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American Ballet Theatre / City Center, NYC / October 22 – November 9, 2003 American Ballet Theatre’s annual fall season at City Center, now expanded from two weeks to three, looked foolish even before the curtain went up. A new marketing ploy organized the repertory being offered into four set programs. The most misguided of […]

Susan Marshall & Company / BAM Harvey Theater, New York City / October 21-25, 2003 In our current climate of branding, dance concerts must have titles. The choreographer Susan Marshall, already branded as a genius by her copping a MacArthur Fellowship 2000, slyly called her latest program, part of BAM’s Next Wave series, Sleeping Beauty […]

First Sight: The Performance An extraordinary dancer doesn’t need to be discovered. He’s apparent. I had my first, startling, sight of Danny Tidwell last spring in one of the Guggenheim Museum’s show-and-tell Works & Process programs. The subject of the evening was ballet competitions. American Ballet Theatre, which harbors many a medalist, sent a bunch […]

Merce Cunningham Dance Company / BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, New York City / October 14-18, 2003 Dancing usually hangs out with music—and with good reason. Think rhythmic, structural, and atmospheric support. Think Tchaikovsky-Petipa; think Stravinsky-Balanchine. Merce Cunningham, celebrating the 50th anniversary of his company at BAM this week, was a pioneer in disconnecting the […]

Dance fans have just this week between summer festivals and outdoor city performances before the onslaught of the fall season. Time to go to the movies. I favor vintage films and think Yasujiro Ozu tops even Jean Renoir in capturing the subtleties of human feeling. In the past, one usually had to wait for the art houses to hold an Ozu festival. Though it takes a big screen to do this director full justice, some of his best work is now available on DVDs. Try “Late Spring.” I dare you not to cry. Here’s what I wrote about Ozu on the 100th anniversary of his birth.

This week’s performances of Ballett Frankfurt at the Brooklyn Academy of Music mark a critical stage in the career of William Forsythe, who has shaped the company according to his singular aesthetic. I’ve invited the dance writer Roslyn Sulcas, our New York expert on Forsythe, to provide some background. Here is her report: William Forsythe […]

Ballett Frankfurt / BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, NYC / September 30 – October 5, 2003 I wish I liked William Forsythe’s work more. After Ballett Frankfurt’s opening night at BAM, I felt an inch closer to appreciating it – as the enthusiastic audience, peppered with dance-world celebrities, clearly did. But no more than an […]

Royal Danish Ballet / Royal Theatre, Copenhagen / September 20 & 21, 2003 Copenhagen Nearly two centuries after August Bournonville’s birth, the ballets of this peerless Romantic-era choreographer and the unique style in which they are danced still define the profile of the Royal Danish Ballet. The Bournonville heritage calls for dancing that is both […]

While I’m in Denmark, you can be too. . . . Though it centers on dancing, SEEING THINGS means to look at other food for the eye as well. Here’s some that’s available at a mere click: http://www.kunstindustrimuseet.dk/kim.htm. From the menu in the left hand column, choose “Design after 1900,” then scroll down and click […]

Summer used to be the season of doldrums in the dance world. Not so anymore on the New York dance scene, though this is clearly contrary to nature. We need a rest before the jam-packed fall season. We need a laid back stretch of time in which we watch dancing, if at all, in the […]