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Daily Maverick
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
Dancer Dane Hurst on art as a ‘sacred act' and ‘as important as a daily meal'
The artistic director of Joburg Ballet speaks about his inspirations, including his early exposure to the great fine artists, as well as what is catching his attention in the world of performance. Amid a historical production of Swan Lake through a collaboration between Joburg Ballet and Cape Town City Ballet, we speak to acclaimed dancer and choreographer Dane Hurst, the Johannesburg company's artistic director, about transcending limits and the heights of human achievement. When did you first identify as an artist? I grew up in the 1980s and saw James Brown and Michael Jackson dancing on the television, which was my first realisation that I was attracted to dance. I was attracted to the hip-hop my eldest sister was listening to and felt a sense of excitement when she stayed up late recording music off the radio to create mix tapes. I was inspired by the artwork my younger sister created and the cool fashion sense of my middle sister, so I took a little inspiration from all of them. But it was the mystical fusion of classical piano, flamenco and dancing feet on a dusty wooden floor that captured my imagination. As a child I watched dancing feet moving to music while I sat under a table alongside my grandmother tapping her foot on the pedal of her sewing machine as she made costumes for the Toynbee ballet school. This is what transfixed my attention and, as a result, dance became my primary focus. What branch of art most stimulates you? I'm very much drawn to all forms of art. However, photography and fine art draw my attention most. I took up art as a major subject in high school and spent my time bunking classes to sit in the art class and paint and draw still-life pictures and skeletons while talking to the incredible art teacher, Linston Erasmus. He introduced us to the world of art, architecture, famous artists and the important art movements. He made us see the world in a completely different way and introduced us to Pablo Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí, Gerard Sekoto, René Magritte and William Kentridge and other masters. Which artists in said discipline have significantly inspired you, and why? I've always been attracted to the works of Dali, Magritte and Kahlo, and specifically Song of the Pick by Sekoto. It is the arresting power and symbolism in their work that makes you stop and think. It's the absorbing nature and power of the message in their work that draws me in and inspires me to create work that has a similar impact. What is art's most important function? Art exists as a means of helping us express the things we are unable to articulate with words or actions. It creates a sense of awe and wonder at the incredible beauty that can be created by the human being. Seeing art is a sacred act, an unspoken appreciation of the capability and capacity of others to transcend the limits of our imagination. Art makes us believe in the unimaginable; it can force us to dare to dream the impossible. Art is as important as a daily meal; it is a reminder of how incredibly ingenious and beautifully diverse we are as humans. We all have the capacity to create and be creative. Art is there to remind us of the beauty, fragility and urgency of life. The local creatives who excite you? I absolutely love the art of Zanele Muholi, Marlene Dumas and Mary Sibande. I recently discovered the amazing work of Arthur Dlamini and his collaborative work with artist Ryan Shava. In terms of all-round lifestyle creatives, I'm very much inspired by Baked Ink, an artist working across tattoo artistry, fine art and fashion. For performance and choreography I love Vincent Mantsoe, Gregory Maqoma and Dada Masilo. Most recently it is the work of Mthuthuzeli November, the Figure of 8 Collective and Darkroom Contemporary that I find interesting. Which specific works do you return to again and again, and why? I have a random collection of old books, films, CDs and vinyl that I revisit time and again as it stimulates my thinking, inspires my creative thoughts and re-energises my desire to create. I'm busy rereading The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin, which is an awesome book to delve into on any occasion. In terms of film, I always return to West Side Story, The Red Shoes, McQueen, The Red Balloon, Diva and any of the Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton films. My grandfather and father played in a jazz band called the Cuban Combos, so jazz is a natural inspiration. I've recently been listening to all of Kyle Shepherd's music, and I created Resonance for Joburg Ballet inspired by his South African History !X album. What are your thoughts on the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution? AI is rapidly changing the world and there is no way of moving away from it. Thankfully, I am in an industry where the human body is required to deliver and perform the work. Dance is meant to be experienced live, and nothing beats the real experience of witnessing the height of human achievement. AI is having a major influence on art and literature, however; it makes the process of digging deep to discover and work on something too easy. It's an advantageous tool, but I think it's dangerous as we'll start to depend more and more on computers to do our thinking, which will take away our natural cognitive development and lead to a slow devolution of faculties. If we can integrate the benefits of AI and use it to enhance our lives, then that is a massive positive. But if it comes at the expense of inadvertently dumbing us down, it is a dangerous direction in which to travel. Any project you're unveiling or wrapping up? Joburg Ballet just completed its first weeks of performance of Swan Lake in collaboration with Cape Town City Ballet, which is the first collaboration between the companies in 30 years. The production had a successful run at the Joburg Theatre and will culminate at the Cape Town International Convention Centre at the end of July. It has been an incredibly complex yet rewarding journey for both companies. It has proven to be a definite win for the dance industry and is a monumental moment for dance history in South Africa. DM Mick Raubenheimer is a freelance arts writer. This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
