“Birthday Offering,” “Kabalevsky Violin Concerto,” “Concerto Grosso,” “Chromatic Fantasy,” “Concerto,” “See The Youth Advance!,” “New Scarlett”
ABT Studio Company & The Royal Ballet School
NYU Skirball Center for the Performance Arts
New York, NY
February 10, 2017

It’s fascinating to watch young dancers, those just on the cusp of professional careers, as they feel their way through and experiment with various works. There is their exploration of what the work ought to look like, of course, but

“Sleeping Beauty”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
February 9, 2017

NYCB’s “Sleeping Beauty” remains a beautiful production, and the smartly chosen cast of veterans and debutants gave the season’s early performance a good balance of stability and risk. Not all went smoothly, but the high points of the evening, particularly Sara Mearns’s debut as Fairy Carabosse, struck a memorable chord.

Dancing alongside Megan Fairchild as Aurora, Joaquin De Luz as Prince

“Fearful Symmetries,” “The Shimmering Asphalt,” “The Times Are Racing”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
February 1, 2017

With its winter New Combinations program, NYCB certainly saved the best for last.  Starting with the tepid Peter Martins’ ballet “Fearful Symmetries,” and progressing to the different and intricate new work by Pontus Lindberg, “The Shimmering Asphalt,” the program culminated with the explosive new Justin Peck ballet that was fun, liberated and fundamentally inclusive.

The

"Fast Forward", "Gravity", "Anna's Last Day", "Sunrise", "Dark Forest"
New Chamber Ballet
City Center Studio 5
New York, New York
February 11, 2017

Miro Magloire's all-female six-member New Chamber Ballet performed five of his works in his usual home, the modest, informal Studio 5.  It has no wings, lighting, or sets, which allows the audience to get up close and personal with the dancers.  Magloire, as usual, introduced each piece, making it seem as

“The Little Humpbacked Horse”
The Mariinsky Ballet
The John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C.
Tuesday, January 31, 2017

It’s not at all unusual to enjoy great performances from the Mariinsky Ballet, but it’s rare for any company to give us dancing as full of happiness and zest as we saw from that troupe Tuesday night. The company seemed to love dancing Alexei Ratmansky’s endearing “The Little Humpbacked Horse” (created for the Mariinsky in

Miami City Ballet: "The Fairy's Kiss" by Alexei Ratmansky
Works & Process
Peter B. Lewis Theater
Guggenheim Museum
New York, NY
January 29, 2017, afternoon

The Miami City Ballet is premiering Alexei Ratmansky's "The Fairy's Kiss" in February, set to Stravinsky's "Le Baiser de la Fée".  Stravinsky's music was inspired by both a Hans Christian Andersen story and the life and music of Tchaikovsky. The original tale, "The Ice Maiden,

"Kirana", "Consider Water"
Ragamala Dance Company and Davalois Fearon Dance
American Dance Platform - Program C
Joyce Theater
New York, NY
January 5, 2017

by Mary Cargill 
copyright © 2017 by Mary Cargill

The second American Dance Platform, a week-long, multi-company program presented by the Joyce Theater Foundation, was curated by Alicia Adams of Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center.  She wanted, she writes in the program, to show "a representative portrait of American Dance"; Program C

Natalia Osipova & Artists
A Sadler’s Wells London Production
“Run Mary Run,” “Qutb,” “Silent Echo”
New York City Center
New York, NY
November 15, 2016

“Don’t try to judge me, Don’t try to touch me” said the voiceover recording in the first few minutes of Natalia Osipova’s program, as she slowly moved across the stage in heels, a short green dress and red beehive wig. The moment was from one of the three US premieres of