When Susan Marshall made Sleeping Beauty, she threw out nearly everything in the fairy tale except the dazed princess herself. Yet watching this absorbing work unfold at BAM’s Harvey Theater, I kept imagining that I could see fragments of the familiar story glimmering in the somber light.

Vibrant, creative, edgy, demanding (only sometimes!), smart, funny. For this year's awards, we've chosen eleven New Yorkers who not only gave us their best but also brought out the best in New York. From Eliot Spitzer's determined drive to clean up the worst of Wall Street excess to Harvey Fierstein's monumental mom -- with a heart to match, in 'Hairspray' -- not to mention Tina Fey's irrepressibly irreverent humor, we salute their vision and celebrate our luck in being here at the right time and, of course, in the right place.

Laura Shapiro reviews HereAfter.

A roll of the dice determines the order of elements in Split Sides—even when you’ll hear Radiohead’s music for Merce Cunningham’s dancers.

Based on Othello, Paul Taylor’s monumental new dance spins a tale of jealousy and anguish; it was just one reason why Taylor’s City Center season was such a triumph.

John Neumeier’s Nijinsky must be one of the best-dressed ballets ever seen at City Center, especially given the fact that it’s about a massive mental breakdown.

A Nikolais retrospective recalls his emphasis of technology over, you know, human beings; William Forsythe gives ABT its fall winner.

From a history of contemporary dance to Twyla Tharp’s ruminations on “creative DNA,” there’s a bonanza of new books for dance lovers.

There’s nothing typical about Arthur Aviles Typical Theater, which draws deeply on the choreographer’s Hunts Point roots; Crutchmaster makes kinetic poetry out of hip-hop.

Laura Shapiro reviews The Life and Times of Barry Goldhubris at P.S. 122.