World-class review of ballet and dance.
The Korean Cultural Center New York presented the ChangMu Dance Company this past week and treated the public to an artistic gem. ChangMu Dance Company, currently with fourteen dancers, was founded in 1976 by Kim MaeJa, a pioneer of Korean “creative dance.”
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At the New National Theatre in Tokyo last week, the National Ballet of Japan’s (NBJ) triple bill, “Ballet Coffret,” indeed offered up three jewels of dance: the traditional, the modern, and the multi-faceted.
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Bangarra Dance Theatre first brought this cross-cultural work to the main stage of the Sydney Opera House in June 2024. “The Light Inside” is a wondrous collaboration between leading Māori choreographer Moss Te Ururangi Patterson and Bangarra choreographer, Deborah Brown.
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Today I have the immense privilege of speaking with Dr. Sue Mayes. She's the current director of the Australian Ballet's globally recognized artistic health team. Sue was born in Victoria, and like many physios who work with dancers, Sue learned classical ballet in her youth and studied full-time under the formidable Gailene stock. It was while she was completing her diploma of dance that Sue’s started to think about her future. Her love of dance combined with an interest in anatomy led her to physiotherapy, and as we say, the rest is history. In this most fascinating episode, Sue shares...
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Tamara Rojo’s ambitious “Raymonda” was the last thing she did at English National Ballet before assuming the directorship in San Francisco three years ago, so it was natural that she would want to bring it here early in her tenure.
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With each dance season’s new ballets, some become memorable with audiences and critics for their artistry and emotional connection, fewer reveal themselves as hits, and even fewer have the potential to become box office record breakers. Tulsa Ballet's new “Alice in Wonderland” is the rare gem that does all three.
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Dreadlocks are not the first thing that come to mind, looking at UK artist Nicola Turner’s fibre sculpture currently installed at Carvalho Park gallery in East Williamsburg. But I hesitate to open a review with a vision of the poop emoji.
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Inspired by breaking, neo-classical ballet and dance theater, Rubberband, founded in Montreal in 2002 by Victor Quijada, presented two works at BroadStage over the weekend in what was seen as a homecoming of sorts for Quijada.
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The Batsheva Dance Company returned to the BAM Opera House this week bringing their latest evening length work, “Momo.” This was the ninth Batsheva production that BAM has presented since 2002. New York City dance lovers packed the venue amid tight security and outdoor protestors to see this foremost contemporary dance company perform a masterpiece of haunting and reflective beauty.
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Today I have the immense privilege of speaking with Bangarra Dance Theatre’s James Boyd. James is a proud Aboriginal man with connections to the Kunja and Muruwari people of southwest Queensland. Born on Wiradjuri country in Orange, as a little boy, James wasn't quick to use his words, and had delayed speech. James's mum and dad then began to notice other things—James kept getting bruises. At just five years of age, James was diagnosed with Leukemia. In this most incredible episode, James shares his journey through cancer, the lows of hospital life, and also the highs when James was introduced...
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Houston Ballet has announced its vibrant programme for 2025-2026, with luminary contemporary ballet choreographer, Alice Topp, formerly of the Australian Ballet and the Royal New Zealand Ballet as a headliner.
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Cold, immovable violence is rooted at the heart of Johan Inger’s “Carmen.” Drawing from Prosper Mérimée’s 1845 novella, Inger’s timeless version of “Carmen” revels, as it was originally written, Carmen’s death, at the hands of Don José, as chillingly intentional.
Continua a leggereWatching Matthew Bourne's reworked version of the “star-cross'd lovers,” I was briefly reminded of Veronica, played by Winona Ryder, in the dark 1988 comedy by Daniel Waters and Michael Lehmann, Heathers, and her line, “my teen angst bullshit has a body count.” Yes, this is the darker side of Bourne's repertoire,...
Continua a leggereThe choreographer Alexei Ratmansky reflects on the war in Ukraine, the connection between geopolitics and ballet, and joining the house of Balanchine.
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Beneath blue California skies, manicured trees, and the occasional hum of an overhead airplane, Tamara Rojo took the Frost Amphitheater stage at Stanford University to introduce herself as the new artistic director of San Francisco Ballet.
Continua a leggereAfter a week of the well-balanced meal that is “Jewels”—the nutritive, potentially tedious, leafy greens of “Emeralds,” the gamy, carnivorous “Rubies,” and the decadent, shiny white mountains of meringue in “Diamonds”—the New York City Ballet continued its 75th Anniversary All-Balanchine Fall Season with rather more dyspeptic fare.
Continua a leggereAn “Ajiaco” is a type of soup common to Colombia, Cuba, and Peru that combines a variety of different vegetables, spices, and meats.
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