Those Hot, Hungry, Haunted Women of MELT

posted by Wendy Perron on Monday, Aug 23

When I dance, I must be above all, hungry.” So said Mary Wigman in the 1920s. It could also be said of Noémie Lafrance’s dancers in MELT. Hungry, tired, and thirsty. They created a mood I will never forget.

Eight exhausted women are suspended on a wall between the FDR Drive and the…

Bravo for the 4 Women at the Joyce

posted by Wendy Perron on Monday, Aug 16

My last outburst touched off a firestorm of responses. The best ones extend the discussion in sensitive ways, and the worst castigate me as trying to “gag” c…

Celebrate Paul Taylor's Birthday-For Free! And More!

posted by on Friday, Jul 30

Get ready for an NYC double-header. Paul Taylor Dance Company and Taylor 2 perform at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, in the Damrosch Park Bandshell, Aug. 5. The free concert, on Taylor’…

Blogging About the Process of Choreography—Ugh!

posted by Wendy Perron on Monday, Jul 26

There’s an annoying new trend of blogging about the process of making a dance. I am not talking about Tere O’Connor, who writes very considered contemplations about dance making, based on his decades of experience. I am talking about young choreographers, anxious to be in the public eye…

Free Merce Tribute, $25 Lemon Sponge Cake and More!

posted by Debbie Schneider on Friday, Jul 23

NYC’s Rockefeller Park hosts a celebration of Merce Cunningham’s legacy when Lucinda Childs, Bill T. Jones, Susan Marshall, Jon Kinzel, and

Allegra Kent: This ballerina is a poet too

posted by Wendy Perron on Wednesday, Jul 14

“He knew how to send his ballerinas up like rockets, one after another, higher and higher.” You probably already guessed which choreographer that’s about. Yes, it’s Balanchine. But can you guess who wrote it? Allegra Kent, who knows how to send he…

Stella Abrera: A Wild Woman in Grief

posted by Wendy Perron on Friday, Jul 09

The very haughty Lady Capulet was performed Wednesday night by a dancer still in her prime: the gorgeous Stella Abrera. In MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, Lady Capulet is a very proper woman. She care…

Free Rex Harrington Class, $10 Tango and More

posted by on Friday, Jul 09

Canadians, listen up! National Ballet of Canada's Artist-in-Residence Rex Harrington will teach a free ballet class at the company’s studios in the Walter Carsen Center on Sept. 25 at 2 pm. A selection of pre-registered participants will dance alongside artists …

Just the Way She Held His Hand

posted by on Tuesday, Jul 06

I keep thinking about Nino Gogua in Duo Concertant. It was the only Balanchine on State Ballet of Georgia’s program at Jacob's Pillow last week. This is a difficult piece to perform cuz the two dancers have to hang out around the piano and just listen to the musicians, wit…

Trisha for $25, Paul Taylor for $25, and More!

posted by on Friday, Jul 02

See Trisha Brown Dance Company perform at Bard's SummerScape Festival July 8-11. The town of Annadale-on-Hudson, NY, hosts the masterful choreographer's newest work, as well as her legendary classics. Tickets start at  

Trisha and Paul Taylor for $25, and More!

posted by on Friday, Jul 02

During the audience participation, Pat Catterson’s voice on tape asked us, “Have you changed the distance between your shoulders during this performance?” After a gentle litany of those kinds of questions, we heard, “Do you think you could ever murder someone?”<…

NYCB’s “Architecture of Dance”: They Didn’t Get the Memo

posted by Wendy Perron on Wednesday, Jun 23

The idea for the Calatrava festival wasn’t fully realized until last night’s premiere, Peter Martins’ own ballet, Mirage (and beautifully so). His concept to emphasize the relationship between architecture and dance just didn’t reach the six other choreog…

Why Don’t Women Make Dances Like That Any More? Or, What Made Martha So Mad?

posted by Wendy Perron on Thursday, Jun 10

Like a bat out of hell, each woman bounded across the space with leap/runs, hands in fists, face set in determination. The all-female ensemble of Sketches from 'Chronicle' (1936), led powerfully by Jennifer DePalo, worked up to a fever pitch, infusing the spare geometry of Graham’s choreography with energy and resolve. I couldn&rsq…

A Treat for Your Feet

posted by Vanessa Ferranti on Wednesday, Jun 02

Dancing all day? Suffering from blisters, calluses and general soreness? Your feet shall suffer no more with Capezio® Danceez Ball of Foot Cushion (#DE1) ($19). Place these barely-visible pads in your shoes to maximize comfort and support.…

Marina Abramovic and Douglas Dunn

posted by Wendy Perron on Tuesday, Jun 01

The Abramovic exhibit at MoMA reminded me of all the performance art in the 70s. It seems to me that her specialty is stillness—and a certain bizarreness. In one display area, a nude woman reclined with a skeleton on top of her. In another, two people, sitting back to back, were tied together by their hair. And of course they was the oft-ph…

Lady of the Camellias Might Actually Be a Keeper

posted by Wendy Perron on Wednesday, May 26

Almost every spring ABT trots out a new full-length production, and more often than not, it’s an expensive failure. After all, what could hold up against Swan Lake, Giselle, and Romeo and Juliet?  I think John Neumeier’s Lady of the Camellias just might do the trick. 

