How can educated and sophisticated viewers react so differently to a work of art? Is it just Kulture Klash? No, since most of the time there’s no Klash at all. On the occasions when we disagree, it may be because we’re looking for different things in dance. Robert Gottlieb Read Quote
The Sleeping Beauty’ is the greatest, most challenging and most vulnerable of classical ballets. Everything can go wrong with it, and all too often, everything does. Robert Gottlieb Read Quote
Who would have thought that a tap-dancing penguin would outpoint James Bond at the box office? And deserve to? Not that there’s anything wrong with ‘Casino Royale.’ But ‘Happy Feet’ – written and directed by George Miller – is a complete charmer, even if, in the way of most family fare, it can’t resist straying into the Inspirational. Robert Gottlieb Read Quote
Empty Moves’ is elegantly and coolly inventive. Two pairs of dancers shadow each other in slow, deliberate rearrangements and manipulations of legs and torsos, only occasionally switching partners or breaking free of the formal patterning. Robert Gottlieb Read Quote
Yes, bad or mediocre ballets can be useful to the dancers and temporarily fun for the audience, but in the long run, the lowering of standards can only erode the art form we all love. Robert Gottlieb Read Quote
A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is one of George Balanchine’s greatest creations – and one of the greatest of all story ballets. Robert Gottlieb Read Quote
The mystery of Christopher Wheeldon deepens. Yes, he’s the most talented of the younger ballet choreographers – indeed, where’s the competition? Yes, he’s particularly good at nurturing dancers and identifying their essential qualities. Robert Gottlieb Read Quote
In traditional ‘Swan Lakes,’ it’s Prince Siegfried’s 21st-birthday celebration, his coming-of-age. The entire court, from his mother the Queen on down, is on hand. Robert Gottlieb Read Quote
A lot of people have a lot of faith in Karole Armitage. They see her as bold, inventive, indefatigable. ‘America isn’t working out? There’s always Europe. Ballet? No? Go modern. Keep going! Show ’em!’ Robert Gottlieb Read Quote
