It’s hard to tell since we’re in the middle of it, but while the current dance scene may not be regarded as “golden,” it is undeniably rich. Part of the impressiveness of it all is the dazzling variety of styles and approaches. In a given week—say,  this one—you can choose from a tango musical (Tanguera), a dance/theater interpretation of a film (Big Dance Theater), big ballet with work by contemporary choreographers (ABT), and large-scale heady stuff from Europe (Forsythe Company). Another company, Lucinda Childs, is performing restaged older work at the Joyce Theater. The main piece on the program, DANCE, is from 1979, permitting a glimpse of history in a vehicle that seems as fresh as anything out there, even if as a result of not having seen it for awhile.

Childs was one of the major figures in New York’s dance boom that took place in the 70s and 80s. She formed a company in 1973 which performed her rigorous, dense, graceful dances. read more

When you first got your driver’s license, did you take your parents’ car out? Perhaps tentatively at first, and then with more confidence each time? And yet, it was always your parents’ car, and always would be, but you got used to it, and maybe they got used to the idea of you in it. Well Mark Morris has had the proverbial keys to the parents’ car—Lincoln Center—for several years now. Even so, given his puckish nature, he’ll always seem like the teenager in the Buick Roadmaster. And that’s not a bad thing.

Lincoln Center, where Mark Morris Dance Group has performed regularly in recent years—with more frequency than even BAM, near his headquarters—dominates Manhattan’s culturescape in the genres of classical ballet, music and opera. Morris is no neophyte, with his company nearly 30 (!) years old. His modern style is straightforward, rhythmically attentive, often joyous. And yet he structures his dances with the great care of a classicist, from the full-length works to the shorter ones. It’s earthbound and exalted all at once. read more

In the shadow of American Ballet Theatre’s season-closing performances of Romeo and Juliet, a few weeks after New York City Ballet ended its spring season, it’s time to take a deep breath. The trope that while NYCB has the rep, ABT has the dancers still holds true to some extent, although it is eroding on both sides. ABT prides itself on emphasizing the word “theatre” in its name, evident in the reprisal of story ballets such as Swan Lake and Le Corsaire. But naming Alexei Ratmansky as Artist in Residence was kind of like winning the lottery for ABT, which has repeatedly attempted to add contemporary choreography to its canon, with mixed results. This season, Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie included Paul Taylor’s Airs in this year’s rep, an ideal blend of modern and classical for this company.

Ratmansky created Russian Seasons and Concerto DSCH for NYCB, which hoped he would stay on as resident choreographer. Both were successes and fit the company and its Balanchine pedigree well. read more

I remember a favorite old college T-shirt, yellow with blue lettering, proudly proclaiming “a century of women on top” (this from a women’s college), which finally got so shredded from overuse that I had to throw it out. Back when I first got that shirt, which is a long time ago now, I think I would have been shocked to consider how little headway women have made at the very top echelons of the arts. I got thinking about this after a spate of articles on the topic appeared in major newspapers last week in L.A., Washington, D.C., and London. The theme of all these articles was how few women are employed as top-level theater directors, choreographers receiving big commissions, and music directors of major orchestras.

Ironically, these articles—which appeared in The Guardian (choreographers) and The Los Angeles Times (music directors) and The Washington Post (theater directors)—appeared the same week that the Metropolitan Opera’s performance of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice aired on SundayArts. read more