Books: I particularly admired Martin Duberman’s The Worlds of
Lincoln Kirstein. Kirstein was a
difficult man and his tormented psychological and sexual life has often
obscured his public image; Duberman rights the balance and gives full due to Kirstein’s
voracious intellect and profound commitment to civic culture. He was the last
of a dying breed: No one in the dance world since has matched his range and
intellectual confidence. I also enjoyed John Richardson’s A Life of Picasso: The Triumphant Years, 1917-1932, which includes an illuminating account of the
artist’s marriage to the Russian dancer Olga Khoklova and his work with
Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.
One of the most exciting and moving performances of the year
was Mary Zimmerman’s production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan Opera. Lucia was an inspiration for the original Parisian Giselle (1841) and Zimmerman’s production,
with its haunted aura and ghostly images brings the parallels into high relief,
reminding us of the close historical relationship between opera and ballet. The
choreography by Daniel Pelzig is nondescript, but the production as a whole has
a poetry and dramatic urgency lacking in most dance performances today. The opera
will be performed again in the spring.
Mikhail Baryshnikov’s performance in Beckett Shorts at the New York Theater Workshop (still running) is extraordinary;
the production is directed by JoAnne Akalaitis, with stunning sets by Alexander
Brodsky and original music by Philip Glass, all of whom bring a strange beauty (and humor) to the
painful and difficult emotions expressed in the text.
And then there is the Baryshnikov Arts
Center, a refreshingly low-profile New
York venue that offers a range of performances and “works
in progress” in an intimate setting. Tickets are relatively inexpensive (or
free). There is no pretense or bravura here--just a pleasant ambiance where
audiences and artists can work and escape the hype that surrounds so much dance
today.