Walter Terry - or - what critics do you still read?

[sandik]

I came across a copy of the Ballet Companion at a local bookshop yesterday, and was thrilled to bring it home, but it's making me think about Terry, who was a very influential critic in his time, but doesn't really get read very often today. 

We all talk about Arlene Croce, and still use her writing as a way to think about ballet.  But who else do you read?  And especially, who else do you read when you're curious about past performances?

[Mashinka]

3 hours ago, sandik said:

 who else do you read when you're curious about past performances?

John Percival and for very early stuff, Cyril Beaumont.

[canbelto]

edwin denby, arlene croce, and akim volynsky's volumes of work are my dance bibles.

[sandik]

I look at Denby and Croce still, as well as Marcia Siegel and Deborah Jowitt.  I wish that Alan Kriegsman's work at the Washington Post was anthologized, and Michael Steel from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Any thoughts on whose work you'd like to see in an anthology?

[miliosr]

I've been buying back issues of Dance Magazine and its sister publication, After Dark, for the features and the photographs. But I read the reviews regardless of the writer. I'm always amazed at how much Dance Magazine reviewed, and its reviews section gives a more comprehensive picture of what was going on than you get from just reading Croce.

[sandik]

Oh, absolutely -- for many years, Dance Magazine was a treasure trove of national reporting and reviewing.  I wrote for them briefly towards the end of this period, and I was always excited to see my byline next to so many people I admired. 

I think one of the reasons that they were so diligent in their coverage was Doris Hering, who ran Regional Ballet America (and its various manifestations) -- she took the work seriously and thought it deserved serious consideration.

Those older issues are well worth seeking out, for the the coverage and the images.