Alastair Macaulay
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Alastair Macaulay is an English writer and dance critic. He was the chief dance critic for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' from 2007 until he retired in 2018. He was previously chief dance critic at ''
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'' and Literary Supplement and chief theater critic of the ''
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'', both of London. He founded the British quarterly ''Dance Theater Journal'' in 1983. He writes that his first morning in New York City was before September 1981. In addition to his roles as critic, Macaulay has written for ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' and also published a biography on
Margot Fonteyn Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias DBE (''née'' Hookham; 18 May 191921 February 1991), known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn, was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with the Royal Ballet (formerly the Sadler's Wells ...
. In 2000, he wrote ''Matthew Bourne and His Adventures in Dance: Conversations with Alastair Macaulay'' with
Matthew Bourne Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne (born 13 January 1960) is an English choreographer whose work includes contemporary dance and dance theatre. Choreographer In 2007, Bourne contemplated a gay version of ''Romeo and Juliet''. Despite the succ ...
. Macaulay was named one of the
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' Jerome Robbins Dance Division Fellows in 2017. As of 2019, Macaulay was an instructor at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Macaulay started a controversy in 2010 when he disparagingly commented on the weight of ballet dancer
Jenifer Ringer Jenifer Ellen Ringer (born ) is an American ballet dancer and educator. She joined the New York City Ballet in 1990, became a principal dancer in 2000, and retired from performing in 2014. She then became the director of the Colburn School's pro ...
. In a review of a performance of ''
The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchai ...
'', he wrote that Ringer, as the Sugar Plum Fairy, "looked as if she'd eaten one sugar plum too many." Macaulay published a response to the controversy explaining his perspective and writing, "The body in ballet becomes a subject of the keenest observation and the most intense discussion. I am severe — but ballet, as dancers know, is more so."


References


External links


Alastair Macaulay's blog
* ttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/12/arts/dance/of-women-men-and-ballet-in-the-21st-century.html Macaulay, Alastair. "Of Women, Men and Ballet in the 21st Century". New York Times
Macaulay, Alastair, "His Moves Expressed as Much as His Music". New York Times
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people The New York Times writers The Times people American dance critics American male journalists {{US-journalist-stub