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New York City Ballet

Viennese Snapshots

"Episodes", "Vienna Waltzes"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
October 5, 2022

These two ballets, one so austere and the other so luxurious, are both set to Viennese-based music divided into unrelated sections of various moods. "Episodes", with its black and white leotards, luminous grey background and atonal music (selections of orchestral music by Anton von Webern), is astringent, precise, and impersonal while "Vienna Waltzes" has elaborate scenery (including a

interview

Isadora in the 21st Century: Interview with Lori Belilove

Isadora Duncan was and is an outlier – 100 years ago, a rebel against the academic dance establishment, and now, a pure classicist in a free-wheeling, eclectic dance environment. Today, no one embodies Isadora’s life and work more than Lori Belilove, director of the Isadora Duncan Dance Company and Foundation. Working out of a loft-studio in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, she has spent decades as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer, re-inventing Duncan Dance for the 21st

New York City Ballet

Just Desserts

"Raymonda Variations", "Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux", "Piano Pieces"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
September 24, 2022, matinee

Though all the music on this program was Russian, the atmosphere was certainly not gloomy; the ballets cheerful collections of beautiful dancing without a tear in sight, set to enticing music by Glazunov and Tchaikovsky. Glazunov's full length "Raymonda" has some of the most limpid melodies and lush orchestrations in the ballet world

New York City Ballet

Romantic Pathways

"Divertimento No. 15", "Scotch Symphony", "La Sonnambula"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
September 21, 2022

Though "Divertimento No. 15", set to Mozart, is a vision of Viennese elegance, complete with Austrian shades on Karinska's tutus, this performance found its romantic heart in the flowing Andante and was a courtly introduction to the more traditionally romantic idea of the unattainable in "Scotch Symphony" with its echoes of "La Sylphide", and in the

Miami at the Pillow

“Diversion of Angels,” “Geta,” “Antique Epigraphs,” “Serenade”
Miami City Ballet
Ted Shawn Theater, Jacob’s Pillow
Beckett, MA
August 24 - 28, 2022

Since its founding in 1985, Miami City Ballet has had close connections with New York City Ballet and George Balanchine. The company’s technique and style are modeled on Balanchine’s teachings, while its first artistic director, Edward Villella, and its current one, Lourdes Lopez, were principal dancers with the New York company when Balanchine headed it.

Welcome Back

"Birthday Offering", "Shades of Spring", "Varii Capricci"
Sarasota Ballet
Joyce Theater
New York, NY
August 16, 2022

After a two-year interruption the Sarasota Ballet finally made it back to the Joyce Theater for its third August visit. Many of the dancers are new to the company and many old favorites have retired, but the company looked polished and cohesive. The Director, the former Royal Ballet dancer Iain Webb, has built an impressive repertoire, with many works by Sir Frederick

New Directions

“Dichotomous Being: An Evening of Taylor Stanley”
Henry J. Leir Stage
Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival
Becket, Massachusetts
Saturday, July 30, 2022

Taylor Stanley projects a sense of mystery that seems an intrinsic part of his personality. It is as if his dancing is a means of self-exploration, a search for answers that may not yet be fully available. A principal with New York City Ballet since 2016, Stanley’s classical technique is pristine but never solely the point. His

An Untitled Love

“An Untitled Love”
A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham
Jacob’s Pillow
Beckett, Massachusetts
July 17, 2022

Kyle Abraham’s “An Untitled Love” is dedicated, in his words, to “Black love,” as evoked through the music of R&B artist D’Angelo. Abraham has been a fan of D’Angelo’s music since his college days. He developed his choreographic response to it over the last four years, which included two residencies at Jacob’s Pillow.

As a white

American Ballet Theatre

Young Love

American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
July 16, 2022, matinee

Kenneth MacMillan's "Romeo and Juliet" is an audience magnet and the Met was pointing straight north for Cassandra Trenary's debut as the doomed heroine. Though the work does have its dry patches--cue those frizzy haired harlots who help pad the second act (and who seem to have had a fresh perm for the occasion)--it is a true tear-jerker, as effective as any

American Ballet Theatre

Thanks for the Memories

"Theme and Variations", "Single Eye", "Zig Zag"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
June 22, 2022, matinee

This performance of ABT's only triple bill this season, subtitled (a bit hopefully) "American Splendor", was dedicated to Kevin McKenzie, after 30 years as Director of ABT. The evening opened with brief remarks by Gillian Murphy and Herman Cornejo introduced a short film summarizing Mr. McKenzie's career (including adorable pictures of him as a very

American Ballet Theatre

Greek Fire

"Of Love and Rage"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
June 22, 2022, matinee

"Of Love and Rage", Alexei Ratmansky's newest work for ABT, may never become a second "Romeo and Juliet", able to fill the Met with its name alone, and audiences new to it will always have to study the synopsis with devoted attention. Nevertheless, with the luminous settings and elegant costumes (Jean-Marc Puissant), the robust Khachaturian score, and the many choreographic

New York City Ballet

The Boys from Syracuse

"Of Love and Rage"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
June 20, 2022

ABT's newest full-length ballet, by Alexei Ratmansky, is based on the world's oldest surviving novel, "Callirhoe" written in the First century A.D. by the Greek Chariton, described in a 1935 article as "a melodrama of no slight vigor". It is certainly not a household story, but has elements of Romeo and Juliet (including a false death) and the

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