You can usually tell how healthy a ballet company is by the degree of your interest in the middle ranks of the dancers - the not-yet stars, the up-and-comers.
From Robert Gottlieb
Nobody could call the work of Noche Flamenca & Soledad Barrio pallid.
Soledad Barrio is clearly a master - of thrilling steps and passionate movement. She stalks, she circles, she struts, she snaps her head - her feet drill the stage.
Either 'Deuce Coupe' has aged badly, or I have. I suspect it's the latter.
The heart of the classical repertory is the Tchaikovsky-Petipa 'Sleeping Beauty,' and no ballet is harder to get right.
Ladies: You have to support an infant with a hand under its head.
When you can't follow a ballet's action, you can always read the program notes.
You may feel that Peter Martins' 'Beauty' is too compressed and inexpressive, but it's loyal to the text.
It's always fascinating - and sometimes a little disquieting - when two first-rate critics violently disagree.
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.
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