels like an episode of Glee, the popular TV show that overnight made it socially acceptable and even sexy to sing in the high school show chorus."

"The New York Times is reportedly getting ready to charge readers for access to the venerable newspaper's online content."

"Our friends at the 24 Frames blog have notified us that producers of the upcoming Oscars telecast will be holding open auditions for dancers on Jan. 22 and Jan. 23, at CenterStaging in Burbank."

"He (Helgi Tomasson) has made the San Francisco Ballet a mecca for innovative choreography and a home for some of the finest dancers of their generation. He has brightened our evenings and stirred our souls more than anyone could have imagined."

"Per Kirkeby’s striking visual designs for Peter Martins’s “Romeo + Juliet” are neither pretty nor opulent, two things that sadly seem to have become prerequisites for big narrative ballets."

"Mr. Wheeldon gives us percussive Spanish footwork and a phalanx of dancers, but the number is not a big deal: ballet abounds in “Spanish” numbers more exciting than this. This is, nonetheless, the production’s finest dance."

Beautiful Slide Show of Dance in 2009.

"Hours after each performance of all these five dances I found that their choreography and music — even more than these dancers — were happily haunting me."

"Creating more than 120 dances since the early 1980s — for the barefoot artists of his Mark Morris Dance Group as well as pointe shoe-clad primas — Morris has brought the scores of composers in virtually every style vividly to life onstage."

"Here's one New York City tween who doesn't spend her free time obsessing about headbands and Robert Pattinson: Maria Gorokhov, the 11-year-old girl in the role of Marie in the New York City Ballet's production of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker."

"The worst part is that Mr. Thomas may well feel he is bringing ballet to the people. But he isn’t; he is bringing dance porn (sexed-up, personality-free virtuosity, numbing, then boring) to the Joyce."

"Yes, 2009 has brought us great losses. Yet how striking that Mr. Taylor, as he approaches 80, is the dance artist working hardest to extend his expressive range. Nothing in dance today is more encouraging."

"Creating a dance involves much more than inventing steps for dancers. It needs a judicious eye for visual and spatial effect, a sense of timing and an instinct for building attention, for varying the mood and creating an overall theatrical arc that draws an audience into the world of the dance."

"Twenty-year-old Boston krumper Russell Ferguson emerged as America's top dancer Wedesday night in the two-hour finale of "So You Think You Can Dance"

Lots of hot dance going on in New York City this holiday season!

"Oh, wow. I just finished watching the performance show of the So You Think You Can Dance finale and I am blown away."

"Does anybody still believe that there's no audience for nonholiday dance fare at this time of the year? If you produce it, they will come."

"So, my favorite dance of the night, not surprisingly, was the Dwight Rhoden / Desmond Richardson-choreographed contemporary routine for Jakob and Kathryn."

"But just as important, there's a different feel to this "Nutcracker," one of showmanship and neovaudevillian razzle-dazzle, which is Webre's specialty and his gift. To wit: A kid slings a dead rat across the parlor and the butler traps it in a chafing dish."

"If you still haven't realized that social media is the way to go to enhance your studio's online presence, increase your studio enrollment, and develop stronger communication amongst your parents and students, then do a little investigating. Ask around and find out how many of your students, parents, and staff, have Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, or YouTube pages, and make your own assessment."

Uhh, what? It's the finale already? What? Really? Already? Now?

"During the two decades that Judith Jamison has run the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, it has grown into possibly the most successful modern-dance company on the planet."

"Under the artistic direction of Robert Mills, this year’s edition of "The Nutcracker” is the best production of the ballet to grace the Civic Center Music Hall stage in many years."

"Dancing is said to be a young person's art, but the self-possession and expressive richness of mature ballerinas turned the second program of the New York City Ballet's Kennedy Center engagement into an event Friday."

"In a season of firsts for So You Think You Can Dance (first fall season, first krumping finalist, first married couple finalists), it's hardly surprising — and perhaps fitting — the Fox hit heads into Tuesday's Season 6 finale with its first-ever final six contestants, two more than the usual four."

"Let this ballerina promenade on pointe (in the famous celesta-dominated variation in the grand pas de deux), and she gives the impression of treading on fine crystal, which does not yield to her gossamer touch. From such moments are ballet fans made for life."

"A new report released by the National Endowment for the Arts said that the number of American adults attending arts and cultural events has sunk to its lowest level since 1982, which was when the NEA began conducting the poll."

"As NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports, more than a third of Americans make art in their free time, but they are spending less time and money going to watch the professionals."

Americans who participate in the arts are more active in community life than those who do not.

"Duggan Hill has known for many years what viewers of “So You Think You Can Dance’’ are just discovering: Russell Ferguson is a mean dancer."

"The contestants at this point I'd have the easiest time letting go are Mollee, Jakob and Ashleigh, not because I dislike any of them but just because I haven't gotten to the point where I root for them as people and as well as dancers."

"A dance-off between Madonna and Lady Gaga would be one of the more exhilarating events to take place in the world of pop music — and according to Madge herself, it actually went down a couple of weeks back."

"With that, Mr. Houston-Jones removed the dressing gown he was wearing, and proceeded with his introduction in nothing but an undershirt and socks."

"What we do is so demanding, so if you have a cold you can't dance. You don't feel like it and doing a performance with a runny nose is not possible."

"La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet," Frederick Wiseman's astoundingly beautiful documentary, has sumptuous delights to satisfy every balletomane.

"The dancers ended on their knees, the audience surged to its feet."

"'The Creative Habit' is basically about how you work alone, how you survive as a solitary artist," she said. "'The Collaborative Habit' is obviously about surviving with other people."

"Besides traditional ballet, the “Urban Nutcracker’’ this year features hip-hop, tap, swing dance, Chinese dancers, and an African-American step team from Boston Latin School. The “Urban Nutcracker’’ is the brainchild of Tony Williams, who was the first black dancer with the Boston Ballet."

"The good news, if there is any, is that this season must be strong if there are so many dancers whom I can't imagine not being in the competition."

"Most of all we are with Wiseman as he fixes his camera on the extraordinary wealth of dancing talent assembled by the company. The instruction is meticulous, vivid and sophisticated; you get the impression that these dancers can do virtually anything."

New York City Ballet "Nutcracker", Ballet Hispanico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, “Chestnuts Roasting On The Flaming Idiots”

Help decide the best Nutcracker production in the country for the 2009 holiday season.

"Everything about the show was amazing. Costumes, choreography, sets, dancers, musicians — I was even impressed with the crowd."

"I am enjoying this season greatly, but the judges need to quit being so anxious to show their approval for this round of dancers -- how many dream teams, favorite dances and power couples can there be? "

Our favorite is the Year of the Rat!

"Every year the PNC Financial Services Group puts out the PNC Christmas Price Index to let us know the exactly financial cost of that familiar Christmas tune, "The 12 Days of Christmas." The cost of some items has increased and some have gone down. The price on dancing ladies has gone up 15 percent from last year. "

"I felt like I danced my life out and I wasn't expecting to get cut. It is what it is. One door closes and another one opens. I had a great experience and if I had to go, I'm glad that I left on that note."

"The pleasure of “La Danse” resides solely in watching exceptional performers practice their craft."

"Being tired isn’t the same thing as being rich*, but most times it’s close enough" - Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

Annika Dreams of San Francisco Ballet Nutcracker!

"From the first scene, as the children peer eagerly at the Christmas tree through a keyhole, to the intricately constructed activities of the party, Marie’s dream and the voyage to the lands of snow and sweets, Balanchine keeps us in the enchanted world of warmth and light, innocence and benevolence, order and magic, conjured by Tchaikovsky’s score."

A fun collection of videos to watch of Dancing With The Stars Winner Donny Osmond.

"The second glory of “Fela!” is the dancing, created by Bill T. Jones. It’s hard to make West African dance look bad—this is one of the great dance cultures of the world—but oh, how good Jones and the dancers, more than half of them American-born (the others are African or Caribbean), have made it look."

"I want to win this mirrorball so badly," Donny said Monday. "Because if you had a sister named Marie and she was going to rub it in your face your whole life, you'd want to win, too."

"And though it’s pretty clear that Kelly doesn’t really come close to some of the other dancers technically, Monday night’s performances emphasized why the Princess of Darkness has made it this far in the competition: The girl’s a hoot and half to have around."

"Donny Osmond is truly talented. At 51, he is competing in the ever popular ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) beating performers half is age."

"Jenny from the block landed on her famous rear during an ambitious performance of her new single "Louboutins" - and she couldn't even blame the famous red-soled high heels of the song's title."

