Author Archives: jsl915@aol.com

Anna Spelman, about whom Elena Tchernichova writes admiringly in our book, (and deservedly so), called me from Houston.  She’s visiting there from Chicago, a guest teacher at the school owned by Robert Underwood, another talented ABT alum, (he went on … Continue reading →

Jacobs casts a wide net and does the diapason thing smashingly. When she’s not writing the back-jacket blurb for Dancing on Water, she is covering the Met’s punk fashion show for The Wall Street Journal, deconstructing Mary McCarthy and her … Continue reading →

Call them the Gold Dust Twins. Going through papers—I’m always going through papers—I found a letter from Dean Goodman, written in 2005, a year before he died. Goodman was an actor, writer, director.  He was also married to Dietrich’s daughter … Continue reading →

This way to download my interview about the book with Rob Sachs of Voice of Russia-USA radio.

Last week, Irina Kolpakova celebrated her 80th birthday, prompting me to review again the footage available of her on youtube. A decade ago,  I donated to the Library for the Performing Arts a copy of most of a Soviet TV … Continue reading →

And I don’t mean Noonan’s vaudeville turns. Turning is certainly not the strong suit of New York City Ballet’s men, so it was great to see all the whirling going ’round at ABT’s Symphony in C.  And given that’s it’s … Continue reading →

As a pretentious, factitious fantasist, we know by now that Peggy Noonan takes second place to no one. And Jon Stewart rightly excoriates her show of manufactured outrage—replete with bizarre facial tics– about the IRS “scandal,” in a segment on … Continue reading →

Jim Meyer at Grist Magazine lists us as one of the U.S. cities that will be most hard hit by climate change. Read this, fellow citizens, and get your heads out of the sand!

Last night at the Metropolitan Opera, ballet seemed, as it doesn’t enough of the time these days, like an art form that it still important and respect-worthy.   American Ballet Theatre’s triple bill  was made up of Mark Morris’s Drink to … Continue reading →

Sandra Steingraber’s pre-teen child told her that recently, as she relates poignantly in Orion Magazine.  (I got to this via Alternet.org)   And Steinbrager has decided to do something about it.   She’s going to get INVOLVED! And it’s darn well about … Continue reading →