Portraits of a Lady
Martha Graham is the Georgia O’Keefe of dance. No matter what the source material, the primary subject of her works is womanhood.
Continua a leggereWorld-class review of ballet and dance.
Why is it so hard to find a good “Swan Lake” these days? The ballet is performed by practically every classical company, and yet so few of the myriad versions in circulation are any good. The wrong things have been cut out (like the fourth act dances for the swans) or added (like the pesky Jester that pops up here and there, or the Bolshoi’s “Evil Genius”). The period is changed, creating the need for awkward adjustments, or an unnecessary subtext is added, or the mime is erased, or the ending is altered. The variations are endless, but almost no version satisfies. I’ve seen exactly one in the theater that told the story simply and effectively and felt musically alive. Of course there are older stagings that one can watch on video that do seem to work. (An overview of all the available productions would be interesting.)
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Martha Graham is the Georgia O’Keefe of dance. No matter what the source material, the primary subject of her works is womanhood.
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