Rockwell: Fresh Winds Blowing

Does “crossover” modern into ballet diminish ballet? John Rockwell argues the point: “Ballet is not over. Of course its choreographers should still be steeped in ballet vocabulary; nearly all serious dancers have ballet training these days. Of course experimentation that is silly or destructive should be condemned. Of course different dance genres should maintain their integrity, even as they evolve. But beware of a mind-set that shuts off all innovation for fear of infection. To close oneself off to anything beyond the embattled walls of the academy is to ignore a whole wide world of potentially exciting dance and of ballet evolution.”