Feeling versus Memory: Ballet in Lockdown

I’ll be the first to admit that in recent years, my personal ballet practice has been sporadic and at times a mere aspiration. Having danced professionally for several years, when I moved to the Irish Northwest, ballet class went from being a daily necessity, to a semi-regular pursuit, and eventually to making little more than

Gamechangers: the artists who changed, and are changing, the course of ballet

When we look back over the illustrious, if relatively short, history of ballet, its course is defined by those who changed what ballet – in its various guises – looked like and how it was done. Marie Taglioni, Vaslav Nijinsky, Pierina Legnani, Anna Pavlova, Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, Suzanne Farrell, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Sylvie Guillem….as we

Free Art: Friend or Foe

The real potential of this digital age is being tested since the beginning of the pandemic. Seemingly overnight, things migrated online which previously we wouldn’t have thought possible, necessary or worthwhile. I’ve been doing ballet and Cunningham from the comfort of my front room. I’ve browsed the Frick Collection in New York and the National