World-class review of ballet and dance.
The 2026 edition of the festival SpringForward unfolded in Guimarães, Portugal, the European Green Capital of the year, a city whose commitment to sustainability offered a fitting backdrop for a festival dedicated to emerging choreographic futures.
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The first edition of the Tanztriennale in Hamburg, back in June, unfolded like an emotional topography: a landscape shaped by care rather than by theme; under the co‑direction of Monica Gillette and Gwen Hsin‑Yi Chang, Tanztriennale operated as a temporary commons: a place where choreography, conversation and community are allowed to influence one another.
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Launched in 2020 after the hashtag #maleballerina went viral, Ballet22 is driven by a mission all the more urgent since the current presidential administration resumed its attacks on the LGBTQ community.
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Waiting in the theater, the first unhurried trickle of French composer Erik Satie’s piano variation barely registers amidst the house chatter. Sparse and minimalistic, swelling with silences, the striking keys eventually conjure up a dancer.
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“When you visit Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, you realise that this is a place where time does not exist,” writes choreographer Frances Rings in her notes for Terrain, and the resonance with Wayne McGregor’s theme for the 2026 Biennale Danza, Time Does Not Exist, is unmistakable.
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It starts out light and coquettish. George Balanchine’s “Sonatine,” set to the composition by Maurice Ravel of the same name, is undeniably lighthearted, as the dancers—here, Léonore Baulac and Germain Louvet—find themselves animated by the music, as they share the stage with a grand piano (and pianist Elena Bonnay at its helm).
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When I say this work from Hofesh Shechter set my thoughts adrift, I don’t mean that the performance failed to capture my attention.
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Shen Wei is a master mover between worlds—between East and West, between choreography and painting, between process and product, between the physical and the spiritual, and I could go on.
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Rudolf Nureyev’s “Don Quixote” is a long-running ballet in La Scala’s repertoire, periodically revived and performed on tour.
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Even in stillness, there is energy. When the stage lights up on Cassandra Trenary, the dancer is already quivering, muscles tensed, as if gearing up for a fight. That is precisely what ensues.
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How do we navigate a balance between the collective and the individual? How do we negotiate strength and flexibility? How do we value tradition while embracing innovation?
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“Vibrations” closes the Opéra Garnier’s 2025/26 season with what might be read as a triptych on dance’s future, past, and present.
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.
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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.
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.
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