June 2020

Posted on June 26, 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.

This month, we find out how performers, directors, teachers and choreographers in many different styles of dance have been coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particular emphasis on the dance classes taking place at home, both for professionals and for students of all ages and abilities. We also take a sample of some of the classes available to you online.

In addition, we find out more about the resurgent ballet company at Palermo’s Teatro Massimo, take a look back at The Royal Ballet’s recent performances of the classics, and discover how dance can be of benefit for the visually impaired. Although the magazine, by necessity, is slimmer than normal, you will still find it is packed with dance!

JONATHAN GRAY

Dancing Times, June 2020 Volume 110 Issue 1318

Cover stories

14. Dance under lockdown
In the first half of a two-part article, Jonathan Gray finds out how dance professionals have been coping with the restrictions COVID-19 has placed upon them

18. Part of the conversation
Michael Crabb talks to Karen Kain, artistic director of National Ballet of Canada

26. Teaching dance during a pandemic
Matthew Paluch asks what do we know, and what can we learn?

55. Dancer of the Month
The Royal Ballet’s Isabella Gasparini, interviewed by Margaret Willis

Features

23. Not so evident
Paul Arrowsmith reports on the ballet of the Teatro Massimo in Sicily. Photographs by Rosellina Garbo

32. Rock Around the Clock
From silent discos to tango lunchtimes, company classes to Strictly snooping, Nicola Rayner attempts to dance from dawn till dusk.

35. Tradition and The Royal Ballet
Alastair Macaulay sees recent performances of three classics at Covent Garden

Dance Today

46. The New Normal
James Whitehead considers the impact of COVID-19 on the ballroom and Latin dance scene

48. Tips on technique
By James Whitehead

49. Technique clinic
By Phil Meacham

50. Simon’s Guide to Swing
By Simon Selmon

51. Stepping Out
By Marianka Swain

52. Somewhere in time
By Jack Reavely

Regulars

6. News
Stuttgart Ballet back in the studio, RAD Fonteyn Competition cancelled

11. Letters

13. Talking point
By Christopher Hampson

39. FRANCE/dance
By Laura Cappelle

41. Letter from St Petersburg
By Igor Stupnikov

43. Notes from New York
By Jack Anderson

58. Obituaries
Nikolai Boyarchikov, Denis and Thora Hart, Anne Heaton

61. Products

62. Health
Debbie Malina examines how people with visual impairment can improve their sense of wellbeing through participation in specialised dance classes and theatrical experiences

65. Classifieds

66. Last Dance
We look back to June 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.