Margaret Fuhrer

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Margaret Fuhrer

Credit... Illustration by Weronika Marianna Social media seemed to hold enormous promise for the dance field. So why are some dancers and companies choosing to disconnect? Credit... Illustration by Weronika Marianna Wonderbound, a contemporary ballet company in Denver, recently made a choice that would be unthinkable for many arts organizations: It quit social media. Cold. Dawn Fay, the troupe's president, said staff members were nervous about the decision.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Margaret Fuhrer

TikTok teems with talented vocalists. One of the most popular is a choreographer. In a TikTok clip that now has more than 5 million views, the dance artist Sean Bankhead leads a tutorial for his routine to Cardi B's song "Up" - doing the steps, but also singing them. "Ooo, ooo, a-bock-a-bock-a BOCK!" he belts, his voice echoing, or maybe summoning, his body's syncopated rolls and digs.

2 months ago | nytimes.com | Margaret Fuhrer

If Christopher Gattelli's choreography looks familiar, that's probably the point. A veteran of more than 20 Broadway shows and a devotee of movie musicals, he has an encyclopedic dance brain, a catalog of musical theater references he deploys throughout his work onstage and onscreen. Homage is his calling card. For Gattelli, 52, those scare quotes might as well be hugs. Barbed as his dance humor can be, it's underpinned by his affection for the genre, in spite and because of its excesses and quirks.

2 months ago | playbill.com | Margaret Fuhrer

Just before the premiere of Firebird, ballerina Maria Tallchief sensed disaster. She was to dance the title role, but a recent tonsillectomy had left her drained and sluggish. During the final dress rehearsal, a flying lift with partner Francisco Moncion had gone poorly, upsetting Moncion. Tallchief’s costume arrived from designer Barbara Karinska’s studio only a few hours before showtime, and neither Karinska nor George Balanchine were happy with the way it fit.

2 months ago | playbill.com | Margaret Fuhrer

Just before the premiere of Firebird, ballerina Maria Tallchief sensed disaster. She was to dance the title role, but a recent tonsillectomy had left her drained and sluggish. During the final dress rehearsal, a flying lift with partner Francisco Moncion had gone poorly, upsetting Moncion. Tallchief’s costume arrived from designer Barbara Karinska’s studio only a few hours before showtime, and neither Karinska nor George Balanchine were happy with the way it fit.