The following is a chapter from Twyla Tharp's book Push Comes to Shove : Twyla Tharp Foundation Shortly after Sue's Leg, I met with Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith, co-directors of American Ballet Theatre, and their associate, Antony Tudor, in a very large, fairly intimidating, sumptuously appointed, and appropriately high-up corner office in a Chase Manhattan Bank building. Wasting no time, Miss Chase asked me to make a ballet for Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gelsey Kirkland, Martine v

Photo by Paul Kolnik Robbins: “Misha Baryshnikov asked me for a new work for himself and I said very tentatively—well, I can try, but I...

Photos by Beverly Gallegos for Dance Magazine. “Ah, this pearl,” Mr. Balanchine mused aloud, “now how do I mount it?” --John Corry, New...

“The Prokofiev concerto […] has been heard by Mr. Robbins as an aural inspiration rather than a structural guide. It has very possibly...

Deborah Jowitt on Opus 19/The Dreamer: "Robbins clearly wanted to explore Baryshnikov's chameleon-like aptitude for unfamiliar styles and...

The beginning of Jerome Robbins’ ‘The Four Seasons’ introduces Janus the god of new beginnings, in this case representing the new year....

“In Apollo’s second variation, Balanchine hit on a startling image to convey that the god is conscious of his divinity. Twice Apollo...

Baryshnikov dancing the 2nd solo in Robbins’ Fancy Free. Photo by Martha Swope, 1979 Video from “Dance in America” dir. Emile Ardolino, 1981

Happy Birthday, Baryshnikov! There’s a sweet article written by Arthur Unger in 1980 who interviewed Misha and Liza together on a rainy...

We caught up with Tiler today as she prepares "Other Dances" for the stage tonight. LJ: Where did your journey with "Other Dances" begin?...

"A Suite of Dances" was Robbins' first choreographic work in 5 years, created at the prompting of Baryshnikov: "Listen, if at some point...

A Robbins biographer, Amanda Vaill, wrote, "In its first movement the two partners indulge in a few folk-inflected gestures […] that seem...

Baryshnikov recalled the rehearsal process for Other Dances with Jerome Robbins: “He himself showed us everything; he moves beautifully,...

(8/12) The Oberon variation has been described by dancers as one of the fastest and most difficult male variations that Balanchine...

Earlier, I shared that one of my favorite parts in this ballet is the 4 men in Spring. My other favorite part is the role of the Autumnal...

(6/6) “I think Apollo is the best role for a male dancer that has ever been choreographed, and I think it has more in it than any dancer...

(5/6) In his 1936 autobiography, (affiliate link) Stravinsky wrote of the original 1928 decor and costumes for Apollo: “I did not see eye...

Tallchief recalls that Balanchine and Stravinsky worked “side by side in the rehearsal studio. Ordinarily, when George was...

(3/6) Balanchine on the idea that his ballets are abstract: “No piece of music, no dance can in itself be abstract. You hear a physical...

Just a Misha/Rubies appreciation post. After performing at the White House for President Carter, the president asked Misha how he would...