February 2020

Posted on April 28, 2020

Editorial and contents February 2020

We explore various aspects of modern dance in this latest issue of Dancing Times. Not only do we hear from Sharon Watson, choreographer and artistic director of Phoenix Dance Theatre, who is about to unveil a new production for the company in Leeds, but we also publish a tribute from Anna Kisselgoff to that great modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan, whose work will be honoured at the Barbican Theatre in London this month on a programme from Viviana Durante Company. In advance of its forthcoming season at Sadler’s Wells, we also discover what Lin Hwai-min, choreographer and director of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, plans to do now he has decided to retire from the company.

Also highlighted are the celebrations held by three of the UK’s leading ballet companies – English National Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet – as each reach significant anniversaries.

Finally, we remember a dear friend to the magazine in Obituaries, the extraordinary dance photographer Anthony Crickmay, whose work featured regularly in these pages from the early 1960s onwards, and was himself a voracious reader of Dancing Times.

JONATHAN GRAY

Dancing Times, February 2020 Volume 110 Issue 1314

Cover Stories

15 – Phoenix rising. Sanjoy Roy meets Sharon Watson, director of Phoenix Dance Theatre

19 – Modern dance rebel. Anna Kisselgoff salutes Isadora Duncan

23 – MOVE IT 2020. The UK’s biggest dance event

39 – Celebrating 60 years of Chinese ballet. By Graham Watts

Features

26 – Making waves. Nicola Rayner catches up with choreographer Sean Cheesman

31 – The right time. David Mead talks to Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s Lin Hwai-min and Cheng Tsung-lung

35 – Teaching through our legacies to save our heritage. By Anya Grinsted

43 – Cold War dances. Part Two of Gerald Dowler’s look at Soviet Ballet between 1961 and 1990

Dance Today

70 – Strictly on stage. By Marianka Swain

74 – With honour. Marianka Swain interviews Jacky Logan

76 – Tips on technique. By James Whitehead

77 – Technique clinic. By Phil Meacham

78 – Simon’s Guide to Swing. By Simon Selmon

79 – Stepping Out. By Marianka Swain

80 – Memories from the dance floor

82 – Somewhere in time. By Jack Reavely

Regulars

6 – News. The RAD’s 100 events

10 – Letters

13 – Talking Point. By Graham Watts

47 – Dance Scene. Reviews this month include Scottish Ballet, New Adventures, Ballet Theatre UK, The Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet, Ballet am Rhein

61 – FRANCE/dance. Laura Cappelle on Jean-Christophe Maillot’s version of Coppélia

64 – Letter from St Petersburg. By Igor Stupnikov

67 – Notes from New York. Jack Anderson sees new works by Pam Tanowitz and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

85 – Dancer of the Month. Margaret Willis meets Ellen Yilma of Richard Alston Dance Company

89 – People. New Year Honours, Dancing for a Dream Gala

90 – Obituaries. Anthony Crickmay, Harold King

93 – Media. Jonathan Gray on some new dance publications

95 – Products

97 – Education. Dance School of the Year

100 – Health. Debbie Malina finds out how the arts can be beneficial to the health of the nation

103 – Classifieds

104 – Calendar. Our guide to what’s on in the UK and abroad

110 – Listings. Where to learn to dance

114 – Last Dance. We look back to February 1980

Simon Oliver

Simon Oliver has been production editor of Dancing Times since 2010 and is highly experienced in design across print and online magazine production. Throughout his career, Simon has worked on a diverse range of subjects including music, family history, book collecting and poker.