My Novel
On Twitter
Recent Comments
- Jay on Is Pasha a Nureyev or a Baryshnikov: What's In a Dancer's Sexuality Anyway?
- Jay on Is Pasha a Nureyev or a Baryshnikov: What's In a Dancer's Sexuality Anyway?
- Jay on Is Pasha a Nureyev or a Baryshnikov: What's In a Dancer's Sexuality Anyway?
- Terri Robinson on Made My Acting Debut, on Gloria Allred’s WE THE PEOPLE!
- irene on Who Will Play Romeo in the Film Version of Anne Fortier’s “Juliet”?
- Kevin Whalen on YULIA AND RICCARDO TELL ALL
- Bella on Who Will Play Romeo in the Film Version of Anne Fortier’s “Juliet”?
- Nat on Who Will Play Romeo in the Film Version of Anne Fortier’s “Juliet”?
- Tonya on Ballet Arizona’s SLEEPING BEAUTY, and Phoenix Society For the Arts Reads SWALLOW!
- Tonya on Who Will Play Romeo in the Film Version of Anne Fortier’s “Juliet”?
Archives
Daily Reads
Dance
- A Life Less Examined
- Art's Place
- Ballet Bag
- Ballet News UK
- Bill T. Jones
- Black Swan Diaries
- Clare Byrne
- Counter Critic
- Dance Advantage
- Dance Beat – Ballroom News
- Dance Bloggers Directory
- Dance in Israel
- Dance On YouTube Dance Channel
- Dance View Times
- Dancing Perfectly Free
- Demicontretemps
- Explore Dance
- Foot in Mouth
- Haglund's Heel
- Infinite Body
- J Pointe
- Judith Mackrell / Guardian
- Laura Jacobs
- Living With Criticism
- Misnomer
- Move the Frame
- Movmnt
- New York Times / Dance
- Oberon's Grove
- Odette's Ordeal
- Off Center
- Ranting Details
- Saturday Matinee
- Seeing Things
- Shimmy Blog
- Tango Cherie
- Voice of Dance
- Watching Dance
- Wendy Perron / Dance Magazine
- Winger
Legal
Literary / Publishing
- A Newbie's Guide to Publishing
- Arts and Letters Daily
- Bargain eBooks
- Book Ninja
- Book Trib
- Bookslut
- Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind
- Editorial Ass (Archives)
- Edward Champion's Reluctant Habits
- Elegant Variation
- Frugal E-Reader
- Galley Cat
- Guardian Books Blog
- Kindle Author
- Kindle Nation Daily
- L.J. Sellers
- Lev Grossman
- Literary Saloon
- Maud Newton
- Meghan Daum
- Narrative
- Nathan Bransford
- One Story
- Paper Cuts
- Publishing Perspectives
- Rap Sheet
- Read Russia
- Red Adept Reviews
- Rumpus
- The Millions
- White Readers Meet Black Authors
- Writers' Houses
- Zoetrope
New York
Writers & Friends
- Bear Mountain Books
- Closing My Eyes Helps Me to See Clearly
- David Dalglish
- Hello Kruel Kruel World
- In the Next Apartment
- Karly Kirkpatrick's Book a Day
- Learn Me Good
- Maria Romana
- Marie Mutsuki Mockett
- McAfee Land
- Michael Northrop
- Musings of a Mediocre Mind
- Paper Boats
- Rebecca Forster
- Schuyler's Monster
- Shelley Stout's Spiral Notebook
- Sibel Hodge
- Spalding's Racket
- The Right to Publish
- Thea J. Nilsson
- Two Ends of the Pen
- Victorine Writes
Disclosures
I oftentimes, but not always, receive complimentary press tickets to performances, and complimentary books, for purposes of review. These complimentary items in no way affect my reviews. Also, I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.-
Category Archives: Dance Criticism / Discussion / Reviews / Blogs
James Wolcott on Deborah Jowitt in the Seventies
I’ve been reading James Wolcott’s memoir, Lucking Out: My Life Getting Down and Semi-Dirty in Seventies New York (photo above taken at the ArcLight Hollywood Cafe). It’s about his life as a writer in New York and his years working … Continue reading
NYCB Wants To Monitor Its Dancers’ Social Media Posts
The dance twittersphere is currently aflutter over this Wall Street Journal article. It seems to have started with some tweets by NYCB corps dancer, Devin Alberda, gently poking fun at NYCB benefactor David Koch, at A.D. Peter Martins’ recent drunk … Continue reading
Alice in Wonderland and Twitterland
Photo of Lauren Cuthbertson as Alice, by Johan Persson of the Royal Ballet, taken from here. Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice in Wonderland premiered tonight at the Royal Ballet in London. BalletNews has already posted a detailed review. And the Ballet Bag … Continue reading
Posted in Dance Criticism / Discussion / Reviews / Blogs
Tagged Alice in Wonderland, AliceinTwitterland, Ballet Bag, BalletNews, Christopher Wheeldon, Johan Persson, Lauren Cuthbertson, Maria Kowroski, NYCB, Royal Ballet, Twitter
Comments Off
Misty Copeland on Tavis Smiley
Apropos of our recent discussion on race and ballet, ABT’s Misty Copeland was recently on the Tavis Smiley show. She talks about race, ballet, elitism, her training, her recent appearance onstage with Prince, the immense difficulty of ballet, and of … Continue reading
Aesha Ash’s “Black Swan Diaries”
In my last post, on NYCB’s Swan Lake, I railed against what I saw as race-based casting, which led to a good discussion on race in ballet thanks to some very smart commenters! Marie mentioned the ballerina who’d been with … Continue reading
Is Benjamin Millepied a Better Fund-Raiser Than Choreographer?