Vogue
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Gillian Murphy Left It All on the Stage
Nine days before her final performance with the American Ballet Theatre, Gillian Murphy is struck by a realization. 'I've never done retirement bows before,' she says to Amanda McKerrow, the company's director of repertoire and a former principal dancer, after a rehearsal. Until last Friday, Murphy, 46, was ABT's longest-standing member. In her 29 years at the company—23 of them as a principal dancer—she conquered every leading lady one can imagine: Kitri, Giselle, Aurora, Juliet, Swanilda, the Sugar Plum Fairy. But Murphy is most famous for the dual role of the gentle Odette and beguiling Odile in Swan Lake, the work that she chose to end her career on. Far from an easy victory lap, the ballet is notorious for its demanding choreography, including a series of 32 rapid-fire fouetté turns in the Black Swan's grand pas de deux. When Murphy performed them on Friday, the crowd at the Metropolitan Opera House let out a roar, leaping to their feet. Murphy was a 12-year-old living in South Carolina when she performed the Black Swan pas de deux for the first time (something she acknowledges was 'a very strange choice for a young child'). 'I didn't really know about turnout, I didn't know about port de bras, I wasn't fully aware of whether I was pointing my feet or not,' she recalls. Still, she had never felt so invigorated. 'I was just living my best life, feeling so exhilarated to be on stage and to be doing this thing that I absolutely loved. I remember feeling like it couldn't get better than that.' Not long after, she was off to high school at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts; then along came ABT, where she joined the corps de ballet at 17. Murphy made her debut as Odette-Odile with the company 24 years ago, before being tapped to dance the part in a telecast for PBS in 2005. 'It's one of several reasons why I chose to finish my career with this ballet,' she says. 'The messages that I've gotten, the cards that have been written to me…I still get DMs on a regular basis about what that film meant to people, which is so beautiful.'
New York Times
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The Ultimate Swan Song: Gillian Murphy's Thrilling Last Dance
Ballerinas fight for perfection, but real dancers find freedom in imperfection and are more perfect for it. Gillian Murphy, even with her extraordinary technique, is one of those dancers. George Balanchine could have been talking about Murphy when he said: 'Good American dancers can express clean emotion in a manner that might almost be termed angelic. By angelic I mean the quality supposedly enjoyed by the angels, who, when they relate a tragic situation, do not themselves suffer.' Murphy has related many tragic situations in her 29-year career with American Ballet Theater — those of Giselle, Juliet, Odette, the list goes on. But she has always avoided tumbling down a mountain of melodrama. Her choice of 'Swan Lake' as her farewell performance was brave and, it turns out, binding. Murphy left nothing on the stage but a vivid afterimage of spontaneous, spiraling dance beauty. Her last trip around the stage had the force of finality, yet without desperation or sadness. This was a celebration; every moment mattered. Her dancing was ravishing in its fullness as her body stretched without tension in a way that gave her line an aura of infinity. There were moments when she slowed down just enough to emphasize details, like her hands flowing down her face, mimicking tears. It was simple and human, which not only gave Murphy's interpretation depth but underscored a problem with so many other Odettes: Dancers play her too much like a creature, a bird, but she is a princess and knowing that is the difference between acting and artistry. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
San Francisco Chronicle
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Ballet22 proves gender norms have no place in dance with electrifying S.F. show
