Dance Magazine articles from July 2004

Dance Magazine archives from July 2004

Curtain up.
July 1, 2004... Hip Hop is everywhere. We're seeing it in music videos, in movies, and even on the concert stage. Dance studios are adding it to their offerings, and a recent DANCE MAGAZINE readers' survey shows that about a third of our readers either take or...

Baby boom; baby bust.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... I have been an avid reader of DANCE MAGAZINE since I was a young dance student in Italy. My heartfelt congratulations for the article on pregnant ballerinas in the April issue [see "Baby Boom," page 32]. My wife, Daniela Buson, is a principal...

Missing Miller.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... I wish DANCE MAGAZINE would salute the birthday of dancer-singer-actress Ann Miller (1923-2004), whose machine-gun taps won her stardom during the golden age of movie musicals. I'd love to see an article about Miller, a great talent, including...

Competition kudos.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... I was delighted to read Wendy Perron's "Potential Over Perfection" [DANCE: MAGAZINE, April 2004, page 48] covering wonderful success stories from the Youth America Grand Prix competition My 14-year-old daughter has competed in YAGP for three...

Balanchine and integration.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... I read with interest Clive Barnes' piece on ballet and nationalism (March, "Attitudes," page 114). Mr. Barnes, however, leaves out an interesting historical detail. Balanchine's prophetic vision included a racially integrated school and...

Corrections.(Letters)(Correction Notice)
July 1, 2004... In the May issue, Steps on Broadway should have been credited as the location for the photo on p. 46, and Fazil's for the location of the photo on p. 43. In April, Alyssa Wong created the winning National Dance Week poster contest entry...

Wall-to-wall genius.(Dance Matters; centennial tribute to George Balanchine )
July 1, 2004... MARATHONS should be both exhilarating and exhausting. New York's March 20 Wall to Wall George Balanchine was--even for those who didn't last all twelve hours of Symphony Space's free, panoramic centennial tribute to the master choreographer....

Departing in triumph.(Dance Matters; Claude Bessy honored as she prepares to leave Paris Opera Ballet )
July 1, 2004... PARISIANS are a hard lot to please, but when the chemistry is right, nothing holds back their enthusiasm. Such was the case when, on the occasion of Claude Bessy's impending retirement, the former Paris Opera Ballet etoile was enthusiastically...

A universal favorite.(Dance Matters; South Korea's Universal Ballet tours US)(Interview)
July 1, 2004... WHEN Seoul-based Universal Ballet travels with Romeo and Juliet to New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco this summer, Americans will see the results of twenty, years of tightly focused shared vision and hard-fought disciplined action. The...

The stamp of approval.(Dance Matters; stamps celebrating Alvin Ailey, George Balanchine, Martha Graham, and Agnes de Mille issued)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... SOMEBODY at the United States Postal Service cares! The agency has published four stamps celebrating American dance masters Alvin Ailey, George Balanchine, Martha Graham, and Agnes de Mille. They should look familiar. USPS designers have based...

American Dance Festival.(New York Notebook; celebrates contemporary Russian choreographers )(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Through its adventurous international exchanges, American Dance Festival helped instigate the cutting-edge dance scene in Russia. This summer the exchange comes full circle with a mini festival of contemporary Russian choreographers appearing...

Jacob's Pillow.(New York Notebook; Territories by Zvi Gotheiner )(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... The bucolic selling of the Berkshires is an unlikely place for Zvi Gotheiner's new Territories, a piece about conflicts and polarized issues in today's world. "Leaving my homeland of Israel, I was making an attempt to avoid the ritualized games...

Bates Dance Festival.(New York Notebook)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Emerging choreographer Sara Sweet Rabidoux describes herself as "a filmmaker trapped in a choreographer's body." For her Massachusetts-based company, hoi polloi, she makes flamboyant dances that integrate release technique, gesture from classic...

Advice for dancers: former New York City Ballet dancer Linda Hamilton, Ph.D., is a lecturer, a psychologist in private practice, and the author of Advice for Dancers (Jossey-Bass). She has been offering advice to Dance Magazine recorders since 1992.
July 1, 2004... COMPANY CLASS IS KILLING ME! BY THE SEASON'S END, THE STEPS HURT TO DANCE, THE PACE IS EXHAUSTING, AND I HAVE ALMOST NO ENERGY TO REHEARSE SIX HOURS AND THEN PERFORM THAT NIGHT. I'VE STARTED TO DREAD WORK BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE I CAN'T HANDLE IT...

Authentic movement: find yourself in the steps.(Mind your Body)
July 1, 2004... ALICIA DIAZ, a New York City dancer, thought she was signing up for an improvisation class when she first stumbled across Authentic Movement five years ago. She saw a flier advertising "moving with the eyes closed" and showed up excited for a...

Prophets in Pumas: when hip hop broke out.(Kick it: hip hop special)
July 1, 2004... In the late 1960s and '70s the four elements of hip hop--graffiti, rap, break dancing, and DJ-ing--blasted out from the Bronx in a complete cultural package. Pioneering black and Latino B-boys dancing to "Hip Hop, It Don't Stop!" foretold the...

Getting krumped: the changing race of hip hop.(Kick it: hip hop special)
July 1, 2004... Krumping kicks the hip-hop tradition of dance battles up a notch. It's a freestyle dance form that's full-bodied, adrenaline-driven, and confrontational. although deep-seated in hip hop, it departs from the movement vocabularies of b-boying/...

Street to stage: Rhapsody's mission.(Kick it: hip hop special; choreographer Rhapsody James aims to legitimacize hip hop)(Brief Article)(Interview)
July 1, 2004... If you think hip hop is just for clubs and music videos, go to a Rhapsody concert. Dancer/choreographer Rhapsody James wants to prove the form has the same legitimacy as any other dance style, and audiences seem to agree with her. She founded...

