Ian Macmillan

Sunday 17 January 2021 News: Separate Together: Hong Kong Arts Festival 2021: David Mead, SeeingDance L.A. dance company wins $970,000 Mellon Foundation grant: Makeda Easter, LA TImes Five arts venues share £3m funding rescue package from Scottish Government: Brian Ferguson, The Scotsman Stephen Mcilkenny, Glasgow Herald Wellington’s spaces to come alive in months-long arts programme: Andre Chumko, Stuff.co Interview – Bijayini Satpathy on her Transformative Year: Marina Harss, Fjord Review Stream Review – Nederlands Dans Theater 1, Box of Dreams: Valentina Bonelli, Fjord Review Stream News - Sydney Dance Company - new digital commissions: Angus McPherson, Limelight Quick Q&A - Matthew Ball, Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet: Staff, Educate Podcast Feature - Pacific Northwest dancer crossing gender norms: Martha Ann Overland, N P R

A piece for this weekend's New York Times compares the experiences of two opera singers, one based in New York, the other in Germany: Two Friends, Two Continents, Very Different Pandemics - The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/arts/music/opera-singers-coronavirus-pandemic.html There may be no huge surprises there and the situation may well read across to the dance world, at least as far as major companies are concerned.

From Richard Morrison, The Times' Arts chief, on Monday: Why Simon Rattle is leaving London: Brexit, family and Britain’s indifference to classical music https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ca04b450-541d-11eb-b0d0-071d11d2d557?shareToken=f1eb3e58ba4895b167bb9373a5766158 And another view from Charlotte Higgins in today's Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/13/simon-rattle-leaving-london-taste-future-concert-hall

This came my way earlier today - an Auld Lang Syne for our times ....... https://www.wssymphony.org/newyear/

Saturday 9 January 2021 Feature - The other Nijinsky: the forgotten choreography of Bronislava Nijinska: Nadia Beard, Calvert Journal News: Ballet purists in a spin as Paris Opera takes aim at ‘colonial’ works: Adam Sage, The Times Kiwi dancers stranded by Covid-19 reunite in capital: Andre Chumko, Dominion Post Costumes stolen from San Jose Dance Theater studio: Rob Roth, KTVU Stream Review - Ballet du Capitole Toulouse, In the Footsteps of Nureyev: Charlotte Kasner, SeeingDance Stream News: Unlimited Festival Dance, Southbank Online; Teresa Guerreiro, Culture Whisper DanceHouse/Paris Opera Ballet, Crystal Pite's Body and Soul: Steve Newton, Straight.com Something for those working-out at home: Dance workouts got me through lockdown – here are 10 of the best: Abigail Radnor, Guardian

Well, I've just found this on YouTube, released some 3 weeks ago. It's a bit of fun, made to support the MS Trust, and it adds a little exposition on The Cellist:

Friday 8 January 2021 News - Georgian prima ballerina & State Ballet of Georgia director, Nina Ananiashvili, to lead Russia’s Novosibirsk Ballet company: Staff, Agenda.Ge Live Reviews: New National Theatre Tokyo, The Nutcracker (Eagling), Tokyo: Paul McInnes, Fjord Review Force Majeure, The Last Season, Sydney: Jo Litson, Limelight Stream Reviews: Sarasota Ballet, Digital Program 3: Jann Parry, DanceTabs Quick steps: dynamic dance shorts to watch online: Lyndsey Winship, Guardian Stream News - Ballet Hispánico, 'B Unidos' Series Celebrates 50th Anniversary With Archival Performances: Staff, BWW And possibly stretching a point: There’s Dance All Over, No Matter Where You Look: NY Times

Thursday 7 January 2021 Obituary - Sunil Kothari, Eminent Scholar of Indian Dance: Alastair Macaulay, NY Times Feature - The Royal Academy of Dance: From Music Hall to Ballet Royalty: Roslyn Sulcas, NY Times News - Helgi Tomasson to Step Down at San Francisco Ballet: Peter Libbey, NY Times also at SF Examiner and elsewhere Stream Reviews: Stuttgart Ballet, The Sleeping Beauty (Haydee): Deborah Weiss, DanceTabs Staatsballett Berlin, New Year Gala: David Mead, SeeingDance Vienna State Ballet, The Nutcracker (Nureyev): Jim Pritchard, Seen and Heard Streaming News - English National Ballet has launched an online dance studio: Andrzej Lukowski, TimeOut London Other News - 24 Productions Announced For The First Half of 2021 at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen: Staff, BWW Belgium And finally: Stunning New Aerial Photography Of Ballet Dancer Inspired By Vintage Image From 1935: Joanne Shurvell, Forbes The sordid truth behind Degas's ballet dancers: Julia Flore, CNN Style