"She changed the settings on her gun to paint in the shadows of muscles. Six-pack abs, defined cheekbones and sculpted arms appeared almost instantly. Each 10-week season, the cast goes through more than six gallons of spray-tan liquid, or juice as it is known in the industry."

"But the kinetic thrills and sensory overload of “Genus” leave you feeling that ballet, almost despite itself, is moving on."

Now, 15 years later, the company, formed by Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, two former Alvin Ailey dancers, is still thrashing, spinning and kicking along its merry way.

"So now we’re left with the Entertainer, the Wild Child and the Dance Machine. "

"Julian Goins, the 15-year-old leader of the Ranger$, a five-member jerking crew, hops onto the tips of his sneakers — the Tippy Toe — and then swivels his body ground-ward, legs crossed at the ankle. He pops up like a jack-in-the-box, spins and bounces, gliding backward in the Reject, a move that resembles nothing so much as the Running Man, an ’80s dance-floor step but in reverse."

"In the U.K. next month, a dance artist who has epilepsy will attempt to induce a seizure on stage. Rita Marcalo has stopped taking her medication ahead of the event at the Bradford Playhouse, according to the BBC News. "If she has a seizure, an alarm will sound and the audience will be invited to film on their mobile phones," said the report."

"Last year, Allan Ulrich at "Voice of Dance" wrote, "If the kids in your neighborhood are trading their pointe shoes for high tops, or abandoning tutus for Tupac, or jettisoning tiaras for hoodies, perhaps Micaya is to blame."

"You might not expect a project subtitled “A multi-media dance drama based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead” to generate laughter. But, then, you may not know about Krissy Keefer, the local dancer/choreographer/producer/feminist/activist/provocateur who operates out of San Francisco’s Dance Mission Theater."

"While yoga and Pilates will remain strong, dance-based classes were all the rage this year. Zumba, a fitness program inspired by Latin dance, combines South American rhythms with cardiovascular exercise. Bollywood, ballroom, Afro-Cuban and other exotic dance styles grew in popularity thanks to shows such as Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance."

"Variety reported that although Lady Gaga (whose real name is Stefani Germanotta) has sold more than 1.5 million copies of her debut album, “The Fame,” her song “Just Dance” was nominated in the best dance recording category at this year’s Grammys, making her ineligible for new artist next year, according to the award’s regulations."

It's the charmers versus the swans as we get down to the last four couples twirling on "Dancing With the Stars."

“The important thing was to have the finance, administration, marketing — all of those things — managed full time by a professional that did not report to or through Peter in order for him to focus all of his time on the artistic aspects,” Mr. Vogelstein said."

"Can Donny Osmond demonstrate that being age 52 isn't a handicap and surprise us with the needed endurance to get through 3 tough performances?"

"Now the torch has been passed to the Trisha Brown Dance Company, which, over the weekend, presented a sharply edited program of Ms. Brown’s early works (pieces created between 1968 and 1975) that took audiences on a fast-paced trip through seven galleries. "

"Having danced for 13 years, it makes sense why Hutman isn't afraid of turkey — er, chickening out."

New York City Ballet spends over $500,000 a year on pointe shoes! Each dancer goes through a pair a day on average.

We could all use a little help this time of year. Here are Self's list of foods that actually help you lose weight.

"Based on tonight's performances I would say Mollee and Nathan (should go home), but I am also old and crabby -- not their target audience. "

In his most famous utterance, he said that dancing “gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive.”

"All of these slippery subjects are the matter of Bill T. Jones’s “Serenade/The Proposition,” an hourlong work that reaffirms this artist’s gift for creating powerful theater but reveals little of sustained choreographic interest."

"It now seems like such a brilliant idea that it is a surprise no one had thought of it before: pairing figure skaters with hockey players for ice dancing routines in the ultimate ice rink reality show."

"In an earlier era, Axis was, understandably, set on justifying its existence. Today, the quality of the dancing takes your breath away. "

"Lady Gaga, the pop star known as much for her baroque wardrobe as for her music, will be performing with dancers from the Bolshoi Ballet in a new work that will be presented at gala for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles."

"From American Idol" producers FremantleMedia North America, the show features stars competing for charity as they pay homage to some of the most famousmovie, musical and pop video dance routines of all time, the network said in a release."

"This film records three days of rehearsals by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company at the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond, Calif., an extraordinary space overlooking San Francisco Bay and the hills beyond."

"Dallas Cowboy great Michael Irvin and "Iron Chef" host Mark Dacascos were each sent home Tuesday night in the second double elimination on "Dancing With the Stars."

"I had a feeling that a certain group would be a quick casualty of the show, and I was right. That group of course is: the tappers. "

"Here is not a sick and drugged man forcing himself through grueling rehearsals, but a spirit embodied by music. Michael Jackson was something else."

"It took death to restore his standing as one-of-a-kind entertainer — to bring him back to life. Jackson is hot again."

"To say that the film, sumptuous in its length and graceful in its rhythm, is a feast for ballet lovers is to state the obvious and also to sell Mr. Wiseman’s achievement a bit short. Yes, this is one of the finest dance films ever made, but there’s more to it than that."

"In addition to everyone’s individual dances, this week also marked the epic group dance battle of the season: Team Tango versus Team Paso."

"Still, for a documentary of any kind to open at number one is quite remarkable."

"Death returned Michael Jackson’s humanity, and in a curious, tentative way so too does Michael Jackson’s This Is It."

"Paula, who has also been linked to Australian Idol since quitting the American version of the show, said she "might need a break from judging for a while".

"While I wish I had learned why the judges chose who they did, I didn't disagree with their results."

"The gold medal of this clip went to Bill Walton, for being able to say “that Mirrorball trophy is going to take everything” with both a straight face and conviction."

"Highlights from the evening were: Ryan Di Lello and Ellenore Scott, who danced a contemporary jazz piece about fallen angels by the incredibly imaginative Sonya Tayeh. "

“Women’s biological clocks have a parallel journey that starts to clash horribly with the their creative journey around age 35."

"Whether presented in stripped-down sequences or as part of developing spectacles that might have been truly magical — a thrilling The Way You Make Me Feel is a standout — the songs remind us that early this summer, the world lost a genuine, if genuinely troubled, star."

One of the greatest dancers and performers who ever lived!

"Airing on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. ET, MTV's special will showcase inside stories you've never heard before about MJ and his planned concerts. "

..."we asked Michael Jackson's own dancers — the talented men and women working alongside the King of Pop as they rehearsed for his "This Is It" concert series — if they could give us tutorials about Jackson's iconic dance moves. Even if you can't nail 'em all, you'll have a pretty good time trying."

Watch the Pasadena Zombies and others do "Thriller"

“La Danse,” which opens at Film Forum in Manhattan on Nov. 4, is Mr. Wiseman’s second ballet documentary; he observed the American Ballet Theater in rehearsal and on tour for “Ballet” (1995). But he cautioned against thinking of the new movie as a sequel."

“I intend to give it everything I’ve got,” he said. “But I have to be realistic. I don’t know whether we will make it.”

"The company sets out to rouse spectators through a program of nonstop visual astonishment, and the biggest affront wouldn’t be boos but the reverential silence of a ballet recital."

"There are a number of videos from different parts of the globe documenting the so-called “Thrill the World” dancers."

"The pros (including ones already eliminated this season) will also unite to perform an all-out tribute to the late pop/dance icon, Michael Jackson. "

We've reached the halfway point in the competition, ballroom fans ... the "double dance extravaganza," in which contestants performed their first group dance of the season (the Hustle!) along with either the Argentine tango or the paso doble.

New York City Ballet, the Joyce Theater Foundation and the New School are among the 18 cultural organizations that have won the Rockefeller Foundation’s annual New York City Cultural Innovation Fund competition, the foundation said on Wednesday.

Stephen Hanna, the former New York City Ballet dancer who portrays the role of Billy’s older self in that musical, will rejoin the company of City Ballet as a guest artist for its coming 2009-2010 winter season.

Alastair Macaulay writes: "The audience was near fever pitch throughout Tuesday evening at City Center for the first night of the annual Fall for Dance programs."

" Audiences don't want to see the kind of self-indulgent, boring dance that is so prevalent today."

"The segment will pay tribute with a medley of three Jackson songs spanning his career."

"The prognosis for the Oakland Ballet Company looked grim in April when founding Artistic Director Ronn Guidi suddenly resigned (for the second time in a decade). "

"He has no clue what he is talking about," said Chmerkovskiy.

"Heads up!" came the shout, as a guy walking his dog strode unconcernedly through the space, as if dance like this happened every day on the bridge.

"There are a lot of dancers who don't think of themselves as artists, so they come prepared to take dictation. But what I want is to give the dancers straw and have them turn it into gold. I want to give them sentences and have them structure it into poetry."

