"Scènes de Ballet", "The Two Pigeons"
A Tribute to Ashton
Sarasota Ballet
Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
Sarasota, Floria
March 10, 2017, March 11, matinee, 2017, and March 11, evening 2017
Iain Webb has directed the Sarasota Ballet for ten years, and helped celebrate this milestone by presenting an all-Frederick Ashton program. Though tin is the official tenth year wedding gift, Webb's programing was pure gold, giving the audience the Sarasota Ballet's premiere of
"Fast Forward", "Gravity", "Anna's Last Day", "Sunrise", "Dark Forest"
New Chamber Ballet
City Center Studio 5
New York, New York
February 11, 2017
Miro Magloire's all-female six-member New Chamber Ballet performed five of his works in his usual home, the modest, informal Studio 5. It has no wings, lighting, or sets, which allows the audience to get up close and personal with the dancers. Magloire, as usual, introduced each piece, making it seem as
New York City Ballet
"The Sleeping Beauty"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
February 12, 2017, evening
Peter Martins' version of "The Sleeping Beauty" is a bit like the girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead – when it is good, it is very, very good, and when it is bad it is, not horrid certainly, but certainly disappointing. Both aspects were on view Sunday night. Tiler Peck and Tyler Angle as the
New York City Ballet
"Allegro Brillante", "Swan Lake", "The Four Temperaments"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
January 31, 2017
The well-balanced, all-Balanchine program wasn't given a name by the marketing department, but it could have been called "Salute to Maria Tallchief", since both "Allegro Brillante" and "Swan Lake" were choreographed for her and Sanguinic in "The Four Temperaments" was one of her important roles. Tallchief was a dancer of power and majesty, characteristics which,
Miami City Ballet: "The Fairy's Kiss" by Alexei Ratmansky
Works & Process
Peter B. Lewis Theater
Guggenheim Museum
New York, NY
January 29, 2017, afternoon
The Miami City Ballet is premiering Alexei Ratmansky's "The Fairy's Kiss" in February, set to Stravinsky's "Le Baiser de la Fée". Stravinsky's music was inspired by both a Hans Christian Andersen story and the life and music of Tchaikovsky. The original tale, "The Ice Maiden,
New York City Ballet
"Fearful Symmetries", "The Shimmering Asphalt", "The Times are Racing"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
January 26, 2017
For the past several years New York City Ballet has celebrated Balanchine with at least one new work under the rubric of "New Combina- tions", honoring Balanchine's statement "There are no new steps, only new combinations". This year the two premieres, by Pontus Lidberg and Justin Peck, showed that new combinations are hard to
New York City Ballet
"Allegro Brillante", "Swan Lake", "The Four Temperaments"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
January 18, 2017
The current programming scheme of performing three similar ballets together took a welcome break on Wednesday, as New York City Ballet presented a varied triple bill, proving that variety is really spicy. The all Balanchine program had three varied works: the exhilarating opening, a drama, and a black and white masterpiece. The newest of these works, "Allegro
"Kirana", "Consider Water"
Ragamala Dance Company and Davalois Fearon Dance
American Dance Platform - Program C
Joyce Theater
New York, NY
January 5, 2017
by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2017 by Mary Cargill
The second American Dance Platform, a week-long, multi-company program presented by the Joyce Theater Foundation, was curated by Alicia Adams of Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center. She wanted, she writes in the program, to show "a representative portrait of American Dance"; Program C
New York City Ballet
"The Nutcracker"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
December 6, 2016
Tolstoi's remark about happy families, it seems, could have been written about the Stahlbaums, and he might have added that happy ballets are all alike, too, a celebration of innocence, wonder, and stability flanked by majestic, musical choreography. In the New York City Ballet's "Nutcracker" Tuesday night, Zachary Catazaro and Gretchen Smith were the warm, generous couple overseeing the cosy hustle-bustle
"Apollo", "Leaves are Fading pax de deux", "Lamentations", "Fandango", "Lil Buck @ City Center: a Jookin' Jam Session"
Vail Dance Festival: ReMixNYC
New York City Center
New York, NY
November 4, 2016.
Damian Woetzel, a former NYCB dancer of explosive energy, has directed the summer dance festival in Vail, Colorado for the last ten years and he brought his eclectic, imaginative, and thoughtfully curated approach to New York's City Center for a brief visit. The dances ranged from Balanchine's
"Le Corsaire"
Boston Ballet
Boston Opera House
Boston, Massachusetts
October 29, 2016, matinee
"Le Corsaire" originally set sail in Paris in 1856 and moved to Russia with Marius Petipa in 1858, where it went through several revisions. The last Petipa version was done in 1899 and it has added a lot of cargo since then. Unlike "The Sleeping Beauty" the swashbuckling tale, tangentially related to Byron's poem, has no definitive version and its melodramatic plot is basically a
"Monotones I and II", "Serenade after Plato's Symposium", "Prodigal Son"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 26, 2016
American Ballet Theatre's now traditional Fall season is a treat for its audience, which gets to see interesting one-act ballets, full of fine dancing from the corps and soloists (as well as the principals), with few tutus in sight. The October 26 program stood out for its varied and interesting choreography and its well-