New York City Ballet is celebrating the Jerome Robbins Centennial with twenty (20!) ballets. The great American choreographer died in 1998, so very few of today’s dancers have actually worked with him. There are plenty of stories about how demanding (at times brutally so) he could be in rehearsal. But Peter Boal has written about […]

Eiko Otake has been half of the famed duo Eiko & Koma for many years. They created other-worldly, slow-motion dreamscapes, for which they received a 2006 Dance Magazine Award. Recently Eiko has embarked on a solo project, A Body in Places, which landed on my Best of 2016 list (scroll down to “miscellaneous bests.”) Now […]

David Dorfman’s choreography asks, How can we all get along? In his new piece, Aroundtown at the BAM Harvey Theater, he shows how hostility within a community can turn to tenderness. He and his wife, Lisa Race, have a long embrace in the corner of the stage. It’s almost like saying that enduring love doesn’t […]

We are back at New York City Center for The Red Shoes. Matthew Bourne’s sumptuous version sticks with the story told in the wildly popular 1948 film. I have to admit I’m not crazy about the idea that Victoria Page, a beautiful young dancer, must choose between work and love. Plus, it uses ballet, once […]