"Nutcracker"
San Francisco Ballet
War Memorial Opera House
San Francisco, CA.
December 11, 2019
The same old, yet forever new. Great art doesn’t tire you. But how many works, as awkwardly structured as the “Nutcracker,” is can make that claim? Yet this year, I cannot remember having been so grateful to Messrs. Tchaikovsky, Ivanov, Petipa and Helgi Tomasson. The latter’s 2004 “Nutcracker” was as close to immaculately performed as I can remember. Maybe, it helped that this
"Signals from the West: Bay Area Artists in Conversation with Merce Cunningham at 100"
Hope Mohr Dancer: The Bridge Project with SFMOMA's Open Space
ODC Theater
San Francisco, CA
November 8, 2019
The most recent Hope Mohr Dance Bridge Project, the ambitious, challenging and often mesmerizing “Signals from the West: Bay Area Artists in Conversation with Merce Cunningham at 100” is Mohr’s contribution to the many celebrations of the choreographer’s birthday. Almost three-months long, it brought together writers,
"La Baydère"
Marinsky Ballet
Cal Performances
Zellerback Hall
Berkeley, California
October 30, 2019
What a magnificent, somewhat cumbersome fantasy “La Bayadère” is. In the recent Mariinsky Ballet performance at Cal Performances with a cast of, apparently, two hundred, and an orchestra that just about spilled out of the pit, the dancing was superb, the story telling clear and beautifully spaced, the mime large and much welcome. So there were few a missteps, a couple of errant balances; that is and
Ase Dance Theatre Collective
ODC Theater
San Francisco, CA
October 17, 2019
A dance artist’s most difficult task (besides nailing down the money) is to find a framework that can house and support expressive content Some rethink and reshape established formats — Ballet and Flamenco. Others become more radical–dance theater, installations. Adia Tamar Whitaker called her “Have K(NO!)w Fear ” for her Ase Dance Theatre Collective a “Bluessical”, for which she choreographed, wrote lyrics, composed music and danced
“(in)Visible"
Jess Curtis/Gravity
CounterPulse
San Francisco, CA
Oct. 3, 2019
Even in an area as rich in experimental dance as this one, choreographers can still surprise us with one more question asked. If the inquiries don’t always convince, if cogently asked, they at least resonate a little on the way out of the theater. Jess Curtis/Gravity’s “(in)Visible,” developed in Berlin and receiving its local premiere at CounterPulse, did much more than that. At seventy-minutes
"Take Five" "The Man in Black" "Carmina Burana"
Smuin Contemporary Ballet
Cowell Theater
San Francisco, CA
September 27, 2019
Smuin Contemporary Ballet’s sixteen dancers opened the company’s 26th season with an infectious verve and the confidence to take on whatever might come down the line. (The fact that soon they will move into a home of their own just may have contributed to the upbeat mood). They also welcomed five new colleagues, some of whom already
“Mozart Dances”
Mark Morris Dance Group
Zellerbach Auditorium
CalPerformances
Berkeley, CA
September 20, 2019
Mark Morris gets justifiably praised for the depth of his musicality but he most certainly also keeps our attention with the breadth of his imagination. The three parts of “Mozart Dances”, set in 2006 to the Piano Concertos No. 11 and 27 and the Sonata for Two Pianos, offer an extraordinary insight into Mozart, above all as a genius of crystalline clarity of music as abstraction.
"Verses" "Otra Vez, Otra Vez, Otra Vez" "All I Ever Knew"
Sketches 9: Perspective
ODC Theater
San Francisco, CA
July 17, 2019
Choreographers need commissions. After all, without dancers they are like pianists without instruments. But all too often a commission entails two weeks in a studio and, probably, just a few rehearsals before the world premiere. After awhile, San Francisco choreographer Amy Seiwert figured, this way she wouldn’t be able to sustain her creative impulses; and she probably
"Room for Error" "The Bedroom" "It's Uncle" "Cloudless" "Silent Scream"
SFDanceworks
Cowell Theater
Fort Mason Center
San Francisco, CA
June 20, 2019
In its fourth season, Founder James Sofranko's SFDanceworks offered three world premieres by Laura O’Malley, Brett Conway, and Andrea Schermoly. Local premieres of Hubbart Street Resident Choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo’s “Cloudless” and Olivier Wevers’ 2018 “Silent Scream” for his Whim W’Him company made for a well danced, well curated evening of contemporary choreography. This was an
"The Exceptionally Elderly Overweight Black Man Phoenix"
Robert Moses' Kin
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Forum
San Francisco, CA
June 14, 2019
While it’s true that most works of art on one level are about their creators, it’s also true that few artists manage to weave personal experience, artistic challenges, as well as social and philosophical issue into a seamless whole without overburdening the final product. But that’s exactly what Robert Moses attempted in his brave
“Rajastra: The King’s Cloth” “Hamsa” “”Jangala”
Oakland Ballet Company
Odell Johnson Performing Arts Center Oakland, CA
June 1, 2019
Making the most out of whatever resources are available to you probably is not the least of a successful artistic director’s skills. Graham Lustig, the heart and brain behind the blossoming Oakland Ballet Company, certainly has what it takes. The company’s last season program was smartly planned, admirably danced and well received by the sizable matinee audience at
"Shostakovich Trilogy"
San Francisco Ballet
War Memorial Opera House
San Francisco, CA
May 7, 2019
Just about everybody I encountered at the reprise of Alexei Ratmansky’s “Shostakovich Trilogy,” premiered by ABT in 2013 and San Francisco Ballet in 2014, commented on how they “hate Shostakovich’s music, but love it when danced.” I am actually one of those who Ratmansky made hear the music because I could see it in the dancers’ bodies. More often than not well known