Bring People Back to Dance
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

It would be swell to go on about the transformative power of dance as articulated by the new movie “Shall We Dance?” – Miramax’s remake of a 1997 Japanese film – but the best thing about this movie is that Jennifer Lopez is back on the big screen! On any screen!
In “Shall We Dance?” Ms. Lopez plays a pretty but melancholic ballroom dancer and instructor. Along comes the cute but likewise melancholic Richard Gere character, who wants to break out of his boring life and decides to do so by taking dance lessons. There are sparks between them, but the two don’t hit the sack. Instead, they learn from each other and both their lives are enriched. (Is Hollywood going soft this season? My mom is gonna love this movie – and cry.)
For the film, Ms. Lopez wears costumes that are so well-suited to her I almost thought they were a product tie-in to her clothing line. But no. Costume designers Sophie de Rakoff Carbonell (“Legally Blonde,” “A Mighty Wind”) and Mitzi Haralson (“Gigli,” “Jersey Girl,” “Maid in Manhattan”) simply did that good a job pairing the character’s sweet, sad disposition with elegant clothes that show off J. Lo’s body but still allow her to waltz freely.
That means tight tops with scoop necks and flowing skirts that hit the knee. Soft pastel colors, with black accents and embellishments, make her character’s color palette the most sophisticated in the film. It’s all rather demure when compared with some of Ms. Lopez’s looks – including the not-so-great yellow dress in the final party scene.
As for the dancing, there are a few scenes in which Ms. Lopez gets to spin around the floor gracefully, but mainly she’s blue, so she stands a lot. There’s more dancing from the ancillary characters, and it’s all really rather sweet. Mr. Gere is a bit too good of a dancer, (and a bit too good-looking) for this part, but he does a decent job pretending to be a beginner.
I’m happy to report that the dance segments are edited so that you can watch it without having your eyeballs jitter in spasms (a la “Moulin Rouge”). There are some cheesy parts, but the film manages to get across the message that dance can enhance your life. Which is true. It’s just nice that J. Lo was there, too.
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The New York Public Library kicks off its citywide Hellenic Festival on Friday with a new multimedia exhibit: “Mirrors to the Past: Ancient Greece and Avant-Garde America.” Located at the Library for the Performing Arts’s Vincent Astor Gallery, the show conveys the ways in which modern artists (of several generations) have looked to the ancients for ideas.
The dance-related items include photographs of Martha Graham’s works that were inspired by ancient Greek women and gods from 1946 through 1967. Isadora Duncan’s personal copies of “Electra,” “The Trojan Women,” and other plays in translation are on hand, as are a pair of Greek-style drapes that were woven and decorated by Duncan’s brother Raymond, who adopted a Greek style of dress into his everyday wardrobe.
But there’s more than dance to catch at “Mirrors to the Past.” The items in the exhibit also highlight classical influences in the fields of theater, architecture, music, and design. There are a few themes running throughout the exhibit: Greek revivalism in America from 1900 to 1920; the recurring rediscovery of classical narratives; and the use of ancient Greek artistic technique by experimental artists.
And there are plenty of free performances to catch. On the dance front, the Greek-American Folklore Society will present Traditional Dances of Greece at the Bruno Walter Auditorium (111 Amsterdam Avenue) on Saturday, October 16 at 3 p.m. Performances by Greek composers and musicians are coming up, too, so keep an eye out.
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And now for something completely different: The Bangarra Dance Theatre, an Australian company that specializes in indigenous dance, is coming to the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of the Next Wave festival. In “Bush,” which will be performed October 19 to 23,choreographers Stephen Page and Frances Rings blend aboriginal movement with contemporary dance.
It’s a little heavier on the aboriginal movement, and at times the look is so surreal that it recalls Cirque du Soleil (a form of “entertainment” that I consider cruel and inhumane punishment). But unlike “Cirque,” “Bush” is based on imagery that actually means something. The vignettes are intended to tell the history and traditions of the native Australian people. The ideas behind the pieces range from things like “Creation” to “Life Cycle.”
There’s a bit of an earth-mother goddess thing going on in this work, and you can expect to hear a wide variety of chants, rhythms, vocals, and electronic sounds. If it all sounds a bit wacky, consider that at least it’s something beyond the typical narcissistic navel-gazing that we get from a lot of modern dance these days.
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The New York Times last week reported that, though the City Center’s Fall for Dance festival sold out all of its six evening performances, there is some dissent in the dance world over its larger impact. Will it cut into full-price ticket sales when the dance companies present their seasons in New York?
In defense of this festival, let me offer some personal observations. In the years that I’ve been writing about dance for the Sun, I’ve taken loads of friends and relatives along to performances. The most common reaction is: “Thank you, I would never have gone otherwise.”
Not only would they never have gone to the performance, they probably wouldn’t even have known that it existed. I can’t say that all of these folks have become balletomanes or devotees of modern dance. But coming along always seems to raise their awareness of the art form.
These are people who in a different era would have spent money on performing arts, but now get caught up with sports, music, food, and movies. As a result, dance has to aggressively ask for a seat at the table – or, rather, for audiences to take their seats. A parallel program in a different industry is the hugely successful Restaurant Week – a program that continues to expand every year. Restaurateurs don’t offer three-course lunches at $20.12 for their health; it brings in new customers, shows off the kitchen, and hopefully hooks folks who will come back at full price. And by the way, the restaurant committee of NYC & Co has more restaurants wanting to be in the program than it can accommodate.
But for too many people, dance just isn’t even on the radar screens. All it takes is for one friend to see one show – even a grab bag at City Center- and say: “I went to a dance performance.” At the very least, it reminds others that the form is on stage and that if they ever did want to go, they’d have a friend to compare notes with, someone to ask: “What was that supposed to mean?”
Bringing people back to dance is not an easy task. To suggest that City Center president Arlene Schuler undertook it with a “self-serving” agenda, as one observer did, is unthinking.