This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on May 18, 2007. May 18 (Bloomberg) -- The entire backdrop of the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Harvey Theater fills with a black-and-white video close-up of a pair of fleshy moving lips as voices chant nonsense syllables to an eerie accompaniment. Onstage are a dozen gleaming office chairs, set in neat rows. Soon the space is invaded by dancers running, grappling and scuttling on all fours as if at war with each other and at the same time determined to form a community, … [Read more...]

This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on May 4, 2007. May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Mark Morris may not have been an obvious choice to stage and choreograph the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Gluck's 1762 ``Orfeo ed Euridice,'' which had its premiere Wednesday night at Lincoln Center. The Met has been slow to acknowledge postmodern choreographers. (George Balanchine was the last to try that double role -- in 1953, with ``The Rake's Progress'' -- and the results weren't happy.) For Morris, whose passion for … [Read more...]

This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on May 3, 2007. May 3 (Bloomberg) -- There's nothing like having the right people on your side. Wednesday's sold-out premiere of Peter Martins's ``Romeo + Juliet'' for the New York City Ballet had Bill Clinton in the seat once reserved for Lincoln Kirstein at the New York State Theater. One can only hope the former president didn't come expecting a glimpse of George Balanchine's ideas about the future of classical dance. The world probably doesn't need another ballet set … [Read more...]