Anna Lantz, academy principal, says the summer intensive program is for students who are seriously pursuing dance and wanting excellent education and training. “The classical ballet training coupled with other complementary and diverse dance forms is so wonderful for our students, as well as those coming form other states, especially when taught by an amazing and world-renowned faculty.”

Basil, an award-winning choreographer, is teaching them styles of street dance — electric boogaloo, krump and locking — and translating ballet moves into hip-hop. She is writing a book on the history of American street dance and lectures frequently on the topic.

Mr Lowe, who will perform with the Lantern Dance Theatre Company, only got his first starring role two years ago aged 88. The grandfather of 11, who fought in Malaysia and India in the Second World War before being captured by the Japanese, said he loved performing on stage.

He said: ''Dancing is the most amazing feeling and you come home mentally uplifted after listening to all this brilliant music.

The exhibition, on view through Sept. 12, is the first of three major events in New York that explore Diaghilev’s legacy. In September, City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival will present rarely seen reconstructed works from the Ballets Russes performed by a host of companies, and Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company will follow in October with a program inspired by the company.

The library’s exhibition is loosely organized chronologically, from Diaghilev’s years in St. Petersburg to his death in 1929 in Venice and after, and includes blown-up pictures of his major choreographers (Fokine, Nijinsky, Nijinska, Balanchine, Massine) and photographs of his legendary dancers (Alicia Markova, Alexandra Danilova, Felia Doubrovska); video clips of the Royal Ballet on loan from the BBC; costumes donated by the Joffrey Ballet, one of a few contemporary companies whose repertory includes Ballets Russes pieces; costume designs by Goncharova, Bakst, Aninsfeld; scores by Stravinsky; and giant reproductions of Picasso’s spectacular costumes for “Parade.” And, of course, a pair of point shoes worn by Pavlova.

Our guide to ballet continues with this installment on what a pas is.

Iconic Russian ballet dancer and choreographer Andre Prokovsky has died, aged 70.

Prokovsky passed away on Saturday (15Aug09) near Beausoleil, the village in the south of France where he lived.
The cause of death was cancer, according to his agent Mark Kappel.

Hemispheres Arts Academy chose the Sacramento Ballet as the recipient of its largest grant because of the ballet's continued involvement in children's ballet education programming.

Now the artist Martin Creed is to create a ballet – choreography, music, set, and even lighting – called Work No 1020. And yes: the lights will go on and off. He has already been working with dancers at Sadler's Wells theatre in London ahead of a performance in October as part of the Frieze art fair programme.

Typically for an artist who likes to create rigorously controlled restrictions and structures for his work, he is using only the five classical ballet positions for his piece, and to each position he has ascribed a musical note. The restrictions mean that the dancers can move only "forwards or backwards or sideways", said Creed. "In the rules of the game, they can only move like the knight on a chessboard."