World-class review of ballet and dance.
In San Diego, a surprisingly robust number of ballet companies compete for a relatively small audience. While two such companies, City Ballet of San Diego and Golden State Ballet, present mixed repertoire programs, San Diego Ballet performs almost exclusively the work of director-choreographer Javier Velasco.
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Julie Mehretu’s current exhibition at the Marian Goodman Gallery is astronomical. Our Days, Like a Shadow (a non-abiding hauntology) is a series of large, new, multicolored paintings that seem to float like planets, inviting viewers to walk around and in between them as if orbiting through a cosmic labyrinth.
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An insistent electronic beat suffuses the dark-wood auditorium while people are milling about and locating their seats.
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Doug Varone and Dancers celebrated its 40th anniversary at the Joyce this final week of May with a time-honored formula—“something old and something new.”
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The world premiere of Remi Wörtmeyer's "La Bohème" marked a seminal moment in the history of BalletMet. The two-act production was unlike any that the 48-year-old Columbus, Ohio-based company has ever staged and showed a marked ascent in its artistic merit.
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In rehearsal, Dionne Figgins is exacting. She has an eagle eye as she runs choreography in short sections, making sure each detail is accounted for.
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San Francisco Ballet delivers one of the most intense home seasons in the dance world, a scheduling crucible that artistic director Tamara Rojo, in her four years of leadership, has tried to change without success.
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Cleveland Ballet's new “Cinderella,” choreographed by artistic director Timour Bourtasenkov, was the culmination of the company's steady growth in size, quality, and stature since its founding in 2014.
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At the memorial for Joan Acocella, held at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, in the fall of 2025, I was drawn to the only red chair in the auditorium.
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“Hamlet” for many brings about fear. Not for its ghosts or its bloody end, but rather nightmarish memories of English classes where Shakespeare’s longest play was the source of ire for students across the English-speaking world.
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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