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Gustavo Dudamel
REVIEWS | Par Victoria Looseleaf

A Vivid Duet

Under the commanding, yet nuanced conducting of Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, currently celebrating its 100th birthday in grand style—including commissioning dozens of new works and offering numerous city-wide events—sounded splendid in Prokofiev’s “Romeo & Juliet.” Composed in 1935, the 130-minute score is one of ballet’s iconic pieces of music (played for the first time in its entirety by the Phil), with Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers continuing to live—and die—on stage, television and the silver screen. (Steven Spielberg will be remaking the 1961 film with the famed Bernstein score, though one has to wonder why.)

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111
REVIEWS | Par Lorna Irvine

Framing

It could be a wry joke about these politically fraught times of Brexit. Dancer Joel Brown, flexing and exercising on the floor, grins, remarking that it's wonderful to have an Estonian dancer (Eve Mutso) and an American (himself) performing together in Scotland. Yet, it's absolutely true, and a wonderful example of the unifying nature of choreography. Multiculturalism itself almost seems like an act of resistance these days.

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Common Ground
REVIEWS | Par Rachel Howard

On Common Ground

Let’s make one thing clear upfront: To see a LINES Ballet performance is to partake in wonders beyond measure, to have one’s senses reawakened by the dignity of humanity’s vulnerability, and this is as true now as it has been over many high points of the San Francisco company’s 35 year history. To watch Shuaib Elhassan pause in a pirouette, open-chested and generously alive, in startling harmony with the forces of physics, is life-affirming. To fill your eyes with this miracle while, playing live at the back of the stage, the Kronos Quartet’s richness fills your ears—this is rapture. So...

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William Forsythe
REVIEWS | Par Sara Veale

Confident and Composed

As a dancemaker, William Forsythe is often described in brassy terms: a neoclassical powerhouse, a rule-breaker who deconstructs classical ballet and flips it on its head. He’s known for his ultra-modern choreography and penchant for friskiness, both of which fuel his latest work, though not in the in-your-face way you might think. “A Quiet Evening of Dance” explores the calm side of mighty, the dynamism that comes with confident, composed choreography and performance.

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Germaine Acogny
REVIEWS | Par Victoria Looseleaf

Chosen One

At 74, Germaine Acogny, the Paris-based, Sénégalese matriarch of contemporary African dance, still has the power to astonish, making the solo, “Mon Élue Noire” (My Black Chosen One): Sacre #2,” choreographed for her by Ballet du Nord director, Olivier Dubois in 2015 and set to Stravinsky’s musical shocker, “Le sacre du printemps,” equally electrifying—and surprisingly relevant. From the score’s hauntingly familiar solo bassoon opening to the closing chord, which Stravinsky himself disparagingly referred to as “a noise,” this dance, first choreographed by Nijinsky in 1913 for the Ballets Russes and tackled by scads of terpsichores since, jolts with a singularity...

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Queensland Ballet
REVIEWS | Par Gracia Haby

But a Dream

As soft as a white rabbit’s fur: Edwin Landseer’s Scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Titania and Bottom (1848–51). In a down of fur, the painting hanging in the National Gallery of Victoria depicts Titania, the Queen of the Fairies, besotted with Bottom, who has recently been reshaped into an ass, from William Shakespeare’s comedy of misplacement. A fairy queen and an ass, two of opposite realms entwined and for all to see in the fairy dell, accompanied by the requisite fairy folk and white rabbits. In an engraving of Titania and Bottom by Henry Fuseli they too, are encircled by...

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RED
REVIEWS | Par Lorna Irvine

Dance as Revolution

This Scottish debut, fusing documentary with performance, is at once a celebration of feminine power, and deconstruction of the “model” ballets performed around the time of China's Cultural Revolution. Beijing-based choreographer Wen Hui, formed Living Dance Studio with filmmaker Wu Wenguang in 1994, becoming China's first independent dance theatre company. And this witty and inventive study of both the implications of the Communist regime, and what is expected of female dancers, is also incredibly powerful in its own subtle and understated way—never didactic for its own sake.

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Jewels
REVIEWS | Par Oksana Khadarina

Shine On

After attending the premiere of George Balanchine’s “Jewels,” on April 13, 1967, dance critic Clive Barnes described it in the New York Times as “too beautiful for words,” musing on the fact that at the time of its premiere the ballet had no title: “I can only presume that Mr. Balanchine must have taken one look at the extraordinary thing he created and at once found himself at a loss for words.”

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Spartacus
REVIEWS | Par Gracia Haby

Rise Again

“Broken necks, splattered patellas, severed arteries: These are the things from which dreams are made of,” according to former professional wrestler, Road Warrior Hawk (ring name of Michael Hegstrand, 1957–2003). Said fellow former professional wrestler Cactus Jack (ring name of Mick Foley, 1965–), “if the Gods could build me a ladder to the heavens, I'd climb up the ladder and drop a big elbow on the world.” They might have been talking about old school wrestling, but on Tuesday night, their words could easily be re-moulded around the hulking form of Lucas Jervies’ world premiere of “Spartacus” created on the...

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Philly Fringe
REVIEWS | Par Merilyn Jackson

Philly Fringe

Two back-to-back shows in Philadelphia’s 2018 Fringe Festival had me thinking in compare and contrast mode. One, full of lusty life and joy, reached out to the audience to join in the fun and total experience, and the other devoid of anything but interior dialogues, often inaudible, blanked the audience out.

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DANCEworks
REVIEWS | Par Penelope Ford

Something Wonderful

DANCEworks, a month-long residency at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, has been attracting big-name choreographers for the past decade. It's easy to see why—where else can you create in a uniquely supportive environment, in a fully-equipped theatre, by the sea? The residency culminates with a performance of the work-in-progress, and many of these works have gone on tour across the U.S. and internationally. This year marks DANCEworks' tenth anniversary, and artistic director Dianne Vapnek has every reason to celebrate.

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Natalia Osipova
REVIEWS | Par Sara Veale

Breaking out of the box

The last programme Natalia Osipova commissioned at Sadler’s Wells was tenacious but shaky, the Royal Ballet superstar storming the stage with then-boyfriend Sergei Polunin and a trio of hit-and-miss contemporary numbers. This time around, the commissions are stronger and the performances steadier. The six works of “Pure Dance” mix classical variations alongside brand-new solos and duets, with choreography from established dancemakers and emerging artists alike. It’s a lot of faces to try on in one night, but Osipova moves between the disparate routines like a chameleon, demonstrating the expansive versatility of her talent and how eager she is to branch...

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Featured Reads

REVIEWS | Faye Arthurs
Lord of the Dance

The Spring is Blooming festival, by Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, now in its fifth year, has become a highlight of the spring dance circuit.

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