"Under the discouraging circumstances, ABT used its ingenuity, and commissioned a program of site-specific dances by Alexei Ratmansky (formerly the director of the Bolshoi Ballet, now ABT's Artist in Residence and already a favorite with American dance fans), and Benjamin Millepied and Aszure Barton, whose careers are conspicuously on the rise."

"But before we look forward, I'd like to look back and share with you my five favorite pieces from Mia's five magical years on the show."

"The app is a one-stop-shop for fans who can now use their iPhone or iPod touch for deeper access to the hit show, complete with the latest elimination updates, video clips and other fun, interactive features."

"DWTS" is what it is - a dance competition show with very good production values. No change this season in that regard. Therefore, what’s happening is subtle."

"Aaron appeared as though he was about to toss his cookies by hour's end. Anna, however, looked like she was over it every time the camera panned her way (which was only slightly better than Lacey’s oddly-pursed fish lips), so maybe it was good that she and Chuck were put of their misery."

"You can take any concept and make it good or make it bad. You have to be very careful about how you tell the story with dance -- if it's too literal, it's too corny."

"With their lithe, gravity-defying bodies and their wordless presence, ballet dancers often seem so otherworldly and ethereal that it's a shock to see them looking and acting like the rest of us normal slobs."

"Bollywood is coming to the Palace. Tonight, for one performance only, the world of the Bollywood dance routine — the swirling saris, the gyrating girls, the handsome couples who never quite kiss — will be invading the staid surroundings of Buckingham Palace."

"PETA cited concerns about how great apes are separated from their mothers, beaten and shocked in training, and discarded once they become too large to handle safely. PETA also sent Green this short video, narrated by Anjelica Huston, which illustrates the many problems associated with using great apes on TV and in film."

"With his crowd-pleasing choreography, Chase Brock, at just 26, has set his sights firmly on Broadway. "

"The stars are still dancing on ABC this season, but the crowd cheering them on has thinned a bit."

"Tom DeLay, who performed his samba with stress fractures, announced that he was withdrawing from the competition on the account of his bum feet. Bummer. "

"Forsythe returns with Decreation, a work that challenges our notions of dance in the 21st century and asserts his place as one of the world's most innovative choreographers."

"Lincoln was the only white man I was allowed to love unconditionally growing up..."

"Dancing with stress fractures on both feet, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay did a red, white and blue samba that earned him a score of just 15 Monday night on "Dancing With The Stars."

Watch the video and judge for yourself

"As the numbers of subscribers and ticket buyers decline, dance groups are looking for enticements, beyond actual performances, to get audiences to queue up at the box office."

"It is Jenkins' particular genius that even on the crowded stage, she leaves a kind of mental space for our minds, for viewers to fill in the interstices with our own memories, experiences, impressions."

"Now, Jenkins, the doyenne of Bay Area modern dance, has returned with another crosscultural project, this one with members of China’s Guangdong Modern Dance Company, fashioned here and in Asia over the past couple of years. "

"I wouldn’t say the remake and I are close, and it’s almost fatally modest. But it has a sweet spirit, and it offers only one true moment of inadvertent camp: a (lame) finale featuring an African dance routine completely at odds with all the white bread we’ve just been served."

Former political friends and foes weigh in on Tom Delay's performance on "Dancing With The Stars."

“One thing I wasn’t prepared for in learning to dance was getting in touch with my feminine side.” We weren't prepared for that either."

"Here’s something else I never would have guessed. That Kelly Osbourne tied for second!"

"Last night Tom DeLay made his comeback, and truly, it was a low moment in our nation’s long and stormy history, by which we mean it was totally and completely awesome in every imaginable way."

"First up: the men. And Macho Monday did not disappoint."

"ABC's decision to invite disgraced former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to participate in "Dancing with the Stars" may have backfired."

3 hour live episode starts tonight!

"We're energizing our base. We're using all the technology that we can — Twitter, Facebook and websites tracking stuff, gathering emails."

"On to the show. "America's Best Dance Crew" moved into the final phase of the show's fourth season with five dances that should lead to one winner in next week's live finale on Sunday."

“It's very athletic,” she said. “Everybody was into aerobics then. So there's a lot of shuffling and jogging; it's an endurance challenge.”

"From the opening fanfare to the closing processional “Défilé,’’ Boston Ballet’s “Night of Stars’’ was a rousing celebration of the company’s official move to its new home, the Boston Opera House."

Veteran choreographer Margaret Jenkins and her dancers join forces with China's Guangdong Modern Dance Company for "Other Suns," an intersection of cultures and ideas, which premieres Thursday at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

"How great was it to have the choreographer (Mia Michaels) back on the panel last night in Phoenix?"

"Turning 50 this year, the National Ballet of China is showing its range with a slew of imported and original performances such as "Swan Lake" and "Raise the Red Lantern," but what audiences crave are the ballets born during the company's heady first decade, when in the name of revolution, ballerinas with rifles pirouetted across dirt stages."

"He was known for his acting, but it's Patrick Swayze's talent for dancing that's being recognized by a TV show he played a small part in."

"What a thrill that was to actually dance with him! He is a marquee of my childhood memories and I send positive love and energy to his angel."

"Taking class with out a dress-code and getting paid weekly are two things I am really liking about the company life."

"It's both powerfully romantic and deeply sexy, and Swayze clinches it not because of his acting but because he learned dance partnering."

"Fox has announced film director and choreographer Adam Shankman will be added as a new judge on "So You Think You Can Dance" starting Oct. 27."

"The dancers in front of the videos gave the show a mufti-dimensional effect that was smashing."

"I'm interested in the ways we do — and do not — communicate with other cultures, and in what we think we have the right to assume about what people feel," Jenkins says. "I want to create situations in which I'm vulnerable to new ways of thinking and learning."

"Patrick Swayze, the actor and classically trained dancer whose role in the enduringly popular "Dirty Dancing" made him a movie star, one who struggled with the alienation of fame and against being typecast as a leading man, died Monday."

"Hell, anyway, is more or less the subject of “Press,” the hourlong solo that Mr. Rigal is presenting at the Baryshnikov Arts Center this week."

"It's too early to judge, of course, but this season seems to be off to a very promising start."

Why "So You Think You Can Dance" is the top of the heap of dance shows.

"It turns out the tribute will involve 20 backup dancers and Janet Jackson doing a dance tribute to Michael, and will apparently be some kind of monster medley of his hits."

"So the self-professed dance lover pulled out the stops for her season premiere, inviting the Top 10 finalists from last season's So You Think You Can Dance? to perform in a fully choreographed production number with her on the show."

“It’s about artistry,” Ms. Bar said. “You want to carve out your own space, but you’re always building on the people that came before you.”

"Dancing at 61 a contemporary program titled “Three Solos and a Duet,” Mikhail Baryshnikov doesn't make it easy on himself -- or his audience."

"A difficult choreographer with a popular following, a minimalist with a tendency to dramatise, a reticent person with a lot to say … Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker is a fascinating contradiction."

"A 43-year-old wardrobe designer from Las Vegas was crowned the winner of Oxygen's competition series, "Dance Your Ass Off.""

"Off Kilter will showcase the country's (Scotland's) eclectic dance traditions, and will include new work by choreographers Mark Morris and Ashley Page."

“Arlene has managed to get City Center back to a place dance audiences want to go,” said Alistair Spalding, the artistic director and chief executive of Sadler’s Wells."

"Flash mobs are a group of 10 to 300 people who gather in a crowded, public place and suddenly start dancing, usually a coordinated routine, to music. "

"We came here to dance and enjoy ourselves, without thinking we would win or achieve anything big," said Hiroshi Yamao, 36, after Saturday night's final"

"...more than 12,000 people came together in downtown Mexico City to shake it to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" on the day that he would have celebrated his 51st birthday."

"If you’re interested in the dance theater of Mark Morris, then the fragmentary dramas of his two new pieces, “Visitation” and “Empire Garden,” are strange and fascinating; they show him moving in unfamiliar directions."

"The piece was inspired by some poetry that I was reading by a couple different poets, but they were all about people’s memories and the types of flashbacks you get with memory that don’t have anything to do with the moment you’re living in"

"Rehearsals are now underway for all 16 couples, who will hit the ballroom on Sept. 21 for Dancing’s season 9 premiere on ABC."

“For the first time ever, fans will see Michael as they have never seen him before — this great artist at work. "

“Headed to the studio for my first rehearsal and to meet my partner. Hope it’s not Nancy Pelosi :),”

"Not only would these amateur dancers -- some of them in their 80s -- perform for tens of thousands of rowdy NBA fans, but the NETSationals were to be a hip-hop dance team."

