This Just In

Oakland Ballet has announced a new director: former artistic director of American Repertory Ballet Graham Lustig. OB plans to perform Lustig's The Nutcracker and a spring season of mixed repertory. Lustig will divide his time between Oakland and New Brunswick, NJ, where he hopes to found a new school and dance company. —posted 8/26/2010

The Bessie Awards (aka New York Dance and Performance Awards) are back in operation after a year of hiatus. They are now being produced by Bessie Award–winner Lucy Sexton under the aegis of Dance/NYC, and will have new award categories and a new structure for nominating and
voting. This year's event, covering productions in the last two years, will take place at Symphony Space on Oct. 18. —posted 8/11/2010

We sadly report that longtime director of The Ailey School, Denise Jefferson, passed away on July 17 from ovarian cancer. Appointed director by Alvin Ailey in 1987, Jefferson nurtured thousands of students during her tenure at The School, many of whom went on to dance professionally. We extend our condolences to her family. Donations may be made in her memory to the Denise Jefferson Scholarship Fund at The Ailey School. —posted 7/19/2010

Dance New Amsterdam (DNA) has released a press statement detailing a possible eviction on July 14, 2010 from their space at 280 Broadway. See http://www.dnadance.org/site/about/pressstatement/ for more information and to offer support. --posted 7/8/2010

Susan Jaffe has been named ballet mistress of American Ballet Theatre. She will assume the position in October 2010. The ballerina danced with ABT for 22 years (as principal for 19) and guested with companies all over the world. Since her retirement, she has co-founded Princeton Dance and Theater Studio in Princeton, New Jersey. She received a Dance Magazine Award in 2003. —posted 6/15/2010

Robert Battle has been named Artistic Director Designate of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He will assume the directorship in June 2011, when Judith Jamison steps down. She will remain artistic director emerita. In the last 20 years, Battle has created nine works for the Ailey companies and schools. His current company BattleWorks will fold. —posted 4/29/2010

Nacho Duato has not renewed his contract as director of Compañia Nacional de Danza and will leave his post a year earlier than expected. The decision was made amidst an ongoing struggle between Duato and Spain's Minister of Culture, who would like to see more classical work in CND's repertory. Duato has been director of CND since 1990 and his ballets, which he has said that he will take with him, make up about 45 percent of the company's repertory. —posted 4/15/2010

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and Dance Theater Workshop will merge their staffs and boards to become one entirely new company. The companies' merger, which began in October of last year, is expected to be finalized next month. Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company will move into Dance Theater Workshop’s space on West 19th Street, a state-of-the-art facility built in 2002. The newly formed company will have a new name and new mission, but the two boards are still working out the final details. —posted 4/9/2010

New York City Center, home to annual seasons of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Paul Taylor Dance Company, and the annual Fall for Dance Festival as well as visiting companies, has announced plans to restore and update its historic midtown theater. The $75 million goal for funds raised is currently 76 percent met and will go towards new lighting, seating, and amenities, as well as programming. The renovations, designed by Polshek Partnership Architects, are scheduled from late April to September 2010 and mid-March to October 2011. —posted 3/17/2010

The School of American Ballet has been recognized with a National Medal of the Arts, the nation's highest honor for artistic excellence, from President Barack Obama. Artistic director and chairman of faculty Peter Martins, co-chairman of faculty Kay Mazzo, executive director Marjorie Can Dercook, and faculty member Darci Kistler were present to accept the award. —posted 2/26/10

Christopher Wheeldon, who founded Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company in 2007, has announced his departure from the company. Executive director Lourdes Lopez says that she will continue Morphoses without Wheeldon. The company plans to adopt a curatorial model, in which a resident guest artist will be selected to direct for a period of one year. —updated 2/26/10

It is with profound sadness that we share with you the passing of New York International Ballet Competition's much-loved Founding Executive Director, Ilona Copen. She died peacefully in her sleep Saturday morning. The funeral services were held Monday, February 22, in Manhattan, New York. Our condolences go out to Ms. Copen's family and everyone in the dance community that she touched with her generosity and strength of spirit. If you wish, donations may be sent to NYIBC, Inc., 119 W. 57th St, NY, NY 10019. —posted 2/22/10

Founding director of Dance Theatre of Harlem Arthur Mitchell has been selected as the Honorary Chairman of the USA International Ballet Competition. Held every four years, USA IBC 2010 runs June 12–27 at the Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson, MS. For more, see www.usaibc.com. —posted 1/19/10

Alexei Ratmansky will choreograph a new production of The Nutcracker for American Ballet Theatre. It will premiere December 3, 2010 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and will run for two weeks, marking a five-year partnership between ABT and BAM. In subsequent seasons, ABT plans to expand the run to three and four weeks. Scenery and costumes will be designed by Richard Hudson, best known in the U.S. for his sets for The Lion King. Lighting will be designed by Jennifer Tipton, who has worked with ABT since 1971 and who designed the lighting for Baryshnikov's 1976 version. Ratmansky's version will incorporate dancers from the ABT JKO School, ABT II, and ABT. David H. Koch has underwritten the production with a lead matching gift of $2.5 million. —posted 12/2

