Dance Magazine articles from September 2007

Dance Magazine archives from September 2007

Welcome to our 80th-anniversary issue!(curtain up)(Editorial)
September 1, 2007... It's been a heady ride, looking back at all that Dance Magazine has covered, and we want to give you a glimpse of the amazing treasure chest that is our archives. This project has been spearheaded by our mightily curious associate editor Emily...

Letters.(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2007... We've loved looking back at our old covers and showcasing them all year long in our Anniversary Gallery. But we wanted to hear about your favorites too Here are a few readers' choices. See www.dancemagazine.com/covergallery for more! ...

July "vital signs" corrections.(letters)(Correction notice)
September 1, 2007... In "A Different Angle," Keiko Guest is no longer the company photographer for Atlanta Ballet. In "Ring My Bell," the last time a choreographer directed at the Met was George Balanchine in 1953.

Dancing on the rooftops.(vital signs)(Rapture)(Dance review)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... In June Noemie Lafrance and her company took performance to new heights at Bard College, when they danced RAPTURE on the rooftops. Taking a page out of Trisha Brown's book (her 1971 Roof Piece was performed on Soho rooftops), the performance...

Stop-to-stop dance action.(vital signs)(Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theater)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... San Diego is taking dance on the road--literally. During the ninth annual Trolley Dances, Sept. 29-30 and Oct. 6-7, audience members can hop on a trolley and watch Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theater perform at grocery stores and parks in...

The cancer dancers.(vital signs)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Cancer is not inhibiting these dancers from doing what they love. instead, the Cancer Dancers are young dancers-in-recovery who have found mental, physical, and spiritual healing through dance. Founded last spring by Christine Grimaldi, the...

Happy 75th birthday Hans Van Manen!(vital signs)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Dutch choreographer Hans van Manen turned 75 in July, but in Amsterdam the party is just beginning! Het Nationale Ballet hosts the Hans van Manen festival beginning Sept. 11. During the three-week series of van Manen's work, companies from...

Dancing for a home run.(vital signs)(Toe to Toe)(Dance review)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Growing up, Chris Black had two dreams: To dance for Balanchine and to be the first female pitcher for the New York Yankees. While she hasn't made it to the mound at Yankee Stadium yet and was too young to ever dance under Mr. B, she has...

Battle to the beat in the Balkans.(vital signs)(16th annual Battle of the Balkans)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Greek philosophers Plato and Socrates taught that every man should know how to dance to prepare for his duty on the battlefield. In May the battlefield and dance became one as the 16th annual Battle of the Balkans...

Miami's International extravaganza.(vital signs)(12th annual International Ballet Festival of Miami)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Top dancers from all over the world perform in the 12th annual International Ballet Festival of Miami, honoring Roland Petit. They represent 25 companies including English National Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet (below), Polish National Ballet,...

Dance it off.(vital signs)(dancing to cure obesity)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... China's Education Ministry wants its childrens' waistbands to shrink through dance. Since American fast food has infiltrated China, childhood obesity has become an epidemic. One in five children who live in Beijing and Shanghai are obese. The...

Our favorite covers through time.(anniversary gallery: EDITOR'S CHOICE)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] FIRST ROW: (1927-47) Undated precursor to Dance Magazine; undated precursor with drawing of Tamara Geva; drawing by Charles Payzant, Sept. 1927; "Spirit of Halloween," drawing by Charles Payzant, Oct. 1927; La Meri,...

Remembering Reema: dancers in support of VA Tech.(dance matters)(Reema Samaha)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When news broke of a student's lethal rampage at Virginia Tech on April 16, it was unclear how many other students and professors had been injured or killed. But in the following days, haunting images of the 32 lives...

Time & again: ABT celebrates its alumni.(dance matters)(American Ballet Theatre)
September 1, 2007... "Look around you," said former American Ballet Theatre principal Susan Jaffe to an audience filled with ballet fans at the Metropolitan Opera House. "There's a good chance that sitting beside you, in front of you, or behind you is a former ABT...

Bill T. Jones.(AWARDS & PRIZES)
September 1, 2007... Bill T. Jones won a Tony Awards for Best Choreography for the musical Springs Awakening.

Carmen deLavallade.(AWARDS & PRIZES)
September 1, 2007... On Sept. 17, the Capezio Ballet Makers Dance Foundation awards Carmen deLavallade the 56th Capezio Dance Award for significant contributions to American dance.