Thank you to Jeff, who comments frequently here, for pointing me to this article in the NY Times, which most of you have probably already seen. The first page is all gloss and generalities and isn’t of much interest to … Continue reading
New San Francisco-Based Ballet Blog, Odette’s Ordeal, Launching
Here’s a new ballet blog to add to your list of daily reads. It’s written by Teri McCollum, who’s a dedicated San Francisco Ballet-goer, so it’s largely based on that company and other dance goings on in San Fran. I’ve … Continue reading
British Ballet Stars on “Black Swan”
“You can tell they did some research. Some of the smaller details, like the broken toenails and the way Nina works on her ballet shoes [scoring the soles, breaking down the blocked toes], were accurate. And I’ve seen dancers get … Continue reading
Jenifer Ringer Talks About Her Weight on the Today Show
If you guys haven’t seen this yet, Jenifer Ringer was on the Today Show talking about Sir Alastair’s criticism of her weight, her past eating disorder, and the struggle to be thin for ballerinas in general. I hadn’t known, but … Continue reading
Does a Ballerina’s Weight Affect the Quality of a Performance?
So, if you haven’t heard, the New York dance world is all up in arms over NY Times chief dance critic Alastair Macaulay’s review of New York City Ballet’s Nutcracker. The full review, which is here, I think is generally … Continue reading
Posted in Dance Criticism / Discussion / Reviews / Blogs
Tagged Alastair Macaulay, Anya Garnis, Ballerina, Body Image, Burn the Floor, dancer weight gain, George Balanchine, Jared Angle, Jenifer Ringer, Jennifer Edwards, Karina Smirnoff, Maks Chmerkovskiy, New York City Ballet, New York Times, Pasha Kovalev & Anya Garnis, The Nutcracker, thin
14 Comments
So You Think You Can Dance: Is the Show’s New Format to Blame for the Loss of Viewers?
Someone at The Daily Beast sent me this post and I thought I’d pass it on to you guys. The author, Andy Dehnart, provides statistics saying the show has lost a good deal of viewers this season and argues that … Continue reading
NATALIA OSIPOVA NOW ELECTRIFIES COPPELIA AT THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE
Wow, no summer break for Natalia Osipova. She’s now back dancing with the Bolshoi, who are currently performing at the Royal Opera House in London. The Guardian’s Judith Mackrell is awed by her Coppelia. I can only imagine; this seems … Continue reading
Posted in Dance Criticism / Discussion / Reviews / Blogs
Tagged Bolshoi, Coppelia, Guardian, Judith Mackrell, Natalia Osipova, Royal Opera House, Tristram Kenton
Comments Off
NILAS MARTINS QUIETLY RETIRES FROM NYCB
According to the New York Times Arts Beat blog, Nilas Martins, longtime principal with New York City Ballet (and son of Artistic Dir. Peter Martins) has retired. Without a farewell performance, without flowers, without fanfare. The story is that he … Continue reading
IS SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE "CULTURALLY RADICAL"?
