Dance Magazine articles from May 2004

Dance Magazine archives from May 2004

Curtain up.
May 1, 2004... *&@%#!! I missed Savion Glover at The Joyce last fall! I heard about it later--from tap people, from ballet people, from modern dance people. They were excited because they felt they had witnessed Savion leaping forward as an artist. I heard...

Having a ball.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... I began ballroom dance lessons seven years ago without a body. This lack of a body, as I call it, began at age 2, when a tumor extending the length of my spine was removed. That I survived two surgeries and radiation was a miracle, but five...

Beat stress, age gracefully.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... I started taking jazz classes at Luigi's Jazz Centre in New York City to help with stress and chronic headaches. Working with teachers Luigi and Francis Roach, I discovered that dance can do so much more than relieve stress. Exercising at the...

Moving from mourning.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... I lost both my beautiful mom and my significant other to cancer in the same year. To work through my grief, I choreographed a piece integrating movement, music, and poetic text about my mom's passing. I am in the process of creating a piece to...

Reaching in, reaching out.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... As a young woman, my body stored a tremendous number of painful memories that caused me to be emotionally shut down and physically contracted. I was twenty and had just finished my service in the Israeli army, and it was time to choose a life...

Stage presence.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... I taught dance/theater workshops at a day-treatment center for psychiatric patients in the Bronx. Most of them were schizophrenic or had severe mental illness. I created a performance piece called Colors with a group of these clients. One of...

Clarifications.(Correction Notice)
May 1, 2004... Your article about Jose Manuel Carreno [DANCE MAGAZINE, March 2004, page 46] was very interesting and beautifully presented. I am writing, however, to point out an omission. We are proud to say that Carreno's first appearances in the United...

The return of Raymonda.(Dance Matters; ballet retooled for American Ballet Theatre)
May 1, 2004... For better or worse, large ballet companies live off their old Russian and French story ballets--Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Giselle. But, as American Ballet Theatre's artistic director Kevin McKenzie says ruefully, "There...

President Bush requested an $18 million increase for the NEA to fund a new three-year touring program.(Money Matters)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... President Bush requested an $18 million increase for the NEA to fund a new three-year touring program, "American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Genius," that would include the Paul Taylor Dance Company and the Martha Graham Dance Company.

After July, the New York City Ballet will no longer have a summer home at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY.(Money Matters)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... * After July, the New York City Ballet will no longer have a summer home at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY. NYCB was unable to accept a reported 35 percent fee cut.

American Ballet Theatre reports recent gifts from Saks Fifth Avenue, Sara Lee and others.(Money Matters)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... * American Ballet Theatre reports recent gifts from Saks Fifth Avenue, Sara Lee and others, bringing its operating budget to $35 million.

All the steps and nothing but the steps.(Ann Hutchison Guest wins National Dance Education Organization lifetime achievement award)
May 1, 2004... No one has done more to develop Labanotation from the rudiments of Laban's inspiration to the fully usable and expressive system it is today," said Ilene Fox, executive director of Dance Notation Bureau, as she presented Ann Hutchison Guest...

Continuing Sagas.(Names in the News; Mathew Cusick lawsuit against Cirque Du Soleil )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... CONTINUING SAGAS: The United States Equal Employment Commission has determined that Montreal-based Cirque Du Soleil likely discriminated against Mathew Cusick when it fired the 32-year-old gymnast from a job in Las Vegas in April 2003 (See...

The Maryinsky grows.(competition to design new building for Maryinsky Theater)
May 1, 2004... Despite criticism from local environmentalists and concerned traditionalists, plans are proceeding for the first modern structure to be built in the historic center of Russia's northern capital, St. Petersburg, since the time of the czars. ...

Associated Press and ITAR-Tass news agency report that Russian ballerina Anastasia Volochkova, who was fired from the Bolshoi Theater and then rehired by court order.(Names in the News; is seeking $1 million damages )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Associated Press and ITAR-Tass news agency report that Russian ballerina Anastasia Volochkova, who was fired from the Bolshoi Theater and then rehired by court order, is seeking $1 million in damages from the theater's director, Anatoly...

Adiarys Almeida, Cervilio Amador, and Gemma Diaz three dancers who defected from the Ballet Nacional de Cuba in October.(Names in the News; granted political asylum)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Adiarys Almeida, Cervilio Amador, and Gemma Diaz, three dancers who defected from the Ballet Nacional de Cuba in October, have been granted political asylum.

