The 2005 Nonprofit and Foundation Performance Conference, which promotes the increase of performance and accountability in the nonprofit sector, will be held in Washington D.C. from September 26-27. Attendees will learn how to measure and report achievements through performance-based strategies, and they will receive extensive information on where to seek grant money, and how to effectively fundraise. The event features speaking faculty from the Brookings Institution, John Hopkins University for Policy Studies, NIST, Michigan Nonprofit Association, Community Foundations of America, and the National Council of Nonprofit Associations. For more information, visit www.performanceweb.org.
By Lori Ann Laster

At City Center on Monday, October 24, 2005, Rolex will present “That's Entertainment,” a benefit celebrating the 20th anniversary of Career Transition for Dancers (CTFD). CTFD helps professional dancers prepare for new careers when dance is no longer an option. Tony-, Oscar-, and Emmy-winner Liza Minnelli will host the benefit. The Harkness Foundation for Dance will be honored for its Outstanding Contributions to the World of Dance, while The Joffrey Ballet and artistic director Gerald Arpino will be presented with the the Rolex Dance Award. CTFD's anniversary celebration will focus on the positive impact dance has had on the entertainment field and on American culture as a whole over the past century. Performances will range from ballet to Broadway to breakdance. Scheduled to appear are Jane Powell, Richard Move, Marge Champion, Mr. Wiggles, and artists from American Ballet Theatre, the Martha Graham Dance Company, Cirque Du Soleil, The Big Apple Circus, and the Rock Steady Crew, among others. For more information call (212) 581-1212 or visit www.nycitycenter.org. Tickets go on sale July 5.
By Lori Ann Laster

New York City Center's President and CEO Arlene Shuler announced July 12 that their second annual Fall For Dance Festival will be held September 27-October 2 at City Center (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th avenues). The Festival presents several dance companies each night, both local and from overseas, in diverse genres of dance, at the extremely affordable ticket price of $10 for all seats. Last year, the festival's first season, the idea proved so popular that many people had to be turned away. The same ticket price will be charged this year as well. The Festival aims to build new dance audiences for the future while providing a wide range of companies and artists with broader exposure.

The Festival will feature 30 different groups and artists on six nights, ranging from major dance companies such as American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet to those such as Yoshiko Chuma and Urban Bush Women who are new to New York City Center (NYCC).

Several new features will be added to the Festival this year. All Fall for Dance Festival ticket buyers will have the opportunity to join New York Dance Link, a new e-mail club launched by NYCC, and thus receive discount offers from 15 dance venues throughout New York City, such as the Joyce Theater and Brooklyn Academy of Music. Festival performers will also teach master classes. On Saturday, September 17, and Saturday, September 24, NYCC and the New York City Department of Education will host the Fall for Dance Institute, training workshops for 200 dance teachers and teaching artists in NYC public schools, held at the City Center Studios. On Friday, September 29, and Saturday, September 30, NYCC and the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) will offer seminars on presenting dance for presenting organizations from around the country. Presenters will then have the opportunity to attend Fall for Dance Festival performances and meet representatives of the participating companies. Finally, the public atrium between 55th and 56th streets (immediately west of NYCC's main entrance) will be transformed into a “Festival Lounge” from 6:30-10:30 p.m. during the Festival week, in order to create a gathering place for audience members and artists. The Festival Lounge will also be open to the general public.
Eri Misaki

On Friday, July 15, at 9 p.m., Steps on Broadway will host the premiere screening of Dance in New York, Part 1: A Film Journey Through the Rich and Diverse Landscape of NYC's Dance Studios. The new film, by Yana & Harry Schnitzler of Skyline Media, is presented in cooperation with Roper Records and Capezio/Ballet Makers, Inc. The event is free and open to the public. A Q & A with the filmmakers and a reception will be held immediately after.

The film, the first DVD in a 2-part series, offers an insider's view of the NYC dance studios Ballet Arts, Dance Space Center, Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation, Jennifer Muller Studio, Limon Studio, Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, Mary Anthony Dance Studio, Merce Cunningham Studio, New York Conservatory of Dance, Steps on Broadway, Susan Klein School of Movement, and Dance and Trisha Brown Studio. A trailer can be viewed at www.danceinNY. org. The second DVD in the series is due out in spring of 2006.

Steps's press release states, “The DVD is not only a practical guide for students who wish to study dance in NYC, but also celebrates our community through interviews with dance legends, studio founders, directors, and instructors, as well as through the personal stories of students from all over the world.”

The screening will take place in Steps on Broadway's new loft studio, located at 2121 Broadway, 4th floor. For more information, contact Patricia Klausner at (212) 874-2410 x24, or visit www.stepsnyc.com.

On May 27, the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance announced a “reconfiguration of the Center's artistic management and a streamlining of the organization,” and the Board appointed Janet Eilber, a former principal dancer, to the newly created position of Artistic Director of the Martha Graham Center. The trustees gratefully acknowledged the achievements of the company's former artistic directors, Terese Capucilli and Christine Dakin, and “elevated” them to “Artistic Director Laureate” status. Over the past few years, a time of great distress for the organization, Capucilli and Dakin stuck together and directed the company with their own hands. In its press release the Center stated, “These changes are key to moving this recently restarted organization from its planned rapid growth phase into a more sustainable state.”

