This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on May 21, 2008. May 21 (Bloomberg) — American Ballet Theatre opened its eight-week spring season Monday night at the Metropolitan Opera House in Manhattan with a gala program offering tidbit star turns from stars past as well as present. The 1938 “Judgment of […]
Younger Than Springtime
1.2.3. Festival: Taylor 2; Ailey II; ABT II Joyce Theater, NYC / April 29 – May 11, 2008 ABT II in Raymonda. Photo by Rosalie O’Connor. Surely you remember the old movies and tales in which a teenage dancer is spotted at the recital of a provincial dance studio. There, a diamond in the rough, […]
Robbins Brought Charm, Glamour to N.Y. City Ballet
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on April 29, 2008. Jerome Robbins, second from the left, observes a New York City Ballet rehearsal in New York in this undated handout photo. Starting April 28, 2008, at Lincoln Center’s New York State Theater, the New York City Ballet begins a season-long […]
Gerry’s: Personal Indulgences No. 8
The dress on my back, the cloth on my dining table–unique, beautiful, old, and absurdly cheap. “Where’dja get it?” the appreciative and envious exclaimed. Gerry’s, of course. I came across Gerry and his goods plowing my way home through a street fair devoted, as these events are nowadays, to the peddling of tube socks, junky […]
Kirov’s Spirited Nymphs, Swans Shimmer in Classic Ballet Briefs
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on April 10, 2008. April 10 (Bloomberg) — Ethereal spirits of the wood, dream visions of love, luscious adulterers and a tragically expiring swan — the Kirov Ballet can offer them all in a one-man show. The company’s second program — in an engagement […]
Kirov Dazzles With Exquisite Bodies, Tough Hearts
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on April 4, 2008. April 4 (Bloomberg) — The Kirov Ballet’s three-week run at New York’s City Center opened Tuesday with wall-to-wall choreography by Marius Petipa, the grandest master of 19th- century ballet. That makes sense. The company is widely revered in America as […]
Making Dances Last
Juilliard Dance Division Masterworks of the 20th Century Peter Jay Sharp Theater, NYC / March 26-29, 2008 Anila Mazhari-Landry and Spencer Theberge as The Bride and Husbandman in Martha Graham’s Appalachian Spring. Photo by Rosalie O’Connor. This spring, the Juilliard Dance Division celebrated its distinguished history with a program of three enduring works by choreographers […]
Unhooked: Personal Indulgences No. 7
I’ve always thought of myself as an addictive personality, but life is forever proving me wrong. Take alcohol, for instance. My father–himself only a social drinker, and not much of one at that–introduced me to an occasional dab on the tongue of very good scotch when I was a mere child, so that, as he […]
Morris Sends Sexy Dancers, Frigidaire to Camelot
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on March 7, 2008. March 7 (Bloomberg) — “King Arthur,” John Dryden’s 1691 play in rhymed couplets, isn’t worth keeping, according to Mark Morris, but the songs Henry Purcell provided for it, with lyrics by the playwright, are beguiling. So, for his production at […]
Macho Men, Virgins Float Through Taylor’s Dream Dances
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on March 6, 2008. March 6 (Bloomberg) — Paul Taylor‘s latest pair of ballets, “De Suenos” (Of Dreams) and “De Suenos que seRepiten” (Of Recurring Dreams), reflect a passion for Mexico that dates back to his devil-may-care teens, when he first toured the country […]