Half the Sky
Mao Zedong’s famous statement that women hold up half the sky may sound poetic and even liberating.
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World-class review of ballet and dance.
Mao Zedong’s famous statement that women hold up half the sky may sound poetic and even liberating.
PlusThe men are already on stage when the audience filters into the theater. Some stand stretching at the ballet barres, aligned in neat rows, and others move around, jumping, swinging their legs, lunging.
PlusThe questions that the choreographic duo known as Baye & Asa set out to answer in their in-progress work, “At the Altar” may or may not be rhetorical: Who or what do we worship? How do we worship? Who are the righteous? Who are the blasphemous?
PlusOn the rear wall of New York Live Arts’ black box theater, two grids of a dozen headlamps each resemble the glaring light towers of a sports arena.
PlusTwo productions in one, “World Tales in Dance,” was a charming, crowd-pleasing afternoon of dance theatre.
FREE ARTICLEIn Jo Warren’s “All Mouth,” five dancers perform what could be an action scene from a movie with the playback speed slowed down and sound turned off.
PlusThe Pioneers Go East Collective's Out-Front! Festival highlights “radical queer art + dance,” making it a perfect resident festival for the historic Judson Memorial Church.
PlusDominica Greene makes snow angels in a small pool of light. As the audience chatter at Danspace Project quiets down, she revs to life. Rocking and talking about a rickety fan found in her grandparents’ house in Guyana, her shakes and shudders illustrate the pleasure her body derives from the appliance’s particular rhythm.
Plus“Profanations,” created by choreographer Faustin Linyekula and music artist Franck Moka, is not a “just” dance piece: it’s a live concert, a cinematic séance.
PlusWhen Alban Lendorf was four, he became attentive to the piano. When his lessons advanced to the learning of a Chopin waltz, his piano teacher suggested he take dance classes to help open up the music.
PlusMarie Antoinette is not an entirely sympathetic character. Her penchant for luxury and extravagance—and the degree to which she was out of touch with the lives of the majority— made her a symbol of the wealth disparity that prompted the French Revolution.
PlusAscending the Guggenheim Museum's rings through Rashid Johnson's retrospective, “A Poem for Deep Thinkers,” is a dance in of itself.
PlusLong before the dancers take the stage, Dance Theatre of Harlem’s season at New York City Center feels like one of the most energizing cultural events of the spring.
PlusIt is rare for George Balanchine’s grand, bedazzled “Symphony in C” to open a program. Its champagne-popping finale for 52 dancers tends to be a nightcap.
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The Spring is Blooming festival, by Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, now in its fifth year, has become a highlight of the spring dance circuit.
PlusAs the audience come to their feet at the end of this ballet there is a noted difference to be seen on stage. Three women stand with joined hands, taking their call as the romantic leads of a loud and proud lesbian ballet.
PlusOne of San Francisco Ballet’s greatest assets is its home venue, the Beaux-Arts style War Memorial Opera House, with four rings of seating that require performers to project their energies practically to the exosphere.
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