New York City Ballet / New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC / January 6 – February 29, 2004 The trap in talking about Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream—with which the New York City Ballet has just opened the winter repertory season of its Balanchine 100 Centennial Celebration—is comparing it to Frederick Ashton’s The Dream. […]
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HAVE I GOT A GIRL FOR YOU!
Kirov Ballet of the Maryinsky Theatre / Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington DC / December 30, 2003 – January 4, 2004 Daria Pavlenko, dancing Odette-Odile, was far and away the best thing about the three performances I saw (all three casts) of the Swan Lake the Kirov Ballet brought to Kennedy Center. She has, beside […]
BALANCHINE AT HOME #1: ADVANCE NOTICE
Beginning January 6, I’m planning to go to the New York City Ballet a lot. I haven’t gone to the NYCB a lot in years. My attendance started falling off after Balanchine’s death in 1983, because, without the man there—as creator, coach, teacher, and all ‘round inspirational force—performances of his ballets deteriorated, slowly but inexorably. […]
CARRYING ON
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater / City Center, NYC / December 3, 2003 – January 4, 2004 Time was, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, 45 years old this season, specialized in dances with humanitarian themes. Created largely by Ailey and a handful of other black choreographers working in the same vein, this repertory took […]
ICONOCLASTIC BEAUTY
Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli: Philadelphia Museum of Art / September 28, 2003 – January 4, 2004 Musée de la Mode et du Textile, Paris / March 17 – August 29, 2004
UP IN THE AIR
Dayton Contemporary Dance Company / BAM: Harvey Theater / December 9-13, 2003 Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC to its friends) has been celebrating its 35th birthday and the 100th anniversary of the Ohio-born Wright Brothers’ first successful launch into space with “The Flight Project.” Comprising five commissioned works (from Bill T. Jones, Bebe Miller, Dwight […]
A “NUTCRACKER” ANECDOTE
New York City Ballet: The Nutcracker / New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC / November 28, 2003 – January 4, 2004 The Nutcracker, in George Balanchine’s (for me) definitive version, danced by the New York City Ballet, opens November 28 at the New York State Theater for a run of six weeks. I know […]
SPEAKING OF BALANCHINE
New York City Ballet / New York State Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC / November 25, 2003 The George Balanchine Foundation: Videotaping of Violette Verdy coaching George Balanchine’s Emeralds / Samuel B. and David Rose Building, Lincoln Center, NYC / October 27, 2003 Works & Process: Balanchine’s Lost Choreography / Guggenheim Museum / November 16 & […]
POST-MOD WEATHER REPORT
Rosas (Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker) / BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, NYC / November 12-17, 2003 Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s Rain, performed by her Belgium-based company, Rosas, draws upon defining devices of early postmodern dance—the inventions and innovations of the late 1960s and the 1970s—and gives them a sleek, forceful theatricality. Indeed, it makes them […]
DANCE TO THE PIPER
George Piper Dances / Joyce Theater, NYC / November 4-9, 2003 George Piper Dances, at the Joyce through November 9, is named for the conjoined moniker-in-art of Michael (middle name: George) Nunn and William (Piper) Trevitt. The pair of Brits with charm to spare and an unexpected taste for austere, ostensibly cerebral choreography are also […]