I often read your responses to girls who feel they need to lose weight. My problem is that I need to gain it! I’ve always been skinny, no matter how much I eat. I have pasta, peanut butter, chicken, fish, and ice cream, not to mention healthy stuff like cereal, fruits, and vegetables. Nothing works; […]

They made magic.     Memorable partnerships are the great miracles of dance. You can’t arrange them in a balletmaster’s casting dreams or a manager’s office. You can’t predict them. These relationships simply arise in the studio, rehearsal room or onstage, and when they happen, they should be treasured.   How do you know a […]

“You might as well be grabbing two bananas,” says Jock Soto to a male student during a partnering class at School of American Ballet. “You should use your thumb and two fingers,” he explains, demonstrating how he gently holds the wrists of a young woman as he promenades her 360 degrees in a perfectly balanced […]

In 1997, I sneaked into a rehearsal for Savion Glover’s newly-formed company, NYOTs (Not Your Ordinary Tappers), and lay on the floor between two rows of seats in the theater to listen. I just assumed that the female voice amidst the conversations and laughter from the stage was someone from the technical crew or the […]

Endless lines in banks, faulty social services, flooded streets that have you swimming out of your car, bureaucratic confusion and never-ending papers to fill out… In the theatres, the floors are about to cave in, and the lighting instruments are burnt out. What’s the Brazilian response to this pandemonium? “Um jeitinho” or “Don’t worry, we’ll […]

PNB ballerina Louise Nadeau imbues her roles with passionate energy.     There is a moment in Limón’s The Moor’s Pavane when Louise Nadeau, as the Wife, realizes she’s been betrayed. Her hands wrap around her face. As she slowly turns to the audience, Nadeau conveys the terror, the vulnerability, and the determination with which […]

Few ballets have proved so tempting to choreographers—or so challenging.     The plot of Swan Lake turns on a rite of passage: Prince Siegfried, reaching the age of 21, must choose a bride. The task of choreographing and performing Swan Lake is also a rite of passage. For companies, artistic directors, and principal dancers, […]

Choreographer Jane Weiner melds dance and activism at her Houston center.     With her back to the audience, Jane Weiner bourrées across the stage in a part-homage, part-pun on Giselle’s second act. She re-enters with a grandiose string of technical feats ending in a tragic splat on the floor. Weiner nails the essence of […]