"Led by Mexican Jackson impersonator "Héctor Jackson" (pictured) and choreographer Adolfo Chávez, the group was preparing for an Aug. 29 event in which an estimated 11,000 people in Mexico City will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the biggest mass "Thriller" dance."

"...Then Cunningham did something really radical, he added performances… dozens of smaller ones at the Mondavi Center, McClatchy high, in art galleries and mostly in the Ballet’s home studios. The revamped season was a gamble. For the dancers, it was grueling."

"We wanted someone sort of iconic and who the audience would have strong feelings about." That would appear not to be a problem, given DeLay's outspokenness on abortion, religion and the environment over the years.

"Shows like ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance," MTV's "America's Best Dance Crew" and Oxygen's "Dance Your Ass Off" are drawing millions of viewers and helping expose audiences to the art of dance."

"Watching Balanchine’s Stravinsky Violin Concerto, I couldn’t help wondering how Chinese audiences, many members of which may be exposed to the choreographer’s angular, hip-jutting vocabulary will respond to the work. "

"exciting for the crews to realize that Beyoncé knows who they are."

After leaving Idol, Paula Abdul is looking at her options coming in.

"As my companion remarked, the first half felt like a Martha Wainwright concert with some dances tacked on. The second half, however, became more substantial in terms of both dance and Ms. Wainwright’s music."

"It’s not yet a culture war, but the sniping at Rocco Landesman, the newly confirmed chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, has begun."

"My chief objection to these visions of ballroom is not moral. (These people choose to do it.) What makes me wretched is that all these stunts, acrobatics, point-scoring and flashy displays of sexual availability are what matter. Musicality, phrasing, intimacy and actual sensuousness are what don’t."

"He's Cuba's second most famous son, but when principal dancer Carlos Acosta brought the Royal Ballet home, there was a shock in store for Havana's classical dance lovers."

"Since 1964, New York City Ballet has called Lincoln Center home. In honor of the campus’s 50th anniversary, the ballet company will present a yearlong retrospective of its repertory."

"The contestants for Season Nine of Dancing With the Stars will be revealed on Good Morning America on August 17, but as usual, casting rumors are fast and furious, with virtually every person who has ever been famous and is currently a bit underemployed being mentioned."

"State government doesn’t normally shut down for ballet, but you wouldn’t have believed it judging by the dignitaries who spilled into the Joyce Theater on Monday night."

"So You Think You Can Dance winner Jeanine Mason knows she can dance — so what's she going to do about it? With her talent confirmed by her win last week, the 18-year-old Miami native has two big plans ahead: touring for the show, and starting college at UCLA."

"Speaking with reporters at the annual Television Critics Association press tour, ABC President Stephen McPherson said that Abdul, who shocked fans last week by announcing that she would not be returning to 'Idol,' would be a welcome addition to the cast of 'Dancing With the Stars,' in one form or another."

"On Thursday and Friday nights the Vail International Dance Festival looked both forward and back. An UpClose evening on Thursday, at the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek, was called 'Wendy Whelan: Dancer and Muse.'"

"A great start to the new season! We are Heroes and Rhythm City seem to be the top two crews after this introductory episode. Unlike almost all previous seasons, where there were always a couple of crews that rose high above the others, anyone can get in this to win."

"a characteristic Cunningham arrangement — was poignant, frustrating and thrilling. " The week following his death, his company performs in New York.

" In June, at a point when Cunningham was still working, the foundation unveiled a "Living Legacy Plan," which broke the difficult news that the dance company and the school would shut down (after one international farewell tour) following Cunningham's death."

"The weekend engagement, scheduled as a regular part of the Evening Stars series in the River to River Festival in New York, will now function as a tribute to Cunningham, who died peacefully at his home on Sunday, at age 90. Shortly before his passing, the choreographer gave instructions for how to assemble the three 'Events' that the company will perform."

"So next week we'll see the top four: Brandon, Evan, Jeanine Mason and Kayla will battle it out for America's favorite dancer. For some reason I think Jeanine will win, but perhaps Wednesday night's performances will change that."

"Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal eschews its native language this week with an all-Italian program at Jacob's Pillow that is as sunny and sensual as a Tuscan summer."

"Since the company has grown in stature and size into a world-class arts organization, so have the artistic responsibilities. For example, right now we have renowned choreographer John Neumeier here, staging his beautiful, dramatic version of the Hans Christian Andersen story, 'The Little Mermaid.'"

"One of the final works by the choreographer Merce Cunningham, who died on Sunday, was a site-specific piece created for Rockefeller Park, where it will be performed on Saturday and Sunday as part of the River to River Festival."

"The effect of Merce's profound creativity will remain as a beacon throughout all of the arts. He was a warm and kind collaborator with a special appreciation for music and musicians. He was constantly working on new ideas and gave so many people the courage to explore."

"After performing in more than 30 countries, ballroom dance company 'Burn The Floor' debuts on Broadway on Sunday."

"Miami City Ballet will make its Vail, Colorado debut Saturday at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater with a program of masterpieces by George Balanchine."

"While some are amusing, some attempt to take themselves too seriously. Still others fail to provide enough dancing, and some have taken on a life of their own through the passage of time and nostalgia."

"It was an innovative move in a career marked by innovation. But with Cunningham’s death Sunday, his foundation finds itself in the difficult position of having to fund the $8-million plan as it simultaneously goes into effect."

"Leading the country's third-largest ballet company requires serious backup. Now instead of one right-hand man, San Francisco Ballet Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson has two."

"Singer said the idea to send supplies, announced last year, came from board members of the academy who wanted to help the struggling school, which was bombed several years ago."

"In bowing to a mentor, Ananiashvili was honoring the foundation of ballet, the handing down of technique and experience over the generations...While watching, I began to wonder how often ordinary women are rewarded in such palpable ways as this extravagant exchange."

"No question about it, dance audiences in Manhattan are spoiled. The city offers a cornucopia of free events for dance-o-philes each summer, and some of these freebies include premieres by major artists."

"Merce Cunningham, the American choreographer who was among a handful of 20th-century figures to make dance a major art and a major form of theater, died Sunday night at his home in Manhattan. He was 90.

"Cunningham once typed in his notes that dancing 'is not for unsteady souls.' His soul was supremely steady, but primed to embrace risk and make new discoveries. He woke up our eyes to see dancing for itself—as complex, fleeting, and often irrational as life. I will write at more length when I’ve accustomed myself to his absence."

"Though I’ve had moments recently where I’ve decided to take class on a whim or choreographed a solo for myself, I have never treated dance as something in which I can plainly dabble. For when you immerse yourself so completely in something from the age of eleven it’s nearly impossible to take a step backwards and look at it differently."

"Okay, so Katie Holmes' big 'So You Think You Can Dance' Judy Garland tribute was a big fat mess. Yes, she was lip-synching. And yes, her dancing was just a couple steps up from sitting. You could practically hear the Internet snickering around 8:47 p.m. last night."

"America’s oldest dance festival remains proudly international in outlook. This weekend Merce Cunningham Dance Company honors its founder’s 90th birthday with three unusual works."

"Choreographer Angel Corella has announced the U.S. debut of Corella Ballet Castilla y León, March 17 - 20 at New York City Center."

"Lythgoe said he is excited about the special 100th episode, which, in addition to the best routines from all the previous seasons, will feature a pre-recorded performance by Katie Holmes doing an 'homage to Judy Garland in that iconic outfit from 'Summer Stock' where she did 'Get Happy.'"

"The layoffs have produced a complicated set of responses among these dancers, who, since childhood, have endured grueling hours of cloistered study to achieve a remarkable level of artistry."

"In a news release, producers for the show, which was adapted from the 2000 Stephen Daldry film, said that the tour would begin at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts in Chicago in March. Casting for the touring company was not announced."

"Family will be the focus for the Vail International Dance Festival's opening night as tap dancer extraordinaire Savion Glover makes his triumphant return to Vail July 27-28 for two action-packed performances."

"Wim Wenders has decided to forge ahead with Pina, his 3D dance film about legendary choreographer Pina Bausch, who died last month...At the time, Wenders put the project on hold, subject to consultation with Bausch's company, Tanztheater Wuppertal. Today, both sides confirmed that they would carry on the collaboration, citing letters from the public urging them to do so."

"Broadway-bound dance-a-thon 'Burn the Floor' has added Carrie Ann Inaba, a judge on ABC's 'Dancing With the Stars,' to its producing team. The show, which features Latin and ballroom moves, begins previews Saturday at the Longacre Theater and is set to open Aug. 2."

"Dandelion Dancetheater’s 'MUTT' is mad and maddening, a wild whirl of song, text, visual design and movement whose anarchic energies sometimes seem shot straight out of Dada."

