Intergalactic Savion and his ancestors on earth: Tap goings-on this month. … [Read more...]
Archives for 2010
Tap City indeed: through time (decade by decade) and the world (beat by beat)
As if to underscore the Americanness of the form, the weeks around Independence Day always see a conflagration of hoofers and hoofing in Manhattan. This year, the events are particularly rich in history and scope. Besides Savion Glover at the Joyce through next week (reviewed at the bottom of this post) and the annual live Tap City events at Symphony Space and the New York Public Library of … [Read more...]
Saturday, June 19
Ashton, contemporary ballet premieres, Graham and John Jasperse: dance all around town … [Read more...]
Ashton’s charming knowingness, Graham’s unfolding abstraction, John Jasperse’s wily truthiness, and New York City Ballet’s mixed bag (UPDATE FRIDAY 6/25)
Starting backwards, with the Architecture of Dance festival at the New York City Ballet this season, the seven choreographers all had the option to commission a score, as well as a set by no less than famous Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, for their world premieres. With one ballet to go, I'm beginning to suspect this embarrassment of riches may be more embarrassment than riches-- that … [Read more...]
Saturday, June 5
Where have all the animals gone--in ballet? … [Read more...]
Women, beasts, and ballet
Where have all the animals gone? That's what the wild horses in Christopher Wheeldon's recent Estancia (Spanish for "ranch") made me wonder. The generation of choreographers who would have come into contact with more than cats, dogs and whatever happens to be declining at the zoo--these people rode horses (or ate them, in Balanchine's case), caught butterflies, listened to bluebirds, spied on … [Read more...]
Friday May 28:
Pathos and bathos: Baryshnikov and Lady of the Camellias … [Read more...]
Pathos and bathos: two shows
Those would be Unrelated Solos, in which Baryshnikov shared a night with dancer-choreographers David Neumann, in his 40s, and Steve Paxton, 71, and Lady of the Camellias, the 1981 John Neumeier production currently enjoying its ABT premiere (or at least I hope it's enjoying it, as I'm not). While Baryshnikov reflects, Neumeier's cast of foolish characters abject: a ghoulish experience in which one … [Read more...]
Monday May 24:
19th century ballet, contemporary ballet, and postmodern dance: a week in May … [Read more...]
War horse, weather vane, and negative space: three shows
Sometimes, in an early draft, you make a claim that you then find you don't have the space to prove. Usually, you throw out the dangling idea; for this review of last Tuesday's La Bayadere for the Financial Times, it seemed worth leaving the sentence in, in case it resonated with some readers. See if you can guess which it is. Here's a chunk of the review: La Bayadère not only unites campy … [Read more...]