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player ready...The dueling impulses of flight and self-sacrifice result in ballet, perhaps our most contradictory art form. This week, the magazine explores another duality of dance-how such an ephemeral mode of expression and talent can exist in a world as fiercely, proudly practical as Chicago.
We are fortunate to have Tribune arts critic Sid Smith as our tour guide in this week’s cover story, “Vive la company.” Sid grew up in Mobile, Ala., and was 6 years old when the first Joffrey production debuted in New York. He fell in love with dance in college and journeyed north to see giants Martha Graham, George Balanchine and Mikhail Baryshnikov as well as the Joffrey. When he moved to Chicago, he hardly ever missed a Joffrey performance.
“Their appeal to me lies in their variety, their bold willingness to show off choreography somewhat ignored by larger companies, at least until the Joffrey comes along and shines a light on it,” reflects Sid. “Ballet in the Joffrey’s hands is accessible, provocative, fun-loving and often sublimely beautiful.”
Sid has a mission to interpret dance to a wide audience, and he is as comfortable backstage as he is chatting with audience members at intermission. “I’ve been reading Sid’s wry, tightly crafted and highly observant pieces for more than 20 years,” says arts and entertainment editor Scott Powers. “He has a knack for translating movement into words that connect to newspaper readers, while at the same time writing at a level credible to aficionados.
“Writing about ballet, like flight itself, is harder than it looks.”
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