In June, Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar, co-directors of Big Dance Theater in NYC, received $25,000.(AWARDS & PRIZES)
September 1, 2007... In June, Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar, co-directors of Big Dance Theater in NYC, received $25,000 for the first annual Jacob's Pillow Award for Creativity.

Pina Bausch.(AWARDS & PRIZES)
September 1, 2007... Pina Bausch [right) received the 2007 Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy, which amounts to more than $400,000. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The Pew Fellowship in the Arts awarded $50,000 to 12 Philadelphia-based artists, including four choreographers.(AWARDS & PRIZES)
September 1, 2007... The Pew Fellowship in the Arts awarded $50,000 to 12 Philadelphia-based artists, including four choreographers: Charles Anderson, Nicole Cousineau, Kate Watson-Wallace, and Dorothy Wilkie.

Bringing Graham to light.(new york notebook)(From the Horse's Mouth by Martha Graham Dance Company)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Court cases and leadership coups aside, the Martha Graham Dance Company returns in full force, after four years, to the Joyce. The season includes classics like Appalachian Spring, Embattled Garden, and Night...

Other master choreographers.(new york notebook)(American Dance Masterpieces)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... On Sept. 7, the River to River festival offers a program in Evening Stars called "American Dance Masterpieces." Philadanco performs Southern Landscape (1947, below), a suite of dances by Talley Beatty that depicts the suffering and spiritual...

The kitchen sink at DTW.(new york notebook)(13th annual DancenOw NYC Festival)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A fresh look at some 70 downtown choreographers comes to DTW courtesy of the 13th annual DancenOw NYC Festival. The three programs--40Up, Base Camp, and Upclose--represent the stages in a choreographer's career. The...

Trager technique: rocking toward freedom.(mind your body)(Milton Trager)
September 1, 2007... What is lighter? What is softer? What is freer? These questions launched the Trager Approach, the extraordinary work of Milton Trager, a physician who possessed an uncanny ability to help people move with more freedom and ease. Movement itself...

Advice for dancers.(Column)
September 1, 2007... My daughter's ballet teacher has asked that she seek treatment for a possible eating disorder. She goes on and off crash diets, and her weight has frequently fluctuated more than 10 pounds over the last year. I've tried talking to her about...

Moveable feasts coming to your town soon: we looked from coast to coast and found a cornucopia of dance for the fall season.
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] What's new this fall? Take a deep breath. The country will see Mark Morris' recent, full-evening triumph. The Martha Graham Dance Company, one of America's certifiable cultural treasures, will travel widely during...

Luz San Miguel lighting up the stage: this Milwaukee Ballet star is a force of nature in dramatic roles.(Interview)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Luz San Miguel opens the door, welcoming me into her home with a sweeping gesture that might be called a domesticated port de bras. Her strikingly petite body seems to almost hum with energy--a human lightning rod....

80 momentous dance moments.
September 1, 2007... Dance Magazine began publication in 1927, the year that Isadora Duncan died and two years before Serge Diaghilev died. The end of one era opened doors to another that branched out in many directions. We've Seen the rise of modern dance and the...

What they wish they knew: great artists look back at those early years.(Interview)
September 1, 2007... During the 1950s, "60s, and '70s, Dance Magazine had a monthly series called "Brief Biography: Dancers You Should Know," which introduced our readers to dancers we predicted were rising stars. It turns out we were right on the money with many...

What they meant: they were groundbreakers, risk-takers, and leaders, and we will always remember them. As part of our 80th-anniversary celebration, we asked current artists what these icons meant to the dance world.
September 1, 2007... Donald McKayle on Martha Graham When I first saw her I was bowled over by the power of this woman. She brought so much, with her actions, with her need to be onstage. She's left a legacy. She's left a technique. She's left a lot of works....

The generation lost to AIDS: the dance world mourned--no sector was spared the plague.
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Dancers, in the pursuit of the joy of dance, undergo a hailstorm of hardships: bodily injuries, scrawny salaries, and a cruelly short career span. But no one could have foretold the medical nightmare that raged...

Where do you see dance going in the next 80 years? Celebrating our anniversary isn't only about where we've come from, but where we're heading. We asked some of the creative thinkers in our field to look into their crystal ball and predict the future of dance. Here they share their visions--some realistic, some utopian, and some tongue-in-cheek.
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] KAROLE ARMITAGE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, ARMITAGE GONE! DANCE I hope our culture will see quality of life as something more complex than attaining fame and fortune. We need a counterculture to shake things up so...

