Covering Our Time.

What's in a cover? In the case of Dance Magazine (which first appeared in June 1927 as The American Dancer, later as Dance, and finally as Dance Magazine), the covers provide a capsule review of dance through the centuries. Cover art is a corporate art, worthy of discussion and analysis of style, typography, and photography. The topics in the coverlines tell us the issues of a particular era, the cycles of dance, the ups and downs of glamorous stars and their sometimes sensational careers--and their decline into obscurity. If nothing else, this magazine's covers give us a distant perspective in its most exposed, most organic state. Our covers are about endurance, triumph and the change. They tell us about us, ourselves.

Twentieth-century dance is the most enduring of all the arts; dance is the single great twentieth-century art form to rise to its zenith in America. You only need to compare dance today with dance when the first magazine was produced in 1927. You only need to compare dance theater and its richly inventive and expressive evolution with any other art form. You need only to compare the enduring works of Martha Graham, one of the greatest American choreographers, with the enduring works of a man considered by some to be the greatest American playwright of this century, Eugene O'Neill. My point is made.

We have made a random sampling for our covers, although I wish it were possible to print all of them in sequence, as both Time Magazine and Newsweek have done with theirs. But for now, here is our selection:

(1) June 1927. Art director was Charles Payzant. Articles included were "The Ballet Master to Movieland: Ernest Belcher"; "The Dance: What It Is, Was, and Should Be," by Serge Oukrainsky; "The Dance in Physical Education," "Personality--Yours for the Asking"; and "Trends of Modern Dance Music."

(2) November 1927. Cover title "Dance of Thanksgiving to the Sun," by Charles Payzant. Articles included "The Spirit of Dancing in India," "Vaudeville in Spain," "Dancer's Path Leads to Cinema-Land," and "Make Dance Steps Salable: Advice of a Successful Los Angeles Teacher."

(3) May 1937. Cover photo by Ray Smith of Stravinsky's The Card Party. Articles included "The Ballroom Mirror"; "Toward a Ballet Career," by Muriel Stuart; and "Why Join a Dance Association?"

(4) February 1938. Cover photo by George Platt Lynes of Lew Christensen in Filling Station. Articles included "Dance in Its Essence," "Trudi's Here Again" (mime Trudi Schoop), "Dance World," and "Theme and Variations."

(5) October 1936. Cover photo by Ira D. Schwarz of Martha Graham in her Imperial Gesture. Articles included "Ballet and Modern Dance Today," by Lincoln Kirstein; "Theatre Beckons the Modern Dance"; "Rehearsal and Performance: Chickens Never Remember," by Anatole Chujoy; and "The Rhythm of America."

(6) January 1940. Cover photo of Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire rehearsing Broadway Melody of 1940. Articles included "Ballet Theatre Opens"; "The Sleeping Beauty is Fifty Years Young," by Anatole Chujoy; and "Fundamentals of the Classic Dance," by Agrippina Vaganova.

(7) March 1940. Cover painting of Irina Baronova by Boris Chaliapin. Articles included "America Meets Antony Tudor"; "Society Makes America Dance"; "Ballet Russe at the Met," a photo essay; and "The Two Newest Ballets of Kurt Jooss."

(8) April 1954. Cover photo by Zachary Freyman of Glen Tetley as a beggar in Menotti's new opera for television, Amahl and the Night Visitors; art director John Alan Richards. Articles included "The Legend of Carmen Amaya"; "Shadow of the Sylphide: Marie Taglioni," by Lillian Moore; "This Matter of Standardization"; "Ray Bolger's Thursday," by longtime DM writer from Chicago, Ann Barzel; "The Circus Dances"; and "High Up In the Rockies."

(9) August 1960. Photo by Arnold Eagle of Niels Bjorn Larsen preparing for the Charlatan in Petrouchka, watched by unidentified child: art director Rudolph de Harak, Articles included "The Royal Danish Ballet Family," by Charles Reinhart; "East Meets West 55th Street"; "A School With a View," about the new Joffrey American Ballet Center; and one article in a long-running series called Brief Biographies, with photographs by Zachary Freyman and text by Saul Goodman.

