The Dance Criticism of Arlene Croce: Articulating a Vision of Artistry, 1973-1987

209 Pages·2005·0.9 MB·English

by  Marc Raymond Strauss

The Dance Criticism
of Arlene Croce
ALSOBYMARCRAYMONDSTRAUSS
Alfred Hitchcock’s Silent Films (McFarland, 2004)
The Dance Criticism
of Arlene Croce
Articulating a Vision
of Artistry, ¡973–¡987
MARC RAYMOND STRAUSS
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
Essays by Arlene Croce that appear herein were originally
published in The New Yorkerand are used by permission.
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Strauss, Marc.
The dance criticism of Arlene Croce : articulating a vision
of artistry, ¡973–¡987 / Marc Raymond Strauss.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7864-2350-¡(softcover : 50# alkaline paper)
¡. Croce, Arlene—Criticism and interpretation.
2. Dance critics. 3. Dance criticism.
4. New Yorker (New York, N.Y. : ¡925) I. Title.
GV¡785.C76S87 2005
792.8—dc22 2005022639
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2005 Marc Raymond Strauss. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Front coverphotograph ©2005 SuperStock
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 6¡¡, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
To the memory of my brother,
Daniel Armand Strauss

Acknowledgments
I want to thank all the dedicated scholars over whose texts I have
pored for this study and from whom I hope I have absorbed some frac-
tion of their generous spirit and sense of true criticism. Critics often get
a bad name—and rightly so, if they exist just to find fault and to disap-
prove. I hope this reveals something about the craft of the true critic:
“a person who [analyzes, interprets, and] judges the merits of literary,
artistic, or musical works, especially one who does so professionally”
(The New Oxford American Dictionary, 200¡, p. 405).
I also want to thank everyone who helped this manuscript see the
light of day. Meta-criticism (the act of criticizing criticism) is a very
young field. Perhaps, through this unique thought process, dance can
inspire critical traditions in ways that will be of benefit to other art
forms—music, theatre, and particularly the visual arts, with their long
and rich history of analysis.
Essays and excerpts by Arlene Croce that are reprinted in this book
were originally published in The New Yorker.
vii

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface xi
Introduction 1
1. Historical Foundations 11
Essay: “Jo›rey Jazz” 17
2. Arlene Croce’s Professional Heritage 24
Essay: “Momentous” 34
3. The New Yorker 40
Essay: “What You See Is What You Get” 47
4. The Ethics of Dance Criticism 52
Essay: “The Mercists” 62
5. Theoretical Models from Literary Analysis 67
Essay: “Think Punk” 88
6. Croce’s Use of Rhetorical Devices 94
Essay: “So Rare” 100
7. Croce-as-Audience and Croce-as-Critic 105
Essay: “Paging Mr. Astaire” 117
8. Arlene Croce’s Aesthetic Framework 124
Essay: “Mark Morris Comes to Town” 144
ix