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New York City Ballet

Stravinsky Times Four

"Dances Concertantes", "The Cage", "Concertino", "Stravinsky Violin Concerto"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
January 24, 2025

The evening featured four ballets set to Stravinsky, two by Balanchine (“Dances Concertantes” and “Stravinsky Violin Concerto”) and two by Robbins (“The Cage” and “Concertino”). Though they shared the same composer, the ballets were all different, and it made for a varied evening.

“Dances Concertantes” started life in 1944 for the

New York City Ballet

Color Coded

"Concerto Barocco", "Allegro Brillante", "Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
January 23, 2025

This all-Balanchine evening showed off three ballets, each with its own distinctive flavor; “Concerto Barocco” has a luminous white and black simplicity, “Allegro Brillante” is a bright and golden celebration of classical technique, and “Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet” with its haunted-ballroom mauve setting, is an elegiac valentine to a lost (and somewhat imaginary) world.

The Power of Love

“Giselle”
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Canada
Nov. 20, 2024

The story of “Giselle” hasn’t changed since its premiere in 1841. Today, “Giselle” is all about the performances. There is a reason this romantic era ballet has endured as long as it has. No other work so perfectly embodies romantic values – idealism, emotion, the supernatural and the irrational. The National Ballet of Canada has been performing Sir Peter Wright’s version

Paul Taylor Dance Company

Taylor Cubed

"Arden Court", "The Word", "Syzygy"
Paul Taylor Dance Company
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
November 21, 2024

This all-Taylor program included works showing some of Taylor’s frequent themes, from the bright, cheerful “Arden Court”, through the dark and somber “The Word”, and finishing with the bursting energy of “Syzygy”, all danced with an impressive power. The works, for all their differences, had Taylor’s confident and imaginative use of structure to

New York City Ballet

Keeping it Simple

"The Nutcracker"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
November 29, 2024

New York City Ballet’s version of “The Nutcracker” is a straightforward, uncomplicated story which eschews any subtext about good and evil; it is a timeless and magical recreation of the childhood most of us dreamed about having, with parties, presents, and good cheer. And of course, good dancing, especially in the second act, and the opening night was

Bodies in Motion

"Body of Work", "Rhapsody", "Silent Screen"
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Canada
November 9, 2024

The National Ballet of Canada returned home looking energized after touring in London and Paris last month. They opened their Toronto season with a mixed program designed to attract classical and contemporary ballet fans alike. No classicist could resist Sir Frederick Ashton’s “Rhapsody”, a dazzling exemplar of bravura technique. Created for the legendary Mikhail Baryshnikov, it

Paul Taylor Dance Company

Let There Be Light

"Aureole, Vive La Loïe" "Recess", "Funny Papers"
Paul Taylor Dance Company
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
November 8, 2024

There was a lot of light and cheer in the evening’s dances, including the premiere of Jody Sperling’s homage to Loïe Fuller, an early modern dancer whose voluminous costumes and imaginative lighting inspired thousands of Art Nouveau lamps. It opened with Paul Taylor’s “Aureole”, his light-filled vision of a world full of

Throw The Book Out

“Crime and Punishment”
American Ballet Theater
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
November 1, 2024

As a novel, Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” can be deeply intellectually rewarding or torturously challenging. As a ballet, Helen Pickett’s adaptation, which premiered during ABT’s fall season, was solely the latter. Set over twenty scenes to commissioned score from Isobel Waller-Bridge, the work felt like it was based on the CliffsNotes version of the book, not the

The Spirit Lives

"The Traitor", "Scherzo", "The Quake that Held Them All", "Two Ecstatic Themes", "Missa Brevis"
Limón Dance Company
Joyce Theater
New York, New York
November 6, 2024

The Limón Dance Company’s Joyce season presented a generous program, with revivals of three significant Limón works, “The Traitor”, “Scherzo”, and “Missa Brevis”, The first and final pieces emphasized Limón’s spiritual qualities and command of movement, while “Scherzo” was a delicious playful romp. The company also offered a solo by

American Ballet Theatre

The Heart of the Matter

"Crime and Punishment"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
October 30, 2024

As Oscar Wilde wrote “all bad poetry is sincere”. The same can be said for all forms of art, as unfortunately Helen Pickett’s “Crime and Punishment”, ABT’s new ballet, shows. In a recent interview in the “New York Times” Pickett described her fascination with Dostoevsky’s famous novel and talked about her dedication in turning

American Ballet Theatre

A Foggy Day

"The Kingdom of the Shades", "Sylvia Pas de Deux", "Pas de Deux from Great Galloping Gottschalk", "Neo", "In the Upper Room"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
October 26, matinee 2024

The theater’s dry ice machine got a good workout during this matinee as three of the five works used the fog machine to great effect. “The Kingdom of the Shades”, the white act from the full length nineteenth century

American Ballet Theatre

The Human Element

"La Boutique", "Mercurial Son", "Études"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
October 8, 2024

ABT opened it’s Fall season with two premieres, Gemma Bond’s “La Boutique” and Kyle Abraham’s “Mercurial Son”, and Harald Landers’ 1948 “Etudes”, a salute to classical ballet that ABT first danced in 1961. Though “Etudes” does have an homage to the grand nineteenth century ballets, especially the works of the Danish choreographer August Bournonville, and “La

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