Whims: 23rd Century Ballet

George Jackson

30 Mar 2022 — 1 min read

Farewell Celebration for Kevin McKenzie
American Ballet Theatre
Kennedy Center Opera House
March 29, 2022

Two things happened in Washington, at the Kennedy Center's Opera House on Tuesday evening, March 29. One was a farewell celebration for American Ballet Theatre' artistic director Kevin McKenzie. He has been in charge of the company for about 3 decades but will be retiring at the end of the current season. Who will succeed him has not yet been announced. The other event was an attempt by three choreographers chosen by McKenzie to define 23d Century ballet.

The farewell came off splendidly. McKenzie is somewhat of a local lad, having been trained and polished at the late Mary Day's ballet academy and company - The Washington Ballet - prior to his joining the Joffrey Ballet and then American Ballet Theatre as dancer and then directing ABT. Tuesday's program showed ABT to be in good form., but were the new works worthwhile? The three premiers had things in common. All were amalgams of ballet steps with pop dance moves, and to pop music. There were incidents but no real plots. The dancers were not full blown characters but not just figures in motion. They were "types" we have come to know from commercial entertainment. The opener, Ratmansky's "Bernstein in a Bubble," surprises with its short phrasing. It is brief, compact. The sharp phrasing is well crafted. By comparison, Alonzo King's "Single Eye" is tense and bulky to its music by Jason Moran. Whereas "ZigZag" , in Jessica Lang's choreography, is dominated by Derek McLane's and Tony Bennett's visuals and accompanied by Bennett's and Lady Gaga singing and some Bennett artwork. All three ballets seem like whims of mood.

Early Fireworks

"Don Quixote"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
July 3, 2026

It was only July 3rd, but the audience seemed primed for an evening of fireworks when Jake Roxander made his highly anticipated complete “Don Quixote” debut—he had danced Act III in the all-hands-on-deck emergency “Don Quixote” the previous Wednesday. The applause began during the overture (so great to hear Minkus getting his due for the wonderfully danceable score) and continued all

Sunny Side Up

"Don Quixote"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
July 1, 2026, matinee

Cy Doherty first performed the Don in 2022 as an apprentice, creating a remarkably vivid picture, both comic and tragic, of a befuddled but sincere visionary searching for an ideal. He was equally vivid in this performance, though the new production has turned the iconic dreamer into a silly old man who just wants a young wife. The traditional ballet is about the

Speculative Fiction

"MADDADDAM"
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Canada
June 18, 2026 (evening)

The return of Wayne McGregor’s “MADDADDAM” 4 years after its world premiere was a welcome one. The complex work based on Margaret Atwood’s dystopian trilogy (“Oryx and Crake”, “The Year of the Flood” and “MaddAddam”) has many layers and rewards repeat viewings. There were not a lot of debuts during this run. Rather, dancers who created roles in 2022

Knights of Old

"Don Quixote"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
June 29, 2026

ABT’s newish version of “Don Quixote”, overseen by Director Susan Jaffe and regisseur Susan Jones, uses the lovely 1978 sets by Santo Loquasto, and most of the costumes, though the corps’ charming character shoes have been replaced by point shoes which meant that the corps’ Spanish flair in Act III lost the dynamic contrast with the more formal point work. Though the men have kept

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Early Fireworks

Sunny Side Up

Speculative Fiction

Knights of Old