Merle Park

New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) continues their 39th Season with REP at Florence Gould Hall, 55 E. 59th Street, NYC, on April 27 & 28, 2018 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $29 ($14 for students and seniors) and may be purchased at http://nytb.org/calendar-and-tickets/view/REP/ or by calling (212) 355-6160.

New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) continues their 39th Season with REP at Florence Gould Hall, 55 E. 59th Street, NYC, on April 27 & 28, 2018 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $29 ($14 for students and seniors) and may be purchased at http://nytb.org/calendar-and-tickets/view/REP/ or by calling (212) 355-6160.   Diana Byer, Founder and Artistic Director of NYTB, is dedicating the evening to long-time friend and colleague, the late David Vaughan (1924-2017), a dance historian, critic, lecturer, and performer. She has titled the REP evening David's Favorites.  

New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) continues their 39th Season with REP at Florence Gould Hall, 55 E. 59th Street, NYC, on April 27 & 28, 2018 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $29 ($14 for students and seniors) and may be purchased at http://nytb.org/calendar-and-tickets/view/REP/ or by calling (212) 355-6160.

New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) continues their 39th Season with REP at Florence Gould Hall, 55 E. 59th Street, NYC, on April 27 & 28, 2018 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $29 ($14 for students and seniors) and may be purchased at http://nytb.org/calendar-and-tickets/view/REP/ or by calling (212) 355-6160.   Diana Byer, Founder and Artistic Director of NYTB, is dedicating the evening to long-time friend and colleague, the late David Vaughan (1924-2017), a dance historian, critic, lecturer, and performer. She has titled the REP evening David's Favorites.  

New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) returns to New York Live Arts with its new Uptown/Downtown/Dance series from March 1-4, 2017 at 7:30pm with an additional 2pm matinee on Saturday.

New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) returns to New York Live Arts with its new Uptown/Downtown/Dance series from March 1-4, 2017 at 7:30pm with an additional 2pm matinee on Saturday.

New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) returns to New York Live Arts with its new Uptown/Downtown/Dance series from March 1-4, 2017 at 7:30pm with an additional 2pm matinee on Saturday. This year's program features a revival of Nijinsky's L'Apres-Midi d'un Faune staged by the 98-year-old Ann Hutchinson Guest, a new and as-of-yet untitled pas de trois by Pam Tanowitz, Frederick Ashton's La Chatte métamorphoses en femme, and Antonia Franceschi's She Holds Out Her Hand which premiered at Danspace in Fall 2016. All pieces will be performed to live music. A post-show celebration with wine, hors d'oeuvres, and music will be held after the opening night performance for which tickets are $75. Tickets for the performances are $30 ($15 for Students & Seniors) and can be purchased at http://newyorklivearts.org/event/spring-concerts/.

I often find myself infuriated with my favorite ballet teacher, trained from the Royal Danish Ballet School since age 8, and his obsession with little jumps. I never quite comprehended why we needed to spend twenty minutes doing maddeningly technical and precise jumps, while other teachers would spend maybe seven minutes, until I watched the 1961 BBC productions of Bournonville version of La Sylphide and the 1974 BBC production of Flower Festival in Genzano.

On a rainy August day I curled up on the couch with BBC's recently released and re-mastered television broadcast of John Cranko's The Lady and the Fool and Pineapple Poll. Accustomed to contemporary ballet sensibilities, I was a bit skeptical of the black and white recording of these two 1959 performances, yet, as the comic ballets unfolded on my television screen, I slowly fell in love with the character dance and theatricality that are highly reminiscent of an old fashioned musical comedy.

John Cranko's Onegin was recently presented by American Ballet Theatre. As I expected, the reviews weren't great. It seems Cranko never commands much respect over here. The reviews all describe the work in the same way: empty, boring, sleep-inducing. But I don't agree. Sure, the ballet could be shortened, but aren't there many ballets like that. One thing it does offer: wonderful acting parts for dancers.