"George Balanchine's The Nutcracker"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
December 17, 2019

"George Balanchine's The Nutcracker", as it's now called, turned sixty-five this year, old enough to be eligible for Medicare and half-price rides on the New York City subway. Whatever else might have changed over the decades, the ballet has always been anchored by Tchaikovsky's score, from its first delicate notes, glittering like ice on snow and transporting us to a cozy

"Nutcracker"
San Francisco Ballet
War Memorial Opera House
San Francisco, CA.
December 11, 2019

The same old, yet forever new. Great art doesn’t tire you. But how many works, as awkwardly structured  as the “Nutcracker,” is can make that claim? Yet this year, I cannot remember having been so grateful to Messrs. Tchaikovsky, Ivanov, Petipa and Helgi Tomasson. The latter’s 2004 “Nutcracker” was as close to immaculately performed as I can remember. Maybe, it helped that this

“New Work for Goldberg Variations”
Pam Tanowitz & Simone Dinnerstein
Joyce Theater
New York, NY
December 10, 2019

Choreographer Pam Tanowitz is a serious headliner in the world of contemporary dance, but in "New Work for Goldberg Variations," her stunning collaboration with pianist Simone Dinnerstein, Tanowitz put the award-winning pianist at the center. Dinnerstein sat at a grand piano in the middle of the stage, and, from the first image, the dance revolved around the music. The first light to

“Giselle”
Bolshoi Ballet
November 21, 22, 2019

It’s not usual to think of lying lovers, betrayal, madness and death as fodder for holiday fare, but Alexei Ratmansky’s reconstruction of “Giselle” has as many surprises pouring out of it as a Christmas Wonderball, so it is the best holiday present imaginable. Ratmansky has consulted, it seems, every word written about and photograph taken of the major productions of this great Romantic ballet, digested them, then walked out of the

"Etudes", "Piano Concerto #1", "Petite Mort"
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Canada
November 15, 2019

The National Ballet of Canada latest triple bill brought a balanced mix of pure classical ballet technique and more contem- porary movement. Between Harald Lander's "Etudes", Alexei Ratmansky's "Piano Concerto #1", and Jiří Kylián's "Petite Mort", the program played to the strengths of the company's corps de ballet and highlighted many principal dancers and soloists. Together, these

“The Day”
Wendy Whelan and Maya Beiser in
choreography by Lucinda Childs to
music and poetry by David Lang,
Eisenhower Theater,
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,
Washington, DC
December 6, 2019

At the start of the 20th Century, Diaghilev’s ballet dancers such as Pavlova, Nijinsky, Karsavina, Bolm et al. did “moderne” numbers on their comcert programs. Nijinsky, of course, has been considered an innovative modern dance choreographer as well as a classic-romantic performer. If ballet

Herman Cornejo: Celebrating 20 Years
Act II pas de deux from "Giselle", Second solo from "Apollo", "Sinatra Suite"
Studio 5
New York City Center
New York, New York
December 2, 2019

Alastair Macaulay's too brief stint as Studio 55 programmer ended with a salute to ABT dancer Herman Cornejo's twenty year career with the company.  Cornejo himself selected the repertoire and the dancers (Skylar Brandt in "Giselle" and Luciana Paris in "Sinatra Suite"), which with characteristic modesty highlighted partnering

“The Nutcracker”
Atlanta Ballet
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
November 27, 2019

Washington balletgoers took part in something special last week when the Atlanta Ballet — a regional troupe never before seen at the Kennedy Center — unveiled a new “Nutcracker” that made an old story glisten with intrigue and wonder. The stunning $3.7 million production, conceived by Artistic Director Gennadi Nedvigin and choreographed by Yuri Possokhov, marries timeless tradition with 21

"Orpheus Alive", "Chaconne"
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Canada
November 15, 2019

The Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice has inspired countless creative works over the years. The National Ballet of Canada's choreographic associate, Robert Binet, is the latest dancemaker to interpret this classic love story with his ballet "Orpheus Alive". It is a sweeping, large-scale work with a cast of 45 dancers and a running time of 73 minutes. Rather than

"The Art of Partnering"
Studio 5
New York City Center
New York, New York
November 25, 2019

The intimate and imaginative Studio 5 presentations give the audience, who sit in a semi-circle around the artists, fascinating glimpses into the creative process.  This evening Alastair Macaulay, the former Chief Dance Critic of the "New York Times", put together a discussion on ballet partnering in three works by Balanchine with Jonathan Stafford, the Artistic Director of the New York City Ballet

“Under the Olive Tree” and "Genus"
Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami
South Miami Dade Cultural Center
Cutler Bay, FL
November 16, 2019

Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami opened its 2019-2020 season with “Ballet Sculpture and Serenity” at the South Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center November 16th at 8:00pm to a mostly full house.  Two company premieres and a world premiere headlined a program of works united by the theme of metamorphosis and classical Greece in the three

“Taiten: Noh & Kyogen”
Japan Society
New York
November 14-16, 2019

Japanese Noh is said to be the oldest living theatrical form, its roots going back to the fourteenth century. It is bound by the minutest of rules, every gesture and step refined to abstraction. Its subject matter, too, was developed centuries ago and deals with an unreal world of warriors, ghosts, madwomen, angels, gods, and priests. Although Noh may be deeply conservative, the performance of “Taiten” last week at