Push Comes To Shove

By TERRY TEACHOUT

Now that the middle-aged Mikhail Baryshnikov has retrofitted himself as a modern dancer, what young hotshot is going to fill his ballet slippers? A.B.T.'s Ethan Stiefel debuted in the Baryshnikov role of Twyla Tharp's Push Comes to Shove in New York City last week, giving a performance that had the stylistic curiosity, the eye-grabbing virtuosity--everything, in fact, but Misha's sly wit. There will never, ever be another Baryshnikov, but Stiefel, 26, is well on his way to becoming the great American male ballet dancer of his generation.

--By Terry Teachout