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" Ballet is like any other art form in that we all start out knowing nothing about it. "

Robert Gottlieb

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" Many people say to me, particularly about my dance writing, 'It sounds just like you.' But it sounds just like me after I've made it sound like me. "

Robert Gottlieb

" Why movie and dance critics are taking 'The Company' seriously, I can't imagine. Are they impressed by Altman's reputation and naive sincerity? By the fluid semi-documentary approach? "

Robert Gottlieb

" One of the eternal mysteries of ballet is how untalented choreographers find backers for their work, and then find good dancers to perform in it. Is it irresistible charm? Chutzpah? Pure determination? Blackmail? Or are so many supposedly knowledgeable people just plain blind? "

Robert Gottlieb

" Writing happened to me. I didn't decide to start writing or to be a writer. I never wanted to be a writer. "

Robert Gottlieb

" For Russians, to whom Pushkin's poem 'Eugene Onegin' is sacred text, the ballet's story and personae are as familiar and filled with meaning as, for instance, 'Romeo' and 'Hamlet' are for us. Russians know whole stretches of it by heart, the way we know Shakespeare and Italians know Dante. "

Robert Gottlieb

" At a certain point, you have to face the fact that you've turned into an old fart. "

Robert Gottlieb

" Classics are constantly being re-imagined and transformed, and the originals are none the worse for it; they endure. "

Robert Gottlieb

" The Kirov is a great ballet company because it has so many terrific dancers, but it doesn't always know what to do with them. "

Robert Gottlieb

" Who would have thought that a tap-dancing penguin would outpoint James Bond at the box office? And deserve to? Not that there's anything wrong with 'Casino Royale.' But 'Happy Feet' - written and directed by George Miller - is a complete charmer, even if, in the way of most family fare, it can't resist straying into the Inspirational. "

Robert Gottlieb

" Blood is the leitmotif of 'Black Swan.' "

Robert Gottlieb

" The cows in Stella Gibbons's immortal 'Cold Comfort Farm' are named Graceless, Aimless, Feckless and Pointless, and that more or less is the verdict on 'Ocean's Kingdom,' the wildly hyped and wildly uninteresting collaboration between Peter Martins and Paul McCartney. "

Robert Gottlieb

" The mystery of Christopher Wheeldon deepens. Yes, he's the most talented of the younger ballet choreographers - indeed, where's the competition? Yes, he's particularly good at nurturing dancers and identifying their essential qualities. "

Robert Gottlieb

" Diana Vishneva is not only a magnificent dancer but a magnificent actress - no one works harder or understands more. "

Robert Gottlieb

" Remember: TV is a format, film is a format, and books are a format. "

Robert Gottlieb

" Controversy sells books. "

Robert Gottlieb

" The 1920s brought not only the Charleston but the flat chest. "

Robert Gottlieb

" The man Dickens, whom the world at large thought it knew, stood for all the Victorian virtues - probity, kindness, hard work, sympathy for the down-trodden, the sanctity of domestic life - even as his novels exposed the violence, hypocrisy, greed, and cruelty of the Victorian age. "

Robert Gottlieb

" There's no point pretending that all of Martha Graham's pieces are equally strong. "

Robert Gottlieb

" There are certain historical figures of such importance that we need to know everything about them, which is why books about Napoleon, Lincoln, Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc, Queen Elizabeth I, and the great religious founders continue to proliferate; these lives require constant reevaluation and interpretation. "

Robert Gottlieb

" You can usually tell how healthy a ballet company is by the degree of your interest in the middle ranks of the dancers - the not-yet stars, the up-and-comers. "

Robert Gottlieb

" The early giants of modern dance - Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis - barely left traces of their art. "

Robert Gottlieb

" Ballet Hispanico is a mixture of ethnic, ballet, social, jazz - you name it, it's doing it. The company has been going strong for more than 20 years, and you can see why: It may not be refined, but it's full of beans. "

Robert Gottlieb

" Yes, bad or mediocre ballets can be useful to the dancers and temporarily fun for the audience, but in the long run, the lowering of standards can only erode the art form we all love. "

Robert Gottlieb

" The best thing you can say about Hubbard Street is that if you were a dancer, this is a company you'd fight to get into. "

Robert Gottlieb

" I can't remember how many years it's been since I last saw a David Parsons program or what I saw whenever it was, but that isn't surprising, since I can't really remember the first half of a David Parsons program while I'm watching the second half. "

Robert Gottlieb

" Jodi Melnick is hotly self-absorbed. Her onstage musicians are much too loud, and like so many narcissistic performers, she goes on much too long: She's interested in herself; why wouldn't we be? "

Robert Gottlieb

" City Ballet remains a great company in perpetual artistic crisis. "

Robert Gottlieb

" Ballerinas are often divided into three categories: jumpers, turners and balancers. "

Robert Gottlieb

" Raimund Hoghe is a little man with a spinal deformity who was once Pina Bausch's dramaturge. "

Robert Gottlieb

" Schumann's 'Quintet in E flat for Piano and Strings' is one of the sublime moments in Romantic music. "

Robert Gottlieb