{"id":1857,"date":"2010-08-10T12:46:48","date_gmt":"2010-08-10T19:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp\/2010\/08\/dance_criticism_in_the_school\/"},"modified":"2010-08-10T12:46:48","modified_gmt":"2010-08-10T19:46:48","slug":"dance_criticism_in_the_school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/2010\/08\/dance_criticism_in_the_school.html","title":{"rendered":"Dance criticism from the school of out-of-it"},"content":{"rendered":"

If an art critic wrote that he\/she was startled to see a work of genius made from found objects, that critic would be consigned to the school of out-of-it. Since the early 20th Century, reworking found objects has been a staple. Needless to say, that critic would not be employed by the New York Times, where Holland Cotter, Roberta Smith, Ken Johnson and Michael Kimmelman set a higher standard<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Dance criticism is another matter. The school of out-of-it is in session at the Times whenever Alastair Macaulay ventures into the contemporary. In ballet, Macaulay has few peers. He conveys the depth of his understandings with clarity and even elegance. And yet contemporary reminds for him a mystery. Remember that he is the only full-time dance critic <\/strike>one of the only full-time dance critics employed full time at a newspaper in America. (There’s also Sarah Kaufman<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Here’s Macaulay’s opening sentence for a  Mark Morris<\/a> review:<\/p>\n

It’s startling to see a work of genius composed largely from movements as basic as walking, running, hopping, skipping, lying down and the like. (more<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Startling?  Dance made of ordinary movements is, like the found object in art, ubiquitous. More than that. Following Paul Taylor’s Esplanade<\/i> from 1975, it has become the single most important element in dance of the last 35 years. In her review, Arlene Croce heralded<\/a> Esplanade<\/i> as conferring “a mythic dimension on ordinary aspects of our daily lives.” <\/p>\n

 I saw it in 1975 and was struck dumb by joy. That version is now available on YouTube, with the endlessly great original dancers. <\/p>\n

<\/object>
\n<\/object>
\n<\/object>
\n<\/object>
\n<\/object><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If an art critic wrote that he\/she was startled to see a work of genius made from found objects, that critic would be consigned to the school of out-of-it. Since the early 20th Century, reworking found objects has been a staple. Needless to say, that critic would not be employed by the New York Times, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1857","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1857\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}