"Trisha Brown is the Sexiest Dancer Alive," says Petronio.

posted by Wendy Perron on Monday, May 24

The men in Trisha Brown’s company never got to do Spanish Dance, that slowly advancing line of swaying hips and spooning bodies. So yesterday at my last talk on Trisha at DTW, six post-Trisha choreographers and I did Spanish Dance to “break the ice” before our talk. No one had access to the Dylan song, so we us…

Baryshnikov's Fascinating Choices

posted by Wendy Perron on Thursday, May 20

Baryshnikov invited three choreographers to make solos on him and two others to perform their own solos. “Unrelated Solos” was an amazing program, not only because of how different these artists are, but also to see how wide-ranging Baryshnikov&r…

Contrasting colors!

posted by Khara Hanlon on Wednesday, May 19

Want to funk up you leotard a little?  Try one with a contrasting detail. The Emma microfiber leotard from Eurotard ($45) isn't just cute, it's also super soft and has wicking properties to help it dry quickly. It's available in solid black, purple/blac…

Paradigm Returns with Two Premieres for $20

posted by on Monday, May 17

Don’t miss two world premieres from Paradigm! Valda Setterfield will dance Montauk, choreographed by Gus Solomons jr to music by Omara Portuondo and Carmen deLavallade will perform Kate Weare’s

Wow, what a premiere! This will haunt me for a while.

posted by Wendy Perron on Saturday, May 15

Wayne McGregor’s Outlier for NYCB started slow and stealthy. There was something eerie about the way Craig Hall and Tiler Peck hovered close to each other. They seemed to be moving in some kind of viscous liquid. But it drew you in right away. I …

Pure Alchemy from Dana Reitz, Sara Rudner, and Jennifer Tipton

posted by Wendy Perron on Friday, May 14

An oasis of calm, light, and exquisite simplicity. The quality of attention is intensified by the silence. You notice every second of the light changing and the hands gesturing. Necessary Weather, at Bary…

STREB’s Blowout Action Maverick Night

posted by Wendy Perron on Friday, May 07

Elizabeth Streb and Philippe Petit, together on a high wire (well, a low high-wire), were a giddy sight for the crowd at the STREB Action Maverick Award Benefit last night. She, behind him with hands lightly on his shoulders; he so mischievous that I expected him to break into a waltz. But they made it across.

This was a benefit to ack…

"Ballet Is Woman"? Not in the Artistic Director's Office

posted by Lea Marshall on Tuesday, May 04

In America, Balanchine's famous quote does not apply offstage. Last week The Richmond Ballet convened a panel to examine the question, Why aren't more women in charge of ballet companies? I came away from a discussion of and by a group of female artistic directors on the generally male-dominated leade…

Serenity in the Face of Danger

posted by Wendy Perron on Monday, May 03

At Dia:Beacon this weekend, Trisha Brown placed her Group Primary Accumulations with Movers into the Michael Heizer Gallery, whose floor has four huge, deep canyons carved into it. The four women were lying on their backs serenely performing the simple, sensual accumulation: l…

International Dance Day

posted by Wendy Perron on Thursday, Apr 29

I am not sure what happens on this day, but let's all think about dance together. We think about it all the time anyway.

Every year on this day, a different well-known dance artist writes a message to…everyone. Today’s International Dance Day Message is by…

Anna Halprin’s Awe-Inspiring Dance Life

posted by Wendy Perron on Monday, Apr 26

The momentous breakthroughs of Anna Halprin’s career have been captured in a new film titled Breath Made Visible. Halprin's work is famous for crossing the borders between dance and healing, art and life, and performance and psychology. The intertwining of her love for dance and her closeness to nature…

I Promise You’ll Like Promises, Promises

posted by Wendy Perron on Friday, Apr 23

This musical is a barrel of fun the old Broadway way: a good love story, lots of ripe misunderstandings, the triumph of a nebish. Right from the start I liked Rob Ashford’s staging. Men in suits chugged in a goofy way (looking for a brief instant like Matthew Bourne’s male swans). Office girls dipped into…

$20 Fun-Raiser, $23 Peter Pan, MOMIX for $24

posted by on Friday, Apr 23