Marianne Adams

“Like Water for Chocolate”
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
July 16, 2024

American Ballet Theatre ending its five-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House with Christopher Wheeldon’s “Like Water for Chocolate” seemed like an emblematic move committed to its determined new identity – a company of story ballets, new world-class choreographies and solid, home-grown dancing talent. It is an encouraging direction for the troupe, even if the ballet itself was not the most

“Woolf Works”
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
June 26, 2024

For its second week of the 2024 New York summer season, American Ballet Theatre stuck to the literary works theme, but with an unexpectedly modern, multi award-winning twist.  Created in 2015, Wayne McGregor’s “Woolf Works” is everything one would expect from him – highly physical, seemingly stripped-down yet loaded with meaning and detail, and pushing the boundaries of traditional ballet.  But it

“Equilibrio”
Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
June 19, 2024

It can be too easy to forget just how many elements make up the tapestry of the flamenco genre, but Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana company’s performance of Emilio Ochando’s new “Equilibrio” expertly brought the various strands into focus.  Conceived originally as a solo performance in 2020, Ochando expanded the COVID-19 pandemic creation to the whole company.  Infused with a few modern

“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

“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

“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

“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 the

“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 rouser.