Clive Barnes Lives On

Clive died in 2008, but his enthusiasm for dance and theater lives on in the Clive Barnes Awards, orchestrated by his widow Valerie Taylor Barnes, former soloist at The Royal Ballet.

Today the Clive Barnes Award went to two terrific dancers: Lauren Lovette and Rob McClure.

Lovette, a vibrant New York City Ballet dancer, was an “On the Rise” last fall. Still in the corps, she lights up the stage when she is cast in a featured role.

Rob McClure had the huge task of portraying Charlie Chaplin in the musical Chaplin on Broadway, and he was terrific in it. In our October issue, Sylviane Gold outlined what was so challenging about this portrayal in her “On Broadway” column.

These awards are a nice way to remember Clive’s charm as a critic and generosity as a person. He wrote our back-page “Attitudes” column for years. It was always fun to talk to him about a performance he had seen, and it was also fun to edit him, which it was my privilege to do.