Brazilian ballerina Roberta Marquez will guest at the Met as Nikiya in American Ballet Theatre's La Bayadere May 14 and 19 (mat.).(Names in the News)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Brazilian ballerina Roberta Marquez will guest at the Met as Nikiya in American Ballet Theatre's La Bayadere May 14 and 19 (mat.). Bolshoi Ballet principal Sveilana Zakharova dances the role May 17 and 19 (eve.)

Miami farewell.(Iliana Lopez and Franklin Gamero leave Miami City Ballet)(Interview)
May 1, 2004... Janus, the Roman god of exits and entrances, must be smiling down on Iliana Lopez. The Venezuelan-born ballerina and Franklin Gamero, her husband of twenty-one years, will perform for the last time as principals with Miami City Ballet--their...

Morriss Center Dance.(Names in the News; hires Benjamin Millepied )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... * New York City Ballet principal dancer Benjamin Millepied is now Creative Director of Morriss Center Dance in Bridgehampton, NY.

Houston Ballet.(Names in the News; hires Lazaro Carreno)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... * Lazaro Carreno has joined Houston Ballet as principal teacher and coach. Steven Woodgate is the company's new ballet master.

Francia Russell and Kent Stowell, who have co-directed Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet since 1977.(Names in the News)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... * Francia Russell and Kent Stowell, who have co-directed Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet since 1977, will retire in June, 2005.

Ross Kramberg.(Names in the News; resigns from Paul Taylor Dance Company )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... * Ross Kramberg, the executive director of the Paul Taylor Dance Company for the past twelve years, has resigned.

Coming attractions.
May 1, 2004... The Lincoln Center Festival will celebrate the centenary of Sir Frederick Ashton by inviting four companies--The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, K Ballet of Tokyo (in its U.S. debut), and The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago--to dance twelve...

Craig T. Peterson.(Names in the News; leaves New York's Dance Theater Workshop)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... * Craig T. Peterson has quit as one of the artistic directors of New York's Dance Theater Workshop.

Elizabeth Loscavio.(Names in the News; retires from Hamburg Ballet )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... * Hamburg Ballet principal dancer Elizabeth Loscavio retires this summer.

Geon van der Wyst.(Names in the News; leaves National Ballet of Canada)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... * Principal dancer Geon van der Wyst has retired from the National Ballet of Canada.

June Watanabe.(Names in the News; last performances at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... * June Watanabe dances her last performances May 5-6 at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Monaco Dance Forum.(Names in the News)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... * The third Monaco Dance Forum will run at the Grimaldi Forum Dec. 14-18. Choreographers must submit multimedia projects by May 31. Contact Pbaudelot@monacodanceforum.com

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 readers since 1992.
May 1, 2004... Six months ago, I underwent an operation for tendinitis in my foot. I thought the hardest part of my recovery would be the pain and the crutches; I wasn't prepared for catty remarks from other dancers. All I want is to be back on stage. I don't...

Past present.(New York Notebook; Lar Lubovitch's company celebrates thirty-fifth anniversary with commemorative program)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Lar Lubovitch, whose company celebrates its thirty-fifth anniversary May 10-22, plans to bring the past into the present. To commemorate a varied career, Lubovitch will premiere a group work performed by both zestful mavericks and older...

Chance dance.(New York Notebook; performance by Jonah Bokaer)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... NY Thousands of used MetroCards (transit fare cards) rained down from above, making a peaceful lapping sound as they hit the floor. This lovely noise accompanied Jonah Bokaer's solo, Octave, at Danspace Project's Food for Thought series last...

New Brazil Center.(New York Notebook; Arte Capoeira Center opens in New York City)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Arte Capoeira Center terms with inverted bodies, sweeping legs, and the twang of the berimbau, but most of all, a love of Brazil and its culture. Under the direction of Sergio Bagundes (or "Instructor Macuiu," as he is called at the center),...

Elegant goofy.(New York Notebook)
May 1, 2004... Bill Irwin, the clown and actor (at right with Michael O'Connor), has a face you can't forget. The way he scrunches his head into his collar, smashing his features together into an unhappy knot, the way he opens his eyes in fear, and the way he...

ABT arriba!.(New York Notebook)(American Ballet Theatre)
May 1, 2004... On a snowy January evening many of American Ballet Theatre's Spanish-speaking principals and soloists gathered at Harlem's Apollo Theater to perform in a benefit for the company's "Make a Ballet" program at Casita Maria, East Harlem's oldest...

