Rachel’s blog @ View Rachel @ Juilliard Dance | Published: February 1, 2016 Category: profileBy Rachel Straus Pam Tanowitz is an ideal example of why we opted to call this column, which this month celebrates its seventh consecutive year, “New” Artist of the Month rather than “Young” Artist of the Month. We at MusicalAmerica.com believe in equal opportunity. Let’s hear it for late bloomers with unconventional career paths. […] Published: April 23, 2015 Category: reviewBy Rachel Straus NEW YORK -- The Stephen Petronio Company celebrated its 30th-anniversary season April 7-12 at the Joyce Theater. The Newark-born choreographer’s most salient works draw as much from club and fashion culture as from concert dance, but as viewed on April 12, his program took a backward glance as well, with […] Published: March 1, 2015 Category: history  By Rachel Straus Editor’s Note: Even though Merce Cunningham’s Biped, which is part of this year’s Spring Dances Repertory,was not created with his longtime collaborator John Cage, the work, made seven years after the composer’s death, is very much “in the spirit of their collaboration,” according to dance faculty member Rachel Straus. “It employs the […] Published: October 30, 2013 Category: reviewBy Rachel Straus LONDON–When a dance work is purported to derive from a series of digital images, is the dancing qualitatively different? The short answer is no. But thinking about this question was the most interesting part of watching Wayne McGregor’s Atomos, which had its world premiere (Oct. 9-12) at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre. …] Published: April 6, 2013 Category: reviewBy Rachel Straus M. Trusnovec in “Sacre du Printemps (The Rehearsal).” Photo: Paul B. Goode NEW YORK–Paul Taylor Dance Company’s second season at the former New York State Theater (March 5 to 24) exceeded expectations. With 21 works performed in three weeks by just 16 dancers, it would be only human for the […] Published: August 23, 2012 Category: historyby Rachel Straus The Ted Shawn Theatre at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Photo by Nancy Tutko from the archives of Jacob’s Pillow The dance of America will be as seemingly formless as the poetry of Walt Whitman, and yet like Leaves of Grass it will be so big that it will encompass all […] Published: March 1, 2012 Category: historyBy Rachel Straus On a crisp winter morning, only the sound of pranayama (slow, extended breathing) from 20 practitioners can be heard in a class at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York. Structured around a gradual intensification of backbends, this particular session, taught by James Murphy, director of Iyengar Yoga Association of Greater New […] Published: December 27, 2011 Category: profileBy Rachel Straus NEW YORK — Before Merce Cunningham died at age 90 in July 2009, he had decided that his company would die with him, preceded by a two-year world tour. And so, after the grand finale performances Dec. 29-31 at the Park Avenue Armory, the company will be snuffed out. Its demise carries […] Published: November 21, 2011 Category: reviewBy Rachel Straus NEW YORK — American Ballet Theater looked on Nov. 9 like a ballet company camouflaged as a modern dance troupe. This wasn’t a bad thing. In the New York City Center program, featuring three out of four works by modern dance-makers, ABT members shed much of their classicism. They soft-shoed in Paul […] Published: January 1, 2008 Category: profileBy Rachel Straus If she hadn’t fallen madly in love with dance in high school, Carol Walker says she might have followed a career in international relations. But as a performer, teacher, and choreographer for 27 years, and then a college dance dean with connections to companies and schools worldwide for the next 23, […] |