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Posted on May 28, 2020
All of the team at Dancing Times hope you are keeping safe and well in these difficult times. We have been very touched by the messages we got from readers over the past month saying how delighted they were to receive the magazine during the lockdown (you can read a selection of them in Letters). Happily, I’m glad to say we are back again with our June issue, which I hope you will find engaging, despite the lack of actual dance performances taking place around the world at the moment.
“Frustration at not being able to complete something professionally is also expressed by Elly Braund, a former member of the Richard Alston Dance Company (RADC) and now a freelancer. At home in London with her partner, Braund says, ‘My contract with RADC was finishing at the end of March, so we were actually in the process of moving out of The Place [where the company was based], which had to come to a standstill when lockdown came in.
“‘All the work I had lined-up for spring and summer has been cancelled or postponed. For some of which, a percentage of, or my full fee, has been honoured, but not for any work later on. So the lockdown continues, and during a time when I might have been auditioning and travelling to take workshops, it has become a moment of inner reflection – I’m glad for that in a way. After a long period of time in a company, and at this point in my life, it feels important to take some time to slow down and question what is in my heart that is calling me. ’”
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“MC: It must be a blow to see your new production of Swan Lake postponed.”
“KK: It certainly is; and then having to work through so many possible scenarios. My brother, Dr Kevin Kain, is an internationally-respected expert in infectious diseases, particularly malaria, and for a long time he’s warned me that something terrible like this could happen. Now it has and it’s mind-boggling. For the first few weeks I was in despair; then I just snapped out of it. We have to plan as best we can, and it’s not just us. All the live performing arts are affected, globally, and we all commiserate.”
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“It was the sixth week of lockdown and, while our Dancer of the Month was getting used to taking class in her living room each day, she was not happy about one aspect of this abnormal living. ‘Just when I’m at home all day and have so much more time on my hands,’ began Isabella Gasparini, ‘I find out that the Open University [OU] has shut down and I can no longer continue working on my two courses – English Literature and Creative Writing. I can’t understand it, as the OU is home-based and done on the computer, so we wouldn’t be in contact with anyone. I’m in Level Two, so am really upset I can’t keep studying.’”
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Christopher Hampson welcomes the changing face of performing arts in the digital age
Matthew Paluch asks what do we know, and what can we learn from teaching during a pandemic
Paul Arrowsmith reports on the ballet of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo
James Whitehead considers the impact of COVID-19 on the ballroom and Latin dance scene
Igor Stupnikov reviews Lauren Cuthbertson in The Sleeping Beauty with the Maryinsky Ballet
Nicola Rayner goes online in an attempt to dance from dawn till dusk
Jack Reavely remembers Benny Tolmeyer
Alastair Macaulay sees recent performances of three classics by The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden
Debbie Malina examines how people with visual impairment can improve their sense of wellbeing through participation in specialised dance classes and theatrical experiences
Laura Cappelle reports on the situation at the Lyon Opéra Ballet
Jack Anderson enjoys New York City Ballet online
Marianka Swain speaks to photographer Karla Jacobs
James Whitehead, Phil Meacham and Simon Selmon suggest ideas for dancing at home
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Stuttgart Ballet returns to work, Joanne Clifton’s fundraising jive, Dance School of the Year 2020, Lincoln Center performances available online, Royal Academy of Dance cancels the 2020 Fonteyn competition, The Balletboyz and RKO film classics on BBC iPlayer, Fire Island Dance Festival cancelled, we look back to June 1980, plus Nikolai Boyarchikov, Denis and Thora Hart, and Anne Heaton remembered in Obituaries
The June issue is now available in some branches of WHSmith – or you can buy your print copy here or buy your digital copy from all good app stores