The Center also announced additional restructuring, including reducing its full-time administrative staff from 36 to 28. All minimum guarantees and commitments to dancers, however, under their union agreement are being fully met, and the organization remains to meet the requirements of all touring commitments. “The changes are being made in order to reduce fixed ongoing operating costs so that the organization can attain a positive cash flow without compromising artistic quality,” stated the Center.

The new artistic director, Janet Eilber, was previously artistic director for the Center's Resources unit. She will now direct the artistic operations of the entire Martha Graham organization (school, dance company, and archives); the role encompasses both financial and artistic responsibilities.

Capucilli and Dakin released their own statement opposing the restructuring on June 2, 2005. The statement began, “For three decades with the Martha Graham Dance Company, we have danced for Martha, been Associate Artistic Directors, Artistic Directors, … and (after her death) struggled to revive the Company in the face of ongoing legal and financial challenges.” Capucilli and Dakin have been celebrated not only for their decades of devoting their own bodies and lives to the Center, but for successfully bringing the company back from the brink of dissolution and even elevating it to the level of its past peak, after the Center obtained a major victory against Graham's heir Ron Protas in the legal battles over the custody of Graham's works, and was again able to perform. The statement made the case that the two trained a new generation of dancers, rebuilt the repertory and reputation, and increased bookings for the Company, all while instituting new efficiencies. It continued, “If the Center needed a restructuring, it would have been in the best interest of the Company and respectful of our experience and accomplishments to have had a deliberative process before it was presented as a crisis. Those of us with the most experience in running a dance company were not given a real opportunity to address the Board's requirements and the Center proceeded to restructure.” Capucilli and Dakin concluded by saying, “We have spent our lives committed to Martha's work and seeing it live. We remain hopeful that somehow we can contribute to its future.”

It is a concern that the forced departure of these two artists, with their profound understanding of Graham's works, may have a very serious effect upon the Company's artistic direction. - by Eri Misaki

(You can see the entire press release of The Graham Center and statement of Capucilli and Dakin. Further detailed article will be posted in the quarterly Arts Cure, in Fall issue which will be released in September.)



by Eri Misaki

(l-r) Tatsuya Fujiwara, Arianne Mnouchkine, Nigel Redden, Photo: David Lipp/Lincoln Center Festival

Lincoln Center recently announced the outline of Lincoln Center Festival 2005, which will take place at their campus July 12-31. At the March 8 press conference, three Festival participants greeted the New York press.
Le Theatre de Soleil from France will present Le Dernier Caravanserail (Odyssées), based on letters written by Afghan, Iranian, and Kurdish refugees. Director Ariane Mnouchkine said, “This is not only a play of Islamic refugees, but of all those who lost their own base.”
Director and actor Ferruccio Soleri, of the Italian theater company Piccolo Teatro di Milano, has played the role of Arlecchino in the commedia dell'arte classic Servant of Two Masters since 1962. Soleri introduced the play, which will be presented in the Festival, saying, “The piece is easy to understand, with the actors' movements and gestures. There will be improvisation involving the audience, so the show will be different every night.”
Tatsuya Fujiwara, one of the stars of Modern Noh Plays, directed by Yukio Ninagawa, said, “The author, [Yukio] Mishima himself, came to New York to commemorate the publishing of Modern Noh Plays, but was unable to present it at a theater. I feel a kind of fate in playing it here. Please come to see us.” For further information about the Lincoln Center Festival 2005 schedule, visit the Lincoln Center website: www.lincolncenter.org.
Eri Misaki

In June, veteran dancers Peter Boal and Jock Soto both retired from New York City Ballet. Their departure was soon followed by the retirement of principal dancer James Fayette in July. Also in July, principal dancer Alexandra Ansanelli parted ways with the company. Fayette joined NYCB in 1990 as an apprentice and was promoted to principal in 2002. He leaves NYCB to take over as the New York Area Dance Executive for the American Guild of Musical Artists. Fayette gave a farewell performance at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center on July 14, opposite his wife and long-time dance partner Jennifer Ringer. Although he will be retiring from dancing, Fayette has expressed enthusiasm toward serving the dance community in his role with the AGMA. Alexandra Ansanelli, who has been with NYCB since she was 15, performed with NYCB for the last time on July 22, at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Ansanelli has expressed her desire to dance the classics. Conjecture exists to whether Ansanelli has interest in signing with American Ballet Theatre. (New York Times, Time Out New York) By Lori Ann Laster

Two Broadway theaters unveiled new marquees in a public ceremony on March 9. Formerly the Plymouth and the Royale, the theaters will take the names of leaders in the Shubert Organization, which owns many Broadway theaters, including the two located on West 45th Street. The Plymouth will now be called the Gerald Shoenfeld, after the chairman of the Shubert Organization; the Royale will be known as the Bernard B. Jacobs, after the former president who passed away in 1996. West 45th Street was blocked off from traffic for the 600 people, including Mayor Bloomberg, who attended the unveiling ceremony. The Shubert Organization's board of directors voted to change the names this past September, eliciting surprise in the theater community, to honor Jacobs and Shoenfeld for their contributions to the organization and to the revitalization of Times Square. (New York Times)

