Whenever The Avodah Dance Ensemble held a performance in New York City, we sent out a press release to the dance critics. We were always hopeful that one of the three critics from The New York Times – Anna Kisselgoff, Jennifer Dunning, or Jack Anderson – would cover our event. While we were not always covered, we often were, several times by Jennifer Dunning and once by Jack Anderson.
In early January I received an email inviting me to a memorial service for Jack Anderson. He had died in October at the age of 88. I am not sure what list I was on that resulted in my receiving the invitation, but I was fascinated by some of the information in the notice, particularly that he was a poet besides being a dance historian and critic. On January 27th at 4 in the afternoon I streamed the memorial held at St. Peter’s Church, Lexington Avenue, New York City. His poetry was read by different people throughout the service. Among the speakers was Anna Kisselgoff, who in a feisty voice shared what he didn’t like and that he had often been asked to go on the staff of The New York Times but preferred to freelance. Three dance pieces were woven into the service: a solo from Antony Tudor’s Dark Elegies performed by a soloist from the New York Dance Theatre; a piece by Baroque Dance; and a lyrical trio of liturgical dances by Dance @ Saint Peter’s.
After the memorial I wanted to learn more about Jack Anderson, so I turned to the obituary in The New York Times which opens with, “He brought an all-embracing enthusiasm to about 4,000 articles for The New York Times on modern dance, tap, ballet and practically every other genre.” His first article was written in 1978, and his last published piece was an obituary of Anna Halprin in 2021. Here’s the link to the New York Times obituary if you want to know more about Jack Anderson. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/22/arts/dance/jack-anderson-dead.html
Next, I found myself going through my digital files to find the review he had written about the Avodah Dance Ensemble. He reviewed a concert we gave at Hebrew Union College on May 31, 1997, which included pieces inspired by two poets: Primo Levi and Yehuda Amichai. Now that I know Anderson was a poet, I understand why he might have been assigned our concert to review. While it was a short review, it was a solid one, beginning with acknowledging the space we were performing in:
“The sanctuary of the Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion, a high, wide hall with walls of light wood that help make it look radiant, is used for concerts as well as for religious services. It was a fine setting for Avodah.”
A few other passages I liked and was able to use in publicity:
“Ms. Tucker choreographed clear patterns that could be adapted to performance spaces of many kinds.”
“ ‘Shema’ effectively contrasted relentless pacing, representing concentration camp regimentation with outbursts, symbolizing the prisoners’ turbulent personal feelings.”
I was glad to get the coverage, although I wish he had commented on the dancers, as they gave an excellent performance.
In December of 2023 I had read a reference to the fact that there were no longer any full-time dance critics on the staff of major newspapers. In fact, in 2015 an article appeared in The Atlantic entitled “The Death of the American Dance Critic.” At that time there were two full-time critics: Alastair Macaulay at The New York Times and Sarah Kaufman at The Washington Post. Neither of them is now on staff at either paper; now all reviewing is being done by freelance writers.
As I continued to explore options for reading dance reviews, I came across a Facebook page named “Dance Critics Association.” It has 647 members with regular posts. There used to be an active Dance Critics Association that was founded in 1973, but the last time it showed any life was around 2007-2008. Perhaps the FB page is now their only outlet. The good news is that it is very active, filled with lots of daily posts.
When I was director of The Avodah Dance Ensemble, getting good press and publicity was important for us. To be able to have a good quote to use in a press release or on our website was important to build our audience and to get bookings. I am glad I could honor Jack Anderson by streaming his memorial and by writing this blog. I want to honor and express gratitude for all the dance critics and writers who continue to review performances and write about dance.
Screenshot of scrapbook page. Fun to see our review was directly under another review of the New York City Ballet by Jennifer Dunning. Much easier to read the review by clipping on this link:
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Very nice article Jo. I had no idea that there were no more steadily employed dance critics – even in NYC! Salt Lake got rid of dance critics about 10 years ago – it’s too bad because no one has any idea if one might like or dislike a show that is being produced for several days in a row. YOU just need to go. So now, we are finally in line with what is happening in the center of the dance world. I guess there is something to be said for that.
Wow Lynne, that is interesting to know that there aren’t even freelance dance critics in Salt Lake City. At least some of the papers are still keeping dance critics columns on as freelancers!
Good observations, JoAnne. I too lament the demise of dance criticism. I think that social media and online forums such as criticaldance.org (which I’ve written and moderate for) have somewhat usurped the former functions of dance criticism, not adequately, I might add. I do note that at the NY Times-Gia Kourlas, Brian Seibert and Siobhan Burke are the regular dance critics. But from what you write, they’re all freelancers…odd? Joan Acocella recently passed away…Anna Kisselgoff, retired? A curious state of affairs.
Yes..for sharing about criticaldance.org. Didn’t know about that. And yes at least The NY Times is covering dance but all freelancers. I saw that Joan Acocella passed away. I didn’t follow her too much but know she was well respected. Thanks for continuing to read the blog and make comments.
I had hoped to go to the memorial but it was on Joel’s birthday and timing did not work out. So glad to read your post about it and to read The NY Times Avodah review! I must have read it at the time, but had forgotten. I did go to a Dance Critic’s Association conference once or twice, but it was a while back.
I was glad that I streamed it and as I wrote I learned a lot. It may be posted on St. Pete’s Church website as I seem to remember they said something about that. Thanks for continuing to read and comment!