Arlene Louise Croce (; May 5, 1934 – December 16, 2024) was an American dance critic. She co-founded ''
Ballet Review'' magazine in 1965 and served as its first editor. From 1973 to 1996 she was a dance critic for ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' magazine.
Background
Croce was born to an Italian-American family in
Providence, Rhode Island, on May 5, 1934.
She later grew up in
Asheville, North Carolina, after her family moved there, and studied at the
Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, before graduating from New York's
Barnard College in 1955.
Career
Prior to Croce's long career as a dance writer, she also wrote film criticism for '' Film Culture'' and other magazines. In 1965, she was one of the founders of '' Ballet Review''.[ She joined '']The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' in 1973.[ The keynote of her criticism can be grasped from her ability to evoke kinesthetic movement and expressive images in her writing. Although she considered ]ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
to epitomize the highest form of dance, she also wrote extensively on the topic of popular and filmed dance, and was a recognized authority on the Astaire and Rogers musical films.
In 1994, she courted controversy with her stance on Bill T. Jones's '' Still/Here'', a work about terminal illness. In an article called "Discussing the Undiscussable",[ The article became highly controversial, with numerous writers and artists publicly defending or rebuking Croce.][ The article was reprinted in her 2000 book, ''Writing in the Dark''.
Her writings on dance are available in several books, and a sampling of her film criticism can be found in the anthology ''American Movie Critics:'' ''An Anthology From the Silents Until Now''.
]
Death
Croce died from complications of a stroke at a care facility in Johnston, Rhode Island, on December 16, 2024, at age 90.[
]
Bibliography
Books
*''The Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers Book'' (1972)
*''Afterimages'' (1978)
*''Going to the Dance'' (1982)
*''Sight Lines'' (1987)
*''Writing in the Dark, Dancing in 'The New Yorker (2000)
*''American Movie Critics: An Anthology From the Silents Until Now'' (2006), edited by Phillip Lopate — contains her reviews on the films '' Pather Panchali'' and '' Aparajito'' as well as a selection from ''The Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers Book''.
Articles
* Gail Conrad and The Tap Dance Theatre; American Ballet Theatre's performance of ''Field, Chair and Mountain'' by David Gordon.
* About Arlene Croce (in Spanish)
La crítica en la danza. "Discussing the indiscussable". By Patricia Roldán
* ''The Dance Criticism of Arlene Croce'' (2005) by Marc Raymond Strauss, McFarland & Co,
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Croce, Arlene
1934 births
2024 deaths
20th-century American journalists
20th-century American women journalists
21st-century American women
American dance critics
American people of Italian descent
American women critics
Barnard College alumni
Dance writers
Journalists from North Carolina
Journalists from Rhode Island
The New Yorker people
University of North Carolina at Greensboro alumni
Writers from Asheville, North Carolina
Writers from Providence, Rhode Island