What does Mikhail Baryshnikov have to say to dancers starting their careers today? On Friday, he gave the keynote speech during the graduation ceremony for the inaugural class of the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. The heart of his message: Be generous. After promising not to talk politics, he said he would go “180 […]
How do you sum up an evening that includes performances of stage-shaking passion; heartfelt speeches that make you laugh and then make you ugly cry; and an inescapable sense of beautiful, joyful, warm-and-fuzzy #dancerlove? You can do it the way legendary Merce Cunnigham dancer Valda Setterfield did it last night: By declaring that there’s nothing […]
I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve needed a moment to process the passing of iconic actor Gene Wilder. This incredible video clip from 1982, in which he tries to dance next to none other than Mikhail Baryshnikov, made me smile. Even though Wilder was (quite obviously) not a dancer, he was a born […]
Jookin sensation (and now ballet crossover) Lil Buck manages to look effortlessly at home wherever he’s dancing. Ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov has managed to be the coolest person in the dance world for the past, oh, four decades. What happens when you dress these these two forces of awesome in fashion-y ensembles and put them […]
This was the most movement Baryshnikov did onstage, but I was pretty much in awe. (Courtesy Northwestern University) Over the weekend, I traveled to Chicago to see my sister graduate from Northwestern University (Congratulations, Danielle!). And, while I was very proud to see her walk across the stage to claim her diploma, I have […]
Tonight CBS broadcasts the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors—and one of the honorees is a true ballet legend. There are many incredible ballerinas dancing today, but nobody can ever quite measure up to Natalia Makarova. She first rose to fame at the Kirov Ballet in the 1960s, but after she defected from the USSR in 1970, […]
It seems like the ballet world always has one or two James Dean-y bad boys, super-talented men who buck convention—not always the easiest thing to do in ballet—and do things their own way. Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Carlos Acosta, Rasta Thomas (who founded, fittingly, the Bad Boys of Dance): They’re all amazing performers who, thanks […]
Last night I attended the second annual Bright Lights, Shining Stars gala benefiting the New York City Dance Alliance Foundation. We were told the event would be star-studded—and it sure was. While DS managing editor Rachel Zar was positively giddy about standing in the lobby next to a Real Housewife (Ramona Singer), I was more […]