For Gina Gibney, Space Is the Place
New York choreographer and producer Gina Gibney receives Dance/USA’s Ernie Award, given annually to a changemaker in the field, whose work may go unheralded but has provided opportunities for generations of dancers.
Cleo Parker Robinson, 2017 Dance/USA Honoree: For Decades She Has Been Driven By the Mission of Inclusivity
In June, Denver dance artist Cleo Parker Robinson joins the roster of Dance/USA Honorees. She has been hailed as a champion for the arts, civil rights, and community engagement. Read about this dance leader and her eponymous company.
From Baton Twirling to Off-Broadway to Balanchine
Dance/USA Champion Awardee Billie Mahoney has been a professional dancer and teacher for over 70 years. From the “Kansas City Kiddies Review” to nightclubs and Broadway to notating Balanchine’s Agon. Learn about this vivacious leader.
The Skinny on Second Companies
Second companies — modern and ballet — are propagating around the country. Find out why more organizations find them valuable and learn what executive leaders need to consider before taking the second company leap. Read Steve Sucato’s report on why dance organizations are pursuing second companies.
Dyeing to Match: Dancewear for Everyone
Dyeing to Match is a national awareness campaign about the lack of new dancewear for darker skin tones. This is an issue of equity and diversity; the dancewear industry produces things that they say are nude but that always are a shade lighter than the skin tones of many of our students and dancers.
Weaving a Future for Inclusive Dance
Judith Smith cofounded AXIS Dance Company in Oakland, Calif., as one of the first contemporary dance companies to create and present dance on dancers with physical disabilities who used wheelchairs, prosthetics and crutches performing alongside nondisabled dancers. In May 2016, AXIS brings together physically integrated dancers and dance companies, presenters, dance service organizations, and funders with expertise in this area for the first time since 1997.
Toby Ansin, Miami City Ballet Founder, Receives Dance/USA’s Champion Award
This June 2015, long-time Miami City Ballet supporter, and founder, Toby Ansin, receives one of Dance/USA’s highest honors, the Champion Award. Dance/USA pays tribute to Ansin’s believe that an excellent ballet company could flourish in the South.
Raven Wilkinson: 2015 Dance/USA Trustee Awardee
Raven Wilkinson helped change the complexion of the classical ballet world. Notable as the first African-American ballet dancer in a major American ballet company, Dance/USA remembers her as a groundbreaker.
Preparing for the Unthinkable
How does an organization plan for a tragedy? You really can’t. You plan for your
organization’s response to one by putting into place the
information, guidelines, training, and materials needed to help company
leadership and staff deal with a most difficult and often chaotic time.
Writer Steve Sucato contacted Sarasota Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance
Theater, Culture Shock Dance Chicago, and Chicago Dance Crash about those company members they lost recently. Their
insight and advice may prove useful in preparing your organization for
the unthinkable.
Helping Employees React After a Tragic Event
What to tell company members and staff about the death of a colleague? Read these tips shared on how to break untimely and tragic news.
