Strong Foundations
The Sun King not only invented ballet in its modern form but in 1713 also founded the oldest ballet academy in the world.
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World-class review of ballet and dance.
"Fjord Review serves as an indispensable resource for the world of dance. Contributors offer well written and researched comment on what everyone's talking about - and what we might have missed. Unexpected humor and honest candor can be found in every article, and the photography and art direction elevate dance to the place of reverence and relevance it deserves. Bravo, Fjord."
Peter Boal
Artistic Director, Pacific Northwest Ballet
Discover insightful conversations with prominent figures in the dance world, essays on ballet history and performances, reviews of leading ballet companies, and stunning dance photography in our latest issue.
184 pages. 7.25″ x 10″Description
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The Sun King not only invented ballet in its modern form but in 1713 also founded the oldest ballet academy in the world.
PlusThe Choreographic Platform Austria (CPA) held in Salzburg from 20–22 November 2025, has become a biennial focal point for contemporary dance in Austria.
PlusIt’s “Nutcracker” season at San Francisco Ballet—36 performances packed into three weeks—which means that the company is currently serving two distinct audiences.
PlusLast week I caught up with choreographer Pam Tanowitz and Opera Philadelphia’s current general director and president, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo to talk about “The Seasons,” the company’s latest production premiering at the Kimmel Center’s 600-plus seat Perelman Theater on December 19.
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If Notre-Dame remains one of the enduring symbols of Paris, standing at the city’s heart in all its beauty, much of the credit belongs to Victor Hugo.
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When dancer and choreographer Marla Phelan was a kid, she wanted to be an astronaut. “I always loved science and astronomy,” Phelan said.
PlusSans tutu or pointe shoes, New York Ballet principal Sara Mearns delivered a knock-out punch in her 20-minute solo, “Zebra.”
PlusJapan Society’s Yukio Mishima centennial series culminated with “Mishima’s Muse – Noh Theater,” which was actually three programs of traditional noh works that Japanese author Yukio Mishima adapted into modern plays.
PlusThroughout the year, our critics attend hundreds of dance performances, whether onsite, outdoors, or on the proscenium stage, around the world.
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On December 11th, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater presented two premieres and two dances that had premiered just a week prior.
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The “Contrastes” evening is one of the Paris Opéra Ballet’s increasingly frequent ventures into non-classical choreographic territory.
PlusI’m in the audience of the Pit to watch Kaori Ito’s solo performance, “Robot, l'amour éternel.” It’s in the blackbox performing space at the New National Theatre Tokyo, intimate and close. The stage is an open, raised platform, gauzy white fabric covering the floor.
PlusArchitects often use scale, along with other design principles such as light, rhythm, and form, to subtly guide a person's eye and body through a space—to take the gaze at street level to the highest point of a building, or to the horizon and beyond.
PlusAn enchanted forest, a love gone wrong, and a swarm of women in long white tutus—when a formula works, it really works. Such is the case of “La Sylphide,” the nearly 200-year-old Romantic ballet which first premiered in 1832.
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In 1954, George Balanchine created a “Nutcracker” that was based on the classical Mariinsky production he danced in his childhood, utilizing the neoclassical style he honed in NYC. His version...
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What is he looking at? The dancer in a blue biketard bounds around the stage, his curly hair flip-flopping as his head snaps right, left, and center.
PlusTwo performers crawl in on hands and knees wearing neon green, hooded coveralls—the lightweight papery kind made for working in a sterile environment—and clusters of balloons pinned to their backs.
PlusWill Rawls makes boundaries visible by defying them. Known for the disciplinary and topical range of his projects, the choreographer, director, and performer approaches issues of representation in “[siccer],” a multi-part, multi-site work co-presented by L’Alliance New York’s Crossing the Line Festival. A live performance at Performance Space New York accompanies a multimedia installation at the Kitchen, a book published by Wendy’s Subway, and an album published by the artist. With a creative process reaching back to 2018, the work delves explicitly into pandemic-era energies and inertias with focused intimacy and a pervasive sense of instability.
PlusIt is always interesting when multiple theme steps emerge over the course of a mixed repertory evening, but it is uncanny on one featuring five different ballets, each with a different choreographer and composer, covering a twenty-year span (2005-2025).
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Zvidance premiered its new work “Dandelion” mid-November at New York Live Arts. Founded by Zvi Gotheiner in 1989, Zvidance has been a steady presence in the New York contemporary dance...
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