Fran Lebowitz: on learning about ballet and choreography from Jerome Robbins
“I thought people wrote ballets”:
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Featured dancer: Melissa Hough
I’ve just discovered a not-so-well-known dancer named Melissa Hough, who used to dance with the Boston Ballet but is now a member of the Houston Ballet. Hough reminds me of retired ballerina Cynthia Gregory, who used to dance with American … Continue reading →
Anybody else…
…experiencing a lull in their interest in the 2012 election? I am. I have little doubt it will spark up again. But the idea of comparing the latest of Perry’s gaffes to the latest of Romney’s flipflops to the lastest … Continue reading →
What’s up with these dancers who don’t age?
First there was Maya Plisetskaya at eighty. Then the other day I came across some recent photos of the dancers Carmen De Lavallade and Geoffrey Holder. I’d completely forgotten about them—although I saw both perform long ago—and to be honest … Continue reading →
Dudley Williams, dancer
The other day I was doing some YouTube surfing of old dance performances. But try as I might, I was unable to find a tape of one of my favorites, Dudley Williams of the Alvin Ailey Dance company doing the … Continue reading →
A dance to take your mind off whatever ails you
Here’s a video of a dancer whose skills are stunning. I’m not at all sure I like this type of dance (some sort of modernized combination of Michael Jackson squared and Marcel Marceau, with a bit of Martha Graham thrown … Continue reading →
John Maynard Keynes, married man
One of the things I love about blogging are the discoveries that can result from late-night meandering down paths that lead to the unexpected. That’s what happened the other evening when, after doing some research on Keynes and Hayek, I … Continue reading →
RIP Betty Ford
Former First Lady Betty Ford has died at the age of 93. She was catapulted to fame through an unlikely and unique set of circumstances, her husband appointed VP by Nixon after the disgraced Agnew was forced to leave, and … Continue reading →
Another dying swan: Lil Buck and Yo Yo Ma
This is astounding body control: I don’t know whether Lil Buck has formal dance training or not; a quick Googling yielded no information on that score. But he’s pretty amazing, trained or no, with a unique combination of hip hop … Continue reading →
Ferri and Bocca, Fonteyn and Nureyev, in the ballet “Romeo and Juliet”
Here’s a palate refresher for you. I complain a lot about how much the art of dance has been sacrificed to the extremes of contemporary ballet technique. And all too often that’s the case. But here’s a couple I encountered … Continue reading →
Dance me to the end of the Leonard Cohen video
I’ve finally located a certain video, discovered while I was at YouTube engaged in one of my favorite activities: procrastination by chain-viewing. You know what chain-viewing is. You watch a video, and then plan to click on just one more … Continue reading →
Transformations: queen into swan
Ballet specializes in transformations. After all, it changes the human body from a lumbering earthbound thing into an ethereal yet steely and gravity-defying, lighter-than-air, transporter of the audience into realms of beauty and transcendence. Yes, it can be corny, especially … Continue reading →