The Dance News You Might Have Missed in March 2024

by thebestworldevents.com 2 April 2024 · Dance

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Here are the latest promotions, appointments, and departures, as well as notable awards and accomplishments, from March 2024. Plus, check out a new funding opportunity for dance artists.

Comings & Goings

At San Francisco Ballet, Jasmine Jimison has been promoted to principal.

At Carolina Ballet, Joseph Gerhardt has been promoted to principal.

At Paris Opéra Ballet, Bleuenn Battistoni has been promoted to étoile.

Bleuenn Battistoni balances in back attitude, arms open in offering to the audience. She wears a pale pink dress that falls just below the knee over pink tights and pointe shoes. A pastoral scene is visible in the background, a handful of dancers sitting or standing as they watch her perform. — Bleuenn Battistoni in Sir Frederick Ashton’s *La Fille mal gardée*. Photo by Benoîte Fanton, courtesy Paris Opéra Ballet.

At Miami City Ballet, Taylor Naturkas has been promoted to principal soloist, Brooks Landegger and Satoki Habuchi to soloist.

At American Ballet Theatre, Jarod Curley, Carlos Gonzales, and Jake Roxander have been promoted to soloist.

At Boston Ballet, Daniel Durrett, Lauren Herfindahl, and Sangmin Lee have been promoted to soloist, Kaitlyn Casey and Courtney Nitting to second soloist.

At Colorado Ballet, Leah Rose McFadden and Jessica Payne have been promoted to principal, beginning with the 2024–25 season.

English National Ballet répétiteur Antonio Castilla has been named associate artistic director at San Francisco Ballet, beginning in June. He succeeds Kerry Nicholls, who has been named director of artist development, beginning in May.

Taja Cheek has been named artistic director of Performance Space New York, sharing leadership with senior director Pati Hertling and associate director Ana Beatriz Sepúlveda-Echegaray.

Ilter Ibrahimof will step down as artistic director of Fall For Dance North in October, after the festival’s 2024 edition.

Deborah S. Brant has been appointed president and CEO of Cincinnati Ballet after serving in both roles in an interim capacity following Scott Altman’s departure at the end of 2023.

National Ballet of Canada executive director Barry Hughson will step down at the end of the 2023–24 season to join American Ballet Theatre in the same role, effective July 1.

Orlando Ballet executive director Cheryl Collins will part ways with the company at the end of the 2023–24 season. Artistic director Jorden Morris will serve as interim executive director while the search for her successor is underway.

The American Tap Dance Center will close its doors on June 30. This summer’s Tap City, American Tap Dance Foundation’s annual festival, has been canceled, and the non-profit will downsize.

Tony Waag speaks into a handheld microphone while leaning against a green signpost, which holds signs reading "Tap City." — American Tap Dance Foundation founding artistic/executive director Tony Waag. Photo by Amanda Gentile, courtesy ATDF.

Awards & Honors

Bril Barrett and the Zuni Olla Maidens were named 2024 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellows, which includes a $25,000 prize.

Pam Tanowitz will receive the 2024 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award, which includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant, at the Pillow’s season opening gala on June 22.

Ishmael Houston-Jones will receive the American Dance Festival’s 2024 Balasaraswati/Joy Anne Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching, which includes a $5,000 honorarium, on June 30.

Alice Sheppard and taisha paggett are among the recipients of Spring-Summer 2024 MacDowell Fellowships.

Iana Salenko was awarded the honorary title of Berlin Chamber Dancer.

Recipients of Isadora Duncan Dance Awards (“Izzies”) for the 2022–23 performance season included Rogelio Lopez and Danielle Rowe (Outstanding Achievement in Choreography or Direction, Entre Despierto y Dormido and MADCAP, respectively); Jin Lee Baobei, Lawrence Chen, and Nicole Townsend (Outstanding Achievement in Performance — Individual); Joseph A. Hernandez and Kelsey McFalls (Outstanding Achievement in Performance — Ensemble, Natasha Adorlee’s Blooming Flowers and the Full Moon); Los Lupeños de San José (Outstanding Achievement in Performance — Company, Yahir Padilla’s Ritos y Costumbres); and San Francisco Playhouse (Outstanding Achievement in Restaging/Revival/Reconstruction, A Chorus Line). Rena Butler, Dance Mission Theater, and José Ome Mazati and Debb Kajiyama of NAKA Dance Theater received Special Achievement Awards. Dimensions Dance Theater, Nancy Karp, and Robert Henry Johnson (posthumous) were honored for Sustained Achievement.

New Funding Opportunities

The Doris Duke Foundation is accepting applications for its new Performing Arts Technologies Lab. It will fund selected project proposals utilizing new digital tools and production methods from individuals, organizations, and partnerships working in jazz, contemporary dance, and theater. Application deadline is May 6; further information available here.

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