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Deborah Jowitt on bodies in motion

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New York City Ballet Celebrates Jerome Robbins

May 7, 2018 by Deborah Jowitt

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...]

The New York City Ballet Looks to Its Future

January 31, 2018 by Deborah Jowitt

21st-century works in The New York City Ballet's Winter season (January 23-March 4) A subtle artistic schism exists for dancers in the New York City Ballet. None of them knew its co-founder Balanchine. They hadn’t taken his classes; they hadn’t watched him choreograph new ballets or lent him their bodies to use as inspiration and building blocks. If they experienced ballets by his later … [Read more...]

Ballet Up Close and Personal

November 6, 2017 by Deborah Jowitt

New York Theatre Ballet's Legends and Visionaries series at Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church. The cover photo for New York Theatre Ballet’s season at Danspace Saint Mark’s does not show any of the company’s fine performers. Instead it bears a photo of artistic director Diana Byer and David Vaughan, the dance historian, critic, lecturer, and performer widely known as the author of … [Read more...]

The Red Shoes Redux

November 4, 2017 by Deborah Jowitt

Matthew Bourne/New Adventures brings the 1948 movie, The Red Shoes, to the stage. In 1953-54, when Britain’s Sadlers Wells Ballet had not yet become the Royal Ballet, and the company was performing in New York’s old Metropolitan Opera House in the West 30s, ballet lovers formed lines for standing-room tickets early in the morning. The excitement had, in part, been kindled by Michael Powell … [Read more...]

American Ballet Theatre Throws a Party

October 26, 2017 by Deborah Jowitt

ABT presents new and recent ballets at Lincoln Center through October 29th. As diverse and original as Alexei Ratmansky’s ballets are, it’s tempting to probe for artistic sources that may have nourished them. His Russian roots include his experiences as a dancer in the Kirov Ballet and as the Bolshoi Ballet’s artistic director. His years as a member of the Royal Danish Ballet count too. Few … [Read more...]

Leaves Fall, Dancers Rise

October 4, 2017 by Deborah Jowitt

New York City Ballet presents its annual Fall Gala at Lincoln Center. “Practice makes perfect” may be a mantra for dancers and choreographers. It also describes how smoothly and fleetly the New York City Ballet’s 2017 Fall Gala—its sixth pairing choreographers with fashion designers—leapt onto and off the stage at Lincoln Center during the second week of the company’s season. Last year five … [Read more...]

Consistency within Variety

July 8, 2017 by Deborah Jowitt

Jessica Lang Dance performs at Jacob's Pillow July 5 through 9. Jessica Lang graduated from the Juilliard School and danced in Twyla Tharp’s company for two years, but performing wasn’t enough for her. However, she didn’t start her choreographic career by founding a company bearing her name. Beginning in 1999, she started making works for ballet companies worldwide —ninety-five to date. She … [Read more...]

Dancing into Summer

June 22, 2017 by Deborah Jowitt

Jacob's Pillow opens its season with a Gala performance. It was only when I was leaving the Jacob’s Pillow Gala that I started to consider this dance establishment’s 85th anniversary celebration in terms of transformation and the breaking of boundaries. It could have rained and didn’t, but there were umbrellas-in-waiting in the bags we were given, also pens (which could come in handy for … [Read more...]

New York City Ballet premieres a New Ratmansky Work

May 10, 2017 by Deborah Jowitt

New York City Ballet’s 2017 Spring Gala is a testament to the acumen of the company’s supporters. Beautifully dressed people are provided with champagne in advance of the performance and dinner after it, but no speeches this time, no films, and no intermissions. And after those assembled have watched Peter Martins’ Jeu de Cartes, the pas de deux from Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain, and … [Read more...]

A Small Company with Big Ideas

March 6, 2017 by Deborah Jowitt

The New York Theatre Ballet performs at New York Live Arts, March 1 through 4. Vaslav Nijinsky must have been charmed by ancient Greek vases when he choreographed his first ballet, L’Après-midi d’un faune, in 1912. Inspired by Stéphan Mallarmé’s poem of that name and Claude Debussy’s musical response to it (Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune), he, however, depicted the nymphs and faun who … [Read more...]

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Deborah Jowitt

Deborah Jowitt began to dance professionally in 1953, to choreograph in 1961, and to write about dancing in 1967. Read More…

DanceBeat

This blog acknowledges my appetite for devouring dancing and spitting out responses to it. Criticism that I love to read—and have been struggling to write ever since the late 1960s—probes deeply and imaginatively into choreography and dancing, … [Read More...]

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Alexei Ratmansky Amar Ramasar American Ballet Theatre Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker BAM Fisher Benjamin Millepied Carol Mullins Christopher Wheeldon Danspace Project Davison Scandrett Dylan Crossman Frederick Ashton George Balanchine Hee Seo Jacob's Pillow Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival Janet Eilber Jennifer Tipton Joe Levasseur Joyce Theater Justin Peck Kyle Abraham Laurel Lynch Lindsey Jones Marcelo Gomes Mark Morris Mark Morris Dance Group Martha Graham Martha Graham Dance Company Melissa Toogood Merce Cunningham New York City Ballet New York Live Arts Pam Tanowitz Paul Taylor Peak Performances Peter Martins Robert Rauschenberg Sara Mearns Stephen Petronio The Kitchen Tiler Peck Trisha Brown Twyla Tharp Tyler Angle
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