Roger Copeland, in
Partisan Review (Vol. 3, 1986), Boston Univ.,
141 Bay State Rd., Boston, Mass. 02215.
Few art forms get more criticism than does classical ballet.
Seizing on its aristocratic air, its rigidity-from leap to en point spin, every move is prescribed-and the seeming lack of social "relevance" of such ballets as Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, proponents of free-flowing modem dance denounce ballet as an art for mere aesthetes. The critics, notes...