Oliver Meyer

Cuba is theoretically a republic but where ballet is concerned it is indisputably a monarchy, ruled by the iron will of 86-year-old prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso. Although her chauffeured dark blue Lancia flies no official flag its licence plate, “Cuba HVX 789,” is as notable as that of any high-ranking government official.

The International Ballet...

Sigmund Freud and Joseph Goebbels both became concerned with dance as symptom. The question they asked of dance was whether it conveyed a healthy state of mind or the opposite. There the similarity stops. After reading an essay on inhibited movement by young Edwin Denby (who became America’s great dance critic), Freud began to considered dance from the perspective...

Anticipation is an odd creature, especially when it is fuelled by the press. Opinions take root in one’s mind, colouring all that one sees. In this mood of expectation, I attended a performance of T.R.A.S.H., a dance group which has been described by the national press as “punk,” “aggressive” and “violent.” Before the performance began I sat in the theatre’s café...