Refuge and Resistance
In a week of humanitarian crisis, of bodies mobilised and menaced, what a privilege it’s been to take refuge in art that radiates integrity, conviction and splendour.
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Opposite Day
George Balanchine famously said, “ballet is woman.” But unusually, in “Kammermusik No. 2,” he featured an all-male corps de ballet. I can think of one other men-only Balanchine dance, and it happens to be running the same week this winter season: “Prodigal Son.”
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It Takes Two
What makes a good partner? For the dancers of New York City Ballet who are lined up on the stage—KJ Takahashi, Adrian Danchig-Waring, Emma Von Enck, and Sara Mearns—the answer is different, though together, their responses create a pretty comprehensive prescription. A good partner should be collaborative, honest, present, and sensitive.
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Fated Love
San Francisco Ballet artistic director Tamara Rojo has often said she believes ballet should operate more like Broadway, where shows have previews and work through revisions before the real premiere.
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Line Dancing
In general, one knows exactly what to expect of a Pam Tanowitz piece. There will be deconstructed ballet and modern steps.
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New and Old Stories
Two works, separated by a turn of the century. One, the final collaboration between Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane; the other, made 25 years after Zane’s death.
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Rituals of Flesh and Labour
Last December, two works presented at Réplika Teatro in Madrid (Lucía Marote’s “La carne del mundo” and Clara Pampyn’s “La intérprete”) offered different but resonant meditations on embodiment, through memory and identity.
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Feathers Flying
In a world where Tchaikovsky meets Hans Christian Andersen, circus meets dance, ducks transform and hook-up with swans, and of course a different outcome emerges.
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Half the Sky
Mao Zedong’s famous statement that women hold up half the sky may sound poetic and even liberating.
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Agile Masculinity
The men are already on stage when the audience filters into the theater. Some stand stretching at the ballet barres, aligned in neat rows, and others move around, jumping, swinging their legs, lunging.
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Dance Dance Revolution
The questions that the choreographic duo known as Baye & Asa set out to answer in their in-progress work, “At the Altar” may or may not be rhetorical: Who or what do we worship? How do we worship? Who are the righteous? Who are the blasphemous?
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Dance Major
On the rear wall of New York Live Arts’ black box theater, two grids of a dozen headlamps each resemble the glaring light towers of a sports arena.
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Firebird Rising
Long before the dancers take the stage, Dance Theatre of Harlem’s season at New York City Center feels like one of the most energizing cultural events of the spring.
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Rare Birds
It is rare for George Balanchine’s grand, bedazzled “Symphony in C” to open a program. Its champagne-popping finale for 52 dancers tends to be a nightcap.
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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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Jack of Hearts
As the audience come to their feet at the end of this ballet there is a noted difference to be seen on stage. Three women stand with joined hands, taking their call as the romantic leads of a loud and proud lesbian ballet.
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School Report
One of San Francisco Ballet’s greatest assets is its home venue, the Beaux-Arts style War Memorial Opera House, with four rings of seating that require performers to project their energies practically to the exosphere.
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