Thursday, October 8

[dirac]

The Royal Ballet presents a socially distanced performance on stage.

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“Frankly, it really is a really bad situation for the Opera House,” said Kevin O’Hare, director of the Royal Ballet. “We have to be performing. We’ve lost, I think, three in every five pounds because we’re not performing.”

 

[dirac]

Misty Copeland talks about racism in ballet.

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The language that's used with Black and brown dancers, Copeland described, is coded. She was called a prodigy at age 13 when she first stepped into the world of ballet and was told she had exactly the right body type and proportions. But when she joined American Ballet Theatre four years later, she was told the opposite, that she didn't have the body for ballet. "That's language that's used that the ballet world can get away with because you're in a visual art form, it's about your aesthetic, and it's subjective. So that's what they say to Black and brown dancers to disguise saying, 'You don't have the right skin color for ballet,'" she said.

 

[dirac]

Tommy Rall has died at age 90.

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Tommy Rall, the actor and dancer who brought Broadway skills to Hollywood films including Kiss Me Kate, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Funny Girl and Pennies From Heaven, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure in Santa Monica. 

Related.

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Patricia Ward Kelly, the widow of dance legend Kelly, wrote that the "dance world lost a giant figure" with Rall's death. "Back in 1988, when I asked Gene what he thought about other dancers, he said, without hesitation, 'The best all-around dancer we had over at MGM was Tommy Rall. He could do anything and do it better than any other dancer.' "