Uneasy Truce At Mpls Dance Venue Minneapolis's Southern Theater, one of the Twin Cities' premiere dance venues, has been embroiled in infighting and recrimination since the board decided to fire its founding artistic director last summer. "For now, it appears the artists and the board have put most of their differences aside to keep the 2008-09 season alive. But getting to this point was a difficult and occasionally ugly process."

City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul) 11/05/08

Texas Ballet Gets Some Breathing Room "The Texas Ballet Theater announced Friday that it had received a $500,000 grant from the Dallas-based Meadows Foundation, enabling the financially beleaguered ballet to reach its goal of $2 million to keep its doors open the rest of the year."

Fort Worth Star-Telegram 11/08/08

David Dorfman Surfs The Zeitgeist The choreographer's 2006 dance-theater piece underground, inspired by the Weather Underground's anti-war and anti-racism protests, suddenly became topical as onetime Underground leader William Ayers became an issue in the presidential campaign.

Washington Post 11/02/08

Ballerina And Teacher Rosella Hightower Dies At 88 The Oklahoma-born Native American "became the first 20th-century American ballerina to hold a leading place on the European stage" and went on to direct the ballet companies at La Scala and the Paris Opera and to found one of Europe's top ballet schools.

New York Times 11/05/08

Starting From Scratch Two former principal dancers at Pittsburgh Ballet Theater are making waves in their native China. "The husband and wife team were hired as ballet master and mistress for China's latest ballet company, only the sixth in this land of 1.3 billion people."

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 11/05/08

First Bolshoi-Style Academy Outside Russia Opens Next Year "The Australasian Bolshoi Ballet Academy will open in Melbourne next year, to the benefit of dancers and audiences. The academy will be the only one in the world outside of Moscow training dancers in the highly-acclaimed Russian Bolshoi system."

ABC (Australia) 11/05/08

NY City Ballet Cuts Saratoga Season "The New York City Ballet will be spending only two weeks at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center next July, instead of the usual three." The decision was made in response to the current economic turmoil: the company typically loses $1 million on its Saratoga residency.

The Saratogian 11/04/08

The Uncategorizable Richard Alston, Indifferent To Fashion "This autumn Richard Alston celebrates both his 60th birthday and his 40th anniversary as a choreographer. ... If Alston now ranks as one of the great survivors in British modern dance, he was once one of its original rebels."

The Guardian (UK) 11/04/08

New York's New Dance Space "The main theater can be manipulated into eight different configurations, seating from 70 to 150 people. The lounge, which features a smaller stage for readings and acoustical music events, will be used for community workshops during the day. At night it turns into a bar, a way to generate income."

The New York Times 11/02/08

Touring Falls By The Wayside For Canadian Ballet "Once the life blood of Canadian ballet, touring has become - to borrow a phrase from Porgy and Bess - a 'sometime thing,' too costly to be a regular activity for the National Ballet in particular... According to the National Ballet, the simple problem is money."

Toronto Star 11/01/08

ABT Goes From Glory To Glory Alastair Macaulay: "Over the last few days marvels have unfolded at American Ballet Theater, conferring a kind of performance-by-performance mounting delight that ballet today too seldom has."

New York Times 10/30/08

At Least One Company Is Growing The West Australian Ballet heads into its 2009 season with 10 additional dancers (for a total of 32), more rehearsal space and a budget increased by A$1.2 million.

The West Australian (Perth) 10/31/08

Gerald Arpino Dies At 85 One of the last of the giants who created the American modern dance movement in the mid-20th century, Arpino co-founded the Joffrey Ballet, served as its primary choreographer for three decades, and shepherded the company through several financial crises and an ultimately successful move from New York to Chicago.

Chicago Tribune 10/29/08

Martha Graham Company To Debut In Beijing The company gives its first performances in China next month at the National Center for the Performing Arts (a/k/a "The Egg"). The repertoire ranges from such classics as Errand Into the Maze, Night Journey and Appalachian Spring to Graham's last work, Maple Leaf Rag.

China Daily 10/28/08

Costumes Fit For By A Queen "Denmark's Queen Margrethe on Tuesday unveiled costumes she designed for a Christmas ballet based on the classic Russian folk tale ["The Snow Maiden"]… Margrethe, a prolific graphic artist and scenographer, has previously designed costumes and sets for several plays, including adaptations of stories by fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen."

Minneapolis Star-Tribune (AP) 10/28/08

Ananiashvili To Bid Adieu To ABT With Swan Lake "Nina Ananiashvili will give her final performance with American Ballet Theater as part of its spring 2009 program at the Metropolitan Opera House, it was announced."

The New York Times 10/27/08

Oakland Ballet Rises Again "Could Ronn Guidi really reclaim the troupe he founded in 1968 - the troupe that foundered and finally folded seven years after his 1999 retirement - and bring it back to life with its old plucky spirit? But Saturday at the Paramount Theatre, extra points for perseverance were no longer necessary."

San Francisco Chronicle 10/27/08

The Perils (And Rewards) Of Being Billy Elliot "The drama demands so much of a young performer--emotionally, vocally, physically--that it hardly seems sane to have tried telling it onstage. Billy goes full tilt for all but two scenes. There have been many injuries, and it has often happened, including to Trent in London, that a boy finished Act I but could not go on for Act II. Even leaving the role can be traumatic."

New York Magazine 10/27/08

The 21-Year-Old Dance Entrepreneur Josh Beamish started his dance company at 15. "He created all the choreography, and mounted three successful productions at the local Creekside Theatre. In his senior high-school year, he choreographed a fashion show to raise money for his class's prom." Now 21 he's working in Vancouver and has three shows touring Canada...

The Globe & Mail (Canada) 10/24/08

Scottish Ballet Sells Off Costumes "As the company prepares to move across the Clyde to a purpose-built home at the Tramway arts complex next spring, many of these outfits - from stripey pyjamas worn in Peter Pan, to tutus designed by Jasper Conran - are being sold."

The Scotsman 10/24/08