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Jean Lenihan: dance and other movements

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The Consolation of Concert Dance

March 20, 2011 by Jean Lenihan

After the multiplying images of Japan’s natural disasters of the last week-plus, is there any way to ram some sort of grounding stick into place? In this glass-walled age where one nation’s disaster is seen and felt by people around the world, how does the imagistic snowball ever stop rolling? How does one hold tragedy’s drowning force and time’s … [Read more...]

In Defense of Black Swan

February 28, 2011 by Jean Lenihan

Natalie Portman in "Black Swan"

As a teenage dancer in 1970s Manhattan who took studio class every day and was egged into her first LSD trip with a group of scary young ballet dancers in a claustrophobic apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, I may have been overly prepped to relish Darren Aronofsky’s Oscar-nominated “Black Swan.” No other film, (certainly not “Fame,” even … [Read more...]

Cinderella’s Closet

February 15, 2011 by Jean Lenihan

Stacy Lowenberg in "Cinderella"

[This piece originally ran on Crosscut.] When a three-quarter-length tulle ballet skirt hits a certain sweet spot on the calf, it evokes one of the most pleasing iconic ratios — think of the lip of a bell encircling its clapper or the curving girth of a willow tree around its trunk. Fill a stage with a perfect storm of these swirling, swaying … [Read more...]

PNB’s Savory “Director’s Choice”

September 29, 2010 by Jean Lenihan

Jiri Kylian

Every program, really, is Peter Boal’s “Director’s Choice.” It’s now six years into his reign as artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet and today’s audiences are reaping the fruits of his vision and labor. The risks Boal has taken in recent years (challenging his dancers/audiences with everything from live singing in the “West Side Story … [Read more...]

“Coppélia” gets a makeover from the pros

June 5, 2010 by Jean Lenihan

[slideshow] “Coppélia has been called one of the happiest ballets in existence . . . one of the triumphant comic ballets.” With that upbeat line, Pacific Northwest Ballet has been staging a massive advertising campaign for the Seattle premiere of George Balanchine’s 1974 version of “Coppélia.” It seems to be working: Opening night brought out a … [Read more...]

Plucking Dancers from the Corps

May 21, 2010 by Jean Lenihan

Laura Gilbreath in "The Four Temperaments"

(First published on Crosscut.) In ballet’s caste system, the corps de ballet is the lowest rank and the largest body — at Pacific Northwest Ballet right now there are 25 corps dancers, which is more than the number of principals (13) and soloists (7) combined. Everyone knows it’s a grueling job. Corps dancers have to perform more frequently than … [Read more...]

Rufus Wainwright’s ‘Prima Donna’

April 29, 2010 by Jean Lenihan

Janis Kelly in Rufus Waunwright's 'Prima Donna'

Back in February, I had the opportunity to see the newly restored Technicolor print of "The Red Shoes" as it passed through Seattle on an international tour. It's a grand, dramatic film with a power that sneaks up on you. It heats so very slowly that by the end the unsuspecting audience finds itself suddenly submerged in a boiling cauldron like one … [Read more...]

3 by Dove (And 1 by Quijada)

March 25, 2010 by Jean Lenihan

Lucien Postlewaite and Lesley Rausch in "Red Angels"

Pacific Northwest Ballet Marion Oliver McCaw Hall March 18 – 28, 2010 This is just a quick note about the unusual program of Ulysses Dove pieces running at Pacific Northwest Ballet throughout the weekend. I saw it on opening night -- I imagine the program is just getting stronger and tighter as the nights progress. An African-American … [Read more...]

“The Sleeping Beauty” at Pacific Northwest Ballet

February 9, 2010 by Jean Lenihan

Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancers Carla Korbes and Karel Cruz

My most treasured book on dance is Leon Harris’ 1970 black-and-white photo essay, The Russian Ballet School. Though the school environs reek with Soviet-era drabness (stained floors, stitched clothing, barren concrete buildings in snowfields), there is also an elegant, Tsarist quality to the faces of the young dancers — haughty girls; handsome, … [Read more...]

Dissolving Ballet (and disappearing tickets)

January 9, 2010 by Jean Lenihan

Tickets are flying fast for the first official, full-length concert by Whim W'Him, Olivier Wevers' brand new supergroup Seattle dance company -- so please get over to the OTB site now! Besides being a superstar performer, Belgian-born Wevers has true choreographic talent -- his phrases are never arbitrary; always probing at matters physical or … [Read more...]

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About Jean Lenihan

Formerly the staff dance critic for the Seattle Times, Jean Lenihan now lives in Los Angeles where she's written for the … [Read More...]

About Fresh Pencil

This blog began as an aggregation of published freelance pieces on a wide range of dance-makers and touring troupes, from Miss Prissy to ABT premieres to  Benjamin Millepied to Ryan Heffington. Nowadays I often review and write straight into this blog.

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Recent Comments

  • Jean Lenihan on Phantasmic Freaks and Geeks in ABT’s Scrumptious “Whipped Cream”: “One more quick hit: Isn’t there something in Ryden’s creatures that makes them quietly imploring? Like they’re stuffed with impossible…” Mar 17, 07:54
  • Michael Wilson on Could an L.A. Dance Hub Grow from a Mapping Tool?: “There are not nearly enough respondents to draw any real conclusions. This strikes me as a mostly pointless exercise with…” Apr 2, 19:44
  • m. beth on Los Angeles Ballet’s Notable “The Sleeping Beauty”: “I know it’s pricey, but you should REALLY go see Allynne Noelle dance the role of Aurora in The Sleeping…” Mar 10, 17:07
  • m. beth on Los Angeles Ballet’s Notable “The Sleeping Beauty”: “You are certainly right!!! The casting was amiss!” Mar 10, 16:05
  • Diana Batista on Los Angeles Ballet’s Notable “The Sleeping Beauty”: “Overall really enjoyed LAB’s Sleeping Beauty at Valley Performing Arts Center last Saturday night. I’ve also seen their Swan Lake…” Mar 3, 12:52

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