Originally from Amherst, MA, Chava graduated from Barnard College with a B.A. in Dance and a minor in English. She has danced in works by Mark Morris, Lucinda Childs, Loni Landon and Joanna Kotze, among others, and continues to perform in the city, most often in collaboration with Debbie Mausner. Chava has held internships at Jacob's Pillow Dance and the Bates Dance Festival, and was a 2017 Junior Fellow in the Music Division of the Library of Congress. She regularly reviews dance for Musical America, and has written for Dance Magazine, Playbill and Tablet. Chava is currently an associate editor at Pointe.
Lizzo and her backup dancers and singers at the 2019 Music Video Awards. Courtesy MTV.
Last summer, Lizzo put out a call on Twitter asking her fans to make a ballet to her song "Truth Hurts," and dancers everywhere responded (our favorites still might be Harper Watters and Erica Lall). But now, Lizzo has fully proven herself to be a bunhead at heart: Last night, she put out a plea on Instagram looking for ballet dancers on pointe to perform with her. "I would like ballet dancers that look like me" she said in the video selfie. "I know you all exist. We've been looking, and it's hard to find."
Prix de Lausanne 2019 Choreographic Project participants in Didy Velman's Is To Be. Rodrigo Buas, Courtesy Prix de Lausanne.
For the ballet world, Lausanne, Switzerland means one thing: the home of the prestigious Prix de Lausanne. But dancers aren't the only ones to think of the French-speaking city as synonymous with competition. Lausanne is the base for the International Olympic Committee headquarters, and this year it is also hosting the Youth Olympic Games.
NYCB soloist Indiana Woodward (center) with Rachel Hutsell and Gretchen Smith in Pam Tanowitz's Bartók Ballet. Erin Baiano, Courtesy NYCB.
In the middle of Pam Tanowitz's Bartók Ballet for New York City Ballet, Indiana Woodward flew into a quicksilver sequence of turns and jumps, but was repeatedly carried off by her male cast mates. She calmly reemerged each time, continuing on as if uninterrupted. The unflappable determination and laser-sharp focus evident here were a prime example of Woodward's approach to the ballet as a whole.
Fabrice Calmels as Othello in Lar Lubovitch's Othello. Cheryl Mann, Courtesy Larisa Elizondo.
After nearly 19 years, Joffrey Ballet dancer Fabrice Calmels announced Monday that he'll take his final bow with the company after a performance of Nutcracker on December 29. Born in France, Calmels trained at the Paris Opéra Ballet School before moving to the United States to study at the Rock School, Boston Ballet Schooland School of American Ballet. In addition to the long list of roles he's danced at the Joffrey, Calmels has worked as a model, and in 2014 won the Guinness World Record as the world's tallest ballet dancer.
We caught up with Calmels to hear about why he's leaving, and what his future after the Joffrey will hold.
