Camille LeFevre has been writing about dance for more than two decades and was the dance critic for the Star Tribune for many years. She's also crafted features, reviews and articles for such publications as Dance Magazine, Pointe Magazine, Mpls/St. Paul, Mnartists.org, Minnpost.com, City Pages and The Rake. She's also taught dance writing/criticism at the University of Minnesota.
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Selected reviews/articles
25 to Watch 2018: Alanna Morris-Van Tassel
Dance Magazine, 2018
Lost and Found
a profile of dancer and teacher Michel Kouakou
Minnesota Alumni Magazine, 2018
An Exquisite Preeminence of the Body
In the Walker's expansive exhibition, "Merce Cunningham: Common Time," artistic disciplines effortlessly traverse conventional boundaries, in much the same ways the influential choreographer did with his many collaborative partners.
mnartists.org, 2017
Killing the Choreography
Camille LeFevre reviews the latest incarnation in Morgan Thorson's "Still Life" series, this time made for the Cowles Center in Minneapolis: an inventive choreographic amalgam, punctuated by simple, gorgeous movement.
Mnartists.org, 2017
Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt: Camille LeFevre on the ways ballet is going mainstream, from Starz network's new show, 'Flesh and Bone,' to 'Bunheads' and CW's Breaking Pointe,' whose starring company, Ballet West, was recently on stage at Northrop.
Mnartists.org, 2015
Game On: Camille LeFevre reviews Sarah Michelson's recent world premiere at the Walker, "tournamento," a game-in-dance performed for audiences over several days — with distinct rules, systems, codes, plays, penalties, and color commentary — according to its own inner (if often unfathomable) logic.
Mnartists.org, 2015
Still Life Moving: Camille LeFevre reviews Morgan Thorson's new "endurance-based dance work," happening in the Weisman Art Museum galleries all summer long.
Mnartists.org, 2015
Martha Graham Revisited: Camille LeFevre on the raw violence and emotional candor of Martha Graham's dance, on view in the repertory and new works presented by the Martha Graham Dance Company recently in Minneapolis.
Mnartists.org, 2015
"The Aural Thrill of Ben Frost"
Mnartists.org, 2014
"A Future Past: "Relics" is a play taking stock of the present day through the lens of a post-apocalyptic future, a natural history exhibit exploring the strange artifacts of long since forgotten 21st-century culture."
http://www.mnartists.org/article/future-past, 2014
"Jeanine Durning: What are words for?" a review of "inging"
Walker Art Center blog, December 2012
"Spaceholders," new work by Morgan Thorson
Mnartists.org, August 2012, review
"Black Water: A look at Skewed Visions' new work, and its disquieting insight into place, seeing and being seen."
Mnartists.org, May 2012, essay
To read, visit: mnartists.org
"Sustainability, community, art: A conversation with Marc Bamuthi Joseph"
The Line, August 2011, interview
To read, visit: The Line
"A Hymn for Art, Beauty and Faith: 'Devotion,' a provocative new dance work with powerful religious and spiritual overtones by Sarah Michelson and Richard Maxwell"
Mnartists.org, February 2011, review
To read, visit: mnartists.org
"The Enduring Mystique of 'Swan Lake': Musings on what fuels the lasting allure of the romantic ballet staple, from the recent popular film, "Black Swan," to this week's full-length performance of the work by the Voronezh State Ballet Theatre of Russia"
Mnartists.org, February 2011, review
To read, visit: mnartists.org
"A Story to Tell: Emily Johnson/Catalyst + BLACKFISH in 'The Thank-You Bar'
Mnartists.org, November 2010, review
To read, visit: mnartists.org
“The Audacity of the Solo: After Saburo Teshigawara's recent performance, ‘Miroku’ at the Walker Art Center, Camille LeFevre examines the impetus behind a choreographer’s desire to create a solo piece for him/herself, looking at the hubris, virtuosity, sheer endurance such a task requires.”
Mnartists.org, April 2010, review.
To read, visit: mnartists.org
“Paradise Lost (or Found): Camille LeFevre muses on ‘Heaven,’ a new dance work by Morgan Thorson and the musicians of Low, recently on stage at the Walker. She finds it an eloquent, if ambivalent meditation on perfection, the sacred, and humanity’s tenuous access to the divine.”
Mnartists.org, March 2010, review
To read, visit: mnartists.org
“In Our Own Image: Movement Architecture’s ‘Ode to Dolly’—Camille LeFevre recently took in 'Ode to Dolly, the Sheep, Inter Alia;’ she found it to be a trenchant, albeit occasionally squirm-inducing look, into the issues surrounding human cloning.”
Mnartists.org, December 2009, review
To read, visit: mnartists.org
“Musings on ‘World-Premiere, Full-Length’ Ballet in Twin Cities Art and Culture: Dance critic Camille LeFevre weighs in on what makes for truly extraordinary big-ticket ballet, and specifically, on the latest world premiere at Northrop, ‘Moulin Rouge’ by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.”
Mnartists.org, November 2009, review
To read, visit: mnartists.org
“The Kinesthetic Pleasure and Aural Intrigue of ‘RadioBrain:’ Camille LeFevre took in last weekend's eagerly anticipated remounting of 'the SCREEN/the THING' and ‘RadioBrain’—a brainy, trippy tour de force of movment and theremin by Justin Jones and Elliott Durko Lynch.”
