Barnett Serchuk

Damien Simon's The Collaboration is an elegant and entertaining book, introducing those in the know--and those who may not know very much--to the sometime quicksand process known as collaboration.

I think I've seen Jewels at least 200 times in my life. Notwithstanding all the performances-excellent, good, mediocre, or just beyond mention, the ballet always yields rewards in its seemingly abundant outpouring of music and dance. We all know Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky from so many Balanchine ballets. Who would have thought of Gabriel Fauré?

Having watched the Mark Morris over the past 20 years, I can say with all honesty that he has all the virtues that distinguish a fine choreographer: musicality, vitality, charm, humor. My problem is that I never find myself warming to anything I see, especially to the program on July 11, 2019.

After watching the beautiful Lydia Johnson Dance program last night, June 7, 2019, I had this whim: what if Lydia Johnson was currently meeting with Louis Horst, one of the 20th century's internationally renowned choreography pedagogues.

New York City Ballet opened its spring season with a week of 21st-century ballets-no Balanchine, or Robbins, just anything that was created after 2000. Some prove eminently worthwhile and destined to remain in the company's repertoire for a long time; others, I'm not quite sure.

KYLE ABRAHAM is a 2017-18 Joyce Creative Residency Artist, 2016 Doris Duke Recipient, 2015 City Center Choreographer in Residence, a 2013 MacArthur Fellow, and a New York Live Arts Resident Commissioned Artist for 2012-2014.

How sad it was that the same night that I attended the opening of the Juilliard School's Spring Dances 2019, Lawrence Rhodes, the previous director of Juilliard's Dance Division, former head of NYU's Tisch School of Dance, and a damned good dancer himself, passed away. What does one say? It's sad, but knowing the Division is now in the hands of the excellent Alicia Graf Mack and that the performance was of such high caliber-we should all be grateful for the work he did and the legacy he's passed on.

When the Rodgers and Hart musical, 'I Married An Angel,' opened in May of 1938, choreography by way of Mr. George Balanchine, Brooks Atkinson, the critic of the New York Times, rained applause down: '...George Balanchine has designed his most gorgeous ballet patterns...the central part of the Angel is played by Vera Zorina, whose grace as a dancer is informed with imagination and awareness.

It's become second-nature for many in the dance world to refer to Jerome Robbins as a second rate choreographer these days. Or should I say even 40 years ago?

The wait is finally over!!! An artistic director for New York City Ballet has been named. Or should I say, two artistic directors?

I always enjoy mingling with the crowd during ballet intermissions to hear their views and to see if mine corresponds with theirs.