“Radeau/Raft,” “Hex,” “Las Desenamoradas,” “Exhibition”
Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance Company
Ailey Citigroup Theater
New York, NY
November 7, 2025

The tantalizingly brief run of modern dance works by Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance Company proved a rare gem – blink and you'd miss it. Those fortunate enough to attend were treated to Eleo Pomare's once-daring and still-potent choreography, alongside a new work by the company's Artistic Director Enrique Cruz DeJesus, and the evening became an exploration of women’s roles and

“Have We Met?!,” “Serenade after Plato’s Symposium,” “Theme and Variations”
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 30, 2025

For one of the final programs of its fall season, American Ballet Theatre presented a study in contrasts: the world premiere of Juliano Nunes's "Have We Met?!" explored parallel love stories across a century, while George Balanchine's "Theme and Variations" reminded us what timeless classicism looks like. Sandwiched between them, Alexei Ratmansky's 2016 "Serenade after Plato's

"Company B", "Scudorama", "Diggity"
Paul Taylor Dance Company
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, NY
November 7, 2025

It may have been accidental but this all-Taylor program had a canine theme--there were lots of dogs, flat metallic ones sitting on the stage for the dancers  in the final work, “Diggity”, to maneuver around and Taylor has also explained that one of the inspirations for the middle work, the inscrutably surrealistic “Scudorama” was the memory of a dog

“The Kingdom of the Shades,” “Le Grand Pas de Deux,” “Rhapsody (Pas de Deux),” “The Sleeping Beauty, Act III”
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 28, 2025

Sometimes fortune smiles on an audience. The second version of ABT’s “Classics to the Contemporary” program, which replaced the middle act pieces with Christian Spuck’s “Le Grand Pas de Deux” and an excerpt from Frederick Ashton’s “Rhapsody,” had a last-minute replacement for the opening act’

“Procession”
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Canada
November 1, 2025

How satisfying it is when something lives up to the hype. Choreographic duo Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber have generated a lot of buzz in recent years, creating works for preeminent dance companies across North America and Europe while also crossing over into work in film and theatre. There was a lot of anticipation leading up to the world premiere of

“The Kingdom of the Shades,” “Grand Pas Classique,” “Known by Heart (“Junk” Duet), “The Sleeping Beauty, Act III”
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 26, 2025

It was a showcase of individual talent at ABT’s mixed bill titled “Classics to the Contemporary,” with plenty of solos to dance in Natalia Makarova’s “Kingdom of Shades,” Victor Gsovsky’s “Grand Pas Classique,” Twyla Tharp’s “Known by Heart” duet and the entire third act of

"Rodeo", "Le Grande Pas de Deux", "Rhapsody Pas de Deux", "Theme and Variations"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 31, 2025

ABT celebrated Halloween in grand style, handing out candy to the departing audience, holding a costume contest (I set next to the winning couple, a Venus fly-trap and a trumpet pitcher plant), and a program of tricks and treats (the trick was Christian Spuck’s comedy “Le Grand Pas de Deux” and the treats

“Les Sylphides,” “Gala Performance,” “Rodeo”
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 17, 2025

Celebrating its 85^th anniversary, American Ballet Theatre presented a program titled “A Retrospective of Master Choreographers,” featuring works from deep in the 20^th century. The evening showcased Michel Fokine’s “Les Sylphides,” Antony Tudor’s “Gala Performance,” and Agnes de Mille’s “Rodeo” – all treated with distinctly modern reverence and an almost overcautious care to preserve their original character.

That

"The Kingdom of the Shades", "Rhapsody Pas de Deux", "Grand Pas Classique", "The Sleeping Beauty, Act III"
American Ballet Theatre
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 25, 2025, evening

The program, entitled “Classics to the Contemporary”, had selections from three works ranging from the Shades scene from Marius Petipa’s “La Bayadère” (1877), the final act of his “The Sleeping Beauty” (1890), and a brief pas de deux from Sir Frederick Ashton’s “Rhapsody”

"Les Sylphides", "Gala Performance", "Rodeo"
American Ballet Theatre
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
October 23, 2025

ABT helped celebrate its 85th anniversary with the program entitled “A Retrospective of Major Choreographers” whose works (Michel Fokine’s “Les Sylphides”, Antony Tudor’s “Gala Performance”, and Agnes de MIlle’s “Rodeo”), though long associated with ABT, were all created for different companies.  Though they have very different styles (lyrical, satirical-technical, and American rowdy respectively), they all have a

"Otherwhere", "Leaven"
Tom Gold Dance
Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan
New York, NY
October 20, 2025

Tom Gold Dance was established in 2008 by the former New York City Ballet soloist, Tom Gold, and the revolving cast (made up of dancers with various backgrounds, including current and former NYCB dancers) has been performing Gold’s choreography in smaller venues with regular New York seasons.  Keeping a small company going for so long can’t have been easy, but the dances

“The Barre Project, Blake Works II,” “Thousandth Orange,” “Swift Arrow,” “Time Spell”
Turn It Out with Tiler Peck and Friends
New York City Center
New York, NY
October 16, 2025

Tiler Peck’s intimately curated show – Turn It Out with Tiler Peck and Friends – made a brief but powerful return at City Center with an assortment of four ballets that showcased every performer's strengths while cleverly avoiding their weaknesses. Above all else, the program was a celebration of musicality itself

