Conversational dancers fit in to a larger endeavor at City Ballet, the result of a round of strategic planning that led to several changes meant to turn ballet into a less formal experience.
Somewhat more sympathetic to the region but only a little more nuanced are "Billy Elliot", a film and now a stage show about a coal miner's son turned ballet star, and the bestselling novels of Catherine Cookson.
Lee Hall, author of "Billy Elliot", a stage and screen hit about a miner's son turned ballet star, has accused the cabinet's posher members (several are devout Wagnerians) of denying the masses access to culture.
That secret involved aspects of rhythm that connected to the point work and brio of ballet, a feeling for the male-female chivalry that lies at the heart of ballet's romance, and a sense of the suspense that turns ballet into drama.
Judt was twice married and divorced, and had several other women friends, before he met Jennifer Homans, the American dancer turned ballet writer, whom he married in 1993, with whom he found domestic tranquillity, and to whom he dedicated Postwar.
By making some dolls in Act II do multiple pirouettes and double air turns, Ballet Theater nullifies the sweet but small-scale staccato dance that Swanilda and her friends do in their "let's be dolls" number; it just makes them look like poor mimics.
In it, the South African model turned ballet dancer turned actress, who is so often celebrated in the media for her otherworldly stature, allover golden glow, and icy blue gaze, stated that her model-making genes have actually stood in the way of her acting career.
Turning to ballet, perhaps the greatest marvel has been the development of the ballerina Sara Mearns at New York City Ballet.
Another approach to renewing a classic is to reinvent it thoroughly, turning the ballet inside out to comment on itself and the genre.
At a time when so many younger modern-dance choreographers are using the same composers, increasingly turning toward ballet to augment their own vocabulary, or when even older veterans seem occasionally to borrow from one another, Mr. Louis has escaped any charge of falling into step.
