"Black Swan': a ballet/horror film (1st review)

And you thought ballet was a tough career

Black Swan purports to be a film about ballet. Is ballet really this vulgar, violent and tasteless?

Jane Biberman

Dec 19, 2010 · Articles · 2 minute read

Parsons Dance at Annenberg

Hold the philosophy, pass the joy

David Parsons doesn't use dance to explore ideas. With Parsons, an evening of dance is just an evening of dance— and very enjoyable nevertheless.

Judy Weightman

Dec 14, 2010 · Articles · 3 minute read

The plump dancer and the 'New York Times' critic

Art and sensitivity: If a dancer's too heavy, should a critic say so?

The New York Times dance critic has been vilified for commenting on a dancer's weight. Was he insensitive? Maybe. But that sort of sensitivity is the enemy of art— especially the art of dance.

Jim Rutter

Dec 07, 2010 · Articles · 4 minute read

BalletX: Ochoa, Del Cuore and Neenan (2nd review)

A ballet troupe with a future

Now in its fifth year, BalletX has assembled a consistently talented cadre of strong modern ballet dancers, commissioning new work and tapping selections from a growing repertoire.

Jonathan M. Stein

Nov 23, 2010 · Articles · 3 minute read

BalletX: Ochoa, Del Cuore and Neenan (1st review)

Stories and pictures without words or paint

Revivals by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Matthew Neenan have ripened with age. The same might be true a few years from now for Tobin Del Cuore's Beside Myself. BalletX 2010 Fall Series: Ochoa, Still @ Life; Del Cuore, Beside Myself; Neenan, Frequencies. Through November 21, 2010 at the Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St. (at Spruce). (215) 546-7824 or www.balletx.org.

Jim Rutter

Nov 20, 2010 · Articles · 4 minute read

"Kaidan Insuto' by Daniele Strawmyre's readySetGo

Japanese ghosts in Kensington

In a suitably ghostly abandoned warehouse in Kensington, Daniele Strawmyre and her readySetGo dance company presented Kaidan Insuto, an engrossing performance installation work based on ghost tales from 17th-Century Japan.

Jonathan M. Stein

Nov 09, 2010 · Articles · 3 minute read

Paul Taylor at Annenberg (2nd review)

Sound and fury, signifying…. what?

The great modern dance pioneer Paul Taylor is 80 years old and dripping with honors. But Phantasmagoria, his newest piece, couldn't be weirder or less like the work that has made him a legend.

Janet Anderson

Oct 29, 2010 · Articles · 4 minute read

Pennsylvania Ballet's "Carmen'

Don José: Victim, villain or jerk?

The opening scene of Roland Petit's Carmen suggests immense bottled-up passion and lust. Unfortunately, that passion is never released in the ballet's remaining two scenes.

Jim Rutter

Oct 26, 2010 · Articles · 4 minute read

Paul Taylor at Annenberg (1st review)

Paul Taylor, between the body and the spirit

Paul Taylor has been choreographing for more than half a century— long enough to gently tweak the pretensions of modern dance even as he seriously examines the interplay between the spiritual and the carnal.

Judy Weightman

Oct 26, 2010 · Articles · 3 minute read

Nichole Canuso's "Takes' at the Fringe (1st review)

Anatomy of a relationship

This inventive portrayal of a couple's relationship, as seen from several perspectives, is less important than the expression of feelings and the visceral movement of bodies. Dito van Reigersberg and Nichole Canuso are so convincing as a couple that we're rarely aware of them as performers.

Steve Cohen

Sep 20, 2010 · Articles · 3 minute read