"La Sonnambula", "Pithoprakta", "The Unanswered Question", "Theme and Variations"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 13, 2026

Perhaps coincidentally all four ballets in this all-Balanchine program featured women in white. Most of these women were mysteriously unavailable; only the couple in the final “Theme and Variations” seemed set for a happy life, and that was a fairy tale romance, as the ballet is essentially a quick tour of the highlights Petipa’s “The

"Pulcinella Variations," "Auspicy," "Shared Rain," "Love Letters (On Shuffle)"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 6, 2026

As New York City Ballet’s Contemporary Choreography program wore on, I kept wondering what Mr. B would say if he were watching. Two new works, Alysa Pires’s “Auspicy” and Jennifer Archibald’s “Shared Rain,” were sandwiched between two recent ones, Justin Peck’s “Pulcinella Variations” and Kyle Abraham’s “Love Letter (on shuffle).” All four

"Continuum", "Solitude", "Bourrée Fantasque"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 7, 2026

The heart of this triple bill was the central work, Alexei Ratmansky’s searing “Solitude”, his powerfully understated reaction to wartime’s destruction.  It opened with Christopher Wheeldon’s abstract exercise “Continuum”, one of his sparest and most inventive works, and ended with the rarely seen “Bourrée Fantasque”, Balanchine’s 1949 ballet buffa.  The evening ricochetted between comedy and tragedy,

"Mazurkas", "Join"
Limón Dance Company
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
October 6, 2025

The Limón Dance Company, like many other modern companies, is working its way through the issue of how to preserve its past while not being completely tied to it.  This program tried to balance the past with the future, with one major revival, José Limón’s 1958 “Mazurkas” and one new work, Aszure Barton’s 2025 “Join”, which was inspired by “Orestes”, a lost work

"Pulcinella Variations", "Auspicy", "Shared Rain", "Love Letter (on Shuffle)"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 4, 2026

Since 2012, NYCB’s annual Fall Gala has featured new ballets with costumes by contemporary fashion designers; these galas have, reportedly, raised considerable amounts of money, though artistically, the results have been mixed at best, and few of the new works have long endured.  This evening’s program included two veteran fashion gala works, Justin Peck’

"La Source", "The Four Temperaments", "The Concert"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 3, 2026 matinee

This performance featured three varied works, one each from the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s—it is astounding to realize that the most recent one, Balanchine’s “La Source” (1968), is almost 60 years old.  The dancing however was vibrant and fresh, with a number of debuts.  It was a finely balance and varied

Til Glæden
The Royal Ballet
Old Stage, The Royal Theatre
Copenhagen, Denmark
September 16, 2026

It is the desire of artistic director Amy Watson to reinstate Bournonville in the repertoire (he was never really gone, but that is for another day) and make new generations of theatre goers fall in love with the stories and steps of the master himself. Her first attempt at accomplishing this mission is 'Til glæden' ('For the Joy'), a programme of the Jockey Dance, the

Kaleidoscope
Kammerballetten
The Concert Hall at the Royal Danish Academy of Music
Copenhagen, Denmark
August 13, 2026

The dance company Kammerballetten was founded by the chamber music trio Trio Vitruvi in 2018. Since then, Kammerballetten has proven itself to be one of the most exciting elements of the overall dance repertoire in Copenhagen. The first couple of years it was in many ways a well-kept secret playing before the official opening of the season at Takkelloftet, the intimate and

"Lilac Garden", "Ashton Divertissements: Meditation from 'Thaïs', Pas de Trois from 'Les Rendezvous', Pas de Cinq from 'Illuminations', Balcony pas de deux from 'Romeo and Juliet'", "Summertide"

After a year’s absence, the Sarasota Ballet returned to the Joyce with an collection of works by British choreographers.  The program opened with Antony Tudor’s intense, too rarely seen “Lilac Garden”.  Frederick Ashton, the Royal Ballet’s greatest choreographer, many of whose works have been frequently and joyously danced

"Jewels"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
September 24, 2026

“Jewels” is famously described as a full-length abstract ballet, but that doesn’t mean it’s about nothing, and many of the dancers in this performance gave such detailed and nuanced attention to their performances that there were hints of narratives and emotional arcs that illuminated their dancing in fascinating ways.  The was especially true in "Rubies", where Alexa Maxwell, in her debut

"Jewels"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
September 23, 2026

NYCB opened its Fall season with a week of performances celebrating the 60th anniversary of the ever-popular “Jewels”, a nod perhaps to its traditional gift of diamonds.  “Jewels” is about more than diamonds, though, it is about mood and atmosphere and in this performance “Emeralds” gleamed the brightest.  Its low-key, slightly melancholy nostalgia will probably never evoke the raucous cheers that

Book: "Clara Gibson Maxwell: Dancing on the Edge"
By Larisa Oancea
The Film Gallery, 2026

Somewhere in the middle of "Clara Gibson Maxwell: Dancing on the Edge," Larisa Oancea quotes her subject's guiding principle: "Context is content." It happens to be a fitting motto for a book that traces a choreographer who has spent decades in conversation with philosophy, architecture, jazz, literature, and somatic practice — and it sets the tone for a biography as restless and wide-ranging as