World-class review of ballet and dance.
The story began with an impulse to go back and give something back—to the performing arts traditions of India. Acclaimed British dancer and choreographer of Bangladeshi descent, Akram Khan, long known for dancing between worlds—contemporary dance and classical Kathak, decided to return to his roots.
Continua a leggereI step off the elevator onto the 5th floor of the Whitney Museum and I am awed by the spectacle, vastness, and ground shifting power of the “Edges of Ailey” exhibition. This tribute to Alvin Ailey and his universe—past, present, and future—not only lifts up its larger-than-life subject but it...
Continua a leggere
Marius Petipa’s “Paquita” Grand Pas Classique has been around since 1881. I last reviewed a version in 2023, by Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo.
Continua a leggereToday I have the immense privilege of speaking with Lucia Field. Lucia grew up with her family in Sydney, but with her dad, Anthony, as the original Blue Wiggle. It's not the childhood you might imagine. As the Wiggles became global superstars, Lucia didn't see her dad for nearly nine...
Continua a leggereJohn Scott Dance's “Begin Anywhere” started in the middle. A dancer walked to the center of the Irish Arts Center's JL Greene Theatre holding a discman, placed it on the floor, and pressed play.
FREE ARTICLE
Los Angeles-based Heidi Duckler, dubbed “Queen of Site-Specific Dance,” and whose Heidi Duckler Dance is celebrating 40 years of transforming spaces through the power of contemporary movement—kudos!—has stepped aside as artistic director, handing the reigns to associate artistic director, Raymond Ejiofor.
Continua a leggere
“Tanz” opens on a ballet class like none I’ve ever attended. Onstage are two portable barres and four dancers in rehearsal clothes stretching and warming up. Eighty-three year old ballerina Beatrice Cordua teaches from a wheelchair, naked.
Continua a leggere
John Scott Dance's “Begin Anywhere” started in the middle. A dancer walked to the center of the Irish Arts Center's JL Greene Theatre holding a discman, placed it on the floor, and pressed play.
FREE ARTICLE
Today I have the immense privilege of speaking with Lucia Field. Lucia grew up with her family in Sydney, but with her dad, Anthony, as the original Blue Wiggle. It's not the childhood you might imagine. As the Wiggles became global superstars, Lucia didn't see her dad for nearly nine months a year. Instead, Lucia grew up alongside her mom, her brother, and her sister, dancing and dreaming of becoming a ballerina. And it was not just a dream. Lucia's star was already on the rise. And by 13, she was accepted into the Australian Ballet School. In this exceptionally...
Continua a leggere
The story began with an impulse to go back and give something back—to the performing arts traditions of India. Acclaimed British dancer and choreographer of Bangladeshi descent, Akram Khan, long...
Performance
Place
Words
$69.95
Gift a year of world-class dance journalism. Recipients will receive full access to Fjord's wide diversity of reviews, interviews, articles & podcasts.
I step off the elevator onto the 5th floor of the Whitney Museum and I am awed by the spectacle, vastness, and ground shifting power of the “Edges of Ailey” exhibition. This tribute to Alvin Ailey and his universe—past, present, and future—not only lifts up its larger-than-life subject but it also, like a great ocean wave, raises up and carries forward everything in its wake.
Continua a leggere
Marius Petipa’s “Paquita” Grand Pas Classique has been around since 1881. I last reviewed a version in 2023, by Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo.
Continua a leggere
The IBStage Star Galas have a mission to unite the best and brightest for gala ballet evenings. As seen at New York City Center, New York. Photographs by Steven Pisano
Continua a leggere
While Kendrick Lamar performed “Humble,” during his Super Bowl halftime set and was surrounded by dancers clad in red, white and blue—and in the process assumed the formation of the American flag (choreographed by Charm La’Donna)—so, too, did Faye Driscoll use performers who created slews of shapes/sculptures in her astonishing work, “Weathering,” seen at REDCAT on February 8, the last of three sold-out performances.
Continua a leggere
Let’s start with the obvious, or maybe to some this notion will be highly disputable, even offensive. OK, then, let’s start with what kept repeating in my head as I...
Performance
Place
Words
In Maldonne, French filmmakers Leila KA and Josselin Carré pose eleven women side by side on a barren stage. They’re dressed in floral patterns that hearken to the 1950s. The camera zooms in to frame their faces—each woman is in a state of distress.
Continua a leggere
Today I have the immense privilege of speaking with Riley Lapham. Riley started dancing early in her home town of Wollongong, and by age 14, she had joined the Australian Ballet School. But from here, Riley's journey takes twists and turns. In her graduation year, Riley missed her final performance due to injury. But in a Center Stage-like moment, the then artistic director David McAllister offered her a contract with the company. In this brave and vulnerable conversation, Riley and I talk about what it's like to join a company while injured, and what it was like to deal with...
FREE ARTICLE
I can’t remember seeing the Joyce Theater as full of energy. With the hour long “I Am,” Camille A. Brown & Dancers opens the tent of Black joy for all to enter, raising goosebumps and heat on a cold February night.
Continua a leggere
Allison Miller, the acclaimed drummer and band leader of the group Boom Tic Boom, presented her multi-media performance, “Rivers in Our Veins,” for a one-matinee-only performance at 92NY on February 2nd.
Continua a leggere
In the world premiere of Miguel Gutierrez’s “Super Nothing,” the quartet of performers fly through the vast, empty black box theater at New York Live Arts, small forms cast out...
Performance
Place
Words
“Well, it’s big,” Seattle ballet fans were saying as they headed into McCaw Hall’s sleek sanctuary of velvet settees and shiny metal staircases.
Continua a leggere
Who says choreography can’t be taught? Not Ellen Robbins, a modern dance educator who has been teaching the art of choreography to young people in Soho for decades.
Continua a leggere
Never forget!” With the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and International Holocaust Remembrance Day both having been recognized last month, these words, although unspoken, coursed through Melissa Barak’s first evening-length ballet, “Memoryhouse.”
Continua a leggere
Talk about having a banner year! In 2024 alone, dancer, choreographer and spoken word artist Shamel Pitts not only received a MacArthur Fellowship and the Doris Duke Award, but was also honored with the Knight Choreography Prize.
Continua a leggere
Translated, “malpaso” means misstep, suggesting clumsiness. In the case of Havana based Malpaso Dance Company, the name is a clever misdirection, pointing to a sense of humor often present with...
Performance
Place
Words
Already a paid subscriber? Login
"This extraordinary little magazine has grown to become a cultural mainstay, not just a valued critical source, but a cultural communicator, critic, review, booster and historian."
With a physical subscription you'll get a physical magazine twice a year along with full site access. With a digital subscription, you'll only get access to articles and podcasts.
With either a physical or digital subscription, you'll get access to podcast content.
You just need a subscription to get full access to articles.