interview
Butoh began in the ruins of post-war Japan as the "dance of utter darkness." Today it is performed and taught all over the world, and increasingly influential in other techniques and styles. No one is more responsible for this than Vangeline, founder and director of the New York Butoh Institute, which marks its 20th anniversary in 2023. After many years on the margins of the dance world, this year she is flooded in fellowships – including a grant from
"MADDADDAM"
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Canada
November 30, 2022
Wayne McGregor's "MADDADDAM", a new work inspired by Margaret Atwood's prescient MaddAddam trilogy (published between 2003 and 2013), has been many years in the making. In an alarming example of life imitating art, the premiere of this dystopian ballet set during a global pandemic was delayed by an actual global pandemic. Of her frightening work of speculative fiction, Atwood
“The Nutcracker”
New York City Ballet
David Koch Theater
New York, New York
December 6, 2022
When New York City Ballet first presented George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker” in 1954, New York Times critic John Martin wasn’t happy. He thought it betrayed Balanchine’s dedication to abstraction, which, he said, had revolutionized ballet. But, as so often happened, Balanchine knew best. He added the full-length narrative work to New York City Ballet’s mostly plotless repertory, and it
New York City Ballet
"The Nutcracker"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
November 25, 2022
For some people, the Christmas season starts with New York City Ballet's magical tree growing up to the sky with scintillating, musical excitement. The production has remained basically the same for years; though the Chinese dance has lost much of its flavor, the boys still want to grow up to be cavalry officers and the girls still politely sip
"The Collective Agreement", "Crepuscular", "Concerto"
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Canada
November 9, 2022
The National Ballet of Canada's 2022-2023 season opened with a mixed program ushering in the new. Toronto-born Hope Muir started her appointment as artistic director of the company in January 2022, marking a new era after Karen Kain's 16 year tenure in the role. This repertory program is the first Muir has put
American Ballet Theatre
"The Dream", "The Seasons"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
October 26, 2022
Frederick Ashton choreographed his version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" as part of the 400th anniversary celebration of Shakespeare's birth. The ballet also celebrated the birth on one of the twentieth century's most noted partnerships, as it gave Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell the starring roles and Ashton's Titania and Oberon are saturated with
American Ballet Theatre
"Whipped Cream"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
October 21, 2022
Alexei Ratmansky's deceptively frivolous "Whipped Cream" got a bracing performance, led by guest artist Daniil Simkin, the original Boy with the insatiable sweet tooth. The wisp of a story of a boy celebrating his first communion by sucking up so much whipped cream that he ended up in a hospital where he hallucinated a magical kingdom with a beautiful Princess
New York City Ballet
"Episodes", "Vienna Waltzes"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
October 13, 2022
In a night filled with debuts, the audience was focused on one particular couple, the first and last performance of the final scene of "Vienna Waltzes" by Sterling Hyltin, who is retiring at the end of the season after on last "Nutcracker", and Robert Fairchild, who left City Ballet in 2017, returning to say farewell to his frequent partner.
New York City Ballet
"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
interview
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
New York City Ballet
"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
New York City Ballet
"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