In a break from our regularly scheduled programming, I’m writing to you today with something other than a list! This special issue has a) some updates about my recent work and b) links to a few newly unpaywalled Danceletter posts. If you’ve subscribed to this newsletter purely for Dance List, rest assured: the next one will arrive Feb. 15, and you can browse the latest here (I’ve made a few additions since I last wrote).
George Lee, the Original Tea
I’m excited to share my latest story for the New York Times, which came out in yesterday’s Arts & Leisure section and, I’m proud to say, is featured today as The Great Read. It’s about the 88-year-old dancer-turned-blackjack dealer George Lee — and a tenacious filmmaker’s mission to find him. You can read it for free here:
In 1954, Lee — who was born in Hong Kong, moved to Shanghai, fled to a refugee camp in the Philippines, immigrated to New York, and enrolled at the School of American Ballet, all by the age of 16 — originated the role of Tea in Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. When Jennifer Lin, a former newspaper reporter, came across photos of him at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, she became determined to figure out what had happened to him. After a dogged search, she found him in Las Vegas, where he had been working in casinos and living a quiet life for 42 years.
Lee’s unexpected story is chronicled in Lin’s new documentary film, Ten Times Better, co-produced with Cory Stieg and Jon Funabiki. Its upcoming premiere at the Dance on Camera Festival, this Saturday, Feb. 10, is already sold out, but something tells me there will be more opportunities to see it down the road. (A conversation with Lee, Feb. 7 at the performing arts library, is also sold out; maybe it will be recorded?)
My reporting for this article took me to Las Vegas for the first time, and while I admit I didn’t love it there (kinda couldn’t leave soon enough), I did adore talking with Lee for nearly two hours at the Four Queens Hotel & Casino coffee shop, overlooking the blackjack table where he spends his days working. It was also a delight to speak with Lin, who has a self-described proclivity for “geeking out on archives” (I relate). I didn’t get to include her full account of tracking down and piecing together all the clues that led her to Lee, but for a fellow journalist, it was as compelling as the film itself.
Again, you can read the story (for free!) at this gift link.
Recent reviews
Sometimes I think about leaving New York, and then I see two shows in one week that are so moving, in such different ways, both of which I get to spend time thinking and writing about, for my job, and I’m like… where else would I possibly go? Last week was one such week. Here are my reviews of Music from the Sole at the Joyce and Molissa Fenley and Company at Roulette. (Those are also gift links, so click freely.)
Unpaywalled posts
When I think about leaving New York, it’s mostly because living here, as we all know, is absurdly expensive, especially if, like me, you’ve chosen a life of cobbling together forms of part-time employment in the arts and academia, forever weighing the costs and benefits of being intellectually fulfilled and economically undervalued. (That probably describes many of you reading this!) This newsletter is one way I support myself as a freelance writer, and paid subscriptions make it a sustainable project.
To give you an idea of what you get when you sign up for a paid subscription, I’ve lifted the paywall on a few editions of Danceletter Picks, the paid posts I send out every two weeks with my personal recommendations of shows to see. Check ’em out:
If you enjoy receiving Danceletter and are able to support with a paid subscription, please consider upgrading for $5/month, $40/year, or any amount over $40 at the “Extra Boost” level:
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