Martha Graham Dance Company: Clytemnestra / Skirball Center, New York University, NYC / May 12, 15, and 16, 2009 Genius though she was–as a dancer, as a choreographer, and as the inventor of the only Western dance technique apart from classical ballet capable of training a dancer fully to professional capability–Martha Graham produced more than […]
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On the Move
Trisha Brown Dance Company / BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, NYC / April 29 – May 2, 2009 Trisha Brown’s L’Amour au théâtre Photo: Stephanie Berger Trisha Brown, recently back at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, offered a show that indicates how she’s moved from her beginnings to today, in a career that spans five […]
Grand Old Master
Merce Cunningham Dance Company: Nearly Ninety / BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, NYC / April 16 – 19, 2009 Merce Cunningham Photo: Mark Seliger Yesterday, April 16th, was Merce Cunningham’s 90th birthday. Long may he wave! The event was celebrated at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House with the world premiere of his new full-evening […]
Why I Live in New York: Personal Indulgences No. 13
Why I live in New York. New York City, that is. Manhattan, to be exact. Dirty. Dangerous. Expensive (so much so today that people who once thought of themselves as middle class now fear they’re only a few ladder-rungs above the have-nots. And the number of have-nots is heart-rending. But still . . . I […]
Sweet Bird of Youth
Juilliard Dances Repertory / Peter Jay Sharp Theater, NYC / March 25-29, 2009 Consider what I’ll call the minor leagues of dance performance–the shows put on by the best schools and junior companies honing advanced-level students who are talented; absurdly young, considering the skills they’ve developed; thoroughly rehearsed and coached; still ingenuous enough to lay […]
Tracking Taylor
Paul Taylor Dance Company / New York City Center, New York City / February 25 – March 15, 2009 Michael Trusnovec in Taylor’s Beloved Renegade. Photo by Wiley Price. As the ambitious season ran on, displaying choices from five decades of Taylor works, it became more and more obvious that this dance-maker’s genius, his range, […]
Savion Glover Mixes It Up
Savion Glover: SoLo in TiME / Joyce Theater, New York City / March 3-22, 2009 Savion Glover. Photo by NiNA. His feet are large–size 12 E or thereabouts–and, in their pedestrian mode, can look heavy and clumsy. Don’t kid yourself; they’re the fleetest human pedals imaginable. In quiet little soliloquies, the faster they get, the […]
Paul Taylor Celebrates Walt Whitman on Life, Love
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on March 6, 2009. Dancers from the Paul Taylor Dance Company, from left, Michael Trusnovec, Julie Tice, and Orion Duckstein take part in a performance of “Beloved Renegade” in New York on Nov. 21, 2008. Performances continue through March 15, 2009 at New York’s […]
Murdered Reporter Pearl Evoked in ‘Daniel’ Dance
This article originally appeared in the Culture section of Bloomberg News on February 26, 2009. Dancers Eddie Taketa, left, and Natalie Desch perform in “Alchemy,” choreographed by Doug Varone, on Feb. 1, 2008. The dance piece, with music by Steve Reich, is being performed at New York’s Joyce Theater through March 1. Photographer: Phil Knott […]
The Mutable Swan: New York City Ballet’s Revival of Balanchine’s “Swan Lake”
New York City Ballet: Revival of Balanchine’s Swan Lake / David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC / February 12, 2009 Wendy Whelan of New York City Ballet in Balanchine’s Swan Lake. Photo by Paul Kolnik. Wendy Whelan was magnificent as Odette. Her many admirers over her long career know that she was born to […]