“Bright,” “Bartók Ballet,” “Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3”
New York City Ballet
Spring Gala
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
May 2, 2019
Congratulatory speeches from the stage; women in fancy dresses passing up and down the aisles; a rather late start to the evening; men of a certain age in formal wear shaking hands across the rows of the orchestra of the David H. Koch Theater: it's another gala at New York City Ballet. All three of the
"Pictures at an Exhibition," "Oltremare," "Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
April 25 and 26, 2019
No Balanchine. No Robbins. For the first week of its spring 2019 season, the New York City Ballet looked not to its bedrock repertory but to works of this century, made long after Balanchine and Robbins were gone: Alexei Ratmansky's "Pictures at an Exhibition", Mauro Bigonzetti's "Oltremare" and Justin Peck's "Rodeo:
"Prodigal Son", "Liebeslieder Walzer"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
March 2, 2019 (matinee)
"Prodigal Son" is one of Balanchine's most robust ballets; it turns ninety this year and has rarely been out of the New York City Ballet's repertory since being revived for Edward Villella in 1960. There have been always male dancers, willing, able, even eager to take on the title role and a stable of tall long-legged women to
"Interplay", "In the Night", "N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
February 5, 2019
Youth must be served, as the old saying goes, and no choreographer served youth as assiduously as Jerome Robbins. He admired the audacity of the young Twyla Tharp, using Central Park as a performance space, and was often the first to spot – and spotlight – young talent at the New York City Ballet, particularly among the male dancers. And, above all,
"Apollo", "Orpheus", "Agon"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
January 26, 2019 evening
Apollo, in Balanchine's "Apollo" can be anyone from a "rascal"(the choreographer's exhortation to Edward Villella) to a breathtaking god, seemingly fully formed (Peter Martins, exchanging Valhalla for Mount Olympus as the ballet progressed), all valid. In his company debut, Gonzalo Garcia chose the middle ground and made it his own. The softness of his gestures, from the raised
"Don Quixote"
Hungarian National Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
November 9, 2018
Michael Messerer's version of "Don Quixote" was last seen in New York in 2014 danced by the Mihailovsky ballet with supernova superstars Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev in the leading roles. Four years later, Hungarian National Ballet couldn't field as brilliant a pair of leads -- few companies could -- but other, quieter virtues became apparent this time around.
The curtain
Song of the Mermaid
K'Arts Dance Company
New York City Center
New York, NY
October 20, 2018 evening
"Song of the Mermaid", choreographed by Sunhee Kim, has as its source Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid". The Mermaid, the youngest of six daughters of the King of the Sea, falls in love with the prince she has saved from drowning. To act on her love, she seeks help from a Blanket Octopus who covets her father's throne. Her wish is
"Symphonie Concertante", "Garden Blue", "Fancy Free"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 20, 2018 matinee
At American Ballet Theatre, the dancing did the talking in a program that included a revival of Balanchine's "Symphonie Concertante" to Mozart, once considered lost; "Garden Blue" in which the production carried the day; and an unalloyed classic, Jerome Robbins' "Fancy Free" all with debuts in leading roles.
What amazes initially in "Symphonie Concertante" is how easy
“Viva Vivaldi (excerpts),” “Aureole,” “Gamelan (excerpts),” “Party Mix”
Dig Dance, Taylor, Joffrey, Arpino: Deliciously Alternative Classics
New York Dance Project, Taylor 2
92nd St Y
New York, NY
October 19, 2018
When it comes to dance, particularly 20th century theatrical dance with a classical or neoclassical bent, words can be, if not dangerous, certainly misleading, paving stones on the road to disappointment. This has little to do with the quality of the dancers or dancing but rather
"Six Brandenburg Concertos"
Rosas
Park Avenue Armory
New York NY
October 7, 2018
by Carol Pardo
copyright © 2018 by Carol Pardo
Why didn't it work? That question hangs over Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's "Six Brandenburg Concertos". It should have worked. Evidently, De Keersmaeker was listening to the Brandenburgs (or at least no. 5) while choreographing "Fase", to Steve Reich in 1982, the piece that put her on the map. Having made minimalism move exultantly, you'd think Bach, with