So I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve decided to introduce a regular feature called “Critic of the Week.” Every week, I’ll post a link to a pop culture or arts review that is especially interesting or informative. It’ll be a piece that makes me want to respond, and hopefully, you’ll feel that way, too.

I’m doing this because criticism is about expanding the conversation, you know? So let’s get involved! And if you ever have suggestions for a Critic of the Week, please let met know! I’d love to toss it up here and see how we feel about it.

For my inaugural entry, I’m choosing Joan Acocella’s New Yorker review of the ballet Petrushka, directed and conceived by reigning puppet master Basil Twist. I love Acocella’s work because I don’t know anything about dance, but she never makes me feel intimidated. Instead, she makes sophisticated points that teach me about the art form.

Even better, she delivers these lessons in exciting, beautiful prose that powerfully evokes a performance.

I mean, take this sentence: “Throughout the show, big, fat white hands—they look like Parker House dinner rolls—appear as puppets.” Perfect, right? I can picture those puppets and imagine the type of world they’re in.

To me, this is a great piece of criticism because it makes me excited about something I never saw. And Acocella’s writing makes the review an artistic achievement of its own.