At our cover shoot for the November issue, Bobbi Jene Smith curated one of the best lineups of YouTube music videos that I’ve heard in a long time. From Bob Dylan to Tom Waits, they felt like such perfect choices for her earthy, visceral movement and soulful approach to dance. A few hours into the […]

What do Johann Sebastian Bach and Leonard Bernstein have in common? Not much, save perhaps an enthusiasm for counterpoint and a propensity for pushing the envelope. That, and they’ve both attracted the interest of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, the Belgian choreographer who has always thought of music as her primary partner. Next week, New York […]

“Women are often presented as soft, fragile little creatures in ballet,” says Léonore Baulac. “We’re not.” The Paris Opéra Ballet’s newest female étoile is discussing her unease at some of the 19th-century narratives she portrays. “It was real acting,” she says with a laugh of La Sylphide. “James kills her by taking away her wings, […]

When I’m dancing, I feel so alive, like every single part of me that makes me who I am is participating in moving my body. When I was little, I wouldn’t stop dancing if I could help it. One of my favorite things to do was to pretend to be Gene Kelly in the backyard […]

It’s the end of a long rehearsal day for the dancers of Abraham.In.Motion. They’re reviewing phrases of a new work, Dearest Home. It’s a pretty typical rehearsal scene. Some dancers cluster around a laptop trying to piece together steps learned long ago. Others review choreography together, working to figure out who remembered which arms correctly. […]

Merritt Moore is a ballerina who just so happens to be graduating from Oxford University with a PhD in quantum physics. Is she even human? The jury is still out on that – but the 29-year-old, who earned her undergrad degree from Harvard, has actually found dance to be a powerful tool that assists her […]