Holiday gift guide 2012: Dance

Shop for the best gifts for New York dance lovers in this holiday gift guide

By Gia Kourlas Tue Nov 13 2012

Face it—one of the best ways to work off holiday stress is to dance. Watching it helps, too: New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre unveil versions of The Nutcracker, though a more soulful option is Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which is in residence at New York City Center throughout December. And even though dance is the most ephemeral of all the arts, there are ways to take it home in the form of DVDs (David Hallberg!) and iPad apps (Merce Cunningham!). But there's nothing better than a gift made by a dancer: Laurie Berg, who helps run AUNTS, creates incredibly mesmerizing one-of-a-kind necklaces.

RECOMMENDED: Complete holiday gift guide

Photograph: Courtesy of Laurie Berg

Necklace by Laurie Berg

The downtown dance artist sews together plastic objects and jewels to create gorgeous, one-of-a-kind pendants like this witty “Owl Catcher.” $75–$180; anotherbergcreation.com
Photograph: Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Dancing Around the Bride: Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Duchamp

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has published a remarkable catalog about its exhibit celebrating the experimental spirit. $55; philamuseum.org/stores/
Photograph: Andrew Eccles

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

This company is like a dance starter kit—the best way to experience it is not with a tote bag, but at an actual City Center performance. Nov 28– Dec 30, $25–$135; alvinailey.org
Photograph: Merce Cunningham: 65 Years (Aperture and Cunningham Dance Foundation 2012)

Merce Cunningham: 65 Years

This incredible iPad app explores the choreographer’s legacy with excerpts from dances, interviews with David Vaughan and passages from Mondays with Merce. $14.95, aperture.org
Photograph: Courtesy of Naxos of America

Dance Crazy + The Sleeping Beauty

Naxos of America has just released two new DVDs: a documentary about Hermes Pan and the Bolshoi’s Beauty, with Svetlana Zakharova and David Hallberg. $24.99, $29.99

Photograph: Courtesy of Laurie Berg

Necklace by Laurie Berg

The downtown dance artist sews together plastic objects and jewels to create gorgeous, one-of-a-kind pendants like this witty “Owl Catcher.” $75–$180; anotherbergcreation.com