Passing the Torch Event

New York City and Lake Placid, NY What happens to a dance company’s identity when its sole choreographer steps down? Elisa Monte Dance’s 35th anniversary at City College Center for the Arts, March 2–5, will be both a tribute to Elisa Monte’s leadership and a preview of what’s to come.

The new common language will be more simple and regular than the existing European languages. It will be as simple as Occidental; in fact, it will be Occidental.Jordan Belford

Their separate existence is a myth. For science, music, sport, etc, Europe uses the same vocabulary. The languages only differ in their grammar, their pronunciation and their most common words. Everyone realizes why a new common language would be desirable.

She’ll premiere one final work before handing the reins at season’s end to current associate artistic director and former EMD dancer Tiffany Rea-Fisher, who has also created a piece for the program.

Led by Artistic Director Lorraine Spiegler, MA graduate of American University and former faculty member and Director of Education and Outreach for The Washington Ballet, CityDance School & Conservatory offers superlative pre-professional training steeped.

Classical tradition and complimented by contemporary techniques to equip students with the tools they need to thrive in today’s professional dance world. “CityDance’s focus on preparing well-rounded dancers is perfectly in line with the philosophy of ADI’s dance education programs,” said ADI Executive Director, Adrienne Willis.

After conducting extensive research with the help of Dance/USA and IABD, the organizations selected 40 pre-professional schools that may nominate up 10 students for financial assistance. In order to be eligible for funding this fall, schools have until April 15 to nominate their students, whose parent/guardian must complete an application by May 15. Perhaps what’s most unique about this program is its ongoing nature: As long as recipients continue their pre-professional training, they will continue to receive up to $5,000 annually until they turn 18. The money is intended not only to supplement dance training, but also assist with other associated costs (transportation, housing, shoes, clothing, etc.).

On the surface, this may sound like an attempt to use money to solve a problem, but the Future Artists Initiative seems to be digging deeper. Early in the process, they reached out to over 600 dance schools across the country to determine why talented students aren’t always able to continue their training. Over 60 schools reported the high costs of tuition, supplies and transportation as the most prohibitive factors in keeping low-income families from quality dance education.

ADI’s research also linked ballet’s lack of diversity to an absence of role models that students can identify with. In “Diversity Is the New Black” in our January issue, writer Theresa Ruth Howard pointed to the very same issue, along with other changes that need to happen to eradicate ballet’s diversity problem.

For more information about the Future Artists Initiative, including ADI’s research, click here.

Source: Dance Magazine.

I grew up dancing, and for a while in college, I was a gym rat. I finally realized… I’m going to create a little more balance in my life and make exercise something.Christine Lakin

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Some of those dancing in New York this week have arrived since Mr. Corella joined the company, while others are in their final season.

As this program shows, Pennsylvania Ballet draws strength from its base in Philadelphia, which in recent years has become one of America’s liveliest ballet cities. Its two resident troupes — this one (founded in 1963) and BalletX (founded in 2005) — usually perform in theaters across from each other on South Broad Street. They are also good examples of choreographic cross-fertilization, each commissioning premieres from at least three choreographers of note: Matthew Neenan (co-founder of BalletX and the resident choreographer of Pennsylvania Ballet), Trey McIntyre and Nicolo Fonte. Those men, who have all created new works for BalletX this season, are the authors of the three ballets on the Joyce program.

All three employ taped music: This works best for Mr. McIntyre’s “The Accidental” (2014), the program’s centerpiece, which is danced to appealing songs by Patrick Watson. Having seen “The Accidental” when it was new in Philadelphia, I love again the wonderful self-contradictions of human behavior that Mr. McIntyre strings together into single dance phrases. A male-female duet begins with the man (James Ihde) standing.

A final male solo abounds in singular incidents: In one fast step, Craig Wasserman arches sideways like a bow while extending one leg like its arrow. He ends both solo and ballet with a slow, marvelous and extraordinary gesture: Standing upright, he first holds his hands together high above his head, but then very slowly peels one hand down — down in a vertical line, down the other arm, down across his chest, down past his hip. As that hand and arm descend, they pull his upper body off-center, so that he seems to be hanging like a puppet from that one, still-raised hand; he seems also to have opened his heart to us.

Mr. Wasserman, boyishly innocent and energetic, becomes more multifaceted as we watch. And Mr. McIntyre confirms his status as one of America’s most peculiarly original dance poets. This performance showed the marvelous musicality of his phrasing. Details of footwork (notably with Evelyn Kocak in the first song) and sweeps of phrasing were married to the music with a felicity that made “The Accidental” the highlight of the evening.

