John Munger's blog

It was hard to get to Zenon's Fall show at The Ritz. During their opening weekend I was attending the Dance/USA Board of Trustees meetings in Washington, DC. Friday night of their closing weekend I had a tech rehearsal for the Continental Ballet Nutcracker, and Saturday night I went to the Choreographers' Evening at The Walker, a one-time option. MORE »

Near the end of World War Two Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters recorded a hit tune entitled, "There'll Be A Hot Time In The Town Of Berlin When The Yanks Go Marching In." No further explanation for this snippet of historical pop culture is needed. The title and the context say it all. The idea is to suggest that when the righteous good guys show up, some ass is going to get kicked. It was a triumphalist, self-righteous anthem. MORE »

Breaking news. The Minnesota Shubert Project and the Walker Art Center have good reason to pop the bubbly and stage a well-deserved celebration. Here's why, but you're going to have to bear with me through an explanatory setup.MORE »

The Minnesota Opera has just wrapped a two-weekend run of "The Pearl Fishers," a 19th century grand opera by Georges Bizet. My wife and I spent the equivalent of 2.5 weeks of grocery budget to get two pleasantly surprising seats in the mid price range. Take note, grand opera is GRANDE, in the French sense of the word, meaning big, expensive, multi-disciplinary, long, and what you might call "spectacle-oriented."MORE »

This special pre-screening happened two weeks ago at the Southern Theater, so I'm slow and I'm regretful about being slow. But there were pressing matters. Life is what happens while you had other plans.MORE »

by John Munger | 9/25/09 • How does a nominee feel?MORE »

by John Munger | 9/25/09 • It takes a village to make...a dance community. And it takes a dance community (among other things) to make a village worth living in.MORE »

by John Munger | 8/10/09 • So after the parade has ended we all collect our wits, heave a sigh, and feel post-partum depression. Or relief. Or something. I was busy this year. I had a successful but not award-winning show (“My Body Made Me Do This” at the Ritz).MORE »

by John Munger | 8/7/09 • Three intelligent and energetic young women have worked together for a long time. They have a chemistry, they have a shared sense of ensemble, and they all work from the same artistic page. These are no small accomplishments. They are particularly valuable when the performance process is “improvisation.” This show is not as successful as it should be. It has merit and it’s interesting, but somewhere the air drained out of the tires.MORE »

by John Munger | 8/6/09 • When I see not one dancer but an entire cast execute (get ready for some jargon) double petite rond de jombe en l’air while leaving the ground in a temps levee I know that I am in the presence of serious performers. This performance is clean, technically competent, and committed. Those are no small things.MORE »