"Don Quixote"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
June 29, 2026

ABT’s newish version of “Don Quixote”, overseen by Director Susan Jaffe and regisseur Susan Jones, uses the lovely 1978 sets by Santo Loquasto, and most of the costumes, though the corps’ charming character shoes have been replaced by point shoes which meant that the corps’ Spanish flair in Act III lost the dynamic contrast with the more formal point work. Though the men have kept

"Onegin"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
June 27, 2026, evening

ABT’s final performance this season of John Cranko’s “Onegin” , based on the poem by Alexander Pushkin, was a feast of fine dancing, with Christine Shevchenko as Tatiana, Zimmi Cocker as her sister Olga, Jake Roxander as Lensky, and Jarod Curley debuting as the tortured Onegin.  This was a bitter-sweet debut, since the program was originally scheduled as Cory Stearns’ farewell before an

Lydia Johnson Dance
"Evening", "Legacy", "Ode", "Undercurrent"
New York Live Arts
New York, New York
June 19, 2026

Lydia Johnson Dance, a small company, was established in 1999 and dances the musically and emotionally complex works of its founder.  The company is ballet based but casual in outlook—arabesques are pure while arms swing, jumps are solid but low, and the women dance in practice shoes, showing the beauty and variety of demi-point.  There is nothing florid

"Mary, Queen of Scots”
Scottish Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
June 4, 2026

In a regrettably brief five-performance run, Scottish Ballet brought New York a work that was, above all else, generously inventive — a history play filtered through a dying mind, where fact and fever dream shared equal billing. While the life of Mary Stuart is not a topic of any kind of regular discussion in these lands, the love, care and detail with which the

"Kismet", "Emma Bovary"
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Canada
May 29, 2026

The National Ballet of Canada’s summer season opened with the world premiere of Jera Wolfe’s “Kismet”, his first mainstage work for the company, and the return Helen Pickett’s 2023 psychological drama “Emma Bovary”. Both works examine the concepts of choice, destiny and free will in fresh and nuanced ways. 

Wolfe, a Toronto native of Métis heritage,

"Proof of Light", "Cortège Hongrois (Czardas)," "Scherzo la Russe", "Who Cares?"
SAB Workshop
Peter Jay Sharp Theater
New York, NY
June 6, 2026, matinee

The 2026 SAB Workshop showcased four ballets and three distinctive styles.   There were two folk-inflected works, Balanchine’s czardas from “Cortège Hongrois”, set to Glazounov’s sumptuous music from "Raymonda", and his “Scherzo à la Russe” to Stravinsky, inspired by Russian women’s folk dances.  The performance ended with Balanchine’s “Who Cares?

"Opus 19/The Dreamer,” “Standard Deviation,” “Symphonie Espagnole”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
May 17, 2026 (matinee), May 28, 2026

For her much-promoted sophomore piece at NYCB – “Symphonie Espagnole” to Éduard Lalo’s eponymous music – Tiler Peck said she wanted to go big, filling the stage with dancers.  By coincidence or design, the two works accompanying the buzzed-about creation – Jerome Robbins's "Opus 19/The Dreamer" and Alysa Pires's "Standard

"Divertimento No. 15,” “Zakouski,” “Composer’s Holiday,” “Heatscape”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
May 26, 2026

If nothing else, a program that started with George Balanchine's enthralling "Divertimento No. 15" and ended with Justin Peck's "Heatscape" showed how far away from its foundation the company has traveled with its repertory.  The distance was thrown into sharp relief by what came between: Peter Martins's "Zakouski," which felt experimental by comparison, and

"Concerto Barocco,” “The Goldberg Variations”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
May 16, 2026

There is a particular clarity that comes when NYCB programs its two founders together, and when they share a single composer, the company's bedrocks come into clear focus.  The All Bach evening set Balanchine's stripped-down, mathematically precise “Concerto Barocco” against Robbins's studied and at times theatrical “Goldberg Variations” – one choreographer distilling Bach's nuance in movement,

"Coppélia"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
May 30, matinee and May 31, 2026

The first “Coppélia” was subtitled (in French), “The Girl with the Enamel Eyes”, a reference to the macabre story by E. T. A. Hoffmann (the poor doll’s eyes are pulled out of her head by the evil doctor, eventually causing the hero to jump to his death) which inspired one of the most perfect of ballet comedies.  Those nineteenth

"La Sylphide" (excerpts), "au début", "Un Petit Menuet", "Rosine", "Tritsch Tratsch Polka", "Der Rosenkavalier", "Élégie from Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3", "Bizet Volé", "Petite Suite Ballet", "Dreamers"
Ballet Academy East 2026 Spring Performance
The Kaye Playhouse
New York, NY
May 29, 2026

The 2026 Spring performance of the New York based Ballet Academy East was dedicated to Francis Patrelle who had taught at the Academy for over 40 years, showing his sweeping choreography set to the waltz of “Der Rosenkavalier”. 

"Coppélia"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
May 24, 2026

Though the dreary, rainy Memorial Day weekend weather didn’t cooperate, the theatre was warm and sunny, as Megan Fairchild said goodbye to NYCB dancing a bright, confident, and luscious Swanilda.  As I was leaving, I overheard a man saying this was his first ballet and why on earth was she retiring—a question anyone in the audience might have asked, as Fairchild sailed