Robert Gottlieb
Robert Gottlieb
Robert Adams Gottliebis an American writer and editor. From 1987 to 1992 he was the editor of The New Yorker...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth29 April 1931
CountryUnited States of America
ballet combining dancer dialogue disastrous founding mess sometime terrible vegas
Melissa Barak, an ex-City Ballet dancer and sometime choreographer, has put together an unspeakably dopey and incompetent mess called 'Call Me Ben,' combining ultra-generic dance, terrible dialogue and disastrous storytelling, about the founding of Las Vegas by the gangster Bugsy Siegel, who insists, violently, on being addressed as 'Ben.'
art bad ballets dancers form love lowering mediocre standards useful
Yes, bad or mediocre ballets can be useful to the dancers and temporarily fun for the audience, but in the long run, the lowering of standards can only erode the art form we all love.
ballet dancers eternal good mysteries people perform plain pure supposedly untalented work
One of the eternal mysteries of ballet is how untalented choreographers find backers for their work, and then find good dancers to perform in it. Is it irresistible charm? Chutzpah? Pure determination? Blackmail? Or are so many supposedly knowledgeable people just plain blind?
breaking dancers deliberate formal legs pairs partners switching
'Empty Moves' is elegantly and coolly inventive. Two pairs of dancers shadow each other in slow, deliberate rearrangements and manipulations of legs and torsos, only occasionally switching partners or breaking free of the formal patterning.
dance unlike
Dance stories, unlike those in opera, are usually simple.
dancers essential good nurturing talented younger
The mystery of Christopher Wheeldon deepens. Yes, he's the most talented of the younger ballet choreographers - indeed, where's the competition? Yes, he's particularly good at nurturing dancers and identifying their essential qualities.
ballet dancers degree interest middle ranks
You can usually tell how healthy a ballet company is by the degree of your interest in the middle ranks of the dancers - the not-yet stars, the up-and-comers.
hard-work dancer actresses
Diana Vishneva is not only a magnificent dancer but a magnificent actress - no one works harder or understands more.
biography boring caught few good lives whose writers
There are a few writers whose lives and personalities are so large, so fascinating, that there's no such thing as a boring biography of them - you can read every new one that comes along, good or bad, and be caught up in the story all over again.
beauty peter
You may feel that Peter Martins' 'Beauty' is too compressed and inexpressive, but it's loyal to the text.
authors either russian
We see a new generation of Russian authors who are not divided from their Western contemporaries either culturally or philosophically.
errors jarring
You have to surrender to a book. If you do, when something in it seems to be going askew, you are wounded. The more you have surrendered to a book, the more jarring its errors appear.
both constant great needs perfect poised renewal repertory seems
Every great dance company, even when it seems poised in perfect balance, needs constant renewal of both repertory and performers.
diet higher might prove steady truths
A steady diet of the higher truths might prove exhausting, but it's important that we acknowledge their validity and celebrate their survival.