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Sydney Eisteddfod
REVIEWS | By Claudia Lawson

Showtime

With cash prizes totalling $36,000, the Sydney Eisteddfod Ballet Scholarship is the biggest cash prize for rising ballet stars in the southern hemisphere. Now in its 44th year, the scholarship is open to dancers aged 16-19 all of whom are teetering on the edge of securing a place in a world class ballet school, or for the lucky few, a company contract. For an art form reliant on funds to enable careers, the scholarship presents a serious opportunity.

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Michelle Manzanales
REVIEWS | By Rebecca Ritzel

With Open Arms

Of all the touring modern dance companies based New York, none has consistently introduced talented new choreographers (or new-to-me choreographers) like Ballet Hispánico.

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szalt
REVIEWS | By Victoria Looseleaf

Moondance

While the full moon was never actually visible—at least from this reviewer’s seat—during the world premiere of Stephanie Zaletel’s “moon&”—there was still an incandescent quality to the dancer/choreographer’s fifth evening-length work. Especially when Zaletel took center stage at the outdoor amphitheater, a sylvan venue nestled in Hollywood’s Cahuenga Pass, where she led her six-person, all-female szalt (dance co.), a collaborative founded in 2015, in a work that veered from meditative stillness and surrender to frenzied states of prolonged rapture and the accompanying struggles—gravitational and otherwise—of what it means to live on this earth.

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Akram Khan Xenos
REVIEWS | By Lorna Irvine

Drag Me To Hell

At once of the earth, and completely otherworldly, Akram Khan's apocalyptic last-ever solo piece as a performer (or so he has stated) grips from the outset, and never lets go. From the minute he is spat out onto the stage, tied to a rope which renders him as vulnerable as a newborn tied to the umbilical cord, or prisoner yearning to break free, this piece of choreography is a snarling beast. It is a nightmarish vision of a state of being in limbo, inspired by Prometheus. “Xenos,” which translates as 'foreigner' or 'stranger,' stands for anyone ostracised, othered, or incarcerated...

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Split
REVIEWS | By Claudia Lawson

Split

Lucy Guerin is known for her left of field works, and “Split” is no different. The scene of the performance is the Sydney Opera House’s Studio. As far as the Sydney Opera House goes, it is not a common setting for a dance performance. Rather than a large performance space, it is an intimate theatre space; dimly lit, roughly the size of a community hall. The stage is just an open space in the middle of the seats—no curtains, no props, but cordoned off with masking tape to mark the boundaries. Our bags have been security checked and we've been...

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Ballet Sun Valley
REVIEWS | By Penelope Ford

Stars in Sun Valley

Sun Valley, ski-resort and playground for the rich and famous, is nestled by the picturesque Sawtooth mountains, Idaho. The (Western) history of Sun Valley begins in 1936 when Union Pacific Railroad chairman Averell Harriman decided to build America's first destination ski-resort. Count Felix Schaffgotsch went in search of the perfect locale, and three days after his arrival in Sun Valley, he wired Harriman: “Among the many attractive spots I have visited, this combines the more delightful features of any place I have seen in the United States, Switzerland, or Austria for a winter ski resort.”

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BalletX Summer Series
REVIEWS | By Merilyn Jackson

Summertime

BalletX’s Summer Series 2018 programmed three easygoing world premieres at the Wilma Theater last week. With comic moves here and there to classical music, and gestures at more serious themes, except for Penny Saunders' “Rock-a-Bye,” there was not much to overheat the packed audience during these sultry dog days.

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American Ballet Theatre Bayadère
REVIEWS | By Victoria Looseleaf

Spiritual Shades

Those feet! Those hands! Those insanely flat stomachs! This is American Ballet Theatre’s “La Bayadère,” Marius Petipa’s iconic 1877 ballet restaged in the West by Russian ballerina Natalia Makarova for ABT in 1980 and seen over the weekend with three different casts. (It’s also the 200-year anniversary of the birth of Petipa, a giant in the ballet world whose some 150 choreographies include his 1862 opus, “The Pharaoh’s Daughter,” his 1869 “Don Quixote” and “The Sleeping Beauty,” from 1890).

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Cullberg Ballet
REVIEWS | By Victoria Looseleaf

Venice Dance Biennale

Ah, Venice—one of the world’s most gorgeous cities. Known for its spectacular art, music and architecture, the town with its famed Grand Canal and Rialto Bridge, also plays host to an edgy international dance festival. The terpsichorean portion of the Venice Biennale—the doyenne of contemporary art exhibitions founded in 1895, one that has also included a film sector since 1932 (cue A-list movie stars each August)—is now celebrating its 12th edition. Currently under the auspices of the eminent Canadian-born dancer/choreographer Marie Chouinard, whose troupe Compagnie Marie Chouinard, was founded in 1990, the festival proved a worthy showcase for performers and...

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Joan Jonas
REVIEWS | By Rachel Stone

Under the Sea

An octopus named Octavia learns how to communicate with a human, and begins to blush in her presence. Certain fish like to be petted like housecats. Moray eels enjoy being cuddled, and manta rays can recognize their reflections in the mirror.

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Tanztheater Wuppertal
REVIEWS | By Victoria Looseleaf

Since She

For the 71st edition of the prestigious Holland Festival, which took place at various venues around Amsterdam for three weeks last month, artistic director Ruth Mackenzie chose the theme, “Borders and Boundaries,” one that is especially relevant today. In addition to music (with the focus on European composer George Benjamin), film, multimedia, theater, workshops and master classes, modern dance has also been a vital element of the Netherlands’ oldest and largest performing arts festival.

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