Will you still love me tomorrow?(New York Notebook)(Ballet's Loves Remembered)(Dance Review)
May 1, 2004... Love duels are legion on the dance stage. But rarely do they show what happens when you put your clothes back on. James Sewell Ballet's Loves Remembered (1991), exquisitely danced by Penelope Freeh and Sewell, finds a woman and a man, each with...

Mind your body: Alexander Technique: get in gear.
May 1, 2004... WHEN MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV first performed with Twyla Tharp, many were amazed at how easily he moved between classical and contemporary styles. These days, professional dancers regularly leap from a Mark Morris work on Saturday night into La...

Mr. Glover hits again.(Tap 04)(Savion Glover)(Dance Review)
May 1, 2004... It was fasten your seatbelt as Savion Glover took off flying on opening night of his three-week season at The Joyce Theater in New York. He used his voice as another musical instrument, and rather than trying to "sell" a song, laughed through...

A Conversation.(Tap 04)(Savion Glover)(Interview)
May 1, 2004... DM: Your recent season at The Joyce was very different from the style you've presented before, beginning with Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk. Are you changing the hard-hitting tap you're known for? SG: The change that you're talking...

Listening down: the future of tap is looking up.(Tap 07)
May 1, 2004... When Savion Glover's Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk opened in 1995, it changed the way audiences think of tap. Now, almost a decade later, Glover, 30, is in the limelight again. In three weeks of sold out shows at The Joyce Theater in...

Tapage.(Tap / Multiplied)
May 1, 2004... Brenda Bufalino uses the term fusion to describe musical/cultural mixes in tap. These include Max Pollak, who combines tap with Afro-Cuban rhythms and body percussion, and Tamango, blending tap with capoeira and rhythms from South America. ...

Tapestry.(Tap / Multiplied)
May 1, 2004... Multi-form is the term Acia Gray uses to describe the work of tap choreography that combines dance genres. The co-founder and executive/artistic director of the Austin-based company Tapestry actively mixes the costumes, arm positions, and other...

May, 2004 Events.(Tap / Celebrated)(Calendar)
May 1, 2004... 05|14 Tapestry Award: Sarah Petronio, Dance Inn Productions' 10th annual International Tap Dance Day, Lexington, MA. 781.863.5360 JUBA Award: Fayard Nicholas, Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Vittum Theatre, Chicago. Ends the 16th....

Fiercely focused and female.(Fresh Takes)(Tap dancer Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards.)(Interview)(Biography)
May 1, 2004... A few years ago, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards made tap history when she became the first female performer in Savion Glover's Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk on Broadway. It was no big deal, it seems. She shrugs off the accolades modestly and...

West Coast wow.(Fresh Takes)(Jason Samuels Smith)(Biography)
May 1, 2004... With his long dreads flying and his complex rhythms crackling into uncharted territory, Jason Samuels Smith, at 23, is part of that new breed of tapper. His feet have been described as atomic, executing percussive blows that resonate with...

A butterfly sits in.(Fresh Takes)(Roxanne Butterfly is a tap dancer making a difference.)(Biography)
May 1, 2004... "I call her papillon (butterfly) because her feet don't hit the floor at times--she flies!" says master tapper Jimmy Slyde of Roxane Butterfly, the feminist tap dancer who is blazing tap trails on a number of fronts. First is her artistry....

Creating Sylvia: eros triumphs over Diana in Mark Morris' new work for San Francisco ballet.
May 1, 2004... INTRODUCTION When Helgi Tomasson invited Mark Morris to choreograph a new work for San Francisco Ballet, the choreographer went to a score he remembered from childhood ballet class--Leo Delibes' Sylvia, written in 1876. His research took...

Bringing in the noise: broadway dancers Will Armstrong, Dontee Kiehn, and Alison Levenberg prove classic style is a shoe-in.(New Products)
May 1, 2004... Alison, now tapping in the 42nd Street ensemble, shows off Ben Miller's compressed wooden heel. Choose low or high. ($150); www.JazzTapCenter.com) Dontee, who dances in the Gypsy ensemble, kills time in Bloch Tap Flex Slip Ons. Shoes come...

No Fixed Points: Dance in the Twentieth Century.(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... No Fixed Points: Dance in the Twentieth Century By Nancy Reynolds and Malcolm McCormick. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 2003. 907 pages. Illustrated. $50. No Fixed Points is unique in its clarity of vision. It deals not so...

Modern Dance, Negro Dance: Race in Motion.(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Modern Dance, Negro Dance: Race in Motion By Susan Manning. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press. 2004. 296 pages. Illustrated $34.95. The past decade has seen an explosion of new scholarship about the history of African...

