American Ballet Theatre / Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City / October 7-10, 2009 Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center's main concert venue, lacks an orchestra pit, wing space, and a floor suitable for dancing. Musicians performing there stay put once onstage, limiting their motion to decorous walks to and from their places. Not for them phenomenal steps requiring a floor that cushions sleights of foot or a safe landing spot for leaping exits at race-car speed. Nevertheless American Ballet Theatre was installed at Avery Fisher for … [Read more...]
Decreation Indeed
October 13, 2009 by 6 Comments
The Forsythe Company / BAM Howard Gilman Opera House / Brooklyn, NY / October 7-10, 2009 William Forsythe made his name creating ballets with an eye to pushing the art conspicuously forward, as Balanchine had done. Nowadays he makes concoctions that are so hard to appreciate, detractors find them empty, showy, foolish, inexplicable, or all of the above. It's not that I think he should retrace his early steps. Artists must not - cannot, actually--imitate their past. They need to move ahead to find their own future. I just wish I understood … [Read more...]
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costas cacaroukas on Youth in Bloom
Very well thought out and well written, as usual, Tobi. Many thanks.Daniel Benton on Youth in Bloom
Very nice! You manage to capture the spirit of the performance and give us a larger context in which to...Michael Noga on Keeping Count
I saw this performance and enjoyed it. I have seen three of Justin Peck's works and noticed that he...Leo Greenbaum on Dvorovenko Moves On
Superb Classical technique. Beautiful woman. Will miss her.Richard Chang on Keeping Count
I so agree with you, Tobi: "... dance is not made of ideas but rather of people moving to music...Martha Ullman West on Keeping Count
"frosty abstraction that offers very little to see..." does seem to be the order of the day for a lot...Mary Cargill on Dvorovenko Moves On
"Enigma Variations", certainly, would count for married love in a ballet.Jann Parry on Dvorovenko Moves On
Apropos Onegin's mature love pas de deux: can you think of any other ballets in which a married couple express...Shelley KOLIN on Dvorovenko Moves On
I was introduced to Irina and Maxim during the Southern Ballet Theatre days with Vadim Fedotov and Irina Depler. We...Alice Helpern on Dvorovenko Moves On
I've seen a number of performances with Irina and Maxim and each of them with other partners but in the...