Significant news from the Bay Area: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/arts/dance/helgi-tomasson-stepping-down-at-san-francisco-ballet.html

Wednesday 6 January 2021 Stream Review - Ballet Black, Like Water: Maggie Foyer, SeeingDance Streaming News - Monte-Carlo Ballet launches a streaming platform: Nassima Errami, Monaco Tribune Feature – Commercial choreographers not getting the credit they deserve: Alison Feller, Dance Magazine

Bravissima: Each to her/his own - but a pity.

Tuesday 5 January 2021 Obituary – Othella Dallas, Dancer & Singer: Staff, The Times Feature – US Dance School lessons learned in a pandemic summer - and how Intensives might adapt this year: Hannah Foster, Dance Magazine Stream Review – Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Breathing at the Boundaries: Rita Felciano, Danceviewtimes News – Stijn Schoonderwoerd to be new General Director Dutch National Opera & Ballet: Staff, BWW NL

Monday 4 January 2021 Coming Soon – Dancing Nation, Sadler's Wells and BBC Arts: Teresa Guerreiro, Culture Whisper But meanwhile - In Egypt, belly dancers from Eastern Europe and Latin America step into the shoes of locals who increasingly shun the profession: AFP via SCMP

Sunday 3 January 2021 Stream Review - Sarasota Ballet, Digital Program 3: Marina Harss, Sarasota Herald-Tribune And, in the earnest hope that things will improve: Best ballet and dance in 2021, from The Great Gatsby to The Car Man: Marianka Swain, The i See also: Sunday Times Guardian (Scroll deeply on both) Meet Our 2021 "25 to Watch": Staff, Dance Magazine

Bruce - remarkable, quite remarkable. I cannot think that, given several llfetimes, I could have written with such poignancy. It may be hard to hear the word 'replete' again without harking back to this.

Saturday 26 December, 2020 Covid Features: A ‘Great Cultural Depression’ Looms for Legions of Unemployed Performers: Patricia Cohen, NY Times but Save Our Stages could mean relief for arts venues: Indiana Nash, Daily Gazette Stream Reviews/Previews: San Francisco Ballet, 2021 Digital Season: James Ambroff-Tahan, SF Examiner My culture fix - Matthew Ball, Royal Ballet Principal: The Times Film Breaks: Cathy Marston, Drift: Staff, Dance Magazine Post: Ballet & Berkeley Ballet Theater, Waltz of the Snowflakes: Staff, Dance Magazine

Friday 25 December, 2020 🎄🎄🎄 Feature - Some Memorable Performances in a Dreadful Year – New York: Marina Harss, DanceTabs Podcast - Misty Copeland - Why is the ballet world overwhelmingly white? Anne McElvoy, The Economist Stream Reviews/Previews: English National Ballet, 5-Part Digital Season: Graham Watts, Bachtrack English National Ballet School Winter Showcase: David Mead, SeeingDance New York City Ballet, The Nutcracker: Vikki Jane Vile, BWW UK Tanowitz at the Joyce: Faye Arthurs, Fjord Review And then there’s: Grete Wiesenthal - Dancing by Herself: When the Waltz Went Solo: Meryl Cates, NY Times

Thursday 24 December, 2020 Features: Cassa Pancho and Ballet Black: Juan Michael Porter Li, Dance Magazine Bangarra Dance Company’s Stephen Page: Jacqueline Maley, Sydney Morning Herald Dreaming of a better Nutcracker: Janine Kovac, Zocalo Public Square Stream Reviews/Previews: English National Ballet, Laid in Earth: Lynette Halewood, DanceTabs Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Nutcracker at The Rep: Graham Watts, Bachtrack Scottish Ballet, The Secret Theatre: Graham Watts, Bachtrack Teresa Guerreiro, Culture Whisper American Dance Machine, The Music and the Mirror: Talaura Harms, Playbill Book Review – Ballet Class: An American History, by Melissa Klapper, Rowan Today Our Favourite Dance Moments of 2020: Staff, Dance Magazine

