St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre says dancer was taking painkillers for an injury and fell from fifth floor
The acclaimed Russian ballet dancer Vladimir Shklyarov has died aged 39.
Shklyarov died after falling from the fifth floor of a building on Saturday, a spokesperson for the Mariinsky Theatre told the news outlet Fontanka at the weekend.
Continue reading...Jamison joined Alvin Ailey’s dance company in 1965 and performed there for 15 years, premiering solo Cry in 1971
Judith Jamison, an acclaimed dancer and choreographer who for two decades was artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, died on Saturday in New York, at the age of 81.
Her death came after a brief illness, according to a post on the company’s Instagram page.
Continue reading...BMJ case report reveals potential overuse injury after man in his 30s has surgery to remove large lump on his head
Going breakdancing today? If so, maybe go easy on the headspins. Unless you want to end up with a “cone-head”, that is.
Breakdancing’s extreme physical demands mean it is known to involve a high risk of injury: everything from hair loss to sprains and damage to almost every part of the anatomy.
Continue reading...Sierra Leone-born DePrince, who moved to US as a child, danced with Boston Ballet and performed with Beyoncé
Michaela Mabinty DePrince, a trailblazer and inspiration to many in the ballet world, has died at 29, a spokesperson announced on her Instagram page on Friday. No cause of death has yet been reported.
“Her life was one defined by grace, purpose, and strength,” the caption said. “Her unwavering commitment to her art, her humanitarian efforts, and her courage in overcoming unimaginable challenges will forever inspire us. She stood as a beacon of hope for many, showing that no matter the obstacles, beauty and greatness can rise from the darkest of places.”
Continue reading...Others honoured from cultural world include the writer Monica Ali, choreographer Wayne McGregor and children’s laureate Joseph Coelho
Tracey Emin, the confessional visual artist, and the stage and screen actor Imelda Staunton are among leading figures from the world of culture to be honoured in the king’s birthday honours, both becoming dames.
Emin, who has survived aggressive bladder cancer and opened her own art school as well as embarking on a new body of work since her diagnosis four years ago, said it was a “brilliant surprise”.
Continue reading...Big-name ballet dancers and rising choreographers have found a new home in the superclub where the after-party goes on until 5am
“It’s the easiest rider we’ve ever done,” says the Ministry of Sound’s Mahit Anam. “Normally it’s five bottles of Patrón, four bottles of vodka … ” And this time? Water, bananas and protein bars. It’s not your usual green room at the south London superclub, because this is not your usual show: the dancefloor is about to be taken over by professionals. Ballet Nights – a monthly production usually held in a Canary Wharf theatre and featuring the country’s top ballet stars and rising choreographers – is moving into clubland. So now amid the speaker stacks and DJ decks you’ll see Royal Ballet dancer Joshua Junker and work from Olivier award-winning choreographer James Cousins. It’s a whole different kind of podium dancing.
“Everything’s got too formulaic, too samey, and that’s why we want to do this stuff,” says Anam. “Pushing boundaries is something we should always be doing.” Ballet Nights was hatched by former Scottish Ballet soloist and choreographer Jamiel Devernay-Laurence in 2023. The idea was to give audiences an up-close view of big-name ballet dancers like Steven McRae and Matthew Ball as well as nurturing a stable of young artists. But he was itching to expand, and eager to attract younger audiences, people who are the same age as the dancers who perform. Devernay-Laurence had met with all sorts of venues – theatres, concert halls – and it was always a “let’s talk again in the future” situation. But when he walked into Ministry of Sound: “They had open arms, they were so excited. We walked out the same day with an agreement and a date.”
Ballet Nights is at Ministry of Sound, London, on 31 May
Continue reading...Line of Duty actor will oversee classic plays as well as new pieces inspired by the Irish author in Beckett: Unbound 2024
Adrian Dunbar is to curate a festival in Liverpool dedicated to the work of Samuel Beckett. The programme includes four specially commissioned productions, one involving prisoners at HMP Liverpool.
The Line of Duty actor said of Beckett: Unbound 2024: “Engaging with Beckett makes you think about the fundamentals of life. Those fundamentals are sometimes hard to engage with, but at the end, when he drives everything to a conclusion, he also makes you feel something that is liberating.”
Beckett: Unbound, Liverpool and Paris, 30 May–7 June
Continue reading...After breakdancing debuted at the games in China, members of the Thai national team say they needed support for hair treatment
A member of Thailand’s national breakdancing team has spoken about one of the lesser known challenges of the sport – hair loss.
At the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, where breaking – known in the media as breakdancing – debuted this year, Thailand’s national team was asked about the kinds of support performers need. They said there was a lack of facilities for training in Thailand, meaning people have to practise in parks or shopping malls.
Continue reading...National Theatre and Royal Ballet among 21 groups to receive grants from new fund
Vogue World will donate £2m to London-based arts organisations through a newly established fund, Condé Nast has announced.
The star-studded event at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Thursday night was masterminded by the Vogue editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, and the Bafta- and Olivier-winning director Stephen Daldry. Its aim was to celebrate London’s heritage as a cultural powerhouse and to raise money for the UK’s cash-strapped performing arts scene.
Continue reading...Journalist takes ‘irresistible’ chance to take part in show while still working as Channel 4 newsreader
Krishnan Guru-Murthy has been announced as the fourth celebrity to join this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.
