Re-envisioning and performing this beloved classic ballet with dancers that identify as disabled seems to me to be the definition of courageous.
Dance
Classical CD Review: Elliott Carter Ballets
Bottom line: these are excellent performances and a valuable documentation of Elliott Carter’s early work.
Classical CD Review: A Ballet of Human Sacrifice — Set in Ancient Mexico or Post–World War I Germany?
Egon Wellesz’s Weimar era critique of the cruelty of nations that are victorious in war still rings hauntingly true.
Dance Review: “Postcards from the Front” — A Pandemic Time Capsule
The 51-minute piece represents a digital time capsule. It comprises 16 short episodes — reflections in movement of lives caught inside the pandemic — crafted by dance-maker collaborators.
Arts Feature: Dance Favorites of 2020
Community is what I miss most of all the pandemic’s deprivations—doing stuff with others.
Dance Review — Reclaiming Space, Quarry Dance IX
The film allowed me to see the dancers’ connections to each other, and their connections to the quarries themselves.
Classical Album Review: Commedia dell’arte Clowns in a World of Heartbreak
Dohnányi and Schnitzler’s “pantomime” The Veil of Pierrette receives its first, and resplendent, recording.
Dance News: Heartbreaking Loss at Jacob’s Pillow
With great sightlines from every one of its 216 seats, the Doris Duke Theatre space made for intimate, often enthralling encounters with movement.
Dance Review/Commentary: “The Grand Union” — The Story of the Accidental Anarchists of Downtown Dance
This fascinating book, and the rich literature of films and writings around it, have helped me feel a bit more positive about these shrunken times.
Dance Feature: The “Table of Silence Project 9/11” — Reimagined
“We will step to the edge of our humanity, expressing the commonalities that we all share, the threads that bind and connect us all.”