Wednesday 23 December, 2020 Features: The Nutcracker in May? The Virus Postpones a Christmas Tradition: Julia Jacobs, NY Times How did American Ballet Star David Hallberg become Artistic Director of Australian Ballet? Doug Wallen, Broadsheet The Dark Fairytale that Inspired The Nutcracker Ballet: Victoria Choe, Untapped New York Live Review – National Ballet of Japan, Nutcracker (Eagling), Tokyo: Naomi Mori, Bachtrack Stream Reviews/Previews: Nederlands Dans Theater, I wonder where the dreams I don’t remember go: Amy Pearl, DanceTabs Unearth Birmingham - Retelling a tragedy through dance: Gia Kourlas, NY Times Smuin Ballet, The Christmas Ballet: Heather Zimmerman, Palo Alto Online Best 10 dance shows of 2020 – Lyndsey Winship, Guardian

January's Dancing Times arrived to day. The inner cover carries an add for the Edinburgh Festival Ballet School, launched in September 2019 and about which there has been some earlier discussion in Doing Dance. It appears to have acquired some rather good premises in the New Town. The School is advertised as the "official school of Edinburgh Festival Ballet, shortly to launch as Scotland's capital city's very own ballet company." The Director is Peter Schaufuss and Dame Darcey is the Patron. As something of a former Edinburgensian, I wish the venture Godspeed but I do wonder whether Scotland can support two professional companies. As ever time will tell.

Tuesday 22 December, 2020 Features: Miami City Ballet’s Nutcracker - Sugarplum Dreams Under the Palm Trees: Gia Kourlas, NY Times The Choreographer's New Skill Set: Working From Home: Chava Pearl Lansky, Dance Magazine Sacred Cow: Are Story Ballets Naff? Jill Brown, Limelight Stream Reviews/Previews: Scottish Ballet, The Secret Theatre: Lyndsey Winship, Guardian Vivien Devlin, Edinburgh Guide English National Ballet, Nutcracker Delights: Theo Bosanquet, What'sOnStage Teresa Guerreiro, Culture Whisper Dutch National Ballet, Christmas Gala: Maggie Foyer, SeeingDance Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Nutcracker at The REP: Neil Norman, The Stage Vera Liber, BTG John O’Dwyer, Seen and Heard Marianka Swain, The i Houston Ballet, Nutcracker Sweets: Molly Glentzer, Houston Chronicle News – Queensland & West Australian Ballet: Leavers joiners, promotions: Staff, Dance Australia And: Dance schools expect to see Bill Bailey effect with rush of midlife men: Mark Brown, Guardian

Monday 21 December, 2020 Obituary – Ann Reinking, dancer, choreographer, actress: Michael Coveney, Guardian Stream Reviews/Previews: Scottish Ballet, The Secret Theatre: Bruce Marriott, DanceTabs Emily May, The Stage Mark Brown, The National Gallery – The Times Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Nutcracker at the REP: David Mead, SeeingDance Bay Area Dance and 2020's Nutcracker: Heather Desaulniers, Critical Dance Batsheva Dance Company, YAG – The Movie: Sarah-Mace Dennis, SeeingDance

This gave my heart a lift yesterday (before I was aware that we were moving from Tier 2 to Tier4 within 24 hours.) My admiration for the work of Cathy Marston as a choreographer is no secret, but I had never seen her perform as a dancer till seeing this - "Drift," a dreamy improvisation amongst trees by the River Aare in Bern, where she has continued to live since relinquishing her post as Director of the Ballet Company there. She announced it on Twitter yesterday as a personal response to these past months. I am yet more smitten .......

Sunday 20 December, 2020 Live Review – Royal Ballet, The Nutcracker (Covid adapted), London: David Jays, Sunday Times Stream Reviews/Previews: Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Nutcracker: Mark Monahan, Telegraph Bolshoi Ballet, The Nutcracker: Aliya Al-Hassan, BWW UK Scottish Ballet, The Secret Theatre: Graeme Strachan, BTG Irene Rodriguez/LA Opera, The Five Moons of Lorca: Jane Rosenberg, Seen and Heard ‘Dance in DC’ short films capture the city’s spirit of entrepreneurship: Celia Wren, Washington Post How Three Women Produced a Ballet Performance in a Pandemic: Erica Gonzales, Harper's Bazaar

Bruce, thank you - that's really quite remarkable. Edit - to add that I have just circulated the link using the BalletcoForum Twitter account.