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New York City Ballet

What's New?

"The Red Violin", "dance odyssey", "Russian Seasons"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
February 1, 2018.

New York City Ballet's New Combinations Fund, inspired by Balanchine's quote "There are no new steps, only new combi- nations", funds new choreography, and supported Peter Walker's new ballet "dance odyssey" which premiered between Peter Martins' "The Red Violin" and Alexei Ratmansky's "Russian Seasons". Both of those works were choreographed in 2006 as part

New York City Ballet

Beginning to End

"Apollo", "Mozartiana", "Cortège Hongrois"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
January 27, 2018, matinee.

The all-Balanchine program began with "Apollo", the oldest Balanchine work danced by New York City ballet (though Balanchine did rework the 1928 ballet in 1979, stripping it of its Expressionistic prologue), followed by "Mozartiana", choreographed in 1981, his last major work. It ended with the bon-bon "Cortège Hongrois" from 1973, with its generous helping of Petipa, a

San Francisco Ballet

Classicism Well and Alive

"Sleeping Beauty"
San Francisco Ballet
War Memorial Opera House
San Francisco, CA
January 23, 2017

Is “Sleeping Beauty” the greatest classical ballet? It’s a question that periodically arises in my mind. After again seeing Helgi Tomasson’s 1990 version, I finally decided: “Sleeping Beauty” is the finest expression of classicism that we have, and SFB’s current production is about as good as they come. Lora de Avila and Larisa Lezhnina coached the company.

So why was this opening

New York City Ballet

The King is Dead, Long Live the Company

“Divertimento No. 15,” “The Four Temperaments,” “Chaconne”
New York City Ballet
The David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
January 24, 2018

New York City Ballet entered its interregnum this week dancing two straight all Balanchine programs. Programmed by Peter Martins before his resignation, they now serve to emphasize continuity between the reigns in a way Martins probably didn’t imagine. It’s neither the new world (and won’t be until a replacement for him is named) nor

Petipa Laughs

"Alexei Ratmansky's Harlequinade"
Studio 5
New York City Center
New York, NY
January 22, 2018.

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City Center's Studio 5 presentations, like the Guggenheim's Works & Process series, offer glimpses into the creative process, but the City Center's are held in a working studio, with the audience forming a U-shape around the speakers, which gives a casual, immediate air to the presentations. The most recent featured the Russian choreographer Alexei Ratmansky

Blind Date

“One of Sixty-Five Thousand Gestures/NEW BODIES”
Jodi Melnick
Guggenheim Works & Process
New York, NY
January 15, 2018

In a new work by Jodi Melnick, three traditionally trained ballet stars come face-to-face with this iconoclastic choreo- grapher, and it is, truly, as if they were coming into their eponymous “NEW BODIES.” Dance writer (and now occasional curator) Claudia LaRocco came up with an intriguing programming idea for a 2017 Danspace Project Platform when she matched pairs

San Francisco Ballet

Mostly Airy

"Celestial"
San Francisco Ballet
War Memorial Opera House
San Francisco, CA
January 18, 2018

Galas exit is to raise money — lots of it. The people who give the money took, until recently, hefty deductions, and get to dress up and socialize with their peers. They also fill the house with an audience determined to like everything. That’s a given. More importantly, we get to see what the artistic director has up his sleeves for the new season. Helgi Tomasson,

Miami City Ballet's Robbins Program

"Circus Polka," "In the Night," "The Cage" and "West Side Story Suite"
Miami City Ballet; Jerome Robbins Centennial
Adrienne Arsht Center
Miami, Florida
January 12, 2018

The Friday January 12^th opening of Miami City Ballet’s Program II rocketed a packed Adrienne Arsht Center out of the box with three carefully chosen company premieres that complemented established company favorites for an evening that presented Jerome Robbins as a creatively complex choreographer whose works still cast a relevant lens

In A Galaxy Far, Far Away

“Tesseract”
Charles Atlas, Rashaun Mitchell, Silas Riener
BAM Harvey Theater
Brooklyn, NY
December 13, 2017

It opened with a starry sky, viewed through 3-D glasses. In their mixed media dance and film extravaganza, dancer/choreographers Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener partnered with videographer/director Charles Atlas for a two-act performance, the first half: a rollicking 3-D dance video, the second half: a live dance performance with simultaneous video shadowing. Not surprisingly, the dancers – some schooled, as Mitchell

"Nutcracker"--One More Time

"Nutcracker"
San Francisco Ballet
War Memorial Opera House
San Francisco, CA
December 13, 2017

Maybe a break from writing clears the mind and opens it to fresh perspectives even on familiar material. At least, it seems so after more than a dozen yearly viewings of Helgi Tomasson’s 2004 “Nutcracker" set at the time of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. He set it to a grand event that somewhat ironically celebrated the country’s hegemony while Europe was already

City of Colors and Light

"An American in Paris"
Elephant Eye, Pittsburgh CLO, Theatre du Chatelet et al.
Opera House
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
December 14, 2017

What is it about Paris that Americans who go there want to find? Some seek a sense of freedom, whereas others hope to discover their true home. This stage musical is supposed to be about the adventure of leading an expatriate life. The idea has a complicated history. It started as

Beyond Butoh

"Darkness Odyssey Part 2: I or Hallucination"
Kota Yamazaki/Fluid hug-hug
Baryshnikov Arts Center
New York December 14, 2017

Five dancers take part in Kota Yamazaki’s “Darkness Odyssey Part 2: I or Hallucination,” but for the most part each dances on his or her own, on a shiny floor, with a diaphanous rectangle of silver fabric hanging overhead. The overall feeling is one of slow, liquid movement – but with fits and starts troubling the surface calm.

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