Dance Day at The Reach Festival
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
September 21, 2019

An incredible amount of dance was performed in Kennedy Center’s formal and improvised spaces on Dance Day, September 21. From morning into the night it drew a huge audience. I was part of the crowd in the main building’s corridors and theaters, on the terrace overlooking the Potomac River and on the campus’ extension south with  its three blunt, new

“Raymonda Variations,” “Variations Pour Une Porte et Un Soupir,” "DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
September 18, 2019

On paper, the first mixed bill of the New York City Ballet's fall 2019 read like a study in diminishing returns, increasingly anemic as the program progressed. But assumptions are made to be upended and so they were here. For the most compelling work fo the evening was the strangest, "Variations

“Sara Mearns: Beyond Ballet”
Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival
Becket, MA
August 17, 2019

Sara Mearns is a dancer of power and range, so it is not surprising that she might want to join the burgeoning number of ballerinas who have sought to explore the challenges of genres outside their own. Mearns, a principal with New York City Ballet, appeared last week at Jacob’s Pillow in a production entitled “Sara Mearns: Beyond Ballet,” and in it she applied herself

“Jewels”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
September 17, 2019

In “Diamonds,” at the New York City Ballet's fall opening performance of “Jewels”, Maria Kowroski was how you’d like to remember her. Not that she’s going anywhere. But by now the company’s senior dancer (she joined NYCB in 1995), she, along with her partner Tyler Angle, rescued opening night from lackluster performances of “Emeralds” and “Rubies” and made you forget about

The REACH Opening Festival
Featuring the Syncopated Ladies
Studio K at the REACH
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
September 8, 2019

Just outside of Studio K —  a new rehearsal and performance space recently minted as part of the Kennedy Center's REACH expansion project — hangs a sizeable, two-dimensional collage by Fred Tomaselli entitled "Flipper." Looping ellipses define the work, weaving in and out of one another, but these balanced optical designs only represent

"Darl," "Seventy-Two Hours," "Two Sides Of," "Reverie," "Dialogue Dances"
The Joyce Ballet Festival, Program B
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
August 10, 2019 

Program B of the Joyce Ballet Festival, curated by The Royal Ballet’s star Lauren Cuthbertson, at first could have seemed like an odd grab bag of material, as thematically its one United States and four world premieres hardly had a connecting thread (besides the almost uniform prominence of Cuthbertson).  On reflection though, the

"Then and Again", "Song of a Wayfarer", "Elite Syncopations (divertissement)"
Ballet Festival Program C
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
August 13, 2019

If The Joyce Theater's 2019 Ballet Festival is intended as a showcase of or for the Royal Ballet, this program, created by the designer – and former dancer – Jean-Marc Puissant, a frequent collaborator with Christoper Wheeldon at the Royal and in New York, seemed a strange way to show it. Members of the company did not arrive

"Asphodel Meadows pas de deux", "Dance of the Blessed Spirits from 'Orpheus and Eurydice: Dance in the Elysian Fields,'" "Concerto pas de deux", "Within the Golden Hour (two duets)", "Obsidian Tear," "Qualia pas de deux," "Jojo," "Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan"
Ballet Festival Program A
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
August 6, 2019

Once upon a time, the Royal Ballet was a reliably frequent visitor to New York City. The locals knew its

“The Day”
Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival
Becket, MA
August 3, 2019

“THE DAY” was the brainchild of cellist Maya Beiser, but by the time it was finished it was a genuine gesamtkunstwerk involving nine creative people, including choreographer Lucinda Childs and dancer Wendy Whelan. The work was given its world premiere this past week at Jacob’s Pillow.

“THE DAY” was inspired by two pieces of music written for Beiser by composer David Lang: “world to come,

“state,” “INDY,” “The Quiet Dance,” “Show Pony,” “Drive”
A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham
Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival
Becket, MA
August 1, 2019

Kyle Abraham is everywhere these days, or almost everywhere. He is so busy creating dances for such companies as New York City Ballet and the Paul Taylor Dance Company, he rarely has time to perform with A.I.M., his own group. Jacob’s Pillow audiences are fortunate this week to be able to see Abraham

“Sport,” “Prelude and Prelude,” “Words (excerpts),” “Grand Duo”
Mark Morris Dance Group
Jacob’s Pillow
Becket, MA
July 21, 2019

In recent remarks about his working process, Mark Morris said he almost always starts with a piece of music that interests him, then creates choreography for it. That is not surprising, considering Morris’s longstanding dedication to music, from his insistence on live music at his concerts to his forays into orchestral conducting. In last week’s performances at Jacob’

"Verses" "Otra Vez, Otra Vez, Otra Vez" "All I Ever Knew"
Sketches 9: Perspective
ODC Theater
San Francisco, CA
July 17, 2019

Choreographers need commissions. After all, without dancers they are like pianists without instruments. But all too often a commission entails two weeks in a studio and, probably, just a few rehearsals before the world premiere. After awhile, San Francisco choreographer Amy Seiwert figured, this way she wouldn’t be able to sustain her creative impulses; and she probably