Norton Interviewed for New York Times Article About Lack of Innovation in Ballet Designs

Associate Professor of Dance Leslie Norton was interviewed for a New York Times article about a lack of innovation in visual designs in ballet today (1/27/08). In the article "Time to Retire Those Sets and Tutus," Norton said, 'As far as anything innovative in art, it's not happening in ballet the way I think it's happening in modern dance. Ballet is in a very conservative mode right now.' The article continued, "She cited productions like American Ballet Theater's new 'Sleeping Beauty' last spring, which drew unfavorable comparisons with Thomas Kinkade's paintings and Disney animation." 

Norton is the biographer of legendary ballet dancer Frederick Franklin. She is the author of Frederic Franklin: A Biography of the Ballet Star, written with Franklin (McFarland, 2007).