Don Quixote

George Jackson

— 1 min read
Don Quixote
Isabella Boylston and Danil Simkin in American Ballet Theatre's production of "Don Quixote." Photo by Gene Schiavone.

"Don Quixote"
Marius Petipa, Alexander Gorsky, Kevin McKenzie and Susan Jones
American Ballet Theatre 
Opera House
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
Thursday, 31 March 2022


It was fun, this production of a 19th-Century Russian ballet. Not sophisticated humor but shrewd slapstick. Danill Simkin blazed as the barber Basillo so that people in the audience asked whether it wasn't Baryshnikov. No, it was Simkin indeed in the barber boy role. As his love Kitri, Isabella Boylston was pliant and crystal clear. Devon Teuscher had two parts, not a good idea because it confuse the viewers. Teuscher had verve as the street dancer and dignity as dryad queen. As the cupid figure, Amour, Lea Fleytoux was filligree to the utmost. This ballet's abundance of pantomime parts were a reminder that movements can express character, passages of bravoura dancing by soloists and corps kept proceedings lively. The music by Ludwig Minkus hasn't the nuance ofTchaikovsky's ballet scores but propels the story. Compared to this century's "whim" choreographies, the old "Don Q" provides satisfaction.   

copyright 2022 by George Jackson 

Read more

Men Alone

Men Alone

"Birthday Offering", "Mercurial Son", "Ballet Imperial"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026, matinee


Perhaps coincidentally, the “Neoclassical Works” program with ballets from three very different choreographers (Sir Frederick Ashton, Kyle Abraham, and Balanchine) all featured glimpses of men alone on stage searching yearningly or restlessly for something.  Ashton’s “Birthday Offering” (1956), a radiantly abstract celebration of classical ballet, had an anonymous cavalier looking longingly around the empty
By Mary Cargill
Working Hard

Working Hard

"Petal", "Petite Mort", "Paquita"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 22, 2026


ABT’s optimistically named “Fresh Visions and Timeless Classics” program included ABT’s first performances of Helen Pickett’s “Petal”, originally choreographed in 2008 for the Aspen/Santa Fe Ballet, Jiří Kylián’s “Petite Mort”, first danced in 1991 by the Nederlands Dans Theater, and a revival of Natalia Makarova’s 1983 staging for ABT of the final act of Petipa’s “Paquita”
By Mary Cargill
An Understated, Warm Goodbye

An Understated, Warm Goodbye

“The Four Temperaments,” “Each In Their Own Time,” “Once with you,” “Agon”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 18, 2026


It is rare for ballet stars to time a retirement well. Most often, it comes either too soon or when the peak of their creative form is meaningfully behind them. Adrian Danchig-Waring set his date a year ago. In 2024 a spinal infection nearly killed him, and he promised himself that if he
By Marianne Adams