New Dances at Juilliard, Edition 2006 / Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC / December 14 - 17 What the Juilliard School is to music, it is to modern dance as well: an academy that attracts some of the most gifted and proficient pre-professionals in the rising generation and hones them for their careers. As part of their training, the school's artists-in-the-making give concerts that offer high-caliber performance along with the irresistible opportunity to spot tomorrow's stars. This week, Juilliard's Dance Division offers its New … [Read more...]

This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on December 11, 2006. Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- What could be prettier? Women who look like flowers in floor-skimming dresses of sun-kissed hues, tossing their long, unbound hair. Their manner is flirtatious and welcoming to the men -- some stalwart, some poignant, some endearing clowns - who, apart from some duly allotted solo turns, serve as their admirers and cavaliers. These charming, often amusing, people populate Pina Bausch's ``Nefes'' (Turkish for breath). Created … [Read more...]

This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on December 4, 2006. Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- David Parsons's 10 dancers, each a bundle of energy and verve, are getting undressed, down to their skivvies. And dressed. And undressed again. All at top speed, turning their reversible baggy tops and bottoms inside out in the process and simultaneously tearing through space. This is the theme of the popular choreographer's new ``Peel,'' which will have its New York premiere tomorrow at the Joyce Theater. After a decade as an … [Read more...]

This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on December 4, 2006. Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Is Judith Jamison, the dynamic, savvy leader of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, trying to give the company a new look? Two additions to the repertory unveiled in the first week of the Ailey's monthlong season at the City Center are by celebrated choreographers -- both female, both white, both renegades -- who operate far from the themes of black experience, the humanistic outlook, and the conventional sentiments typical … [Read more...]