Enemy Behind the Gates translated the big orchestral minimalism of Steve Reich's The Four Sections into a rigid parade of menace. Men and women in black jackets with short flared skirts and long sleeves marched stiffly and hurled themselves into aggressive bouts of spinning. "They look like you. . . . They act like you. . . . They live like you. . . . But they are not one of you," begins a fear-mongering program note, in capital letters.
This dance has had a big success since its premiere on September 10, 2001. Programming it right now, when the nation seems ready to renounce insularity and paranoia, is a grossly uncool gesture.
Related:
Drama manqué, Steps . . . and more steps, Year in Dance: Reusable histories & durable trends, More 
- Drama manqué
Sporen , by the Dutch company Leine & Roebana, had two false beginnings before settling down to an hour of movement exploration.
- Steps . . . and more steps
Martha Graham’s Steps in the Street doesn’t look anything like a dance of the 21st century, but at the end of Boston Conservatory’s fall program last weekend it fit right in.
- Year in Dance: Reusable histories & durable trends
Conservation is a good thing in these times, and some of the most interesting performances drew on the uses of history — personal history, performance history, and even some inventions that sought to overturn history.
- Daniel Nagrin
Daniel Nagrin was one of the last surviving stars of modern dance's second generation.
- From the inside
Martha Graham created a revolution in the modern dance world on many fronts, most significantly by the emotional content and the sculptural form of her work.
- Golden years
The last thing I had in mind when I went to the Opera House Tuesday was raining on Alvin Ailey's parade — particularly since the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which he founded in 1959, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year while making its 41st annual Celebrity Series appearance in Boston.
- Diaghilev days
The Ballets Russes come to town
- Giant's steps
Merce Cunningham's death on July 26 wasn't unexpected. He'd been in frail health since this past winter. He was in a wheelchair for his 90th-birthday celebration in April at Brooklyn Academy of Music. In June, the Cunningham Foundation announced plans for the future of the company and the repertory after his death.
- Southern Exposure
Since Fusionworks Dance Company has maintained a studio in East Greenwich for almost five years, artistic director Deb Meunier decided it was time to bring dance to South County.
- Dreaming and remembrance
Two momentous revivals in town showed us how big the category of classical ballet really is.
- Not quite Nina
On hearing the opening notes of the Kronos Quartet composition and seeing the dancers lit in sunny yellow, I feared we were about to be subjected to one of those “up with people” ballets.
- Less
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Dance
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, Entertainment, Dance, Performing Arts, Ballet, George Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Modern Dance, Alvin Ailey, Steve Reich, Institute for Contemporary Art, Less