Mnartists.org, June 2009, review
To read, visit: mnartists.org
“Dancing Their Way to the Fringe: The Minnesota Fringe Festival, in full swing this weekend, features more dance than ever. What gives?”
Star Tribune, July 31, 2008, preview
To read, visit: www.startribune.com/entertainment
“Upheaval at the Southern Latest in a Series of Blows.”
Minnpost.com, July 2008, post.
To read, visit: www.minnpost.com/camillelefevre
“Culturally Relevant? A Dance Critic Looks to the Territory Ahead.”
Mnartists.org, April 2008, essay.
To read, visit: www.mnartists.org
“Eyes on the Guys: Four men of Zenon Dance are learning a new work by Sean Curran, and it's all viewable on the Shubert's website.”
Star Tribune, April 9, 2008, feature.
To read, visit: www.startribune.com/entertainment
“Diving and Dancing into the ‘Wreck’”
Minnpost.com, January 8, 2008, feature.
To read, visit: minnpost.com/stories/2008/01/08/512/diving_and_dancing_into_the_wreck
“Zenon Dance Company: A Night to Remember”
Star Tribune, December 1, review.
“Zenon Carries On: A veteran and a rookie bookend 25 years of fresh choreography and energetic movement at Zenon Dance Company.”
Star Tribune, November 29, 2007, cover story.
“Toe to toe, Twin Cities dance community measures up.”
Minnpost.com, November 2007, post.
To read, visit: minnpost.com/camillelefevre
“Small works add up to a big effect: Two pieces in particular anchor TU Dance’s latest collection of contemporary dances.”
Star Tribune, November 17, 2007, review.
To read, visit: startribune.com/1526/story/1557957.html
“Illumination via imagination: The search for painful truths in Congolese history guides this evocative mix of dance, music and stories.”
Star Tribune, November 23, 2007, review.
To read, visit: startribune.com/121/story/1524860.html
“Risk and spontaneity in work of Bill Young/Colleen Thomas: New York troupe's non-narrative dances invoke street games, impending danger, battles of the sexes.”
Star Tribune, September 16, 2007, review.
To read, visit: startribune.com/121/story/1424997.html
“Political Movement. Through his new dance company, associate professor Carl Flink wants to connect minds with bodies and the University with the wider community.”
Minnesota Magazine, July/August 2006, feature.
To read visit: alumni.umn.edu/6Jul20063.html
“Outside the Lines: A new dance company redraws the boundaries of movement and audience in the Twin Cities.”
The Rake, June 2005, feature.
To read, visit: rakemag.com/reporting/features/outside-lines
“Dancing through Wartime. David Gordon’s ‘Dancing Henry V’ condenses the bard’s history play into a seamlessly choreographed narrative that resonates with contemporary politics.”
Star Tribune, February 13, 2005, feature.
“Morris: Everybody Dance Now. Mark Morris’s choreography starts with music to create his brilliantly musical work of engaging clarity and accessible generosity.”
Star Tribune, January 21, 2005, cover story.
“Hot Stuff. They’re young! They’re hot! Meet Ten Foot Five, the troupe that’s delivering a brash new dose of tap to the Twin Cities’ dance scene.
The Rake, November 2004, feature.
To read, visit: rakemag.com/reporting/features/fancy-foot-work
“A Perfect Collaboration. Dan Shapiro and Joanie Smith (Shapiro and Smith Dance) join forces with rock-and-roll friends Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa in creating the new dance piece, ‘Anytown.’”
Star Tribune, August 15, 2004, cover story.
“True Partners. In a year of intense highs and lows leading up to a St. Paul show this weekend, husband-and-wife dance makers James Sewell and Sally Rousse had to collaborate more closely than ever.”
Star Tribune, April 23, 2004, cover story.
“Doing the N.Y.-Twin Cities Tango. Producer David White of New York’s Dance Theater Workshop sees a vital but somewhat invisible dance scene in his new hometown.”
Star Tribune, March 7, 2004, feature.
“Bust a Move. Rennie Harris and other big names in hip-hop dance headline a festival devoted to the history and continual reinvention of a movement that has turned pop culture on its head.”
Star Tribune, October 19, 2003, cover story.
“Dancing From the Inside Out. Garth Fagan, of the ‘Lion King,’ returns to Northrop.”
Star Tribune, January 19, 2003, feature.
“Mind, Muscle, Movement. Mikhail Baryshnikov goes back to the future with a concert of works by those ‘60s rebels, the Judson Dance Theater.”
Star Tribune, September 23, 2001, feature.
“Fish Tale. Ruth MacKenzie's ‘Kalevala: Dream of the Salmon Maiden’ is an evocative melding of music, movement and theater based on Finland's pre-Christian national folk myth, ‘The Kalevala.’”
Star Tribune, February 18, 2001, feature.
“Borrowed Bones Dance Theatre Continues Dance Mastery. Wynn Fricke’s influences—Eastern thought and Jungian psychology—are clear in works that explore the intricacies of the subconscious.”
Star Tribune, September 23, 2000, feature.
“Cowboys Are My Weakness: Line dancing the gap between Western myth and reality.”
City Pages, August 11, 1993, essay.
