World-class review of ballet and dance.
Tiler Peck has easily proven she can pull off multiple roles: dancer, in addition to artistic director, choreographer, and curator. The success of “Turn It Out With Tiler Peck and Friends”—which debuted at City Center in 2022 as its inaugural Artists at the Center program and has since been performed across the U.S. and in London—is evidence of that.
Plus
It’s a foregone conclusion that no matter how young, how beautiful, how alive one may be, death can come at any time.
Plus
London has very little to do to convince the world of its artiness. It’s often given that eye-roll inducing title of a ‘world city;’ whatever your heart wishes to see will probably, at some point, make its way through London.
FREE ARTICLE
The New York City Ballet’s Fall Fashion Gala was unusually tense this year, as the dancers refused to walk the red carpet or attend the post-performance dinner in protest of the standstill on their collective bargaining agreement.
Plus
Sir 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.
Plus
If the ballet world now seems inundated with Dracula productions, Frankenstein adaptations are a rarer sight.
Plus
It’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?
Plus
As 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.
Plus
Haneul Jung oscillates between the definition of the Korean word, man-il meaning “ten thousand days” and “what if.”
Plus
Moss 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.
Plus
These days you’re hard pressed to use the internet without running into artificial intelligence.
Plus
All 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.
PlusLong 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.
PlusIt 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.
Plus
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.
PlusAs 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.
PlusOne 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.
Plus