Here’s an interesting perspective from the Huffington Post’s Miles Mogulescu on So You Think You Can Dance: “Here, the culture wars of the past 30 years appear over, at least for an hour or two, and the progressive side–which has … Continue reading
OSIPOVA AND HALLBERG IN ROMEO AND JULIET
Here are a couple of photos of Natalia Osipova and David Hallberg at curtain call yesterday after her debut as Juliet, taken by Len Zernov from The Faster Times. I’m hoping to receive more photos soon and will post them … Continue reading
Posted in Dance Criticism / Discussion / Reviews / Blogs, Dance Photos
Tagged ABT, American Ballet Theater, David Hallberg, Len Zernov, Marina Harss, Natalia Osipova, Romeo and Juliet, The Faster Times
Comments Off
WHEN CRITICS BECOME PART OF THE PERFORMANCE
Top photo of Glover taken from here, photo of Macaulay from here. The other night on the stage of the Joyce Theater, tapper Savion Glover launched into a short tirade against Sir Alastair in response to this. (Leigh Witchel, the … Continue reading
MORE PHOTOS OF CALATRAVA'S AWESOME MIRAGE SET
Above are a couple more photos of Peter Martins’ new Mirage ballet, which I wrote about here, that better showcase Santiago Calatrava’s stunning architectural set. I’d described how it closed at one point, and you can see that in the … Continue reading
Posted in Art / Architecture, Dance Criticism / Discussion / Reviews / Blogs, Dance Photos
Tagged Marina Harss, Mirage, New York City Ballet, NYCB, Paul Kolnik, Peter Martins, Santiago Calatrava, Tatiana Keegan, The Faster Times
Comments Off
THE INFLUENCE OF SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE ON DANCE STUDIOS
Interesting article by Claudia La Rocco in the NY Times about the influence of SYTYCD on studios. (I missed SYTYCD this week; had really wanted to watch Thursday night but was at New York City Ballet all settled in my … Continue reading
Posted in Ballroom / Latin, Dance Classes / Dance Studios, Dance Criticism / Discussion / Reviews / Blogs, Dance on Television
Tagged Alvin Ailey dance studios, Alvin Ailey extension, Ballet, Broadway Dance Center, Claudia La Rocco, Dance Times Square, Hip Hop, Jason Samuels Smith, Mandy Moore, Natalia Osipova, New York Times, Nigel Lythgoe, Salsa, Samba, Savion Glover, So You Think You Can Dance, SYTYCD, tap dancing
Comments Off
WEEKEND READING: BALANCHINE, DIAGHLEV AND WHAT'S WRONG WITH BALLET TODAY
I know it’s not the weekend yet – and I still have another post or two I need to get up before it happens – but I haven’t had time really to devour this article like I’ve wanted to and … Continue reading
Posted in Dance Criticism / Discussion / Reviews / Blogs
Tagged Ballets Russes, George Balanchine, Laura Jacobs, New Criterion, Sergei Diaghlev
Comments Off
SOLUTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE DANCE WRITING
I am going to be part of a panel discussion (my first time being on a panel) next Monday evening, April 12th, at 6 p.m. at the Joyce SoHo. The event will be in a town hall format (so discussion, … Continue reading
BRITISH SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE
The esteemed Guardian critic Judith Mackrell tackles the British version of SYTYCD. And damn, their show looks so much better than ours!: “Who knew we’d be seeing choreography by Henri Oguike, Rafael Bonachela and Mark Baldwin on prime-time Saturday TV, … Continue reading
Posted in Dance Chatter, Dance Criticism / Discussion / Reviews / Blogs, Dance on Television
Tagged British So You Think You Can Dance, Guardian, Judith Mackrell, SYTYCD
Comments Off
REVISITING BATSHEVA'S MAX
I just got an interesting comment (scroll down to last comment) on my post on Batsheva’s MAX, from someone who recently saw that performance in Bruges (one of my favorite places in the world, btw). I just point to it … Continue reading
Posted in Dance Chatter, Dance Criticism / Discussion / Reviews / Blogs
Tagged Batsheva, Bruges, Max
Comments Off
NO IT'S NOT THE TOE SHOES, CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON!
Here’s a Sarah Crompton interview with Christopher Wheedon in the London Telegraph. Morphoses is about to open their fall season there, debuting a new ballet by Wheeldon and one by Australian choreographer Tim Harbour. At the end of the month, New … Continue reading
SOME PHOTOS OF ABT'S FALL '09 OPENING NIGHT GALA
Above photo by Rosalie O’Connor of Everything Doesn’t Happen at Once by Benjamin Millepied; photos below by Andrea Mohin from the NY Times, of Millepied’s Everything (dancers: Marcelo Gomes and Isabella Boylston), and Alexei Ratmansky’s Seven Sonatas (dancers l-r: Stella … Continue reading
Posted in Dance Criticism / Discussion / Reviews / Blogs, Dance Photos
Tagged ABT, ABT opening night gala, Alexei Ratmansky, American Ballet Theater, Benjamin Millepied, Everything Doesn't Happen at Once, Isabella Boylston, Julie Kent, Marcelo Gomes, Seven Sonatas, Stella Abrera, Xiomara Reyes
Comments Off
FONDLY DO WE HOPE … FERVENTLY DO WE PRAY
The new Bill T. Jones work inspired by Abraham Lincoln, which I can’t wait to see when it makes its way to New York, premiered over the weekend at the Ravinia Festival in Illinois. Here are three early reviews. Above … Continue reading