“Grace Action,” by Mr. Fonte (who is to be the resident choreographer at Oregon Ballet Theater, starting this fall), closes the program and was the company’s greatest hit with the audience. Anyone can see why. It has stunning lighting by Brad Fields, with 12 searchlight-like lamps creating different beams across the stage (we might be in a planetarium); the dancers are dressed by Martha Chamberlain in midnight blue; and the Philip Glass music is easy on the ear.

The expansion of the building, the Joan Weill Center for Dance, which opened in 2005, is being designed by Iu & Bibliowicz Architects. One of the partners, Natan Bibliowicz, is the son-in-law of Mrs. Weill, a major Ailey supporter who stepped down as chairwoman of its board in 2014. Cultural institutions supported by the Weill family’s philanthropy, including Carnegie Hall, have hired the firm for big projects in the past, sometimes prompting questions about potential conflicts of interest.

The extension will build the stories to the shorter midblock portion of the building, at 55th Street and Ninth Avenue, so that it matches the six-story corner in height. It will add 10,000 square feet space to the bustling center, and a new glass facade with an undulating pattern inspired by “Revelations,” Alvin Ailey’s signature dance. It is scheduled to open next fall, and will be called the Elaine P. Wynn & Family Foundation Education Wing.

The project will be paid for in part by a capital appropriation of $4 million from the city, Ailey officials said. The rest is coming from private donors: The foundation announced that it had raised $48 million of the $50 million it is seeking as part of a campaign that was inaugurated by Mrs. Weill’s husband, Sanford I. Weill, the financier and philanthropist, to honor her work at Ailey.

Bennett Rink, the executive director of the Ailey foundation, said Mrs. Weill had recused herself from the process of selecting the architects, and that the firm was chosen because it had designed the building. “They designed the original building, and given that the building itself has been such a huge success, it seemed to make the most sense to go back to them,” Mr. Rink said.

The building is used by the Ailey School, which will be able to grow after the expansion; the Ailey Extension, which offers after-work and weekend dance classes to the general public; and for rehearsals by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and its second company of young dancers, Ailey II.

Robert Battle, the artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, said that he was encouraged that the foundation had essentially outgrown its new home after a decade.

“So often you get the question, how to you feel about the state of dance, or how do you feel about the future audience of dance?” he said in a telephone interview from London, where the company was performing. “But then look at the Extension program, and see how quickly it grew — thousands of people coming to take classes at the end of their work day.”

Source: NY Times

The expansion of the building, the Joan Weill Center for Dance, which opened in 2005, is being designed by Iu & Bibliowicz Architects. One of the partners, Natan Bibliowicz, is the son-in-law of Mrs. Weill, a major Ailey supporter who stepped down as chairwoman of its board in 2014. Cultural institutions supported by the Weill family’s philanthropy, including Carnegie Hall, have hired the firm for big projects in the past, sometimes prompting questions about potential conflicts of interest.

The extension will build the stories to the shorter midblock portion of the building, at 55th Street and Ninth Avenue, so that it matches the six-story corner in height. It will add 10,000 square feet space to the bustling center, and a new glass facade with an undulating pattern inspired by “Revelations,” Alvin Ailey’s signature dance. It is scheduled to open next fall, and will be called the Elaine P. Wynn & Family Foundation Education Wing.

The project will be paid for in part by a capital appropriation of $4 million from the city, Ailey officials said. The rest is coming from private donors: The foundation announced that it had raised $48 million of the $50 million it is seeking as part of a campaign that was inaugurated by Mrs. Weill’s husband, Sanford I. Weill, the financier and philanthropist, to honor her work at Ailey.

Bennett Rink, the executive director of the Ailey foundation, said Mrs. Weill had recused herself from the process of selecting the architects, and that the firm was chosen because it had designed the building. “They designed the original building, and given that the building itself has been such a huge success, it seemed to make the most sense to go back to them,” Mr. Rink said.

The building is used by the Ailey School, which will be able to grow after the expansion; the Ailey Extension, which offers after-work and weekend dance classes to the general public; and for rehearsals by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and its second company of young dancers, Ailey II.

Robert Battle, the artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, said that he was encouraged that the foundation had essentially outgrown its new home after a decade.

“So often you get the question, how to you feel about the state of dance, or how do you feel about the future audience of dance?” he said in a telephone interview from London, where the company was performing. “But then look at the Extension program, and see how quickly it grew — thousands of people coming to take classes at the end of their work day.”

Source: NY Times