sandik

PNB is fortunate that their home theater has good video equipment -- the organization that runs McCaw Hall installed a new and improved set-up not long before the pandemic shut-down, so that they are able to make streaming quality video fairly easily (or at least more easily than other groups that need to create an entirely separate system to make it happen).

Margaret Mullin received one in 2011 (as you point out, already a company member). Olivier Wevers received a PG award the same year as a choreographer (after he left the company to found his Whim W'him ensemble). Seattle-based choreographer Zoe Scofeld also received one in that same cohort -- it was a big year for Seattle-based dance artists. And alongside Edwards this year, Alice Gosti recieved an honorarium as a choreographer!

And it was indeed all that. Yippee!

Yippee!

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of Fjord's report.

I'm not privy to all of PNB's hiring practices, but I know that they have made changes in their audition tours to attract more dancers of color, and in this last round they've hired two dancers who I imagine would pass your test.

On the Boards does an excellent job with the project, which has given really impressive exposure to companies that wouldn't always have that kind of attention.

So far I've seen a lot of promotion for Marquee TV, and for the PBS streaming stuff coming out of WNYC. But I'm not sure that a majority of companies will want to surrender some of their brand to a shared platform. Hoping I'm wrong!

I certainly hope so -- that's not a "quick and done" process.

Thanks for this -- Emergence is a significant work for them and if Muir was involved, that's to her credit. I'm really interested in seeing where she wants to take the company in the next stage.

I think that we're going to see a shift in what some companies think of as "their audience," to include people who do not attend in person, but are very interested in watching online. I imagine that NYCB has been keeping the same kind of records that PNB has -- they've had digital subscribers from all 50 states, and a few foreign countries as well. There are few things I want to take with me from the pandemic, but this kind of access is certainly one of them. Oooh, hadn't thought about the timing aspect. Around here, since we're moving back into the theater in a fairly cautious way, the autumn season has a limited in-house schedule, but you can subscribe to streaming offerings in the autumn and possibly return to live performance after Nut. I'm just hoping that after all the experiments that different organizations have been running, they take that information and really use it.

I think that companies that had good quality video in their vaults before things all went sideways were in a much better position to launch streaming programs that groups that would have to start from scratch. PNB was lucky -- they made their decision early, and their performance venue (McCall Hall) had recent upgraded their recording equipment, so the company didn't have to make that investment as well. And while I don't know details, I know that many rights holders (individual artists, trusts and foundations) have been very generous with their materials -- the desire to keep dance in front of its audience has loosened some of their control.

A couple of thoughts, in response to a couple of different aspects of this thread. While a big chunk of the heritage repertory does offer gender specific roles, those works are only a part of most ballet company rep these days. Alongside the works listed above from the PNB repertory that are gender-free, they've consistently staged and commissioned works with ensemble roles that could be performed by men or women. It's a challenge for ballet companies today to maintain this wide variety of styles -- one of the things that makes it possible is that both men and women are trained far more broadly than they have in the past. Between theraputic practices and other kinds of cross-training, we've got more flexible men and stronger women -- two qualities that were rarely seen in previous generations. As far as diversity goes, PNB has been working to develop dancers of color through their school, and have hired some of those graduates as they came of age. Others have gone on to work in other ensembles. And while they've only had a few black dancers on the roster, they've had a number of API dancers at different levels in the company. In recent years, they've made some real strides with gender diversity on the administrative side -- their stage managers have usually been women, their previous business manager is a woman, the head of marketing and press is a woman, and the executive director is also a woman. This during a time when one of the general accusations leveled at ballet companies in the US was a lack of women in administrative positions. They've been a little later to the party with racial diversity in administration, but that's changing as well -- Peter Boal and Ellen Walker have been working with Theresa Ruth Howard on this, and I think they're sincere in their desire to make inroads on that challenge. Because of the pandemic, I haven't had the chance to see Ashton Edwards in person -- I just know their work through video. From what I see, they seem like a skilled and dedicated young dancer -- I don't know what the next couple of years will bring, but I'm very glad I'm going to get a chance to watch them develop. This coming season is going to be a series of experiments for companies around the world -- I'm sure there will be some major changes, and I'm sure I don't know what they'll be.

While it's true that a local name will generally create a sense of local identity, it doesn't necessarily imply quality. It can encourage local support, though -- perhaps that's part of this change.

Congratulations to Edwards, and lucky for us here to watch this new phase unfold. It's going to be a complex year for the field in general -- between the challenges of working within changing Covid guidelines, and the ongoing discussion about gender, race, equity, and inclusion throughout the arts, we're going to see some significant developments!

Good for her!

What fun!

The Duke award and the Macarthur do the same -- it's such a smart and thoughtful way to do it!

No kidding. We know her in Seattle from her time with the opera, but she's run all kinds of performance organizations. And this is happening as the company is planning their return from pandemic shutdown and looking for a new AD?

As a dance critic, I look at social media tools in several ways. There are fewer and fewer outlets for writing about dance while dancers and choreographers are less likely to use older, more conventional ways to promote their work. I've had to sign on to platforms like Facebook and Instagram in order to hear about events and keep track of artists in my community, while I try to follow along with colleagues who are self-publishing their commentary or using their social media contacts to link to their work. We are now responsible for promoting our own work, even if it's posted on a fairly conventional website, since readers may not follow along with the site, but just be looking for writing about a particular artist or ensemble. It's a big time sink, among other deficits, and as pherank points out, it's very hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. But it is how work is being done now. Truly, there has always been a divide between the writing that gets published, and the commentary that is part of the larger conversation about the art form. You can make the argument that our increased use of social media actually gives more people more access to more stuff -- the big problem is finding it, and then finding a place to keep it. And in case you didn't know, Google will link you to individual postings here on BA. So smile, and say "hi" to the rest of the sphere...

"Hers, along with Cunningham's, seems to be a lexicon that many contemporary choreographers borrow from, so it's good to see it firsthand from time to time. " You put your finger on it with this, although it's not just Brown, but others of her cohort with the Judson/Grand Union that form a stylistic shift away from the earlier American modern dance generation. Deborah Jowitt's description always rings true for me. "Supple, casual, grounded, a bit shambly, athletic, full of subterfuges, the basic style or look has as many substyles as did the pulled-up, large scale, muscles-in-stress look that was new and fashionable 30 or so years ago."

Many thanks -- a lovely program~

A bi-coastal move?!

A promotion! If we have to lose him here, I'm glad he's getting a bump up over there.

What, you're not looking forward to Eifman? If you get the chance, see Caleb Teicher -- he's astonishing. As are Michelle Dorrance and her company. And Morris' "Dancing Honeymoon" is wonderful.