Practicing What You Critique

From Pia Catton in The New York Sun (16 August 2005)

"In almost every field of the arts - performing, visual, and literary - there are many critics and reporters who practice, or have practiced, the art form that they write about. While firsthand experience is not necessary, there is something enriching for the writer, the reader, and (possibly) the industry when critics are more than observers.

In dance, a fair amount of writers have at least taken classes, even if just out of curiosity. Clive Barnes, who writes for the New York Post and Dance magazine, took ballet classes and tried his hand at choreography. "I took dance classes just to get some idea of the technique. It was classical ballet, for a year or so," he told me.

In 1949, Mr. Barnes choreographed a ballet with fellow critic-to-be John Percival. The ballet was for "Iphigenia in Tauris" as presented by the Oxford Opera Society. But the review in the Times of London (which both men would later go on to write for) wasn't encouraging."We were very influenced by Balanchine," he said. "When your choreography is called 'Disney-esque' and you're imitating Balanchine, that in itself is a lesson."