Jump to content
This Site Uses Cookies. If You Want to Disable Cookies, Please See Your Browser Documentation. ×

Macaulay: Two Seconds That Explain Balanchine


Recommended Posts

Alastair Macaulay has written an educational ballet piece entitled, Two Seconds That Explain Balanchine. This is the kind of article I would like to see a lot more of - from all publications that review dance - but unfortunately the opportunities seem to be shrinking with each new year. Perhaps the audience isn't large enough, but I have to think that any avid ballet goer and all ballet students and professionals are going to enjoy this type of discussion. This is the type of analysis that only the more experienced dance writers can attempt, since it requires a fair amount of technical knowledge (and any missteps will be highlighted immediately by the readers). Still it's a worthwhile effort to present real information and analysis, and not just fan appreciation, in a dance article.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/24/arts/dance/balanchine-concerto-barocco-breakdown.html

Quote

In George Balanchine’s “Concerto Barocco,” nobody dies, nobody falls to the ground, nobody falls in love. The only set is the sky-blue backdrop. The women’s costumes, minimal, are white tunics.

Yet much does happen. A group of women becomes a vision of pulsating classicism and of gleaming American energy.
In the 1940s, Balanchine was on a mission to “save ballet,” as he put it to the critic Edwin Denby…


 

Edited by pherank
Link to comment

I agree, pherank. I read this with interest, as did my partner. I actually like this kind of analysis and insight more than I do reviews... since I can form my own review based on my own opinion, and I read so many great reviews on BA. 

Link to comment

Elizabeth Zimmer's book about dance on video came with a DVD, as I recall, and Marcia Siegel's The Tail of the Dragon (about postmodern dance) included a filmography, most of which you can see on YouTube now.  We're always trying to use the tools in front of us.

Link to comment
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...