Fabian Barnes, 56

Fabian Barnes, founder/director of Dance Institute of Washington, dies at 56
by Sarah L. Kaufman, The Washington Post, April 12, 2016

Michel du Cille, 58

Washington Post Photographer, Michel du Cille, Dies in Liberia
by Ashley Southall, The New York Times, December 11, 2014

"Straight to the heart of weirdness..." with Degas in DC

Review: Degas' Little Dancer at National Gallery
by Philip Kennicott, The Washington Post, October 16, 2014

Shirley Temple Black, 85

Shirley Temple Black, Screen Star, Dies at 85
by Aljean Harmetz, The New York Times, February 11, 2014

Shirley Temple Black, actress and diplomat, dies at 85

by Claudia Levy, The Washington Post, February 11, 2014

The Life and Career of Shirley Temple Black (slideshow)
The Washington Post, February 11, 2014

"The problem in modern ballet is the problem of the color line."

Shannon Harkins, the face of African American ballet dancers’ struggle

by Lonnae O'Neal Parker, The Washington Post, November 29, 2013

On lighting Black skin in film

‘12 Years a Slave,’ ‘Mother of George,’ and the aesthetic politics of filming black skin

by Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post, October 17, 2013

Alan M. Kreigsman, 84 (obit from The Washington Post)

Carbonneau said Mr. Kriegsman was not didactic in his writing, nor did he enter a performance with preconceived ideas about how an artist should interpret a work. “Mike was always willing to turn himself over imaginatively to whatever a work was and to see what this particular work had to say to us,” she said.

Alan M. Kriegsman, Pulitzer-winning dance critic for The Post, dies at 84
by Adam Bernstein,The Washington Post, September 1, 2012

Dance critic Tobi Tobias receives honor

While I was away on vacation this month, dance critic Tobi Tobias--my dear colleague and former review editor from my early days at Dance Magazine, who now blogs on dance for ArtsJournal.com--sent word that she had been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism!

My congratulations to the Pulitzer winner, Wesley Morris, film critic at The Boston Globe, but I'm going to continue to borrow a little of Tobi's glow to bask in for the arts of dance and dance writing! Note the historic nature of this honor: "...the first time a dance critic has been given the Pulitzer distinction for work created for the Internet...."

We're on the move!

Here's Tobi's note:

Dear Readers,

I want to share with you the honor and pleasure I feel in having been named a finalist in this year's Pulitzer Prize for criticism.  The citation reads: “For work appearing on ArtsJournal.com that reveals passion as well as deep historical knowledge of dance, her well-expressed arguments coming from the heart as well as the head.”

This year's winner is Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe for film criticism; the other finalist is Philip Kennicott of The Washington Post for cultural criticism. 

I'm especially pleased about the fact that this is the first time a dance critic has been given the Pulitzer distinction for work created for the Internet--in my case, reviews written for my column, "Seeing Things," which appears in ArtsJournal.

Readers are an essential part of a writer's life.  I thank you--friends, colleagues, and hundreds of people I've never met--for your contribution to my work.

tt

Hearty congratulations, Tobi!

Is Sarah Kaufman ignoring DC's modern dance?

What should a dance critic talk about when she talks about dance?

by Amanda Abrams, From the Green Room/Dance USA, November 15, 2011

Tobias contemplates "The Farrell Dilemma"

The Farrell Dilemma
by Tobi Tobias, Seeing Things, ArtsJournal, October 21, 2011

Future of media...and dance?

@sydneyskybetter tweeted:

Piece on deficits of imagination / failure to evolve brokn models. Takeaway: this is no time for incrementalism in dance.

Read what led Sydney to this provocative thought:

Future of media: This is no time for incrementalism
by Mathew Ingram, Gigaom, June 12, 2011

The movie of the moment is a mess

'Black Swan' deals ballet a black eye
by Sarah Kaufman, The Washington Post, December 9, 2010

New steps for Bill T. Jones

One wild ride to the mainstream

by Sarah Kaufman, The Washington Post, December 5, 2010

Black authors face a publishing ghetto

Black writers in a ghetto of the publishing industry's making

by Bernice L. McFadden, The Washington Post, June 26, 2010

Play Canceled After Wiesel Objects

Play Canceled After Wiesel Objects

by KateTaylor, The New York Times, May 19, 2010

Kaufman: Cunningham and the ephemeral

Merce Cunningham's Modern Dance Steps in Jeopardy With His Passing
by Sarah Kaufman, The Washington Post, July 28, 2009

Worst place on earth to be a woman

A Broken U.N. Promise in Congo
by Eve Ensler, The Washington Post, June 30, 2009

In Balanchine's shadow

Burdened by Balanchine: Ballet Must Make Room Onstage for More Than One Genius
by Sarah Kaufman, The Washington Post, May 10, 2009

Family feud in review: Bill T. Jones

A Quarreling Pair by Bill T. Jones, at the Kennedy Center
by Sarah Kaufman, The Washington Post, March 26, 2009