World-class review of ballet and dance.
Bookending my first day at the Edinburgh Festival are two very different but beautiful performances at the wonderful Dance Base venue in the Grassmarket, Matthew Hawkins’s “Ready” and Christine Thynne and Robbie Synge’s “These Mechanisms.”
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Bharatanatyam soloist, Christopher Gurusamy, describes his practice as purely based on his traditional dance training, Bharatanatyam, an Indian classical dance that originated in the Hindu temples of Tamil Nadu in southern India.
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On a sultry day like this, it might be easy to imagine we’re somewhere in the south, rather than the urban confines of Hearst Plaza, where a small group has gathered, curious about a free event. We’re not quite sure where to sit.
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One night, three premieres, and a mixture of tradition and originality. Queensland Ballet’s “Bespoke” presented new works that playfully experimented with the classical technique in a contemporary setting.
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When viewing a work by Pam Tanowitz, it pays to look closely. Beyond the precision and fleet feet of her Cunningham-trained dancers, there is often another layer to discover. She refers to pre-existing works of art and literature (recently T. S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets” and the biblical Song of Solomon) using movement to reveal and remix their elements.
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The crowning ornament of Lincoln Center’s India Week was the collaborative creation and performance of “Samsara” by Aakash Odedra and Hu Shenyuan. India Week, the weeklong summer curation of events celebrating India’s culture, elevated the concept of performing arts with this journey to the sublime.
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The heat was turned up to habanero-strength at the famed Hollywood Bowl on Thursday, when a pair of Mexican national treasures made their debuts.
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On a steamy July evening, the arty fashionistas of Bushwick seem remarkably crisp and refreshed, wine spritzers in hand, as they gather for a rare showing by two rock stars of dance at Carvalho Park gallery in Brooklyn.
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Smuin Contemporary Ballet is a different company than when it last came to New York in 2012, five years after the sudden death of its popular founder. Michael Smuin was known for his highly accessible works full of musical theater splash. While his San Francisco based company continues to perform his repertory, it has commissioned a broad range of new work under succeeding director, Celia Fushille.
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In its Summer Series 2024, the Philadelphia contemporary ballet company offers three world premieres by choreographers Amy Hall Garner, Loughlan Prior and Stina Quagebeur. The extended run, July 10-21 at the Wilma Theater, is just about the only dance to be seen during summer’s dog days. And what a cool and breezy show it is. Just the boost we needed.
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On a scorcher of a day in July, New York’s Lincoln Center launched India Week, a cultural extravaganza celebrating the variety and vibrancy of Indian culture.
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There are ballet galas, and then there are ballet galas curated by Christopher Wheeldon (he was given an OBE in 2016).
Continue ReadingWatching Matthew Bourne's reworked version of the “star-cross'd lovers,” I was briefly reminded of Veronica, played by Winona Ryder, in the dark 1988 comedy by Daniel Waters and Michael Lehmann, Heathers, and her line, “my teen angst bullshit has a body count.” Yes, this is the darker side of Bourne's repertoire,...
Continue ReadingThe choreographer Alexei Ratmansky reflects on the war in Ukraine, the connection between geopolitics and ballet, and joining the house of Balanchine.
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Beneath blue California skies, manicured trees, and the occasional hum of an overhead airplane, Tamara Rojo took the Frost Amphitheater stage at Stanford University to introduce herself as the new artistic director of San Francisco Ballet.
Continue ReadingAfter a week of the well-balanced meal that is “Jewels”—the nutritive, potentially tedious, leafy greens of “Emeralds,” the gamy, carnivorous “Rubies,” and the decadent, shiny white mountains of meringue in “Diamonds”—the New York City Ballet continued its 75th Anniversary All-Balanchine Fall Season with rather more dyspeptic fare.
Continue ReadingAn “Ajiaco” is a type of soup common to Colombia, Cuba, and Peru that combines a variety of different vegetables, spices, and meats.
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