Gay Morris

“Exploring Stillness”
Flamenco Festival
New York City Center
New York
March 9, 2018

Since at least the beginning of modernity, movement has been considered the essential element of western theater dance. Movement is what gives dance its autonomy as an independent art; stillness, accordingly, is the antithesis of dance, a void. Occasionally contemporary choreographers have looked at aspects of stillness and its relationship to dance, but it is rare. Consequently, it came as a surprise when this year’s Flamenco

“Divertimento from ‘Le Baiser de la Fée,’” “Agon,” “Duo Concertant, “Symphony in three Movements”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York
March 4, 2018

New York City Ballet’s final performance of the winter season consisted almost exclusively of Balan- chine/ Stravinsky ballets, often called “black-and-white” for their use of practice clothing for costumes. The one exception, while still a Balanchine/  Stravinsky work, was very different, but not simply because of its costuming. The

Compañía Eva Yerbabuena
March 9, 2018
Ballet Flamenco Jesús Carmona
March 11, 2018
Flamenco Festival
New York City Center
New York

Each year the Flamenco Festival brings several of Spain’s major companies to New York. This year one of them was headed by a woman, Compañía Eva Yerbabuana, another by a man, Ballet Flamenco Jesús Carmona. The were very different, but less due to the gender of their directors than to their approach to the medium. Yerbabuena’s show,