A note inside the program for Ballet22's 2025 season encourages the audience to 'please clap and cheer for the dancers.' But the raucously adoring crowd at Cowell Theater for opening night hardly needed the reminder. Founded in Oakland in 2020, Ballet22 is a small but ambitious pick-up troupe with a mission that, in these politically vicious times, presents a bold and joyful resistance. This is a company of men, trans and non-binary dancers who perform in pointe shoes, and not — as with the long-famous drag troupe Les Ballets Trockadero — for the sake of farce. Put more simply: in a world where gender norms are all too often tools of oppression, Ballet22 celebrates the freedom of being fully and unapologetically yourself. These summer shows, which kicked off Saturday, July 19, mark the group's ninth in-person program. But as attacks on gender non-conformity intensify, Ballet22's vision keeps becoming more urgent — just as the dancers' pointe technique grows more impressive. Zsilas Michael Hughes, a corps member with Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet, was iconic on Saturday, their broad shoulders and muscled bare legs offset by the delicate white feathers of a 'Swan Lake' costume. Hughes had a lovely rubato quality, lowering that high développé leg to fifth on pointe oh so slowly. And if they struggled a bit with the balance-testing arm movements on the step up to an attitude, such honesty of effort is part of what Ballet22 offers. Daniel R. Durrett, a Boston Ballet soloist who is also one of Ballet22's three co-directors, was happy to admit in a mid-show curtain speech that he'd just had a small slip in his 'Esmeralda' variation, because 'I made it work.' (Indeed he did, improvising a cover for skipping that third round of tambourine-to-toe taps because that working foot pushing into relevé said, 'No sorry, not today.') As is customary at Ballet22 shows, every dancer got to show off a classical variation. Victor Maguad, who usually dances with Sacramento Ballet, pulled off a spectacular series of attitude hops on pointe in Leonid Lavrovsky's delicate choreography for 'Walpurgistnacht.' Trevor Williams was wonderfully playful in the famously devilish variation by Marius Petipa for 'Le Talisman.' Jake Speakman rocked the Italian fouettés in Medora's Act 2 variation from 'Le Corsaire.' But my favorite was Kobe Courtney, who trained at the San Francisco Ballet School, ravishingly fluid in her backbends as she portrayed the temple dancer Nikiya's death from 'La Bayadere.' It was Courtney who shone brightest, too, in 'City of Humans,' a sometimes serene, sometimes sassy trio to Schubert by American Ballet Theatre principal James Whiteside. Originally choreographed for three female dancers, it was previously titled 'City of Women.' In this iteration, Maguad moved with a beautiful legato smoothness. But it was Courtney who commanded the space with huge jumps and a gorgeously stretched échappé. The crowning accomplishment of the night was 'You Can Have Me!' a world premiere by former Forsythe Company member and now kNoname Artist director Roderick George, created in just two weeks. The sextet — dressed in brown tunics, sans pointe shoes — launched with a disco ball and a hip-shimmying romp through Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love.' It was something of a gut-punch when the next section brought voiceovers of newscasters discussing the AIDS epidemic, as the dancers moved in slow motion. Maguad had a beseeching solo to a clip from writer and performance artist Alok Vaid-Menon's 2024 Ford Foundation talk: 'The reason that people are seeking to oppress you is not because you are weak or fragile. It's precisely because you're powerful and tremendous.' In the final section, to music by Pittsburgh performance collective Slowdanger, Hughes and Durrett shared an intense and often subtly virtuosic duet, Hughes curled on the floor as Durrett danced on above. The work was an ensemble statement of committed higher purpose. As co-founder Theresa Knudson announced from the stage, Ballet22 will be back at the Cowell next July, and tickets are already on sale.
Time Out
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
A massive drone art show is taking to the Boston skies tonight
A few weeks after the Fourth of July, Boston skies will again light up—this time with over 500 drones hovering above some 20,000 candles. After sellout iterations in Miami, Madrid and L.A., the DroneArt Show will land in Harvard's Ohiri Field soccer stadium in Allston, treating paying audiences (and local onlookers not expecting to see David Corenswet up there) to 65 minutes of live classical music tonight, July 19. The DroneArt Show is a candlelit open-air concert featuring a live string quartet—think well-known masterpieces like Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons' and Tchaikovsky's 'Swan Lake'—accompanied by dazzling displays of synchronized drone displays. Outfitted with programmable LED lights, these bits of flying tech will arrange themselves into figures like lotus blossoms, swans and ballerinas, giving your grandparents' fireworks a run for their money. To the lush sounds of Debussy's 'The Snow Is Dancing,' the drone fleet will assemble and dissemble into dozens of new formations, reflecting the thrilling movements of the timeless music. Their vivid designs are tightly choreographed to complement the spirit of the live concert, evoking a breathtaking emotional response. The first act of the program will reflect the four seasons, with the second presenting a sky-bound homage to birds: from chicks and cuckoos to swans. This blend of classical music and state-of-the-art technology has sold out engagements across the U.S., Australia and Spain, and will continue working its magic in cities worldwide given its popularity. Next up: Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco in August. Tickets range from $39 to $53 and include seats. Looking for an upgrade? The VIP Picnic Experience ($105) seats you in the best viewing area and includes a personal picnic blanket, candle and special snack, along with fast-track entry. Doors to this all-ages event will open 90 minutes before its scheduled 8:45 pm start time. Food and beverage will be available for purchase at the event, though without gluten-free or vegan options. Rest easy, though, as outside nourishment is permitted (though not alcoholic drinks).
