Although Martha Graham started out opposed to ballet, in her later years she invited a few ballet stars to perform with her company. These were mainly men -- Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov -- and in Graham, the men are often just props. Margot Fonteyn made an appearance, and after Graham's death, so did Natalia Makarova, but they did not...
BALLET FOR MARTHA Making Appalachian Spring Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan Illustrated by Brian Floca 48 pp. A Neal Porter Book/Flash Point/Roaring Brook Press. $17.99. (Ages 6 to 10) I was a 9-year-old philistine. Sure, as a dance student I knew my Tchaikovsky and my Petipa. I'd even heard of Stravinsky and Balanchine. But I'd never heard of...
Francis Mason, editor, writer, cultural diplomat, radio dance critic and dance devotee, died on Thursday at his home in Rye, N.Y. He was 88. His daughter, Leslie, announced the death. He emerged as a dance writer in the 1950s; more than 50 years later he was still at work in the dance field, most notably in the last three decades as editor until...