"Five members of Britain's Royal Ballet came down with the H1N1 swine flu virus during their just-ended visit to Cuba, but all have recovered, a spokeswoman for the dance company said on Monday."

"Jessica Miller Tomlinson is kind of choreographer du jour after winning last month's feisty competition, 'The A.W.A.R.D Show,' at the Dance Center of Columbia College. Her new work, 'Architecture: Splintered and Cracked,' unveiled over the weekend as part of Thodos Dance Chicago's "New Dances 2009," suggests that success is no fluke."

"In June, Weeks won a silver medal at the prestigious Helsinki International Ballet Competition in Finland. The competition is considered the Olympics of ballet, and past-winners include Mikhail Baryshnikov."

"To me, there was only one reason to tune in other than the results, and that was the opening dance, a striking performance heavily influenced by Asian culture choreographed by Wade and Amanda Robson."

"Summerdanz (Friday and Saturday) This festival of contemporary dance at Dance Theater Workshop ends with ColleenThomasDance and a program featuring collaborative work by Ms. Thomas and the composer Chris Lancaster."

"The choreographer Jean-Claude Gallotta, no fool apparently, gives the film center stage for several minutes during “Des Gens Qui Dansent,” which had its United States premiere on Wednesday night at Jacob’s Pillow, performed by his troupe, Groupe Émile Dubois, in its first appearance in this country in 20 years."

"Artscape is raising the barre this year, by scheduling more dance performances than ever before in the 28-year history of Baltimore's free summer celebration of the arts."

"'Most of the world believes we are terrorists,' says Ayman Meghames. 'The media is closed to us, so we get our message out through Hip-Hop.'"

"There's nothing like the bustle of Saratoga Springs in the summer, and if there was any fear the recession would put a damper on the atmosphere of indulgence the season normally brings, some preliminary reports show there may not be much reason to worry."

"Emanuel Gat Dance returned to the Lincoln Center Festival with 'Winter Variations' and 'Silent Ballet.' Once again Mr. Gat offered a middling vision of choreography: not too cold and not too hot, his work falls somewhere in the land of tepid."

"Oddly, one of the weekend's best dance performances came from an actress who barely moved. In 'Cover Me With Humanness,' Gwen Grastorf portrays Degas' iconic statue the 'Little Dancer.' The play is about, among other things, what compels people to watch dance."

"LeWitt occasionally froze the action, and when an immense image of Childs appears for the 20-minute solo that separates Dance's first and last parts, it looks like a still shot. Until she blinks. Glamorous, with beauty so severe that she makes Garbo at her stoniest look approachable, the Childs of 30 years ago made it clear that she was not out to seduce an audience, but to present intriguing equations."

"A longtime union lawyer was arrested and charged on Tuesday with embezzling approximately $150,000 from a union representing dancers and stage managers at American Ballet Theater, federal prosecutors said. "

"London's Royal Ballet will devote on Wednesday its second performance in this capital to Prima Ballerina Assoluta Alicia Alonso, and first Cuban National Ballet (BNC) figures will join this homage."

"John Goding, 50, a founding member, ballet master and former principal dancer for the Washington Ballet, whose career with the company spanned more than 30 years, died July 10 at his vacation home in Cape Coral, Fla., after suffering a pulmonary embolism."

"The usual flips and somersaults were ever present as Pilobolus Dance Theater performed to a sold-out crowd at the Joyce Theater on Monday night, but the main attraction was a bit of shadow play."

"Queen Margrethe unveiled the colorful costumes Wednesday for 'The Swineherd,' a ballet based on a story by Danish fairytale writer Hans Christian Andersen."

"'It's an antiquated ordinance that doesn't help anybody,' said Matt McIver, artistic director of the social club, adding that he was elated with the council's decision. The ordinance, which dates to at least 1942, bans public dancing between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Monday through Saturday."

"Though the phenomenon feels new, it is of course part of one of the oldest trends in human history. People have been congregating to dance since civilization began. The digital means of dissemination are recent, but the act itself is as ancient as eating and sleeping."

"Alexander Vedernikov, who has fought for eight years to revive the fortunes of the renowned opera and ballet house, told the Financial Times on Tuesday he was quitting because of clashes over the theatre’s direction."

"'Dog•id,' which will open at the Joyce Theater this week as part of Pilobolus’s month-long run there, is its most elaborate and longest shadow work yet. And it bears the hallmarks of one of its most unusual collaborators: Steven Banks, the head writer of 'SpongeBob SquarePants.'"

"The sudden death of the German choreographer Pina Bausch last month left a wrenching hole in the lives of the dancers who dedicated themselves to her work in Wuppertal, a small city east of Düsseldorf. And it raised an essential question for all dance companies that exist to serve a lone creative voice: What happens when that voice is silenced?"

"If good design equals the sum of its parts, it’s no question that 30 years later 'Dance' endures."

"After years of teetering on the brink of financial disaster, Ballet Florida filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in West Palm Beach on Friday."

"The Royal Ballet of London is making its first ever appearance in Cuba for a tribute to Cuba's National Ballet and its founder, renowned ballerina Alicia Alonso."

"The 2009 'So You Think You Can Dance' nationwide tour kicks off Sept. 20 in Manchester, N.H. Tickets go on sale July 25.

"It boasts a good, fresh lineup that showcases quality artists who represent the richness that is Bay Area dance. Including world premieres by experienced artists is always a good programming decision, and these are judiciously chosen."

"Expectation and fulfillment can make uneasy bedfellows: 'Orbo Novo' is not, unfortunately, a dazzler. Hints that it wouldn’t be, at least for the cynically inclined, could be found in the overly stuffed program notes..."

"Aficionados of dance music are used to waiting until the wee hours to catch top-of-the-line talent. But especially in summer an array of early parties, some outdoors, offer a respite from late nights and expensive clubs, allowing people with day jobs the opportunity to hear the latest in experimental beats and still be at the office on time in the morning."

"The summer calendar has been marked for dancing since 1933 when American dance pioneer Ted Shawn and his company of Men Dancers gave their first performances at Jacob's Pillow, his 163-acre farm in Becket, Mass."

"New York City Ballet is back at its summer home, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. And though the company’s stay will be shortened to a mere two weeks, its 44th season here is not short on terrific dance and music."

"There's a certain unfettered joy, a cinematic moment when your dancing under the stars at Lincoln Center. The music is often timeless and the groups that attend come from various backgrounds and age groups. Its always a sizable, fervent crowd but never over-crowded."

"The Louisville Orchestra and Louisville Ballet are each getting $50,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts in job-stimulus funds, part of a total of $300,000 awarded to seven Kentucky groups."

"The National Endowment for the Arts announced 631 local arts groups have received direct grants totaling $29,775,000 as part of the American Economic Recovery & Reinvestment Act."

"Modern-dance pieces are now widespread in ballet repertories, and Mr. Reinhart said he wanted to pay homage to Mr. Taylor, Ms. Tharp, Ms. Dean and Mr. Morris for their efforts to unite the two arenas."

"The world champion Philippine Allstars will defend their title as nearly 2,000 dancers from around the globe compete for world street dance supremacy in this exhilarating show of talent and athleticism."

"MTV's reality dance competition 'Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew' is moving from Thursday to Sunday nights. The series' fourth season will premiere Aug. 9 at 9 p.m. with a special 90-minute episode."

"Emily Molnar, a principal dancer with Vancouver-based Ballet British Columbia has been appointed as the interim artistic director of the company as it reorganizes following the departure of John Alleyne."

"It looks like it's very fitting to see him front a tribute to one who's contributed a lot to dancing, and who's made so many dancers out of these people."

"He told 'Esquire' magazine: 'I'm learning the basics of ballet. The thing is, in a few years I'll be 21, 22, and that's when all the guys who've been at drama school will come out. They've been learning dance or singing and all that stuff and I'm going to need to compete with them because I won't have ‘Harry Potter’ as my safety net any more.'"

"It’s in the full-length ballets that Diana Vishneva offers gifts no other ballerina today can claim. In Giselle, Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet, this star of the Kirov and of American Ballet Theatre brings her heroine’s imagined past and looming future to bear on the steps.

"On the Town and West Side Story made him the king of Broadway, but Jerome Robbins was a man beset with anxieties, writes Sanjoy Roy."

"I'm not saying you can't tweet a review. You can, and plenty of people do. I'm saying that tweeting a review in its entirety misses out on one of Twitter's major strengths: turning people on to something cool."

"Director Wim Wenders has stopped production on the planned 3D dance film 'Pina' following the death of the film's subject -- the legendary choreographer Pina Bausch."

