Ballet Diary No. 1: Introduction to Ballet Diary series; New York City Ballet: Opening night gala / David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC / April 29, 2010 Year after year New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, the kingpins of classical dance here in the States, insist upon competing with each other at […]
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Three for the Show
1.2.3 Festival / Joyce Theater, NYC / April 13 – 25, 2010 Ailey II’s Ghrai DeVore in Judith Jamison’s Divining Photo: Eduardo Patino Opening night of the 1.2.3 Festival at the Joyce was the tasting menu. The three (count ’em) companies involved in this yearly event–ABT II, AILEY II, and Taylor 2–contributed one substantial, and […]
Shapeshifter
Trisha Brown Dance Company / Baryshnikov Arts Center, NYC / April 7 -11, 2010 Leah Morrison and Nicholas Strafaccia in Trisha Brown’s Opal Loop/Cloud Installation #72503 Photo: Julieta Cervantes Trisha Brown, celebrating the 40th anniversary of her company at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, is a certified original and quite likely a genius. More often than […]
One More for the Road
Come Fly Away / Marquis Theatre, NYC / New York premiere March 25, 2010 Given Twyla Tharp’s incisive intelligence and no-holds-barred manner, you’d never expect her to fall for the sentimental, beguiling songs of Frank Sinatra, but she has, over and over again. Come Fly Away, which opened at the Marquis Theatre March 25 after […]
The Afterlife
Limón Dance Company / Baryshnikov Arts Center, NYC / February 9 -10, 2010 Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble: Anna Sokolow Birthday Tribute / 92nd Street Y, NYC / February 14, 2010 Limón Dance Company / 92nd Street Y, NYC / March 5-7, 2010 Can dance history exist without dancing? How can we make the choreography we treasure […]
Still Thriving
Paul Taylor Dance Company / City Center, NYC / February 24 – March 14, 2010 Paul Taylor’s Also Playing–one of the pair of new dances featured in his company’s February 24 – March 14 season at City Center–is “dedicated to all Vaudevillians, especially those who went on no matter what.” The man knows what he’s […]
Looky! — Three by Morris
Mark Morris Dance Group / BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, Brooklyn, NY / February 23-27, 2010 Imagine a dance so cool, calm, and exquisite, it seems unreal–a vision from some empyrean realm. The music, deliberately free from dramatic emphasis, is Eric Satie’s 1918 three-part Socrate, in the version for piano and voice, here with Colin […]
Pick-Up Danish: Personal Indulgences No. 17
On Christmas morning last year, I walked the reservoir track in New York’s Central Park, since the gym was, naturally, closed for you-know-who’s birthday. Hundreds of people, most of them armed with cameras, were strolling around the loop in the delicious sunshine. Few of them were speaking English. I stopped to chat with a family […]
Do Not Pass Go
New York City Ballet / David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC / November 24, 2009 – February 28, 2010 This story has a back story. Let me whisk you through it. Some two years before the New York City Ballet danced the January 21st world premiere of Alexey Miroshnichenko’s The Lady with the Little […]
Night Watch
Noche Flamenca / Lucille Lortel Theatre, NYC / December 24, 2009 – January 16, 2010 What better way to spend New Year’s Eve than watching Noche Flamenca? The Lucille Lortel Theatre, intimate in size, is dark and gloomy, the seats for the onlookers sheathed in a deep red velvet that hints at half-hidden passions. It’s […]