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Tag Archives: ballet
“Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
Joan Acocella, longtime dance critic for The New Yorker, and regular contributor to the New York Review of Books died in 2024 at the age of 78, and I did not mark her passing. It’s her birthday today. Acocella brought … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged ballet, Bob Fosse, dance, Dorothy Parker, essays, H.L. Mencken, Joan Acocella, Martha Graham, nonfiction, Nureyev, Primo Levi
2 Comments
“A pas de deux is a dialogue of love. How can there be conversation if one partner is dumb?” — Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolf Nureyev — born on this day — was once asked how he got so much height in his legendary jumps. He replied, “When I am at the peak of the jump, I just pause a little bit.” As though … Continue reading
“I am not descended from flesh. I am God.”: It’s Vaslav Nijinsky’s Birthday
From Tennessee Williams’ semi-autobiographical last play, Something Cloudy, Something Clear: CLARE. [to Kip] I’m about to deliver a lecture to him on making concessions in art. KIP. For or against? CLARE. I think any kind of artist — a painter … Continue reading
Photo of the Day: Above the fray
This is one of my faves of all the photos I’ve taken. This is a dance studio a couple blocks south of Port Authority on 8th Avenue. A place that gets (or used to get) crazy foot traffic. Total human … Continue reading
2020 Books Read
What a year, huh. What a dumpster-fire year. I read a lot, mostly in the mornings, and it helped create rituals for the days, which often seemed endlessly the same, interchangeable. I read a lot of long and challenging books … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Austria, ballet, Ballets Russes, Belfast, Biography, books read, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Czeslaw Milosz, dance, Dubravka Ugrešić, Elinor Lipman, Elizabeth Bishop, Eminem, essays, Ezra Pound, fiction, H.D., Hannah Arendt, Hitler, Ireland, Jane Austen, Jean Arthur, Marcel Proust, Nick Tosches, nonfiction, Olivia Laing, poetry, Poland, politics, Rebecca West, Robert Kaplan, Roman empire, Russia, Ryszard Kapuściński, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Shirley Jackson, Stalin, true crime, Ukraine, war, WWII, Yugoslavia
38 Comments
Stuff I’ve Been Reading
2020 has been heavy, ain’t it. “This shit’s about to get heavy” (I worked so long on that Eminem piece, his lyrics are still buzzing through me). When things get heavy, escapes are great, momentary respites are important. I have … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged ballet, Croatia, Dubravka Ugrešić, fiction, Memoirs, Nijinsky, nonfiction, Robert Kaplan, Russia, Ryszard Kapuściński, stuff I've been reading, Ukraine, Yugoslavia
7 Comments
Review: Girl (2019)
My review of the Belgian film Girl – about a trans female ballerina – is now up at Rogerebert.com. It premiers on Netflix today. I cannot recommend it.
Review: Polina (2017)
I love dance movies so I was very happy to get to see and review Polina, about a Russian ballet dancer who then moves out into other forms of dance, searching for a style of her own. My review is … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged ballet, dance, France, Juliette Binoche, reviews, Russia, women directors
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Two Beautiful Ones: Prince and Misty Copeland
This has been making the rounds but it’s so beautiful I wanted to share it, just in case people haven’t seen it. Imagine what this means. Ballet is not a mainstream pursuit. People are gigantic stars in the ballet world … Continue reading