Marianne Adams

“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

“Polaris,” “Also Playing,” “Esplanade”
Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
March 20, 2016 (matinee)

Dancing three very different works, Paul Taylor’s company presented an eclectic program that informed, amused and delighted. It may have been a richly packed afternoon, but the quality of the company’s take on the geometric “Polaris,” humorous “Also Playing,” and classic “Esplanade” made it seem to go by almost too quickly.

The structure of “Polaris,” in both

“Spindrift,” “Images,” “Promethean Fire”
Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
March 19, 2016 (matinee)

It is but a truly extraordinary artist who can produce remarkable art decade after decade without the creative aquifers running dry, and Paul Taylor’s works, time and time again, prove him to be one of them. With “Spindrift" (1993), “Images" (1977) and “Promethean Fire" (2002), the choreographer’s recently reincarnated company, Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance,

“Improvisao”
Farruquito
New York City Center 
New York, NY
March 10, 2016

The New York audience hasn’t seen him in 13 years, but from the first tap of his foot Farruquito did everything to make those in the hall glad they came to witness his return. His "Improvisao" was purposefully stripped down, designed to present flamenco in its pure, back-to-basics form. There were no sets, storylines or pre-determined choreography to embellish, or encumber, the performance, leaving Farruquito with

“Carmen Suite,” “Woman in a Room”
Mariinsky Ballet
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
New York, NY
February 27, 2016

Mariinsky Ballet’s visit to New York this winter was incredibly short and focused, presenting only four shows of mixed-bill variety, all dedicated to the late Russian ballet legend Maya Plisetskaya who passed away last year, and spearheaded by the two biggest names of the company, Diana Vishneva and Ulyana Lopatkina. Program C of this four-part tribute was headlined by Diana

“The Taming of the Shrew”
Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Theatre
Live Movie Theater Broadcast by Fathom Events
January 24, 2016

The live movie theater broadcast of its 2014 production of “The Taming of the Shrew” showed the Bolshoi Ballet taking a confident step into what could well be its new era.  The ballet features original choreography by Ballet de Monte Carlo’s Jean-Christophe Maillot to a selection of music by Dmitri Shostakovich, and strikes a careful balance among English storytelling,

Lincoln Center White Lights Festival
Thomas Adès: Concentric Paths – Movements in Music
“Outliers,” “Life Story,” “The Grit in the Oyster,” “Polaris”
New York City Center
New York, NY
November 20, 2015

The Thomas Adès program of the Lincoln Center White Lights Festival, offering four works by as many choreo-graphers to Adès’s music performed live with Adès himself behind the podium or piano for each, culminated in a riveting presentation of Crystal Pite’s 2014 ballet “Polaris,” but not in

“AfterEffect,” “Company B,” “The Green Table”
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 28, 2015

In its second week, American Ballet Theatre presented a world premiere of a brand new work by one of its own – principal dancer Marcelo Gomes. The ballet, curiously titled “AfterEffect,” was ambitiously set to Tchaikovsky’s string sextet “Souvenir de Florence.” Alas, even the slim flourish it possessed quickly faded against the more effective works that followed, Paul Taylor’s “Company