"At 32, Cherkaoui is a rising star of European dance, and the fact that he agreed to collaborate with Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet on his first piece for an American company, spending months on the process, is a major artistic coup for the bold young troupe."

"Ballet superstar Carlos Acosta is to headline Spring Dance 2010 at the London Coliseum, performing with the whole company of Ballet Nacional de Cuba for the first time in the UK."

"Jackson spoke to MTV News back in 1999 about why he felt music videos are more than just commercials for the artist — they were an important part of the creative process for him."

"Ultimately, Bausch’s gift wasn’t for destruction but creation. She was a tough-as-nails realist ready to see the dark side of things. But whatever falls apart in her work sooner or later gets put back together again. She made catharsis a profound picking up of the pieces. And she was also good for a laugh and for coming up with a tune that stuck with you. How are we going to get along without her?"

"igel Lythgoe announced today that he is teaming up with director Adam Shankman, 'Dancing with the Stars' judge Carrie Ann Inaba and actress Katie Holmes to launch the Dizzy Feet Foundation, a foundation for the dance community that will provide scholarships and assistance to talented underserved youth."

"Pina Bausch, the German dancer and choreographer who died aged 68 on Tuesday, five days after being diagnosed with cancer, was the most influential figure in European contemporary dance for the past 30 years, creating a much-imitated fusion of radical theatre, surreal art, sexual drama and danced body language, known as Tanztheater."

"Forget Man in the Mirror; the man was a mirror. And his precocity, his magpie mimicry, was daring. 'The Origins of the Moonwalk,' the illuminating YouTube compilation you mention, leaves out his most immediate models: the Godfather of Soul and the lesser-known Jackie Wilson and all of the Motown groups Young Michael grew up among."

"Even with the $1,000-plus price tag, Tulanian says the meeting is easily worth it. 'I am a dance aficionado, so I wanted to give a little something back to the community for the many hours of joy that I have received from seeing these incredibly talented artists.'"

"You can count on one hand the number of modern-dance-makers who have changed the landscape – and Pina Bausch was one of them. Even though she never created a style that could be taught in the classroom, as Martha Graham or Merce Cunningham did, her influence went far and deep."

"The festival, which will run from Sept. 22 through Oct. 3, will open with a Boston Ballet performance of Nijinsky’s 'Afternoon of a Faun,' originally created for the Ballets Russes at its Paris premiere."

"Keith V. Goodman, a beloved figure in the Portland dance community, has died of an apparent heart attack. According to his longtime partner, Bill Flood, Goodman lowered himself gracefully to the ground as he concluded a performance outside the Beaverton library around noon Saturday."

"I can’t think how many hours I spent hunched over the video monitors at the library for the performing arts, watching grainy footage of her early, iconic pieces. And then being blown away when I finally saw one of her epic dance-theater works live."

"I had the pleasure of traveling to Jacob’s Pillow last weekend to photograph Avi Scher and Dancers performing in a series called 'Inside/Out.'"

"While the world mourns Michael Jackson – and, yes, the late king of pop played this medieval city in 1988 – there is scant evidence of moonwalking at this year’s annual Montpellier Dance Festival."

"A documentary made about Acosta a few years ago was called 'The Reluctant Ballet Dancer,' and there's no doubt, from the book, that he was."

"The increase exceeds President Obama's budget request by $8.7 million and would be the highest proposed appropriation for the NEA since its peak in 1992."

"On Saturday hundreds of locals and foreign tourists crammed into a viewing area of the prison yard on the island to watch the 1,500 inmates re-enact their performance of the famous 'Thriller' zombie dance."

"Although the beauty and mystique that surround the art often make it easy to forget, that's just what ballet dancing is: a job. A tough and often thankless one. Even if you make it to the top, you'll still be faced with short-term contracts and early redundancy."

"Pop star Michael Jackson was pronounced dead today after paramedics found him in a coma at his Bel-Air mansion, city and law enforcement sources told The Times."

"Last night's episode proved to me that result shows can actually be entertaining, and, in the case of this program, poignant. There is such a thing as good filler, believe it or not."

"Online videos from around the world have begun pouring in showing people singing, dancing, crying, smiling and mourning a man who shared his great talent with the world."

"If you are a fan of the unknown, follow SCUBA, the six-year-old brainchild of small-budget presenters in Seattle, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and (since 2005) Philadelphia."

"The Royal’s opening on Tuesday reminded me of why it helped me fall in love with ballet and showed why it remains a singularly cherishable company today."

"A once time-honored tradition has digressed into a parade of overly made-up children in glittering pageantry. Feisanna are now attracting new over-the-top trends that makes one ask whether the competitions are centered on dance ability or dress-up."

"'Diaghilev's Theater of Marvels: The Ballets Russes and Its Aftermath' opens today at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, following exhibitions at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford and at the Harvard Theatre Collection in Cambridge, Mass."

"Creating iMixes is easy and it's a fun way to promote upcoming performances to the huge number of iPhone/iPod owners. In addition, through the widget, you can encourage fans and online supporters to embed the song list on their websites and blogs."

"Reichlen can't yet lay claim to the sudden plunges from the vertical that made Suzanne Farrell's celebrated interpretation so sensuous and exciting, but perhaps that is never to be."

"Variety is reporting that 'Dancing With the Stars' pro dancer and country singer Julianne Hough will star opposite Chace Crawford on Paramount's upcoming remake of 'Footloose,' contingent on working out scheduling."

"Overall, no single dancer was deemed impressive enough to win the Marina Semyonova grand prix — the competition is dedicated to the legendary Russian dancer — and the $10,000 cash prize that goes along with it."

"This year's six-week program highlights community-based projects, including workshops at El Centro Hispano, ADF's first partnership with the center."

"Dover Beach, Michelson's finest work to date, is also the one with the most dancing. As usual, she has remodeled the performing space, collaborating with Parker Lutz."

"Rainer was a major figure in dance in the 1970s but took a 25-year hiatus to concentrate on filmmaking. In an interview with Susan Josephs that appeared in Sunday's Calendar section, Rainer said returning to dance felt 'like coming home. I have always loved working with dancers, and as soon as I’m around dancers the ideas start to flow.'"

What happened? An article describing the recent VOD outage.

"The Olympic ballet gala, featuring contemporary dance from the two classical ballet companies, is one of 35 new arts projects announced Monday by Vancouver 2010 organizers."

"Her special relationship with ABT, however, comes to a close this season. On June 27, Ananiashvili will bid farewell to the company with a final performance of 'Swan Lake.'"

"What other city in the world has anything like the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival? Residents of the Bay Area perform the dances of their original cultures — from across the globe, styles with radically different purposes — to an audience that does not consist primarily of those already familiar with those forms."

"Chalk up my first unhappy elimination: I think Ashley had shown so much potential in her Wade Robson performance last week, and Max stood out from the other boys."

"Mr. Harris is known primarily as a hip-hop choreographer, though in 'Philadelphia Experiment' he takes his movement vocabulary further, building irregular rhythmic phrases that show more than the brashness of a leap but the way the dancers hover in the air."

"With the move to the Durham Performing Arts Center, the festival gets a major upgrade, but a budgetary crisis has forced the festival to cut a full week — and a quarter of its marquee mainstage productions — from its calendar."

"Dance is a living aspect of culture that, like spoken language, evolves and morphs over time, changing as culture changes. Without ever trumping the sheer joy of its enterprise, the festival is a living museum of dance."

"The idea is to use communal dance as way of healing the earth, a concept and practice as old as humankind. Some hardy souls, event instigator Anna Halprin among them, have been participating since the beginning, 29 years ago."

"After a furious three-week fund-raising effort that included a spectacular gala performance last week, the ballet announced that it has surpassed its $750,000 target, the amount it needed to guarantee that it could continue beyond June 30."

"n case you didn't get enough the first time you watched dozens of (A-for-effort!) dancers in gold lamé MC Hammer pants run into an L.A. store for a rendition of "Can't Touch This," the over-the-top stunt was revived for an encore performance."

"In her remarks at the press conference announcing the upcoming season, Charriere also singled out the ballet dancers’ 'Save the Ballet' fundraising initiative for generating $840,000."

"This dark ending of 'La Sylphide,' which American Ballet Theater performs all this week at the Metropolitan Opera House, hurtles at us with brilliant surprise."

"Adoniou collaborated with dramaturge Talal Al-Muhana on 'Rags al Moza,' a free-associating piece of absurdist dance theater that falls short as cultural commentary, but succeeds as a framework for bits of beautiful movement experimentation."

"Last Tuesday evening, at his last class before the summer break, he joined students more than six decades younger in push-ups, sit-ups and stretches at the barre."

