Writing in the Dark: Dancing in The New Yorker

“Cool, fully engaged, brilliant and tough.” —Rick Whitaker, The Washington Post Book World

"Theoretically, I am ready to go to anything—once. If it moves, I’m interested; if it moves to music, I’m in love.” From 1973 until 1998 Arlene Croce wrote The New Yorker ’s dance column, which was created for her. Her entertaining, forthright, passionate reviews and essays revealed the logic and history of ballet, modern dance, and their postmodern variants to a generation of theatergoers. They offer vital commentary on the late works of George Balanchine and on such classics as Sleeping Beauty , Giselle , and Cinderella .

Croce chronicles the flourishing careers of Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Mark Morris, Merce Cunningham, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Suzanne Farrell and, as the century ends, the problematic status of the great national ballet New York City Ballet, Britain’s Royal Ballet, and Russia’s Kirov and Bolshoi Ballets. This volume of her most significant and provocative writings reverberates with consequence and controversy for the state of the art today.