Cultural Life: Richard Alston, choreographer

Dance

I haven't seen anything for a few months since Merce Cunningham's 'Nearly Ninety'. It is his measured final masterpiece before he died in July. His dancers perform with such fierce passion.

Books

I read short stories when I'm travelling. Donald Barthelme's stories in 'Flying to America' are rapid surreal fantasies.

Films

I found 'The September Issue' riveting – a real-life 'The Devil Wears Prada'.

Architecture

I saw the masterly American Museum of Folk Art in New York by the architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. A slim tower on a narrow sliver of land, it miraculously juggles multiple levels with open stairs and complex vistas. The Seattle Central Library by Rem Koolhaas is a jagged slab of glass, jutting out over the street. It's magical.

Visual arts

I'm looking forward to Henry Moore, which opens this week at the Tate. I saw Moore's enlarged and reversed 'Knife Edge Mirror Two Piece' at Washington DC's National Gallery of Art. Gleaming in the winter sun, it looked superb.

Richard Alston Dance Company is at Sadler's Wells on 3 and 4 March before a UK tour (0844 412 4300; Sadlerswells.com)