In acknowledgement that NYCB, like many arts organizations today, has a myriad of non-artistic needs to address in order to keep the company thriving, the company has created the position of executive director. Kathleen Brown, who is currently chief operating officer at WNYC Radio, has been appointed to the role. Brown was a development executive at NYCB from 1988–1993 under artistic director Peter Martins. Kenneth Tabachnick will continue to serve as NYCB’s general manager until Brown assumes her post Dec. 14, at which point he will become a consultant to NYCB. —posted 11/17

Spanish-born choreographer Gustavo Ramirez Sansao has been named the new artistic director of Luna Negra Dance Theater. For the last four years, Sansao has been artistic director of his own company, TITOYAYA Dance Project, in Valencia. He has created works for Compañia Nacional de Danza, Hamburg Ballet, BalletMet Columbus, NDT II, and Luna Negra Dance Theater. He was formerly a dancer with NDT II, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Ballet de la Communidad de Madrid. Former LNDT artistic director Eduardo Vilaro is now the director of Ballet Hispanico (see post on 4/3/09) —posted 10/20/09

The new directors of Tanztheater Wuppertal have been named after Pina Bausch's death in June: Dominique Mercy, a dancer with the company since 1973, and Robert Sturm, Bausch's artistic assistant for 10 years. Mercy won a Bessie Award in 2002 for sustained acheivement as a performer with Bausch. -posted 10/15/09

Sascha Radetsky will resume his soloist position at ABT January 1, 2010. Named ABT apprentice in 1995, he joined the Dutch National Ballet as a principal dancer in September 2008, performing roles such as Albrecht in Giselle. Read his eloquent "Why I Dance" from April's issue here —posted 9/2/09

Legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham passed away the evening of July 26 of natural causes. He was 90 years old. For more, see Wendy's blog here. And view two video clips of his work and life, courtesy of the Cunningham Foundation, here and here —updated 7/30/09

Ballet Florida has declared bankrupcy, filing Chapter 7. Its 2009 season was cut short in March. BF founder and artistic director Marie Hale Artistic director Marie Hale plans to open Dance Florida Academy. See www.anewerabeginsnow.com. —posted 7/15/09

Choreographic pioneer Pina Bausch passed away this morning, June 30, at the age of 68. Click here for more. —posted 6/30/09

Oregon Ballet Theatre has raised the $750,000 needed to survive beyond this season, thanks to 967 donors from 26 states, who have donated more than $500,000 since it was announced in late May that the company would not make it without the additional funds. OBT was also able to raise $330,000 from its June 12 DanceUnited benefit performance. The company suffered from a fundraising shortfall due to the recession, and lost $280,000 in anticipated Nutcracker income due to unexpected December snowstorms. OBT’s budget for next year has been cut by 28%. —posted 6/22/09

Glenn Edgerton has been named artistic director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, replacing Jim Vincent, who is leaving the company after nine years for Nederlands Dans Theater. Edgerton's directorship is effective August 2009. He was formerly HSDC's associate artistic director, and has lead NDT, with whom he also performed, and the Colburn Dance Institute in Los Angeles. He was a member of The Joffrey Ballet under the mentorship of Robert Joffrey. —posted 6/10/09

Artistic director John Alleyne is leaving Ballet British Columbia after 17 years at the helm of the Vancouver-based company, the last of which was plagued with financial instability. A joint decision between Alleyne and the board, Allenye will return to Montreal with his partner and family. Alleyne was the resident choreographer at the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto before his tenure at Ballet BC, and danced with NBC and the Stuttgart Ballet. No interim director has been announced. —posted 6/8/09

Judith Jamison, artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, has been named one of the world's most influential people by TIME Magazine. She is among the list of 100 for 2009. Jamison has been at the helm of AAADT for 20 years, and the company is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary (click here). —posted 5/1/09

Dance Theatre of Harlem has named Virginia Johnson its new artistic director. Johnson’s beautiful dancing and deep artistry made her an enduring star of DTH in the 1970s and 80s. After retiring in 1997, she became the editor of Pointe magazine and held that position until last January. Her knowledge, integrity, and supreme sensitivity to dancers bode well for DTH. She will bring all her experience as a great dancer, beloved teacher, and astute editor with her. Arthur Mitchell, who co-founded the company more than 35 years ago, has stepped down to take an Emeritus position. —posted 4/14/09

Eduardo Vilaro has been named the artistic director of Ballet Hispanico and will assume the position on August 1. Vilaro is the founder and artistic director of Luna Negra Dance Theater in Chicago. Vilaro will take over for Tina Ramirez, founder and longtime artistic director of Ballet Hispanico. See a review of Luna Negra Dance Theater here. Ballet Hispanico was reviewed in our January 2008 issue (Reviews, p. 206), and Ramirez' retirement was in the November 2008 issue (Transitions, p. 90).—posted 4/3/09