For people who missed it this past Wednesday, here is our Paloma Herrera on So You Think You Can Dance:

From what I can tell through Google, it looks like nearly all responses from the gen pub have been positive

Some people mentioned they’d have preferred a pdd (since SYTYCD is about partnering, after all) — something more like this:

Dancers above are our studly Jose Manuel Carreno and the Royal’s lovely Tamara Rojo.

I miss Jose; he hardly danced with ABT this past Met season…

I was recently reunited with an old friend on Facebook and, on realizing I was now a bit of a dance fanatic (I know him from my lawyer life), he asked me what I thought of Gelsey Kirkland. Unfortunately, by the time I moved to New York all the major stars of yesteryear had retired. So I never got to see her or Nureyev or Baryshnikov or Makarova or any of the others dance live. He said Kirkland was his favorite, “pure magic.”

I love so many of today’s dancers of course, and, from what I’ve seen from videos of yesterday’s stars, many of today’s seem every bit as good. But of course they are nowhere near as famous.

I mean, when my friend told me Kirkland was on the cover of Time, I couldn’t believe it! A dancer on the cover of a major magazine, could it be? So, he sent me the cover article. Wow.

He also sent some videos: here is her Nutcracker, and here with Baryshnikov in Quebra Nozes (which I’ve never seen before; it is really beautiful), here her Don Quixote (also with Barysh). And here, her Juliet (MacMillan’s!, with Sir Anthony Dowell). Have also been ordered to read Dancing on my Grave, which looks rather fascinating and is next on my list.

Okay, I’m a dumbass and missed it last night. I thought it was premiering tonight. Did any of you guys catch it? What did you think? I just learned that San Francisco Ballet’s Maria Kochetkova will be on tonight, dancing as the ballet soloist for Russia! According to her blog, she’ll be dancing a Kitri solo from Don Quixote. Will definitely be taping and / or watching!

Okay, here’s my (late) list of favorites from 2008: (click on highlights to read what I wrote about each dance)

Favorite overall dance of the year:

Revelations by Alvin Ailey. Because the movement language — a unique blend of American Modern with African — is highly evocative, richly varied, and, because it’s set in a specific time and place recognizable to most if not all of us, it’s imbued with meaning and feeling accessible to everyone. And because it speaks to the human condition like no other dance I’ve ever seen. I’m still looking for something to top this and don’t know if I’ll ever find it.

(photo by Paul Kolnick)

Favorite new dances:

1) Nimrod Freed’s PeepDance in Central Park;

Continue reading ‘Favorites of 2008′