This article originally appeared in Voice of Dance (http://www.voiceofdance.org) on June 5, 2007. School of American Ballet’s 2007 Workshop Performances / Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC / June 2 & 4, 2007 School of American Ballet in George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments with Raina Gilliland (foreground). Photo by Paul Kolnik. As the entire […]
New `Sleeping Beauty’ Shows off Great Aurora, Ghastly Decor
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on June 4, 2007. June 4 (Bloomberg) — Veronika Part’s lush, emotionally eloquent dancing as Aurora in the Vision Scene was the sole unarguably wonderful element in American Ballet Theater’s new version of “The Sleeping Beauty” that had its world premiere Friday at the […]
A Movable Feast: Personal Indulgences No. 1
Press luncheon given by the Philadelphia Museum of Art at the Culture Department of the French Embassy, NYC / March 21, 2007 The seven dining tables are circular. Each is set with severe elegance for nine or ten people clad in the suave yet subtly imaginative costumes of urban art-inclined intellectuals. Five formally dressed waiters–raven-haired, […]
Dancers Couple, Grapple in Doug Varone’s `Dense Terrain’ at BAM
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on May 18, 2007. May 18 (Bloomberg) — The entire backdrop of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater fills with a black-and-white video close-up of a pair of fleshy moving lips as voices chant nonsense syllables to an eerie accompaniment. Onstage are a […]
Mark Morris Stages `Orfeo’ With Humor, Big Gestures
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on May 4, 2007. May 4 (Bloomberg) — Mark Morris may not have been an obvious choice to stage and choreograph the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Gluck’s 1762 “Orfeo ed Euridice,” which had its premiere Wednesday night at Lincoln Center. The Met has […]
City Ballet’s Young Athletes Shine in New `Romeo’
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on May 3, 2007. May 3 (Bloomberg) — There’s nothing like having the right people on your side. Wednesday’s sold-out premiere of Peter Martins’s “Romeo + Juliet” for the New York City Ballet had Bill Clinton in the seat once reserved for Lincoln Kirstein […]
Balanchine’s Dances, Kirstein Show Mark NYCB Feting of Founders
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on April 26, 2007. April 26 (Bloomberg) — What grand gesture can you make to honor the centenary of an icon’s birth? The New York City Ballet is dedicating its spring season, which opened last night at the New York State Theater, to Lincoln […]
Eifman Ballet Makes Chekhov’s `Seagull’ a Four-Way Soap Opera
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on April 20, 2007. April 20 (Bloomberg) — The Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia, is recognizable at a glance. The dancers are as flexible as rubber bands and emotionally stretched to the snapping point; the stage patterns are exercises in simple geometry; the […]
Coda
Three-quarters of a year ago, struck by an image, I wrote about a dancer whose history was essentially unknown. Here is the image– Weegee Ballerina Marina Franca in her peacock costume, April 18, 1941 Gelatin silver print © Weegee / International Center of Photography –and here is the essay. A brief passage in it now […]
Jasperse Explores Naked Facts of Aging and Dancing
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on April 5, 2007. April 5 (Bloomberg) — The three dancers in “Becky, Jodi and John” are simply playing themselves. Becky is Becky Hilton; Jodi is Jodi Melnick. Both women have been important figures in groundbreaking dance — Hilton, an earth-mother type, chiefly with […]