Marianne Adams

“Primitive Mysteries,” “Rust,” “Mosaic,” “Diversion of Angels”
Martha Graham Dance Company
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
February 17, 2017

The Martha Graham Dance Company’s latest New York season, intriguingly titled “Sacred / Profane,” offered a mix of two Graham works and two newer choreographies, including one world premiere by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, in its second program.  The works presented an interplay of ritual and innocence, problems of torture, a mosaic of human identity and spectrums of love,

“Birthday Offering,” “Kabalevsky Violin Concerto,” “Concerto Grosso,” “Chromatic Fantasy,” “Concerto,” “See The Youth Advance!,” “New Scarlett”
ABT Studio Company & The Royal Ballet School
NYU Skirball Center for the Performance Arts
New York, NY
February 10, 2017

It’s fascinating to watch young dancers, those just on the cusp of professional careers, as they feel their way through and experiment with various works. There is their exploration of what the work ought to look like, of course, but

“Sleeping Beauty”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
February 9, 2017

NYCB’s “Sleeping Beauty” remains a beautiful production, and the smartly chosen cast of veterans and debutants gave the season’s early performance a good balance of stability and risk. Not all went smoothly, but the high points of the evening, particularly Sara Mearns’s debut as Fairy Carabosse, struck a memorable chord.

Dancing alongside Megan Fairchild as Aurora, Joaquin De Luz as Prince

“Fearful Symmetries,” “The Shimmering Asphalt,” “The Times Are Racing”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
February 1, 2017

With its winter New Combinations program, NYCB certainly saved the best for last.  Starting with the tepid Peter Martins’ ballet “Fearful Symmetries,” and progressing to the different and intricate new work by Pontus Lindberg, “The Shimmering Asphalt,” the program culminated with the explosive new Justin Peck ballet that was fun, liberated and fundamentally inclusive.

The

Natalia Osipova & Artists
A Sadler’s Wells London Production
“Run Mary Run,” “Qutb,” “Silent Echo”
New York City Center
New York, NY
November 15, 2016

“Don’t try to judge me, Don’t try to touch me” said the voiceover recording in the first few minutes of Natalia Osipova’s program, as she slowly moved across the stage in heels, a short green dress and red beehive wig. The moment was from one of the three US premieres of

Vail Dance Festival: ReMix NYC
Program 3: “Switch Phase,” “Anywhere On This Road,” “Suite From Mazurkas,” “First Fall,” “Liquid Velvet,” “This Bitter Earth,” “Universe,” “Tabla-ture,” “IFE/My Heart,” “Divertissement Pas De Deux,” “Canvas”
New York City Center
New York, NY
November 7, 2016

The third program of the Vail Dance Festival:ReMix NYC was a vast and rich panoply of different styles of dance and dancers. The evening moved from modern dance to classical ballet, touching on everything in

Tangos Vivos
Rascasuelos
Carnegie Hall
New York, NY
November 2, 2016

It’s unusual to see dance at Carnegie Hall, but in the context of deconstructing and reimagining the great Astor Piazzolla’s tango music legacy, in a “Rock meets Mozart meets Tango” context, as billed by the program, the chosen space actually worked well.  The men behind Rascasuelos, the group bringing the program, musical director and bandoneonista Patricio “Tripa” Bonfiglio and singer Limón García, masterfully delivered their take

“Glass Pieces,” “Thou Swell,” “Stars and Stripes”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 16, 2016 (matinee)

The names of Philip Glass, Richard Rogers, and John Philip Sousa come to mind quite intuitively when talking about American music, as do George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins when it comes to American ballet. But NYCB’s American Music program consisting of “Stars and Stripes” and “Glass Pieces,” and particularly Peter Martins’ “Thou Swell,” just seemed like

“Airslice,” “Spring,” “Monotones II,” “Mi Soledad (Solea)”
Streb Extreme Action, Dada Masilo/The Dance Factory, American Ballet Theatre, Farruquito
Fall For Dance Festival: Program 1
New York City Center 
New York, NY
September 26, 2016

The 2016 Fall for Dance festival began with a dynamic statement piece in the form of commissioned new work, and hardly let up throughout the night with its offering of energy and different styles.  Elizabeth Streb’s exhilarating “Airslice” was followed by another

“In & Out,” “Gêmeos,” “Something Tangible,” “I Am The Road”
Ailey II
Ailey Citigroup Center
New York, NY
April 1, 2016

The “All New” program of four world premieres by Ailey II showed the company as an effectual incubator of impressive talent through its performers, if not the choreo- graphers. The new works, all choreographed in 2015, by and large attempted to show too much too quickly, and on their own looked best in their more toned down and simple

“Keep,” “The Accidental,” “Grace Action”
Pennsylvania Ballet
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
March 30, 2016

Change is the essence of creative being, and Pennsylvania Ballet showed that under the new leadership of Artistic Director Angel Corella the company is embracing its future with particularly remarkable vitality.  The works the troupe brought on its first tour to New York in over a decade were all New Year premieres, all recently created ballets, and all set specifically on the dancers

Flamenco, With Cautious Variations
Juan Siddi Flamenco Santa Fe
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
March 22, 2016

Juan Siddi presented his recently formed company’s New York debut with a statement about his creativity and his skill. The eight works that made up the program interlaced several of Siddi’s main themes: use of classical instruments of piano and cello, interactions of the dance with its music, and a sprinkling of ethnic styles that could have suggested flamenco’s