"Chaconne", "The Emperor Jones", "Jamelgos"
Limón Dance Company
Joyce Theater
New York, NY
October 14, 2025

In his affable introduction to the week-long Limón season at the Joyce celebrating the company’s 80th anniversary, Dante Puleio, the Artistic Director, dedicated the performances to his predecessor the late Carla Maxwell, who died this year.  She directed the company from 1978 to 2015, one of the early pioneers in maintaining a modern dance company which had been build around a

“Voices,” “Composer’s Holiday,” “Herman Schmerman Pas de Deux,” “Foreseeable Future”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 10, 2025

There is no such thing as too much new dance, but that does not always lessen one’s longing for the old. For its last program of the fall season, New York City Ballet presented three works from the last decade, including a premiere from its Fall Gala this season by Jamar Roberts, and William

“Forseeable Future”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 9, 2025

Jamar Roberts is an American modern dance choreographer, associated most often with Alvin Ailey and his new work for City Ballet, entitled “Forseeable Future” is entirely true to that tradition.  It’s a theater piece by a ballet company and in no way dependent on classical dance.  Neither too bad nor too good, not unpleasant to watch, physically broad in

“Confetti,” “Valentine,” “Sea Shadow,” “Light Rain”
Arpino Dance Festival, Program 2
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
October 7, 2025

If there was one overarching theme of the Arpino Dance Festival, particularly in the second program, it was the choreographer’s unapologetic commitment to experimentation and entertainment. That such a vision could materialize on the Joyce's intimate stage, and given the participating dancers' complex schedules and the festival's logistical demands, is a testament to Arpino Foundation’s leadership’s curatorial

"Voices", "Composer's Holiday", "Herman Scherman Pas de Deux", "Forseeable Future"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
October 9, 2025

The current City Ballet practice of programming ballets by themes meant that the evening, called “Contemporary Choreography I”, had no tutus, limited point shoes, fantastic dancing, and a gradually diminishing audience.  Contemporary, in this case, ranged from 1993 (William Forsythe’s “Herman Schmerman pas de deux”) to yesterday (Jamar Roberts’ “Foreseeable Future”

“Signs,” “Red Angels,” “Zakuski,” “Heatscape”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 4, 2025

Although the program was titled Eclectic NYCB, the combination of “Signs,” “Red Angels,” “Zakuski,” and a new to the company this season Justin Peck ballet – “Heatscape” set to Bohuslav Martinů’s music – registered more as an assortment of stripped-down, thematically minimalist styles than an eclectic curation.  The takeaway: this type of dance is comfort-territory for the company, even when the

"Shadowboxing in Blue"
Danse Theater Surreality
Directed by Lauren Hlubny and Kyra Hauck
Haven Boxing, Brooklyn
October 4, 2025

No one who has watched a championship boxing match, and seen the fighters fall into each other's arms at the final bell, can doubt the emotional range and depth of boxing.  No sport is a better metaphor for life, in all its glory and humiliation. 

Shadowboxing is something else.  It's punching the air, the only target being an

“Confetti,” “L’air d’Esprit,” “Round of Angels,” “Birthday Variations”
Arpino Dance Festival, Program 1
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
October 1, 2025

Two years after Gerald Arpino’s centennial celebration, New York audiences got a chance to delight in the works of this co-founder of The Joffrey Ballet.  Though the company he helped build decamped to Chicago decades ago, the Arpino Dance Festival's opening program brought his distinctive spirit home through dancers assembled from companies nationwide, and

“Square Dance”, “Episodes”, “Western Symphony”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
September 20, 2025, matinee

New York City Ballet’s second all-Balanchine program of the Fall season showed two variations on bouncy American square dances (the serenely classical “Square Dance” from 1957 and the raucous “Western Symphony” from 1954), sandwiching the austere, angular “Episodes” (1959) to selections of Anton Webern—something for everyone.  I do miss the old weekly smorgasbord programming

“Donizetti Variations”, “Ballade”, “Swan Lake”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
September 16, 2025

New York City Ballet opened its Fall season with an all Balanchine evening, showing three variations of love, both lost and found, all set to nineteenth-century music.  There were two standards, “Donizetti Variations” and “Swan Lake”, and one rare revival, the 1980 “Ballade”, set to “Ballade for Piano and Orchestra” by Gabriel Fauré.  “Donizetti Variations” has

"The Muir", "You've Got To Be Modernistic", "Silhouettes", "Mosaic and United" (Program A)
'"The Argument", "Northwest", "Ten Suggestions", "Going Away Party" (Program B)
Mark Morris Dance Group
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY 
July 16, 2025 (Program A) and July 24, 2025 (Program B)

Choreographers use music in many ways; it can provide atmosphere, humming along politely in the background, it can be a floor supporting the dancers, it can hint at a narrative, or it can weave

“Swan Lake”
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
July 17 and 19, 2025

In a move full of risk and opportunity, American Ballet Theatre bookended its Met season with two blocks of its production of “Swan Lake,” now in its 25^th year.  The immortal classic, even in ABT’s flawed rendition, remains a tried-and-true blockbuster, but more crucially serves as an unforgiving vehicle for showcasing and assessing a company’s talent. While all eyes this