This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on April 19, 2006. April 19 (Bloomberg) — What did dance icon Mikhail Baryshnikov, actress Judith Ivey and Richard Move, doing his Martha Graham impersonation shtick, have in common last night? They were barely holding together a gala program that marked, to the day, […]
MARK MORRIS’S MODEST SIDE REFLECTED IN DANCE PREMIERES AT BAM
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on March 23, 2006. March 23 (Bloomberg) — It’s the 25th anniversary of the Mark Morris Dance Group, and celebrations have been lavish. The centerpiece is the generous survey of the celebrated — and still controversial — choreographer’s repertory at the Brooklyn Academy of […]
MARCH WITH MARK: MORRIS CELEBRATES 25 YEARS OF DANCING AT BAM
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on March 5, 2006. March 5 (Bloomberg) — Celebrating the 25th anniversary of his company with a three-week season at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Mark Morris suddenly seems to be a grand old man of modern dance. Yet he’s still in touch with […]
PRESS REWIND: IT’S MARK MORRIS IN MINIATURE
This article originally appeared in the Arts & Leisure section of the New York Times on March 5, 2006. THE video monitor conjures the grainy image of a gangling youth with a mop of dark hair dancing with abandon in a bare studio. When he finishes, the small audience around the edge of the space […]
PAUL TAYLOR’S N.Y. PREMIERES EVOKE SPRING, DEATH
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on March 1, 2006. March 1 (Bloomberg) — In filmy costumes tinted the pale green of budding leaves, a boy and girl enjoy an innocent caress. The music surging around them like delectable weather is by Richard Strauss. The choreography is by Paul Taylor. […]
BALLET’S FOUR `KINGS’ INDUCE GASPS, LACK FOCUS AT CITY CENTER
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on February 24, 2006. Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) — If ever a ballet event had an agenda, it’s “Kings of the Dance,” on view at the New York City Center through Feb. 26. A showcase for a quartet of stellar male dancers, it actually has […]
PETER MARTINS’S `FRIANDISES’ AT NYCB HAS THRILLS, LITTLE DEPTH
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on February 13, 2006. Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) — Nine guys cut through the air with space-eating, turning leaps. They’re matched by nine young women, more delicately built but equally athletic and fearless. Heading these contingents, the stocky, buoyant Daniel Ulbricht and Tiler Peck, a […]
WHEN BALANCHINE SENT IN THE CLANS
This article originally appeared in the Arts & Leisure section of the New York Times on February 12, 2006. IN a New York City Ballet studio, backed by a tape of implacable drumbeats, a lesson begins, emphasizing driving feet, lashing kicks set against a twisting torso and sudden, ominous halts, all executed with ferocious force […]
N.Y.C. BALLET COUPLES CAVORT, CONTORT IN WHEELDON’S `KLAVIER’
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on January 25, 2006. Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) — Trailing its mooring ropes across a dark stage framed in black velour drapes, a Paris Opera-style crystal chandelier lies crashed on the floor. Ten dancers, costumed with necrophiliac glamour, pace, embrace and fall to the opening […]
CONJURING A MODERN UTOPIA STRAIGHT OUT OF ANCIENT GREECE
This article originally appeared in the Arts & Leisure section of the New York Times on January 8, 2006. WITH a new dance-theater production, “Aristophanes in Birdonia,” on view beginning this week at Danspace Project, the veteran postmodernist David Gordon confirms a recent shift in his subject matter. Once best known for constructions that brooded […]