(10) December 1957. Cover designed by Jerry Kuhl. Articles included "To Dionysius, With Love," by Doris Hering, who began writing for DM in 1946, still contributes features and reviews, and is one of my senior editors; "Close-up of Modern Dance Today: The Private Teacher"; "The Nutcracker on Ice"; "Report on Oklahoma's Indian Ballerinas and their Families"; and "Small Fry and The Nutcracker."

(11) May 1962. Photo of Paul Taylor by Jack Mitchell, who has over the years contributed 165 cover photos--undoubtedly a world record for any magazine; art director Rudolph de Harek. Articles included "Tony Charmoli at Home"; "Stravinsky and the Dance"; "In Search of College Dance Training," by Portia Mansfield; "Moira Shearer Today," by Clive Barnes, who began with DM in 1956 and continues today as columnist and my senior consulting editor: and "Regional Ballet: U.S. Rogue and Arabesques," by Doris Hering.

(12) October 1974. Photo by Kenn Duncan of Mikhail Baryshnikov; designer Herbert Migdoll, who was DM's designer and photographer for almost three decades. Articles included "But Laddie, You're a Damn Yankee!," "Baryshnikov Talks," "Observing Dance: Carla Fracci," and "A Point of View: ABT."

(13) October 1984. Cover photo by Jack Mitchell of Arnie Zane and Bill T. Jones; designer Herbert Migdoll. Articles included "Solid Citizens of the Post-Modern," "Ballet Master John Taras: Turning Things Around," "Video Fever," and "Price-Tagging Diaghilev: Action at the Auction.

(14) November 1989. Photo by Herbert Migdoll, who is also the designer, of Joffrey Ballet's leading dancer for more than two decades, Beatriz Rodriguez. Articles included "Making Money Talk: Part Two"; "Taking Care of the Roles: Edward Villella," "East Meets West in Amsterdam," "Beatriz Rodriguez, Principal," and "Remembering Jeff Duncan."

(15) April 1995. Photo by Frank Capri of Katherine Linden; art director Diana Leidel. Articles included "Trisha Brown's French Connection"; "Parrish Maynard: A Career in Lift-off"; "Vaganova Ballet Academy," by Marian Horosko, whose enormous contributions to DM over many years have made her a fixture in dance education; and "Ballroom Dancing: A Way to Get Back in Touch."

(16) November 1995. Photo by Roy Round of Angel Corella; art director Diana Leidel. Articles included "Angel Corella: A Career in High Gear," by Elizabeth Kaye; "Net Dance"; and "Education and Outreach."

(17) June 1997. The magazine's 70th Anniversary Issue included a spectacular fold-out reproduction of the June 1927 cover. Photo of Pauline Koner by Herbert Migdoll. Articles included "Jacob's Pillow," "Creating our Own Heritage," "Fusion Dance," "Responding to the World," and my monthly column, Kickoff, of which there would be 129 by century's end, this one called "Seventy," the official history of DM.

(18) February 1999. Photo by Marry Sohl of Lucia Lacarra. Articles included "Lucia Lacarra: Spain's Gift to San Francisco"; "NYCB Celebrates: Homecoming Reunion for Former Members," by Marian Horosko; "Mario Bigonzetti: Italy's New Maestro of Dance"; "Oberlin College: Pioneers in Ohio," part of an ambitious year-long series called The Century of Dance which would include three pull-out Timelines; and "Moving Image: PBS Salutes Black History Month."

I think, looking over this fragment of contents from almost 73 years of DM, that there is enough material here for many projects for future writers, historians, and dancers--such as on the growth of The Nutcracker in American dance, or the development of modern dance, or the evolution of ballet technique.

There is no richer source on dance anywhere. And at century's end it is possible to look with pride at this huge, almost unimaginable, body of work and say with a sigh, A job very well done, indeed!

Richard Philp, editor in chief, has been with Dance Magazine since 1970.