Fernando Bujones, dancer, 1955–2005. It was a short life and, in some ways, a life not completely fulfilled, for he died still a man of promise. Bujones’ story mingled the good luck that jump-started his career with the ill fortune that cast a pall over his later years as a dancer, leaving unfinished the final […]

Today more dancers than ever rely on agents to get auditions, guest appearances, and tours.   When classically-trained Kim Craven showed up to audition for talent agency Kazarian/Spencer & Associates in Los Angeles, she had on the standard uniform of her profession: leotard, tights, and a French twist. Perfectly respectable, very Freed of London. At […]

Emilie Conrad begins to demonstrate a wave motion and suddenly the room quiets down to an intense hush. Her rippling spine appears more like water than bone. Students may feel like they are watching a performance rather than a demonstration.   “Human beings are like fish that swim in the ocean not knowing the basic […]

Janet Panetta translates Cecchetti for contemporary dancers.     The sun filters into the A-frame studio atop Venice’s famed, recently renovated opera house, Teatro La Fenice. Today is the “generale,” or dress rehearsal, for Pina Bausch’s epic, Fur die Kinder von gestern, heute und morgen (For the Children of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.) The company […]

Dance is supposed to keep one young—but centenarians are still comparatively rare in the business, with even the unsinkable Martha Graham making it only to 97. In fact, the only truly celebrated dance centenarian I can think of off-hand is the founder of Britain’s Royal Ballet, Ninette de Valois, who died about five years ago […]

What color is her parachute? Bahiyah Sayyed Gaines makes her Broadway debut in Purple.     Bahiyah Sayyed Gaines uses a single sentence to explain her decision to walk away from life as a principal in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater: “I had a baby,” she says. Late last fall, sitting in an empty […]

Jazz dance teachers share their perspectives.     “My class does not emphasize the new trends,” says Nan Giordano. “It’s not that we don’t like trends or don’t like music that is trendy. But we are technically based and very clean. Our style is pure passion.”   In August, Giordano hosted the Jazz Dance World […]

Choreographers are hard to pin down. They work in the dark, not knowing what they are creating until it’s done—or until it’s been done for a few years. So it’s not always easy to interview them about their work.   William Forsythe has developed his own “systems” for generating movement. To read his straightforward interview, […]