“Ooh that feels so good!” The speaker was not involved in a semi-pornographic film. She was a teenager watching a filmed pas de deux at a summer dance festival years ago. Others shushed her; this was art! Indoctrinated, did they even notice that the male dancer, hoisting his partner overhead, had placed one hand on her crotch? Please be forbearing when I tell you that this memory edged into my … [Read more...]
Once Upon a Time There Was Romance
Do you ever wonder how choreographers choose their titles? After seeing James Whiteside’s New American Romance on the last day of American Ballet Theatre’s fall season at the former New York State Theater, I spent some time pondering that. The five women in its cast of eight wear dark blue, swirling, ankle-length tutus (provided by Primadonna). The music to which Whiteside set his ballet, … [Read more...]
Fashion and Dance Get Married
The New York City Ballet's Fall Gala You can discover online a photo of Sarah Jessica Parker, swirling the yards of fuschia material in which designer Zac Posen had garbed her for the New York City Ballet’s Fashion Gala (she was one of six Gala chairpeople). The September 26th event— the eighth of its kind for NYCB— garnered 2.6 million dollars and occasioned the premieres of two new ballets: … [Read more...]
A Ballerina Adventures in Postmodern Worlds
It wouldn’t be entirely fair to call Sara Mearns a force of nature, given her discipline, her skills as a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, and her interest in exploring new possibilities. However having seen her perform August 14-18 in Jacob’s Pillow’s Doris Duke Theater, I’m strenuously tempted. The program titled “Sara Mearns: Beyond Ballet” features her in five works. … [Read more...]
Dancing in the Green
It rained the day before the Jacob’s Pillow Gala. It rained the day after the Jacob’s Pillow Gala. Fortunately, the rain gods were too busy elsewhere to cause trouble in Becket, Massachusetts on Saturday the 15th of June at 5:00 P.M. Pink umbrellas hung on the chairs for the banquet in the gigantic tent, just in case, but the sunny landscape could rouse in your mind the refrain of Federico Garcia … [Read more...]
Tharp Times Three
American Ballet Theatre's Tharp Trio at Lincoln Center, May 30-June 3 Does anyone dare to call Giselle dated? I doubt it. It’s a centuries-old classic that’s had numerous facelifts. I don’t often wish myself back at its premiere in 1832. However, feeling a twinge of nostalgia for something in your own not-so-distant past can be enriching when contemplating it anew. I wrote my review of … [Read more...]
The New York City Ballet Enters a New Era
The New York City Ballet presents its annual Fall Gala The crowd attending the New York City Ballet’s Gala on September 27th was certainly elegantly dressed (sometime daringly so: two men eschewed tuxes and appeared in floral-print suits). During the pre-performance performance of sipping drinks and snagging hors d’oeuvres, you had to be alert to the possibility of stepping on filmy trains. … [Read more...]
A Gala and Denmark in the Berkshires
Members of the Royal Danish Ballet Come to Jacob's Pillow, as it celebrates its 86th anniversary. Art, time, and money can squirm and slip around one another in unexpected ways. This year’s Gala at Jacob’s Pillow in the Berkshires made some people open their pockets on the spot and made others wish they could. The mood was jovial, and the weather responded with sunshine (perhaps the gods … [Read more...]
Refreshing an Old Story
American Ballet Theatre premieres Alexei Ratmansky's remounting of Harlequinade. It’s almost two o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon, and I’m casing the audience that’s gradually filling the Metropolitan Opera House, where American Ballet Theatre is holding its spring season. Most of us, I’d guess, are either over 65 or under 12. More of us appear to be female than male. And, as Alexei … [Read more...]
New York City Ballet Celebrates Jerome Robbins
I lived with Jerome Robbins for six years. (Forgive the startling opener; he was dead at the time, but liked a joke). During those years, I read his diaries and his letters, talked with his family, friends, and those he worked with. Since recovering from writing a book about him and his choreography, I haven’t attended many performances of his ballets. Now the New York City Ballet, for which he … [Read more...]