Tobi Tobias

I’ve been busy lately and haven’t kept up with my mail. Only this a.m. did I look at the New York City Ballet’s brochure for its upcoming season at the New York State Theater, November 24 – February 25. I do not understand what’s going on. Or maybe I understand all too well. Let’s start […]

This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on September 29, 2006. Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — Who could resist Trisha Brown’s “Set and Reset”? The choreographer’s fluid movement pairs with Robert Rauschenberg’s translucent costumes and fleeting background images to create a ravishing, ephemeral world. This piece is just one of 30 items […]

This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on September 27, 2006. Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) — The stage is thickly strewn with blue and white bits of paper arranged in a mandala-like pattern of circles within squares. Ani Choying Dolma, a Buddhist nun, kneels at its center, singing and chanting, her voice […]

This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on September 22, 2006. Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) — Four dancers stride across the stage, seeming oblivious to one another. Two collide violently, triggering entanglements and wild cantileverings that identify them as lovers one moment, enemies the next. This is the opening of Elisa Monte’s […]

Traditionally, dancers–especially classical dancers, who commit to their profession in childhood or adolescence–had the reputation of being essentially physical creatures and thus nonverbal. Even when it was admitted that they might be intelligent, they were still often labeled “dumb” in the sense of “mute.” This myth has constantly been challenged. Today, the argument for the […]

This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on September 15, 2006. Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) — Dancers in 18th-century dress playing ancient Greeks, socially pretentious Europeans and an occasional supernatural facilitator like Cupid will be celebrating Mozart’s 250th birthday tonight and tomorrow at Florence Gould Hall. Catherine Turocy’s esteemed New York Baroque […]

This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on September 8, 2006. Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) — “For a long time I wanted to do a show about underwear and armor,” declares Valerie Steele, the erudite, ebullient director and chief curator of the Museum at FIT. The vivid result, “Love & War: The […]

This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on August 28, 2006. Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) — Stay-at-home ballet fans will find themselves beguiled by the latest installment in PBS’s Great Performances series: the Paris Opera Ballet dancing George Balanchine’s “Jewels.” Created for the New York City Ballet in 1967, “Jewels” was the […]

Despite warnings from choreographers as illustrious as Balanchine that mating dance with Mozart was asking for trouble, Mark Morris engaged with the celestial composer last summer to create the program-length “Mozart Dances” for Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival. Having enjoyed a great success, the work is back in the Festival August 15th-18th, telecast by PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center on the 16th. Here’s what I wrote about the premiere.

This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on August 18, 2006. Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) — At the Joyce Theater in Chelsea, through tomorrow, the San Francisco-based Smuin Ballet entertains the summertime audience with veteran choreographer Michael Smuin’s showbiz flair. The curtain raiser, “Bluegrass/Slyde,” to down-home music, is a cheery athletic piece […]