Dance
Like the Dance Exchange’s staged and site-specific productions, Liz Lerman’s “Hiking the Horizontal” is pieced like a quilt. Like Liz, it’s a little rumpled and gives the reader a lot of permission to go her own way.
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Two rescheduled events—a celebration of Haiti and Mango Blue’s CD release—highlight the first half of February, along with a not-to-be-missed visit by Wayne Shorter and his Quartet.
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UPDATE: The Mango Blue CD release event scheduled for tonight (January 26) has been cancelled due to the impending snowstorm; check back here for announcements concerning rescheduling.
Read MoreNew York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay is on solid ground when he critiques the shape of the dancers, but why his insulting tone? How do we, as readers, judge a critic who describes a dancer’s body in a demeaning way? By Megan Trombino While sitting at the Boston Ballet‘s production of The Nutcracker (through…
Read MoreBlack Swan isn’t about surpassing ordinary limits. It’s a film about a masochist seen through the eyes of a sadist. The film could be a textbook demonstration of what academics refer to as the male gaze—with a pretty young thing poked and dismembered under a misogynist lens. By Debra Cash Darren Aronofsky has said that…
Read MoreUltimately, Basil Twist’s Petrushka is a meditation on the tension between the animate and inanimate, a story that lets a puppet explain what it’s like to be a puppet, a fable that argues that to be alive is to recognize causality and suffering—and that the ability to suffer is paradoxically a precious gift. Basil Twist’s…
Read MoreBoston’s pop music scene in November has an international flair. Multiple groups from the UK who specialize in folk and electropop join bands from Spain and Ireland in coming to Boston this fall. While the picks for this month all have roots abroad, these acts make the Fall months of Boston that much more inviting.…
Read MoreScreening at the Coolidge Corner Theatre on October 2nd, the Bolshoi’s Bolt is a curiosity worth exploring, a meditation on the Russian past that could only be produced after the nightfall of Stalinism. After all, in some eyes composer Dimitri Shostakovich may have been a stooge, but he was never an obtuse one. Reviewed by…
Read MoreWhat is a Judicial Review? It is a fresh approach to creating a conversational, critical space about the arts. The aim is to combine editorial integrity with the community—making power of interactivity. This is our second session. Hear Ye! Hear Ye! For dance critic Debra Cash, Serenade/The Proposition, the first of Bill T. Jones’s investigations…
Read MoreIn Serenade/The Proposition, the first of Bill T. Jones’ investigations into the myth and legacy of Abraham Lincoln, the choreographer looks at history and history looks back. By Debra Cash Cash was the professional critic on the Judicial Review panel reacting to Bill T. Jones’ Serenade/The Proposition at Jacob’s Pillow, July 21 through 25. She…
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Arts Commentary: From the Editor’s Desk — By Popular Demand, 2026