Arts

Arts

Dia-fied: Blinky & Co. at Beacon and Bard

by Scott Baldinger “Art is not innocent (Oscar) Wilde says ... Violence can be done in its name. Indeed, the twentieth century brought forth many Dorian Grays: fiendishly pure spirits so wrapped up in aesthetics that they become heedless of humanity.” This quote, from a recent New Yorker article by Alex

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Arts

Jonah Bokaer: School at Jacob’s Pillow Alum Returns with Two U.S. Premieres

Dance review by Bess J.M. Hochstein Photos of Why Patterns by Artworks ©Daniel Arsham/Snarkitecture Much has been made of the fact that Jonah Bokaer was, at age 18, the youngest dancer to join the Merce Cunningham Dance Company; that he takes an interdisciplinary approach to dance, collaborating with

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Arts

3e Étage (3rd Floor): First Rate, Seriously Playful Dance

Review by Bess J.M. Hochstein Photo: Steve Murez At the end of La Valse Infernale, a satisfying, virtuoso snippet of traditional ballet choreographed by Raul Zeummes—with long-limbed, bun-headed ballerinas spinning and posing on point and men bounding skyward—that builds into a frenzy of leaps, jumps,

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Arts

Capitol Steps Puts the Mock Back in Democracy

Review by Bess J.M. Hochstein Whether the debt-ceiling wrangling in Washington has you gnashing your teeth or near tears, take a deep breath—and prepare to laugh it out. The Capitol Steps have returned to Cranwell Resort for their fifth-consecutive summer residency, and our elected representatives have

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Arts

Big Dance Theater’s U.S. Debut of Supernatural Wife: Big Fun, Big Ideas

Dance review by Bess J.M. Hochstein Photos: Cherylynn Tsushima One thing you should know before seeing Supernatural Wife, Big Dance Theater’s take on Euripides' sort-of tragedy Alkestis  – and you should see it -- is that dance is probably the least element of this enchanting and intelligent multimedia

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Arts

LDP/Laboratory Dance Project Makes a Winning Pillow Debut

Dance review by Bess J.M. Hochstein Without a doubt, LDP/Laboratory Dance Project, an all-male, contemporary troupe based in Soeul, is the most winning company to perform at Jacob’s Pillow thus far this summer, a season that has already seen more than its share of superb performances.

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Arts

Review: "Sylvia" at Berkshire Theatre Fest

When A.R. Gurney's play Sylvia debuted in 1995  at Manhattan Theatre Club with Chalres Kimbrough, Blythe Danner and Sarah Jessica Parker, the New York Times critic wrote:  "Not since Abie's Irish Rose has there been a play as critic-proof as Sylvia, at least

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Arts

Jazz on Three Summer Days, a Chat with Vita Muir

Summer 2011 marks the 16th anniversary of the Litchfield Jazz Festival, of which jazz DJ Dave Hershorin of New Orleans WWOZ radio says, “It’s what other jazz festivals wish they could be.”   Litchfield Magazine recently named LJF founder Vita Muir one of the 50 most influential people in the

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Arts

Lar Lubovitch Lets Loose at Jacob’s Pillow

Dance review by Bess J.M. Hochstein Photo: Todd Rosenberg Lar Lubovitch is a master of shape in space. In his work, form and flow take precedence over narrative or message, and his dances are a joy to watch. In the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company's appearance at Jacob’

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Arts

Zoe | Juniper Jumps to the Doris Duke Theatre

Dance review by Bess J.M. Hochstein Photos: Christopher Duggan Seattle-based zoe | juniper is a young multi-disciplinary visual and performing arts company headed by the husband and wife team of dancer/choreographer Zoe Scofield and photographer/video installation/sculptural performance artist Juniper Shuey. The company made its Jacob’

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Arts

Leon and Richard, Together Again

by Scott Baldinger Bard president and American Symphony orchestra conductor Leon Botstein (above left, in 1975 at the age of 29)  is also the numero uno champion of the 1940 opera Die Liebe der Danae, the gloriously coloristic but neglected work composed in Germany by Richard Strauss (above right, at

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Arts

Cutting Edge Exhibit Down by the Riverside

by Betsy Miller Picture Shirley Bassey singing her hit song This is My Life in one of her dramatic costumes.   Now imagine her singing the same song at different points in her career, all captured on video that has been fragmented by an artist, who further fractures the images with

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