Remembering Stuart Hodes – Nov 27, 1924 – March 15, 2023
I read of Stuart Hodes' passing in The New York Times this morning -- and, despite my sadness, have been walking around NYC smiling, inwardly and outwardly, all day long, remembering his angular energy and quick wit and eloquent passion for dance and life. I was...
BIO International asks, “Would you Rather…?”
Eloquent exponent of modernism – Nicholas Fox Weber on MARTHA GRAHAM.
Women’s History Month 2023 – Christa Wolf – Lest we forget
"We forget too easily: woman as an intellectual has existed in appreciable numbers only for the last sixty or seventy years. We know stories of her and about her, but her history -- a history of incredible exertion and courage, but also of incredible self-denial and...
Kudos to the Denver Public Library…
...for connecting Martha Graham's enduring legacy with the Paul Taylor Dance Company - coming to the University of Denver Robert and Judi Newman Center for the Performing Arts - starting March 27th. Click here and scroll down to see the library's Martha Graham - When...
Necessity meets Nostalgia: De-accessioning the Archive
Steve Clay and Mary Catherine Kinniburgh of the venerable Granary Books came to see me today. Can it be that a half-century has passed since I founded The Niagara Magazine, published my dissertation on the manuscripts and letters of William Carlos Williams, received...
Carter G. Woodson remembered
I was listening to a group of Black high school students in Florida responding to Governor DeSantis' dictum about cancelling the AP African American Studies course - and this young man said, "It's like they're saying we have no history" -- and my thoughts instantly...
Martha to Anna – Varieties and Anxieties of Influence
Our one-hour webinar on Thursday evening, January 19, 2023, exploring the complex affinities and inevitable divergences of Martha Graham and Anna Sokolow, was well-attended, lively and provocative. And it took a village of dance people. Gratitude and kudos to Samantha...
Martha, nestled next to Cary Grant…
...discovered by Fran Kirmser, Director of Strategic Marketing and Special Events, Martha Graham Dance Company, at her favorite independent bookshop, Books on the Common, in Ridgefield, Connecticut.
Martha Graham at Juilliard on International Choreographers Day – January 9, 2023
Martha Graham taught at the Juilliard School from 1951-1977. And there she was again, gracing the window of The Juilliard Store on West 66th Street in Manhattan, for all the world to see, in celebration of International Choreographers Day. Strolling by, I am reminded...
Thoughts upon noticing my new book on Martha Graham displayed in the window of the Rizzoli Bookstore on 26th Street & Broadway in “NoMad”
A fine pre-holiday winter evening in Manhattan, as I make my way down town on the west side of Broadway through throngs of darkly-clad young people, out and about, strolling couples, groups of friends waiting in line for a scoop of gelato, wining and dining at leisure...
The talented young students at Pittsburgh CAPA, the Creative and Performing Arts magnet
On the afternoon of December 2, under the community-based auspices of Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures, NB was honored to take lunch with principal Melissa A. Pearlman, dance chair James Washington Manning, and the dance and creative nonfiction faculty of Pittsburgh CAPA...