I noticed yet another new byline today: Claudia La Rocco. Also today, in John Rockwell's Critic's Notebook he refers to Roslyn Sulcas "who now writes about dance for the New York Times." Since Rockwell's advent as chief Times dance critic, the ranks of Times reviewers seem to expand almost on a daily basis. This is a good thing. Isn't it?

I would agree that it’s a Good Thing, always provided, of course, that the oldsters aren’t being pushed aside for “new voices,” etc.

I wonder if they're all on staff, or whether they're stringers.

The multiplicity of voices is a good thing, but ultimately it has value only if we get to know them all -- read them on a consistent basis, match our biases against theirs.

according to TIMES 'pattern' and/or procedure when a writer is given a contract or put 'on staff' that individual is named as such in a notice (or article) in the paper. no one has been so-named since Rockwell's assumption of the 'chief' critic's job.
for now i believe it can be assumed that kourlas, larocca, sulcas and kinetz(sp?) are the new names in dance reviewing, but that none has been hired on as a 'staff critic'.