Rachel Straus - Dance Writer

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Juilliard Dance

 
Published: August 27, 2015
Category: history

In Remembrance: Maggie Black

By Rachel Straus

It is a rare teacher who develops a loyal following among ballet and modern dancers, but such was the case with Maggie Black (1930-2015) who died at age 85 in May on Long Island. This fiercely independent ballet teacher’s transformative effect on dancers’ abilities was famously dubbed “Black Magic” by none other […]

Published: March 4, 2014
Category: profile

The Shortstop Who Slid Into Choreography

By Rachel Straus

Takehiro “Take” Ueyama was on the road to professional baseball until his team lost the nationals. Then he discovered Michael Jackson, the Moonwalk, and, much to his dismay, wearing tights.

Takehiro “Take” Ueyama fell in love with baseball as a boy growing up in Tokyo, but when his team didn’t make […]

Published: December 1, 2012
Category: profile

Damian Woetzel: From Ballet Star to Dance Impresario

By Rachel Straus

 

Damian Woetzel

Not since the defection of Rudolf Nureyev has a ballet dancer moved so rapidly into the sphere where the arts, politics, power, and the media collide. Yet the international visibility of Damian Woetzel, whose Americana-style charisma won him accolades for two decades performing with the New York […]

Published: December 27, 2011
Category: profile

The End of Modern Dance?

By 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: review

ABT in a Modern-dance Mood

By 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: profile

Carol Walker: Ambassador for Dance

By 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, […]

Published: March 15, 2007
Category: review

Paul Taylor Dance Company ‘Lines of Loss’

By Rachel Straus

Choreographer Paul Taylor shuns autobiographical interpretations of his dances. So I shouldn’t dwell on what it must be like making dances ad infinitum for a constantly traveling group of performers who get injured, age and leave the company just when he is beginning to love them. I shouldn’t factor in the […]

Published: September 14, 2004
Category: review

The Magnificent Tapper of Our Time: Savion Glover

By Rachel Straus

Tap virtuoso Savion Glover moves loose as a shoestring to produce a razor-sharp sound. He sings bebop with his feet. And he considers himself a drummer more than a dancer, though he has won at age 31 more awards than any other tap dancer of his generation.

Mr. Glover opened the sixth […]