Frank A. Bennack Jr., chief executive of the Hearst Corporation from 1979-2002, has been nominated to the post of chairman of Lincoln Center. Mr. Bennack will undertake a campaign to fund the redevelopment of Lincoln Center, projected to cost $475 million. Pending board approval, Mr. Bennack, 72, will assume leadership responsibility in June, taking over from Bruce Crawford, also a business leader in his seventies. (Mr. Crawford is the chairman of an advertising conglomerate, the Omnicom Group.) Mr. Bennack, a Lincoln Center board member since 1994 and the vice chairman since 1999, is currently the managing director of the Metropolitan Opera Board. The redevelopment project that Mr. Bennack will oversee includes plans to transform West 65th Street, renovating Alice Tully Hall and the Juilliard School, as well as tentative plans to renovate Damrosch Park and the fountain plaza. Mr. Bennack will face the challenges of negotiating between the various groups that share the Center, in particular the New York City Opera, which is searching for its own home after decades of sharing New York State Theater with the New York City Ballet. (New York Times)

The Juilliard School kicked off a year-long celebration of its centennial on May 20 at its 100th Commencement. At the ceremony 17 former honorary doctoral recipients were given a Centennial Medal designed by artist Milton Glaser. Among the recipients were Alfredo Corvino, a founding member of the Juilliard dance faculty, and Bruce H. Marks, former artistic director of the Boston Ballet and a Juilliard alumnus. The commencement is the first in a season of celebrations which will include performances of nearly 50 commissioned music, dance, and drama works.

Dancer, choreographer, ballet master, and revered teacher Alfredo Corvino died August 2 in Manhattan, aged 89. Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Corvino received ballet training at the National Academy of Ballet and became a principal dancer with the Municipal Theater. Corvino then toured Latin America with the Jooss Ballet and, very soon after, toured the United States as a soloist with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. In 1945 Corvino joined the United States Army and served overseas. Returning stateside, he became a soloist for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company, subsequently becoming the company’s ballet master and teaching there for almost twenty years. Margaret Craske, then assistant director of the Met School, passed down the Cecchetti training method to Corvino, who became a devoted follower. Corvino also appeared with the Radio City Music Hall Ballet, Herbert Ross’s Company, the Gavrilov Company, the Classic Ballet Company of New Jersey, and Dance Circle. Among the groups for which he choreographed was the New Jersey Dance Theater Guild, where he directed for ten years. At the request of Antony Tudor, Corvino joined the faculty of the Juilliard Dance Division in 1952, where he taught for 42 years. Corvino was very active in his retirement from Juilliard. He recently served as a panelist to the New York State Council of the Arts and was acting as ballet master for Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal (Bausch was one of his early students)

updated on 8/2/05

A leading ballerina in the Bolshoi Ballet died on May 2 in Moscow. Ms. Struchkova was best known for dancing roles such as Giselle and Cinderella and also for her virtuosic duets with her husband Aleksandr Lapauri. These duets, in particular Moszkowski Waltz, choreographed by Assaf Messerer, highlighted the strength and athleticism of the Bolshoi Ballet when it first toured to the United States in the late 1950s. Ms. Struchkova was born in 1925. The daughter of a factory worker, she attended the Bolshoi School where she trained mainly with Yelizaveta Gerdt. She joined the company upon graduation in 1944 and gave her first notable performance in 1946 as Lise in La Fille Mal Gardee. In 1947, her portrayal of the title role in the Bolshoi's Cinderella, choreographed by Rostislav Zacharov to Prokofiev's score, made Ms. Struchkova a star. She danced leading roles in all the major classical ballets, as well as in showpiece duets with her husband, who died in 1975. Three years later, Ms. Struchkova retired from dancing to become the company's ballet mistress, coaching younger ballerinas such as Nina Ananiashvili. From 1981 to 1995, she was the founding editor of the magazine Ballet, formerly Soviet Ballet. (New York Times)

updated on 7/7/05

Gene Frankel, the Off-Broadway director and acting teacher, died on April 20 in Manhattan of heart failure. He taught workshops out of a 70-seat black box theater on Bond Street bearing his name. Mr. Frankel began his career in the theater as an actor and was an early member of the Actor's Studio. He then began to direct and teach acting, directing, and writing. He won his first Obie in 1957 for the direction of Ben Jonson's Volpone and his second for a revival of Machinal by Sophie Treadwell. In 1961, he directed The Blacks at the St. Mark's Playhouse, starring James Earl Jones, Cicely Tyson, and Maya Angelou, which ran for three years and toured Europe. Throughout the 1960s, Frankel took on politically charged projects and directed several Broadway productions. After his last Broadway credit in 1975, he worked regionally and throughout Europe and on television versions of his productions. He taught workshops at several different sites around the city before the Gene Frankel Theater on Bond Street opened in 1988. Gail Thacker, the theater's manager, said the theater will continue to operate but classes will no longer be offered. (New York Times)

updated on 7/7/05