The journalist, who is a main presenter on Channel 4 News, joins a lineup that includes Angela Rippon, the actor Amanda Abbington and the Bad Education star Layton Williams.
Continue reading...Marco Goecke says he acted in heat of the moment after years of ‘annihilatory' criticism’
An award-winning German ballet company director who smeared his dog’s faeces on the face of a dance critic has failed to apologise, saying he was responding to decades of “annihilatory criticism”.
Marco Goecke admitted in an interview with the broadcaster NDR that his “means of attack” was “certainly not super” but said he had acted on impulse on seeing the journalist, Wiebke Hüster.
Continue reading...Marco Goecke allegedly confronted Wiebke Hüster at Hanover State Opera, furious at her verdict on a previous show
The director of a leading German ballet company has been suspended from his post and is being investigated by police after allegedly smearing a critic’s face with his dog’s excrement at the premiere of his new show after she described one of his productions as “boring” and “disjointed”.
Marco Goecke, the head of Hanover State Opera’s ballet company, has also been barred from the opera house, a spokesperson confirmed on Monday afternoon, after he confronted Wiebke Hüster, the ballet critic of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), in the interval of his latest show on Sunday night.
Continue reading...One of Spain’s most prolific auteurs continued to work until the end – his last film, Walls Can Talk, was released last week
Veteran Spanish film-maker Carlos Saura, director of award-winning films such as Peppermint Frappé, ¡Ay Carmela! and Tango, has died aged 91, the day before he was due to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Goyas, Spain’s version of the Oscars.
Spain’s Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences, the body that hands out the Goya awards, confirmed his death on social media, saying: “Saura, one of the essential film-makers in the history of Spanish cinema, has died at home today at the age of 91, surrounded by his loved ones. His final film, Walls Can Talk, came out last week and demonstrated his tireless activity and his love for his work until the very last moment.”
Continue reading...Dance company Marrugeku has put together a blistering Australian take on the hit song and video, taking in our colonial past and our treatment of refugees
When Childish Gambino’s song This s America was first released in 2018, its elaborately choreographed and racially loaded film clip inspired a storm of speculation as people tried to decode what likely became the most talked-about music video of all time. Which of the dance moves were based on Jim Crow caricatures? Is the shooting of the gospel choir a rejection of spiritual upliftment? Is the last shot a reference to Get Out? And just what did the galloping horse mean?
Then remakes began to stream in from around the world. This Is Iraq, This Is Sierra Leone, This Is Nigeria, This Is Barbados, This Is Malaysia: all tackling racial injustice, human rights abuses, political hypocrisy and greed through dance and song.
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Continue reading...Riverdance star has undergone surgery and is in care of doctors, according to Instagram account
Michael Flatley, best known for his Riverdance show, has been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of cancer.
A post on the Irish dancer and director’s Instagram account said: “Michael Flatley has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. He has undergone surgery and is in the care of an excellent team of doctors.”
Continue reading...Former judge appointed to investigate claims prominent dance schools have rigged competitions
The ostensibly quaint world of Irish dancing has been rocked by allegations of competition fixing and cheating, with some parents and teachers saying there is a code of omertà akin to The Godfather and The Sopranos.
The Irish Dancing Commission, a governing body known in Irish as An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha (CLRG), has appointed a former judge to investigate claims that prominent dance schools and teachers have rigged competitions, it emerged this week.
Continue reading...After Covid thwarted two attempts to bring out Christian Spuck’s acclaimed Messa da Requiem, the festival has finally announced it as next year’s centrepiece
For Adelaide festival’s 2023 opera centrepiece a cast of almost 200 singers, dancers and musicians will take the stage under the direction of one of the world’s most celebrated choreographers.
Dance will be foregrounded in Messa da Requiem: the celebrated production of Giuseppe Verdi’s masterpiece Requiem by the German choreographer Christian Spuck, which debuted in Zurich in 2016.
Continue reading...Page and Deacon both won the Red Ochre prizes at the 2022 First Nations Arts awards on Friday night for their life work
Last year, choreographer, dancer and director Stephen Page announced that he was stepping down as artistic director of Bangarra Dance Theatre, after 31 years in the job. On Friday night, Page was named the recipient of a $50,000 lifetime achievement award, at the Australia Council’s First Nations Arts awards – and it could not have come at a more opportune moment.
The descendant of the Nunukul people and the Mununjali clan of the Yugambeh nation in south-east Queensland, Page has created more than two dozen works for Bangarra over the past three decades and won many accolades, including being named an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). Now, it is time to take a break.
Continue reading...What remains of Kyiv’s tango community is looking forward to Saturday night event
Air raid sirens were near constant and Russian troops were on the outskirts of the city, but that didn’t stop some people in Kyiv from dancing.
A group of Ukrainian tango dancers wrapped up warm against the freezing weather to meet in the botanic gardens: they circled around each other to an Argentinian milonga, embracing and laughing with relief to see those around them were still alive.
Continue reading...Native Hawaiian musician to be depicted in 2023 as part of program honoring eminent American women
The late Native Hawaiian hula teacher Edith Kanaka’ole is among five women who will be individually featured on US quarters in 2023 as part of a program that depicts notable women on the coins.
The US Mint described Kanaka’ole, who died in 1978, as a composer, chanter, dancer, teacher and entertainer.
Continue reading...