Testing Assumptions
The current global zeitgeist of uncertainty and the tendency to jump to judgment inspired veteran dancer-choreographer Beth Corning's latest dance-theater work, “Foolish Assumptions.”
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World-class review of ballet and dance.
How many ways to think about “Sleeping Beauty”? In the first written Italian and French versions, the plots outline the fate of a young girl as the object of family jealousy, trickery and, after being drugged asleep, ravishment. By the mid-19th century, the Brothers Grimm toned down the storyline, romanticized and adapted it as a story fit for children. Ivan Vsevolozhsky, Tchaikovsky, and Marius Petipa’s 1890 landmark ballet further refashioned it. But another few generations of scholarly research recognized the darker undertones and representations of girls in the fairy tale tradition. Apart from handsome swains or huntsmen who save damsels like Beauty or Red Riding Hood from stepmothers or disfigured crones, the producers of even the most treasured classics should take some measure of the plight of characters, even if fantasy.
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The current global zeitgeist of uncertainty and the tendency to jump to judgment inspired veteran dancer-choreographer Beth Corning's latest dance-theater work, “Foolish Assumptions.”
PlusAt a time when the roots of toxic masculinity are still being hotly debated within society (I'd argue nature and nurture aren't necessarily mutually exclusive bedfellows) the excellent “Boys Don't Dance” arrives, fully formed at a festival for children, but with enough layers to appease any audience.
PlusJust as The Wizard of Oz to the United States or Pinocchio to Italy, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is the coming-of-age novel of English childhood. The reception of Christopher Wheeldon’s ballet of the same name depends heavily on this legacy.
PlusDirector and choreographer Naoya Homan’s reimagining of “Aleko,” a one-act ballet where art takes center stage, dazzles the eye with a tragic meditation on the limits of freedom.
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