Dancing in Circular Time
Amrita Hepi, a choreographer with Bunjalung and Ngāpuhi roots, has come a long way from her home in the Pacific.
PlusWorld-class review of ballet and dance.
Amrita Hepi, a choreographer with Bunjalung and Ngāpuhi roots, has come a long way from her home in the Pacific.
PlusSir Kenneth MacMillan began his choreography for “Manon” with the pas de deux, and from this shining, central point spun outward. Building the story from its heart, almost as if from the inside out, the pas de deux reveals not only the emotional connection between the two dancers, but their place in the world.
PlusIf the ballet world now seems inundated with Dracula productions, Frankenstein adaptations are a rarer sight.
PlusIt’s amusing to read in Pacific Northwest Ballet’s generally exceptional program notes that George Balanchine choreographed the triptych we now know as “Jewels” because he visited Van Cleef & Arpels and was struck by inspiration. I mean, perhaps visiting the jeweler did further tickle his imagination, but—PR stunt, anyone?
PlusAs I watch one after another pastel tutu clad ballerina bourrée into the arms of a white-tighted danseur, a melody not credited on the program floats through my brain. You know the one.
PlusMisty Copeland’s upcoming retirement from American Ballet Theatre—where she made history as the first Black female principal dancer and subsequently shot to fame in the ballet world and beyond—means many things.
PlusHaneul Jung oscillates between the definition of the Korean word, man-il meaning “ten thousand days” and “what if.”
PlusMoss Te Ururangi Patterson describes his choreographic process having a conversation with other elements. As he describes pushing himself under the waves, and a feeling of meditative, buoyancy as he floated in space, the impression of light beneath the water was paramount.
PlusThese days you’re hard pressed to use the internet without running into artificial intelligence.
PlusAll reviews of live performance are an exercise in hindsight. No matter how diligent a notetaker I will forever be rearticulating my in-the-moment responses into something that is ideally a cogent and cohesive response to a work.
PlusThis season opener from English National Ballet gathers four markedly different works to showcase the gamut of the company’s evolving repertoire.
PlusTo many, the name Shen Wei might conjure the distinctive choreography of the Opening Ceremonies at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
PlusWatching 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,...
PlusThe choreographer Alexei Ratmansky reflects on the war in Ukraine, the connection between geopolitics and ballet, and joining the house of Balanchine.
PlusBeneath 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.
PlusAfter 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.
PlusAn “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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