Vail Dance Festival: ReMix NYC
Program 3: “Switch Phase,” “Anywhere On This Road,” “Suite From Mazurkas,” “First Fall,” “Liquid Velvet,” “This Bitter Earth,” “Universe,” “Tabla-ture,” “IFE/My Heart,” “Divertissement Pas De Deux,” “Canvas”
New York City Center
New York, NY
November 7, 2016

The third program of the Vail Dance Festival:ReMix NYC was a vast and rich panoply of different styles of dance and dancers. The evening moved from modern dance to classical ballet, touching on everything in

Tangos Vivos
Rascasuelos
Carnegie Hall
New York, NY
November 2, 2016

It’s unusual to see dance at Carnegie Hall, but in the context of deconstructing and reimagining the great Astor Piazzolla’s tango music legacy, in a “Rock meets Mozart meets Tango” context, as billed by the program, the chosen space actually worked well.  The men behind Rascasuelos, the group bringing the program, musical director and bandoneonista Patricio “Tripa” Bonfiglio and singer Limón García, masterfully delivered their take

"Apollo", "Leaves are Fading pax de deux", "Lamentations", "Fandango", "Lil Buck @ City Center: a Jookin' Jam Session"
Vail Dance Festival: ReMixNYC
New York City Center
New York, NY
November 4, 2016.

Damian Woetzel, a former NYCB dancer of explosive energy, has directed the summer dance festival in Vail, Colorado for the last ten years and he brought his eclectic, imaginative, and thoughtfully curated approach to New York's City Center for a brief visit. The dances ranged from Balanchine's

“Glass Pieces,” “Thou Swell,” “Stars and Stripes”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 16, 2016 (matinee)

The names of Philip Glass, Richard Rogers, and John Philip Sousa come to mind quite intuitively when talking about American music, as do George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins when it comes to American ballet. But NYCB’s American Music program consisting of “Stars and Stripes” and “Glass Pieces,” and particularly Peter Martins’ “Thou Swell,” just seemed like

"Le Corsaire"
Boston Ballet
Boston Opera House
Boston, Massachusetts
October 29, 2016, matinee

"Le Corsaire" originally set sail in Paris in 1856 and moved to Russia with Marius Petipa in 1858, where it went through several revisions. The last Petipa version was done in 1899 and it has added a lot of cargo since then.  Unlike "The Sleeping Beauty" the swashbuckling tale, tangentially related to Byron's poem, has no definitive version and its melodramatic plot is basically a

"Monotones I and II", "Serenade after Plato's Symposium", "Prodigal Son"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 26, 2016

American Ballet Theatre's now traditional Fall season is a treat for its audience, which gets to see interesting one-act ballets, full of fine dancing from the corps and soloists (as well as the principals), with few tutus in sight. The October 26 program stood out for its varied and interesting choreography and its well-

"Rondo Capriccioso", "Symphonic Variations", "Daphnis and Chloe"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 20, 2016

The music for ABT's Fall gala was French and so was the main event, the American premier of Benjamin Millepied's "Daphnis and Chloe", choreographed for the Paris Opera Ballet in 2014.  It was well-received in Paris, but perhaps it is a case of vive la différence, since the ballet, though strongly and enthusiastically

 "Aureole", "Dust", "Piazolla Caldera"
Taylor 2 Dance Company
Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts
Pace University
New York, NY
October 15, 2016

Paul Taylor established Taylor 2 in 1993 to perform versions of his works on smaller stages which might not accommodate the larger company. The company tours widely and also works in arts programs in schools, so the dancers in the six-member group are seasoned and accomplished performers. Many of Taylor's larger works are redone for

"Dances at a Gathering", "Firebird"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
October 14, 2016

"Dances at a Gathering", Jerome Robbins' marathon exploration of Chopin, was paired with the Russian "Firebird"; two American ballets with an Eastern-European heritage. "Dances" works best when the dancers react as a community, rather than performing a series of dances. This feeling is illusive, and, in this performance, came in fits and starts. There were late substitutions and some debuts

"Antique Epigraphs", "She Holds Out Her Hand", "Short Memory", "Song Before Spring"
New York Theatre Ballet
Danspace Project
St. Mark's Church
New York, New York
October 6, 2016

The New York Theatre Ballet is a chamber group renowned for its recon- structions of older, smaller, infrequently seen works which has in recent years broadened its approach with a series of programs called "Legends & Visionaries" which combine older works with new ones, often created for the company.

“Airslice,” “Spring,” “Monotones II,” “Mi Soledad (Solea)”
Streb Extreme Action, Dada Masilo/The Dance Factory, American Ballet Theatre, Farruquito
Fall For Dance Festival: Program 1
New York City Center 
New York, NY
September 26, 2016

The 2016 Fall for Dance festival began with a dynamic statement piece in the form of commissioned new work, and hardly let up throughout the night with its offering of energy and different styles.  Elizabeth Streb’s exhilarating “Airslice” was followed by another