"Here are the numbers (as of yesterday,) for Oregon Ballet Theatre's drive to raise $750,000 by June 30. According to Erik Jones at the ballet, the gala brought in $330,000 of ticket revenue from 2750 patrons. And the total raised is $710,000."

"So, does Katie Holmes think she can dance? The actress reportedly taped a guest appearance for “So You Think You Can Dance” on Monday, Usmagazine.com reports."

"'Swan' is a supernatural thriller set in the New York City ballet. It follows a veteran ballerina (Portman) who finds herself in a tight competition with a rival dancer."

"Of the two kicked-off dancers, I feel worse for Paris, who you could tell was working hard not to be crushed by Nigel's brutally frank admission that the judges' decision to cut her over Asuka had as much to do with the fact that they had a bajillion contemporary dancers and only two ballroom dancers as it did with Paris' performance itself on the show."

"On Wednesday night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater unleashed some real choreography. It was, blessedly, an all-Ailey program with two important bookends: 'Blues Suite,' from 1958, and 'Revelations,' his 1960 masterpiece."

"Ballet conducting programs are essentially unheard-of and for this reason, violinist, John Stubbs of the San Diego Symphony and music director for California Ballet Company (CBC), has launched 'Conducting Preparations,' a unique mentoring program designed to inspire young music artists in pursuing the art of ballet conducting."

"Its cool surfaces thrum with simmering heat, as well as with often disturbing power dynamics and erotic undertones, particularly in one dramatically lighted section toward the end that features Greg Zucculo partnering the diminutive, terrifically spooky Allegra Herman."

"The ballet is juicy with drama, and character dancers Victor Barbee and Martine Van Hamel will have a field day playing Madge, the venomous hag. The roles of James and the Sylphide, of course, are filled with technical and dramatic challenges."

"You always want to see her next work because you can sense the questioning spirit that leads her into unexpected terrain. Her own nine-year old company, im'ij-re — with its excellent dancers — is the place where she can experiment in the way the tight schedules of more traditional ballet companies (her latest commission was for Colorado Ballet this spring) don't always have the means to support."

"One of the world's most prestigious ballet competitions opened in Moscow's Bolshoi Theater on Thursday, with dancers hoping to pirouette their way to fame."

"Christiana Bennett, principal dancer with Ballet West, has performed to benefit scores of causes over the course of her career, yet she's never danced to save a ballet company from closing its doors."

"Tuesday's Midwest auditions featured crews from the South Side to as far away as Nashville. Comprising young men and women in their teens to their 30s, the crews warmed up with coordinated slides, back flips and scores of traditional and original street-inspired dance moves, hoping to quell judge-induced jitters."

"Based on the BBC1 show 'Let's Dance for Comic Relief,' the series will feature celebs learning the moves to famous dance routines (e.g., Dirty Dancing's sexy pas de deux). Viewers will vote for their favorites on live weekly episodes, with proceeds from the calls going to charity."

"As an actress, Ms. Ananiashvili gives a good impression of spontaneity, but as a dancer she has the thing itself. Her limbs keep glowing and stretching in the air as if helium were entering into them; she becomes newly luminous."

"Several aspects of Ratmansky's choreography enthrall me. He alters the pressure and tempos of ballet's classical vocabulary to affect mood and drama. Even tricky or unusual twists look organic, and, although the stage is almost always awash in dancing, the story keeps unfolding through it."

"Unlike Idol, where you can get away with muscling a Country Night Willie Nelson tune to your own preferred style, the dancers need to stretch themselves to fit whatever genre they're thrown."

"Shrinking the company like this is a major management challenge from a staff morale point of view. And it will be an artistic challenge, too."

"Dancing a character part isn’t like tearing through the fouettés or à la seconde turns of the Black Swan pas de deux — which many corps members are quite capable of performing — but these roles can be absolutely essential to the plot."

"Merce Cunningham, the nonagenarian choreographer, is planning for a world without him. He has decided that when he dies, or when the right time comes, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company will embark on a final two-year international tour and then shut down, the Cunningham Dance Foundation, which supports the company, announced on Tuesday."

"One day, when she was four and a half years old, she found a magazine that had blown against the orphanage gate. In it was a photo of a ballerina. Enchanted, she carefully tore it out and hid it, treasured it. Some day, she thought, she would dance like that woman."

"Oregon Ballet Theatre's three concerts this weekend were just about as freighted as dance concerts get. The company, as Portland Arts Watch readers know, has said that it needs to raise $750,000 by June 30 to guarantee that it can keep its doors open."

"The 11-story building in downtown Brooklyn, which also houses low income artists and the formerly homeless, is a collaboration between a real estate development company and a nonprofit affordable housing project. It will include a performance space, a school, and offices."

"On Sunday evening the mullet-haired businessman – known for his louche dress sense and garish red and yellow boots – was sighted at London's Royal Opera House at a tribute performance to mark the 100th anniversary of the Ballets Russes."

"Here are the biggest ballet-inspired fashions you have actually been wearing since you saw your first Nutcracker. The old-school trend from 'Swan Lake' is clearly the headband."

"'Billy Elliot,' the inspirational movie-turned-musical about a working-class Yorkshire kid who dances away from strife and poverty, dominated the 63rd annual Tony Awards, winning 10 Tony Awards, including the coveted best musical Tony."

"'The biggest thing that makes people stand out (at events) is that they're not even in rhythm with the music,' she says. 'A simple movement that's in tune with the music looks so much better than something frenetic and off-rhythm.'"

"The program began with 'Glass Pieces' (1983). This has always been a hit, but I underrated it when it was new...I find now that its images stay vividly in the head and that, when re-encountered in the theater, they coalesce more powerfully as poetry."

"Ship passengers will have an opportunity to view the documentary and then the young (and not so young) budding dance stars will be divided into teams. Over the course of their vacation, they will learn choreographed routines with a member of the Royal Caribbean dance team in rehearsals during sea days."

"How do you think you might react if you were shopping in a retail store that was suddenly stormed by dozens of people dancing to MC Hammer’s 'Can’t Touch This' while wearing his trademark giant gold pants?

"Ballet BC is facing yet another massive upheaval as it prepares to part ways with its longtime artistic director...The decision is part of a major restructuring plan that will leave the province without its flagship dance company during the 2010 Olympic Games."

"His arrival has many hoping he will revive the flagging fortunes of the famed company, whose audience has slumped in recent years. He will also direct the ballet's school."

"'So You Think You Can Dance' narrowed the field down to 20 contestants Thursday night to wrap up the Las Vegas auditions."

"Though there is nothing overtly political about Brown Ceres' choreography, her dances are forceful and affirming of female identity. At their best, they draw you in because of the complexity of the impulses that generate and control them."

"The arts are where hope lives. And right now, as the very tenets of civil society are being re-written, and as health and human service needs rise, there is legitimate concern about whether the arts will survive, how the arts can thrive."

"Mr. McIntyre taps into the music with vigor, and finally the dancers are more than just spirited performers; they are spirits in the flesh."

"Celebrating the 'screendance' genre, the Dance Camera West festival kicks off this weekend with its eighth year of screenings. More than 30 films -- most made independently -- will be screened at half a dozen L.A. venues during the three-week fest."

"'Dancing Across Borders' is an 88-minute love letter to Cambodia, to ballet, and to hard work. Like every good love letter, it conveys the preciousness of the intangible."

"The free series of events -- yes, all programs are free -- runs Aug. 18-22, expanding from three programs to four and promising the biggest names on the festival's line-up so far: New York City Ballet's Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall."

"We're so close, 'So You Think You Can Dance' fans! Close to learning our top 20 dancers, close to auditions being over, close to the meat of the season!"

"When the show premiered, dance on television was obscure at best, known primarily for background extras in music videos and commercials. Now, dance is seemingly everywhere thanks to the simultaneous hits of 'SYTYCD,' ABC's 'Dancing With the Stars' and MTV's 'America's Best Dance Crew' as well as the success of the 'High School Musical' and 'Step Up' films."

"Frederick Ashton's romantic tale of sea spirits and sailors will be relayed live from the Royal Opera House onto cinema screens across the UK on Wednesday night thanks to a tie-in with Arts Alliance Media."

"It is always exciting to see the curtain rise on a tableau of women who then morph into dancers; to see it done by students is especially thrilling. Their entire lives, virtually, have been pointed toward this goal, itself only a beginning."

"Mr. Ratmansky’s gift here is to make these psychological dances classically beautiful. (Mr. Gomes and Ms. Herrera, in particular, have never danced better.)"

"Diversity, the dance troupe that beat Susan Boyle to win the latest cycle of 'Britain's Got Talent,' will star in the 3D movie 'Street Dance,' the BBC reports."

