ABT’s Muy Caliente Gala
Until American Ballet Theatre’s premiere of Christopher Wheeldon’s “Like Water for Chocolate,” my first thought upon leaving a ballet gala had never before been: “well that was hot.”
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Until American Ballet Theatre’s premiere of Christopher Wheeldon’s “Like Water for Chocolate,” my first thought upon leaving a ballet gala had never before been: “well that was hot.”
Continue ReadingThe final program of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 50th anniversary season had a “cheering for the home team” flavor, and there was a lot to rally high spirits if you knew this team well.
Continue ReadingVolta Collective, founded during the pandemic by Megan Paradowski and Mamie Green, fuses physicality, theatricality and multidisciplinary approaches to performance, with their recent “Salt” a testament not only to the group’s culinary prowess, but also to their musical, dance, thespian and literary chops.
Continue ReadingIlluminated by a single spotlight, a dancer seated atop a flight of dark, ominous stairs breathily whips and whirls her arms, reaching and pulling them inwards towards her stomach.
FREE ARTICLEWilliam Forsythe’s new program for La Scala provides an opportunity to reflect on the direction taken by “contemporary ballet” over several decades.
Continue ReadingFor four weeks in May, Paris Opera Ballet ran contrasting programs in its two homes: at the smaller Garnier, the POB premiere of Wayne McGregor’s “The Dante Project” and, at the Bastille, a program of three Maurice Béjart works from the 1970s.
Continue ReadingAndrea Miller’s Gallim Dance returned to the Joyce Theater, in New York, with a generous program titled “Bodies of Matter” that celebrated the company’s fifteen years.
Continue ReadingWith “Nobody” from Motionhouse, it’s the second half that’s really worth watching; something gets cleared away, and the show focuses in on the performers themselves.
Continue ReadingIn other words, “Deep River” was signature King: elongated, oblique moves, accentuated with filigreed arms, and deft and articulated footwork.
Continue ReadingLast year’s School of American Ballet Workshop performances marked two milestones: Suki Schorer’s 50th anniversary as a teacher, and Kay Mazzo’s retirement from the Chair of Faculty position after 40 years.
Continue ReadingThe elegance of New York’s City Center theater is a good look for Ballet Hispanico. Artistic director Eduardo Vilaro’s vision to champion the work of Latine choreographers is evident in the four featured artists of this program bill.
Continue Reading“That was beautiful, but I didn’t get it,” was a refrain Brett Ishida got used to hearing in the audience at dance performances.
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.
Continue ReadingBeneath 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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