The new classics: past inspired, fashion forward styles.(dm style)
September 1, 2007... Need fashion inspiration? Try a rewind. We searched through past issues of Dance Magazine for examples of classic styles. With a few subtle updates we've transformed eight vintage looks into modern masterpieces. White, black, and pink are the...

Made in heaven: Hollywood's magic touch with dance.(dm recommends)(Classic Musicals From the Dream Factory)(Video recording review)
September 1, 2007... Classic Musicals From the Dream Factory, Vol. 2 DVDs, set $59.92, each $19.97 Perhaps the single most eye-popping dance moment ever put on film arrives around halfway through the 1951 musical Royal Wedding, when Fred Astaire, as an...

Tap--the theater of sound.(TECHNIQUE)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Tap dance's artistic diversity today is one of its strongest points. It ranges from hard hitting, competitive popular street style to musical theater, from virtuosic western classical and through-composed orchestral...

Danco/3 takes the stage.(ACROSS THE FLOOR)(Philadanco's children's company)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Young members of Danco/3, Philadanco's new professional children's company, can already list a high-profile dance appearance on their resumes. After a premiere performance at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts...

New degrees for dancers.(teach-learn connection)
September 1, 2007... The ivy-covered gates of Yale University have finally opened up to dance. Yale professor Joseph Roach launched the World Performance Project at Yale last July with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The multifaceted performance...

NYC real estate.(teach-learn connection)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... The New York dance scene is on the move. Broadway Dance Center opened its new studios in the theater district in June. The 23,000 square foot dance center is equipped with state-of-the-art studios and lounges, including theatrical lighting,...

Joan Peters: this master of Dunham technique wants dancers to give audiences everything they've got.(teacher's wisdom)(Interview)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For the past 29 years, Joan Peters has been chairperson For Dunham Technique at The Ailey School in New York City. She is one of only three people approved by Katherine Dunham and The Dunham Institute as a Dunham...

Corina Gill: while new to Balanchine, the Los Angeles Ballet dancer has scored triumphs in major roles.(on the rise)(Interview)
September 1, 2007... Dancing a solo, Corina Gill has an inner calm that belies her ferocious technique. As soaring Tchaikovsky harp arpeggios and strings fill an airy Santa Monica studio during a recent Nutcracker rehearsal, she begins a series of perfect fouettes....

Fall preview: the new season has its share of potential hits--and surprises.(on broadway)
September 1, 2007... This may be Dance Magazine's 80th anniversary, but let's not forget that it's also the start of a new season on Broadway. Well, technically, that has already happened: Xanadu, which brought rollerskating back to the Broadway stage, and Grease,...

New York City Ballet.(Romeo and Juliet)(Dance review)
September 1, 2007... New York City Ballet New York State Theater, NYC April 24-June 24, 2007 This season the New York City Ballet celebrated the centenary of its co-founder Lincoln Kirstein. However, the big news was the company's new Romeo and Juliet, its...

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet.(Dance review)
September 1, 2007... Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet Cedar Lake Theatre, NYC June 7-July 1, 2007 After several years of earnest but disappointing curatorial choices, this company of extremely talented dancers finally hit its stride in Decadance, an anthology of...

Ballet Arizona.(Play)(Dance review)
September 1, 2007... Ballet Arizona Symphony Hall, Phoenix, AZ June 8-10 Play, Ib Andersen's new full-length ballet for Ballet Arizona, has no story. Or does it? As the piece unfolds--generous in length, yet compact and pointed--you get the feeling Andersen's...

Birmingham Royal Ballet's The Sleeping Beauty.(Dance review)
September 1, 2007... Birmingham Royal Ballet's The Sleeping Beauty Virginia Arts Festival, Norfolk, VA May 4-6, 2007 Sleeping Beauty's magic can be elusive. The Tchaikovsky music and Petipa choreography by now have become so familiar that the ballet's grandeur...

Reviews on the Web.
September 1, 2007... Read reviews of Susan Marshall (below) MOMIX, Pascal Riuout, Doug Varone, Montpellier Festival, and much more at www.dancemagazine.com [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Bill Shannon at River-To-River.(PREVIEW)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... For most dancers, physical injuries are a major set back. For Bill Shannon (a 2001 "25 to Watch"), it's inspiration. The "CrutchMaster" performs Window this month at NYC's free River-to-River Festival. Shannon, who suffers from a bone disease...