"The awards, given by the Dance Resource Center of Greater Los Angeles, cite excellence in performance, choreography, design, music and other categories for L.A.-area dance presentations."

"Company staff members were in China last week finalizing details for the tour, which came together quickly after Chinese presenters Citystar Entertainment Ltd. approached the Ballet only two months ago."

"Roth says he works at CSN [College of Southern Nevada]' to preserve the integrity of dance' in a city better known for having dancing as a component of other entertainment, such as stage shows."

"Damrosch's reasons for helping OBT also help us form the basis for thinking about future rescue efforts -- and in this economy, all arts organizations are under stress. Here is her list..."

"Faced with an applicant pool heavily weighted with dance companies last fall, the NWNW selection panel didn't try to buck the tide. They went ahead and stocked both theaters with 10 dance performances."

"A young Riverdance star is among the three Irish women presumed dead in the Air France disaster. A champion Irish dancer, Dr Eithne Walls was from Ballygown in Co. Down and had been living in Dublin where she worked as a doctor."

"Watching Pacific Northwest Ballet’s beautifully danced new production last weekend at McCaw Hall here — staged by Susan Hendl and Ben Huys — I felt more than ever the many layers of Robbins’s achievement."

"First of all, good luck. Dance is one of the most difficult things to document. Photographing fast movement in low light can be challenging."

"The rehearsal process has been really great with him. He is pushing the dancers to their unknown limits, and its great to be apart of it."

"I want to bring to your attention an issue that is very important to me personally; Oregon Ballet Theatre needs your help. If we all don’t pull together and help this company it will have to close it’s doors."

"The ballerina is rehearsing the limpid 'Les Sylphides,' which she and Thomas Edur will perform with English National Ballet at Sadler’s Wells next month, bringing an end to a 19-year association with the company and to a remarkable stage partnership."

"After decades at Ballet Hispanico, the troupe's founder is hanging up her artistic director's hat. But only after her company makes its L.A. Music Center debut."

"Mr. Ratmansky’s first encounter with Ballet Theater dancers came in January, when he observed rehearsals in preparation for casting 'On the Dnieper.' That ballet will have its premiere Monday night at the Metropolitan Opera House."

"Nissinen’s season showcases the Company’s range and skill by featuring classic story ballets as well as works by renowned neoclassical and contemporary choreographers such as George Balanchine, Jiri Kylian and rising talents Helen Pickett and Viktor Plotnikov."

"A commemorative edition DVD of Judith Jamison's Emmy-winning 'A Hymn for Alvin Ailey' television special will be available along with the soundtrack to Alvin Ailey's landmark Blues Suite, on CD for the first time."

"Karl Lagerfeld, creative director of Chanel, has designed an exclusive costume for the 'The Dying Swan' as part of the English National Ballet's forthcoming 'Ballets Russes' season at Sadler's Wells theatre in London. This year marks the centenary of the first performance by Serge Diaghilev's ballet at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris."

"Ballet Florida has canceled its summer classes. Whether the shutdown will be permanent depends whether the troupe can sell its building at 500 Fern St. in West Palm Beach to raise the money to revive the professional company and continue the school."

"The Miami and Memphis auditions too often sacrificed showcasing good-to-outstanding dancing for the sake of silly-to-stupid segments on boringly bad dancers, mildly diverting montages on bad audition techniques, and guest judge Tyce Diorio's general bitchery."

"The winning couple of the six-part series will represent the UK at the Wheelchair Dance Sport European Championships in Israel this autumn."

"Unless the company raises $750,000 by June 30 to cover expenses and pay creditors, it may have to close its doors."

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"A dancer with strength and elevation that belies her slender frame, a performer who moves audiences with her indelible interpretations of tragic heroines, from Juliet and Giselle to Tatiana in Onegin, Goh is gracefully retiring after 20 years on the stage."

"A 26-year-old man tried to prove he wasn't drunk Saturday on Hilton Head Island with his own field sobriety test -- performing a routine from 'Riverdance,' the Irish step-dancing stage production."

"Bland, a New York native who moved to Paris after a stint in the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, is an exuberant dancer. At Symphony Space on Friday night she alternated the three films with three dances, knitting them together seamlessly without room for applause."

"I spent more than two hours watching Suki Schorer coach students in 'Serenade.' A former Balanchine dancer at City Ballet long since based at the school, she has become the world’s most celebrated teacher of Balanchine technique."

"He’s sorry, says Nigel Lythgoe, a judge and executive producer on the popular reality competition show 'So You Think You Can Dance' according to a statement by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation."

"The event, a street fair that embraces the sounds, colors and positive energy of its Latin America and Caribbean roots, drew tens of thousands of spectators, despite gray skies."

"Anyone inclined to wrinkle his nose in disdain at American Ballet Theatre's star system should first consider a moment in choreographer George Balanchine's 'Allegro Brillante'..."

"As a whole, they suggest that the San Francisco Ballet School - which, after all, aspires to be among the leading ballet academies in the country - is strengthening under Associate Director Lola de Avila and her current faculty."

"This event is the product of an unusual collaboration between Brown and Cave, one that doesn't entail conversation but does fuse the two artists' work."

"Here’s what the youngest 'DWTS' champ had to say about the nail-biting finale, her close bond with partner Mark Ballas and where the shiny Mirrorball trophy will fit next to all of her other hardware."

"'The (economic) downturn may have worked in our favor in that regard,' Cunningham said late last week at the ballet studio. 'The smaller-venue, in-studio works have been very successful for us. We've seen people walk through the doors here that we've never seen before.'"

"It's not break-dance, it isn't rap either. The name is kuduro and its beat is electrifying dancers from Luanda to Lisbon and New York City with elements of rap, break-dance and hip-hop."

"No, 'SYTYCD' isn't perfect. Murphy, the show's airy answer to Paula Abdul, still insists on YELLING HALF HER COMMENTS. But her camera time is brief. The star is always the dancing, and the dancers themselves."

"The same way folks like George Gershwin and Irving Berlin personified the golden age of popular songwriting in New York, Frankie Manning personified the golden age of swing dance."

"Sliding down the banister in companionable two’s, or racing up the steps as if in pursuit, the dancers filled the structure with a sense of pulsating vigor that could dissolve into dreamy lassitude."

"Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson, the show's youngest competitor ever at 17, was named the new 'Dancing' champ Tuesday, beating out fellow finalists Gilles Marini and Melissa Rycroft."

"Ballet Theater’s spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House tends to be ballet at its most conformist, nowhere more so than in its opening-night jamboree."

"The Royal Ballet will make its first visit to Cuba in July with performances that include a homage to Cuban ballet legend Alicia Alonso, ballet executives said on Wednesday."

"This ambitious, nearly three-hour-long Golden Legend is an extravaganza of images tilted into motion (Williams has been working on it for years, showing various parts of it on other programs)."

"My husband and I believe strongly that art education is essential for building innovative thinkers who will be our nation's leaders of tomorrow," she said."

"After Monday night’s dances, the race toward sparkledom is neck and neck: There’s a tie for first place."

"The contemporary dance world has been accused of 'fawning over' athletic, powerful images of masculinity as projected by artists such as Wayne McGregor and Hofesh Shechter, at the expense of promoting female choreographers."

"He is somewhat serious when he talks about the glue factory. Dancers don’t often get to perform this late in their lives, nor call so many of the shots. Particularly in ballet, stage retirement comes early."

"'Prepare your audition and be great at what you do and have confidence,' she told the Los Angeles Times. 'They have to bring their personality. Dance is the narrative that runs through the show, but the audience connects with the human element.'"

"Fox has confirmed recent reports that 'So You Think You Can Dance's' sixth season will air in the fall as part of the network's 2009-2010 primetime programming schedule."

"Last weekend...as the musicians David Behrman, Robert Black, Shelley Burgon and Matana Roberts accompanied the Cunningham company’s final three Events of an almost two-year series at Dia:Beacon, the lines that came to mind were Caliban’s: 'Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,/Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.'"

"Palme d'Or winner and digital film enthusiast Wim Wenders' next project is 'Pina,' a collaboration with avant-garde choreographer Pina Bausch on what is being called the first 3-D dance feature."

"The La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival is a three-plus week smorgasbord of samplers, wide-ranging in style as well as quality. While you sometimes hunger for a more rigorous curatorial eye, it is also nice to be surprised by the accidental synergy of shows..."

"The main look of the characters in Mr. Elo’s 'Sacre' is one of sophistication and conformism. What a bizarre dance maker he is. Most choreographers make 'Sacre' their most unorthodox work — but not Mr. Elo."

"The film was to be presented by two of its most illustrious devotees, director Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker, Scorsese's longtime editor and Powell's widow."