Teacher's wisdom: former Martha Graham dancer Marni Thomas, co-founder of the dance department at the University of California at Berkeley, spoke to writer Ann Murphy at the university's dance studios.(This month)(Interview)
May 1, 2004... IS THERE A PARTICULAR BODY TYPE OR KIND OF DANCER REST SUITED TO GRAHAM WORK? NO, I don't think so. Martha really felt every spiral had to be experienced by how far that particular body could turn. Every contraction had to do with the length of...

Movement Research: 25 years of valuing process over product.(Education Matters)
May 1, 2004... Yvonne Meier giving Ishmael Houston-Jones a mud bath. Jennifer Monson swinging a twelve-foot ladder in circles in the dark. Steve Paxton and Bill T. Jones getting into a healed argument over aesthetics. Scotty Heron wearing pointe shoes and...

Secrets of a temple dancer: fifteen-year-old Erica Pereira learns La Bayadere's leading role from ballerina Amanda McKerrow (Young Dancer).
May 1, 2004... It's a rainy day on New York's Upper East Side. Outside, the traffic streaks honking by, but inside Ballet Academy East, dancers are hard at work. Dance bags pile in a heap under the piano, and familiar Minkus music fills the studio. Students...

On Broadway: put a line of tap dancers on stage, and the show stops--guaranteed.
May 1, 2004... Throughout most of the 1920s, '30s and and '40s, tap ruled Broadway musicals. It was the dance vernacular, a home-grown popular entertainment that had sprung from the uniquely American intersection of African and Irish dance forms. With its...

Compagnie Jant-Bi.(Dance Review)
May 1, 2004... COMPAGNIE JANT-BI WORLD THEATER CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, MONTEREY BAY FEBRUARY 3, 2004 Reviewed by Rita Felciano Inspired by a fictionalized account of the genocide in Rwanda, Boubacar Bori Diop's Murambi, The Book of Bones, and...

The Deborah Hay Dance Company.(The Match)(Dance Review)
May 1, 2004... THE DEBORAH HAY DANCE COMPANY DANSPACE PROJECT AT ST. MARK'S CHURCH NEW YORK CITY FEBRUARY 5-8, 2004 Reviewed by Gus Solomons jr. What is Deborah Hay doing? Her dancers grunt and crawl a around on hands and knees, gesticulate madly, talk in...

Nashville Ballet.(Ouroboros)(Dance Review)
May 1, 2004... NASHVILLE BALLET TENNESSEE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE OCTOBER 17-19, 2003 Reviewed by Martha Ullman West Tall tales and ghost stories are a Tennessee tradition, not so odd perhaps in a state snake handling can be a part of...

Pat Graney Dance Company.(The Story of the Vivian Girls)(Dance Review)
May 1, 2004... PAT GRANEY DANCE COMPANY JANUARY 30-31, 2004 THE MOORE THEATRE, SEATTLE Reviewed by Gigi Berardi Pat Graney's The Vivian Girls brings to life the disturbing world of outsider artist Henry Darner, providing a fascinating window into tire...

ODC/San Francisco.(Dancing Downtown)(Dance Review)
May 1, 2004... ODC/SAN FRANCISCO YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS THEATER SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA FEBRUARY 12-29, 2004 Reviewed by Allan Ulrich The San Francisco Bay Area's longest running, continuous modern dance company is no stranger to the ends and...

Dance directory: schools, studios, colleges, universities, companies, teachers, dancers, choreographers, somatic practices, movement arts, dance medicine, yoga.(Directory)
May 1, 2004... Contents United Slates 78 International 89 Somatic Practices, Movement Arts, Dance Medicine, and Yoga 90 United States ALABAMA ALABAMA BALLET Wes Chapman,...

Madeline meets the ballet.(Madeline Goes to the Circus)(Dance Review)
May 1, 2004... Madeline made the leap from the pages of a book to the theater stage when the Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet performed Madeline Goes to the Circus in March at the Akron Civic Theatre in Ohio. Inspired by the popular children's books written by...

Dance scape.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 1, 2004... Lucia Joyce was "born to dance", according to her father, the writer James Joyce. She studied modern dance with Raymond Duncan (Isadora's brother) and Emile Jacques-Dalcroze. She had a crush on Samuel Beckett, who called her type of dancing...

Attitudes.(Teaching dance.)
May 1, 2004... WHEN I decided to write a column about dance teaching in the United States, a strange thing happened. Every bell and whistle on my computer started to ring, while its keyboard glowed a disturbing red for danger. After all, I am not a dance...