“The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude”,
“Approximate Sonata 2016”, “Petite Mort”,
and Shostakovich “Piano Concerto #1”
The National Ballet of Canada
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
January 28, 2020

The Canadians opened their visit to Washington by exploring what classical choreography looks like today. The four pieces on this program share very basic features yet are intriguingly distinct, even the first two works which were made by the same individual. Everyone interested in

"Cinderella"
San Francisco Ballet
War Memorial Opera House
San Francisco, CA
January 22, 2020

“Third time is a charm” can work, but often it is also a case of wishful thinking. Such is the case of Christopher Wheeldon’s take on “Cinderella”, first seen locally in 2013 and again in 2017. It is a co-production by SFBallet and the Dutch National Ballet. The delights of this hobbled together fairy tale are many, but missteps keep the rethought story from

“Allegro Brillante", "La Source", "Firebird"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
January 25, 2020 matinee

There may have been four debuts on the cast list, but at this performance, the most vivid and memorable performances came from veterans of their parts. After ten months away due to injury, Tiler Peck is back in the rotation, partnered superbly by Tyler Angle. "Allegro Brillante" – as Balanchine famously said, "All I know about classical ballet in thirteen

Matthew Bourne’s “Swan Lake”
A New Adventures Production
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
January 22, 2020

The image of a swan in ballet is, traditionally, that of a human figure streamlined to the stretching point with arms undulating as if they were wings about to lift off and toes pinpointing the ground. Usually the figure is female. Likely this image predates the initial (late 19th, early 20th Century) “Swan Lake” stagings

“Dances Concertantes,” “Monumentum pro Gesualdo,”
“Movements for Piano and Orchestra,” “Stravinsky Violin Concerto”
New York City Ballet
David Koch Theater
New York, New York
January 21, 2020

In his opening remarks for the 1972 Stravinsky Festival, George Balanchine commented that Stravinsky, like Delibes and Tchaikovsky, “made music for the body to dance to.” A steady pulse and strict adherence to time made Stravinsky a consummate dance composer, providing, as Balanchine said, “a floor for the dancer to walk on.” But

"The Unknown Dancer in the Neighborhood"
Written and Directed by Suguru Yamamoto
Wataru Kitao, Performer 
Japan Society, New York 
January 10, 2020

Mayday! Mayday! Is a cry that comes up repeatedly in Suguru Yamamoto’s dance/drama “The Unknown Dancer in the Neighborhood.” It means “help me” in French, but it seems to fall on deaf ears in Tokyo, the setting for this theater piece by and for a new generation of Japanese artists. 

Despairing dramas about

"Christmas Ballet"
Smuin Contemporary Ballet
Yerba Buena Center of the Arts
San Francisco, CA
December 21, 2019

Next year the late Michael Smuin’s 1995 holiday ballet, “Christmas Ballet” will hit its quarter-century mark. Divided into two sections, 'Classical Christmas', performed primarily in white and toe shoes, and 'Cool Christmas,' with lots of red and as much pop as you like, has grown on me. Maybe, despite myself. There is something to be said for a show that has

"George Balanchine's The Nutcracker"
Miami City Ballet
Adrienne Arsht Center
Miami, Florida
December 13 to 15, 2019

Miami City Ballet opened with George Balanchine’s Nutcracker at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, December 13th to 15th with strong attendance at the Friday opener and a packed Sunday matinee.  Both castings turned in strong performances.

Some North American ballet companies make news with intentions to remake Nutcracker productions to reflect their city’s racial and

"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

"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

“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