On the occasion of Jonah Weiner's in-depth profile in The New Yorker on Brooklyn's most eccentric (and mesmerizing) street dancer, Storyboard P, I offer a review I wrote on his BEAT Brooklyn outing. Here are the first couple paragraphs:Almost everything that the otherworldly Brooklyn street dancer Storyboard P does defies expectations, especially if you're expecting straight-up … [Read more...]

If crimes against humanity were theatre, what form would they take? That is the question African dance-theatre artists Panaibra Canda and Boyze Cekwana raise in "The Inkomati (dis)cord," at New York Live Arts as part of the Crossing the Line festival earlier this fall, and the question I consider in my review of the production for the Australian dance magazine Fjord Review. Here is a chunk … [Read more...]

In art as in life, there is no such thing as being faithful enough. Fidelity is an absolute. It cannot be measured in numbers of steps or scenes preserved any more than a romantic betrayal can be calibrated by the quantity of lovers taken on the side, though the numbers do tell some kind of story. Rather, faithfulness to a text, whether choreographic or literary, is a question of spirit. We want a … [Read more...]

  Dance in January is dizzying and divided even by New York standards.     Uptown, New York City Ballet gets back to mixed programmes, almost always with a blast of Balanchine in the first week or two. This year, it's two weeks of Balanchine's Tchaikovsky, which may prove too much vastness of feeling mixed up with shimmery imperial pomp at a go.    But every ballet lover should at least try … [Read more...]