Philadelphia Fringe Festival.(PREVIEW)(Philadelphia Live Arts Festival)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Philadelphia Live Arts Festival teams up with the Philly Fringe--offering up a 16-day performance series showing over 2,000 artists, and dancing from all corners of the world. Congolese choreographer Faustin Linyekula's Festival of Lies...

Houston Ballet.(PREVIEW)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Houston Ballet dancers will be sharing the stage with a tree this fall---a giant live oak to be exact. Stanton Welch premieres The Four Seasons to Vivaldi's familiar score and a set by Thomas Boyd. Portraying the four stages of a woman's life,...

Kyra Nichols.(RETIREMENT)(New York City Ballet)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] One of the last great Balanchine ballerinas, Kyra Nichols danced her farewell performance on June 22, after a 33-year career with New York City Ballet. Although Balanchine never made a ballet on her, Nichols, with...

Christophe Maraval.(RETIREMENT)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Principal Christophe Maraval retired from Pacific Northwest Ballet this past season to take a full-time teaching position at Ballet Divertimento de Montreal. In his eight-year tenure at PNB, Maraval chalked up 55 ballets, the last 10 with PNB...

Henry LeTang (1916-2007).(DEATHS)(Obituary)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Known for his tap choreography, Henry LeTang once said, "As long as I'm choreographing, I'm happy." And choreograph he did. His work was seen in movies and shows like The Cotton Club, Tap, Bojangles, Eubie!, Sophisticated Ladies, and Black and...

Belinda Wright (1929-2007).(DEATHS)(Obituary)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... A beautifully romantic British ballerina, Belinda Wright died in April. She had a style very much in the Cecchetti tradition of Alicia Markova fast, feathery, and often ethereal, yet backed with superb technical precision. Born in...

Deaths.(transitions)(Gordon Paxman)(Obituary)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Former principal dancer and ballet master of San Francisco Ballet Gordon Paxman died in April. He performed with principals Nancy Johnson, Jocelyn Vollmar, and Sally Bailey and was known for his juggling clown in Lew Christensen's Jinx. Paxman...

Births.(transitions)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... In June dancer, teacher, and Dance Magazine contributor Rosalynde LeBlanc and her husband Santos Loo gave birth to a son, Rio Andres Loo. Megumi Eda, dancer with Armitage Gone! Dance, had a baby boy, Noa Buck, in March. Eda performed at the...

In June, Ballet San Jose dancers Haley Henderson and Easton Smith (at left) married in Ventura, CA.(WEDDINGS)
September 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In June, Ballet San Jose dancers Haley Henderson and Easton Smith (at left) married in Ventura, CA.

Choreographer Jessica Lang and dancer Kanji Segawa (BattleWorks Dance Company) were married in July.(WEDDINGS)
September 1, 2007... Choreographer Jessica Lang and dancer Kanji Segawa (BattleWorks Dance Company) were married in July.

United States.(dance finder: a career & learning resource guide)(Directory)
September 1, 2007... 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 THEATRE Kitty...

The beat of Afro-Cuban drums.(dance finder: a career & learning resource guide)(Afro-Cuban Dance & Music Festival)(Brief article)
September 1, 2007... Can't stop your feet when you hear an Afro-Cuban near? The University of Colorado at Boulder hosts the Afro-Cuban Dance & Music Festival Aug. 31-Sept. 2. World-renowned instructors such as Neri Torres, Ezequiel Torres, Yofvany Gonzales, and...

International.(dance finder: a career & learning resource guide)(Directory)
September 1, 2007... ARGENTINA MANUEL VALLEJOS DANCE JAZZ STUDIO Lavalle 1579 C.P. 1048-Buenos Aires Tel/Fax (541) 371-6811 AUSTRIA SALZBURY INTL. BALLET ACADEMY (SIBA) Yehuda Maor, Ballet teacher/Master Salzburg Ballet. Phone...

Somatic practices, movement arts, and dance medicine.(dance finder: a career & learning resource guide)(Directory)
September 1, 2007... Certification and training in somatic and movement-based arts. Contact: dcastro@dancemagazine.com AERIAL DANCE/ACROBATIC/CIRCUS ARTS LAVA HOME STUDIO / BROOKLYN, NY Acrobatics & trapeze emphasizing strength, flexibility,...

Eighty years on: ballet, modern dance, and Dance Magazine were up and running while I myself was only toddling.(attitudes)
September 1, 2007... It is no problem for me to remember when Dance Magazine started its long journey. It was 1927. It's a date not just engraved in my memory; it's actually on my birth certificate. I have always thought 1927 was a pretty good year to be born--and...