Street to studio: tips from the pros.(Kick it: hip hop special)
July 1, 2004... Want to make it on MTV? DANCE MAGAZINE talked to top commercial choreographers Brian Friedman and Wade Robson to find out what it takes to become a hip-hop pro. Both began as dancers before they became go-to guys for music video choreography....

Reader's choice.(reader survey of favorite ballets, dancers, companies)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... AND THE WINNERS ARE... HUNDREDS OF READERS VOTED FOR THEIR FAVORITE BALLETS, COMPANIES, AND DANCERS ON THE BALLOT WE RAN IN OUR MARCH ISSUE. YOU GAVE US MANY THOUGHTFUL ANSWERS WE CAN GUESS HOW HARD IT WAS TO CHOOSE!--AND A FEW SURPRISES....

Dancing Ashton.(centennial of choreographer Frederick Ashton celebrated with Lincoln Center Festival)
July 1, 2004... ROMANTIC, PASSIONATE, AND funny, Frederick Ashton's choreography captures the best and worst of what it means to be human. The erotic playfulness of the pas de deux for Oberon and Titania in The Dream, for instance, reflects the underlying...

Loving the skin you're in.(DM Style; skin care products)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Everyone wants clean, beautiful skin, but taking care of your face during the sizzling summer months can be a challenge. Every time you wipe off sweat, you risk clogging pores. Just walking to and from the dance studio, you expose your skin to...

Teacher's wisdom.(This month: Bonnie Mathis)(Interview)
July 1, 2004... Bonnie Mathis, former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, co-founded and co-directs Ballet Arts Minnesota, and has been on the faculty of the Barbara Barker Center for Dance at the University of Minnesota for twenty years. Known for...

The Joffrey Ballet School at fifty.(Education Matters)
July 1, 2004... WHAT DO Charlize Theron, Patrick Swayze, and Ronald Reagan Jr. have in common? They all were students of the Joffrey Ballet School, founded by Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino. Celebrating its fiftieth anniversary last year, the school...

Fly Dance Company: straight outta Houston, these riveting dancers bring hip-hop beats to the sounds of Stravinsky and B.B. King.(On the Rise)
July 1, 2004... Four young men walk into the Ector County Coliseum in the West Texas oil town of Odessa, looking more like a bunch of street savvy guys than an up-and-coming dance company. In low-slung pants and do-rags, the members of Fly Dance Company draw...

On Broadway: throwing his weight around: former Paul Taylor dancer Andrew Asnes tries out gymnastics in Tom Stoppard's Jumpers.(Interview)
July 1, 2004... He's danced in Aureole, Esplanade, and Arden Court. Between 1989 and 2000, Paul Taylor made more than a dozen roles on him. He's performed his own choreography at the Guggenheim Museum. So what is Andrew Asnes doing in a baggy, yellow...

Northern Ballet Theatre.(A Midsummer Night's Dream)(Dance Review)
July 1, 2004... NORTHERN BALLET THEATRE SADLER'S WELLS LONDON, ENGLAND MARCH 28, 2004 There's not been so much fun on an overnight train since lack Lemmon and Tony Curtis met up with Marilyn Monroe and her female band in Some Like It Hot. However, in this...

Peter Boal & Company.(Dance Review)
July 1, 2004... PETER BOAL & COMPANY THE JOYCE THEATER, NEW YORK, NY MARCH 16-21, 2004 It's hard to believe that Peter Boal, a much-loved New York City Ballet principal dancer and full-time teacher at the School of American Ballet, has any spare time, but...

Merian Soto Dance & Performance.(La Maquina del Tiempo)(Dance Review)
July 1, 2004... MERIAN SOTO DANCE & PERFORMANCE CONWELL DANCE THEATER, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY, PHILADELPHIA, PA MARCH .18-21, 2004 Dripping, seeping, mixing, merging, and nourishing, Merian Soto's dynamic new La Maquina del Tiempo is a two-hour tapestry of...

Paul Taylor Dance Company.(Dante Variations)(Le Grand Puppetier)(Dance Review)
July 1, 2004... PAUL TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS SAN FRANCISCO, CA MARCH 24-APRIL 4, 2004 You might expect any dance organization celebrating its golden anniversary to indulge in a bit of retrospection. However, in its two new...

An appreciation of John Taras (1919-2004).(Transitions)(deaths, appointments)(Obituary)
July 1, 2004... Although Mr. Balanchine taught company class and directed final stage rehearsals at New York City Ballet, John Taras actually rehearsed us. John was the company's ballet master from 1959 to 1983, and he worked with perseverance, humor,...

Schools, studios, colleges, universities, companies, teachers, dancers, choreographers, somatic practices, movement arts, dance medicine, yoga.(Dance finder: a career & learning resource guide)(Directory)
July 1, 2004... United States ALABAMA ALABAMA BALLET Wes Chapman, Artistic Director Alice Cox, Director of External Affairs 2726 1st Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35233 (205) 322-4300; Fax (205) 322-4444 www.alabamaballet.org ALABAMA DANCE...

Thrills, spills, and visual chills.(Air & Water)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2004... Extreme risk, adventurous dancers, add visually arresting stage design are all characteristic of Christine Bennett's evocative choreography. For the April premiere of "Air & Water," a programme featuring two works performed at the Regis College...

Attitudes.(George Balanchine, Frederick Ashton)
July 1, 2004... THE YEAR 1904 was a very good year for dance: It was that prime vintage that saw the birth of both George Balanchine and Frederick Ashton, conceivably the two greatest classical ballet choreographers of the twentieth century. The dangerously...