Marianne Adams

“Onegin”
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
June 18 and June 19 (matinee), 2024

American Ballet Theatre boldly opened its 2024 season at the Metropolitan Opera House with John Cranko’s “Onegin.” With somewhat last-minute casting changes, the opening night honors fell on Christine Shevchenko and Cory Stearns as Tatiana and Onegin respectively, who danced with dedication; though it was the next day’s matinee performers, also a substitute cast, Chloe Misseldine and Thomas Forster, who brought

“Law of Mosaics,” “This Bitter Earth,” “Herman Schmerman Pas de Deux,” “Love Letter (on shuffle)”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
May 23, 2024

In its second of two programs featuring works by contemporary choreographers, New York City Ballet dazzled and dazed, leaning heavily on the quality of its dancers to bring forward the more vibrant elements of the presented ballets’ expressive palettes, both physical and emotional. The best of the evening – the absolutely devastating

“Fandango,” “Bloom,” “Where We Dwell”
Roman Mejia, Tiler Peck and Herman Cornejo, Ayodele Casel
Fall For Dance – Program 5
New York City Center
New York, NY
October 23, 2021

The last program of this year’s Fall For Dance Festival looked back in looking ahead. Alexei Ratmansky’s 2010 work “Fandango” was presented in a restaging on a male dancer form, Justin Peck’s new work “Bloom” drew heavily on George Balanchine’s iconic “Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux,” and the

“Mapping Out A Sky,” “38109,” “Each In His Own Time,” “Meet Ella”
BalletX, Lil Buck, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Caleb Teicher & Company
New York City Center
New York, NY
October 22, 2021

The Fall For Dance Festival never really left, considering the two programs it offered in a digital streaming format last year, but still its return to a live audience felt like a homecoming.  A bonus on the second night of Program 4 was the unscheduled appearance

Precious Gems: Precious Jewels Variations from “Alladin,” “Aria,” “Tarantella,” Solo from “Lambarena,” “Variations for Four,” Sicilienne from “Emeralds,” Duet from “Concerto Six Twenty-Two,” “Paquita”
Capitol Theatre
Salt Lake City, UT
April 15, 2021

What would ballet look like on a theater stage, when it returns, has been a question plaguing most ballet lovers and insiders alike, and as one of the first companies in the world, and certainly in the United States, to bring its dancers back in front of

“Who Cares?” (excerpts), “to be seen,” “Concerto Six Twenty-Two” (duet), “Lady Swings the Blues”
Fall for Dance Festival – Program 2
New York City Center (Pre-recorded Digital Broadcast)
New York, NY
October 26, 2020

There may not have been many good news for the dance world this year, but the enduring holding of the Fall for Dance Festival, even if in an abbreviated, digital format, was certainly one of them.  Admittedly, in these trying times the starved audience would have

“Dance Me,” “Blanc,” “The Running Show,” “Chronicle”
Fall For Dance Festival - Program 5
Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, Sara Mearns & Taylor Stanley, Monica Bill Barnes & Company, Martha Graham Dance Company
New York City Center
New York, NY
October 13, 2019

The most welcome part about the somewhat somber fifth program of the Fall for Dance Festival was that it was best absorbed as an experience, rather than as a source of deep meanings. The world premiere of

“At the Wrong Time,” “Dust Duet,” “Dare to Wreck,” “Lazarus” (Act II)
Fall For Dance Festival - Program 3
The Mariinsky Ballet, English National Ballet, Skånes Dansteater, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
New York City Center
New York, NY
October 6, 2019

The third program of this year’s Fall For Dance Festival followed what is now an expected formula: there was a range of dance styles on display, at least one work on pointe, and at least one crowd

“Raymonda Variations,” “Variations Pour Une Porte et Un Soupir,” “DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
September 22, 2019 (matinee)

New York City Ballet could have presented any combination of works for its “Balanchine + Wheeldon” program, but the particular selection of George Balanchine’s “Raymonda Variations” and “Variations Pour Une Porte et Un Soupir” and Christopher Wheeldon’s “DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse” worked to highlight Balanchine’s creative genius, while

"Darl," "Seventy-Two Hours," "Two Sides Of," "Reverie," "Dialogue Dances"
The Joyce Ballet Festival, Program B
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
August 10, 2019 

Program B of the Joyce Ballet Festival, curated by The Royal Ballet’s star Lauren Cuthbertson, at first could have seemed like an odd grab bag of material, as thematically its one United States and four world premieres hardly had a connecting thread (besides the almost uniform prominence of Cuthbertson).  On reflection though, the

“The Brahms-Haydn Variations,” “Deuce Coupe,” “In the Upper Room”
American Ballet Theatre
The Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
May 31, 2019

ABT’s Tharp Trio program was in some ways all about the once-new ways of looking at dance, and in others an unequivocal way to underscore the “American” in American Ballet Theatre. The three Twyla Tharp works – the crowd-pleasing modern “In the Upper Room,” the neo-classical “Brahms-Haydn Variations,” and the completely new to the company, blended-styled “Deuce Coupe”