This site has limited support for your browser. We recommend switching to Edge, Chrome, Safari, or Firefox.

Latest


Human Movement
REVIEWS | By Róisín O'Brien

Human Movement

From mimicking the swarming of bees in “Emergence,” to grappling with forces of nature in “The Seasons’ Canon:” Crystal Pite often eagerly looks to complex configurations and omnipotent powers when working with a corps de ballet.

Continue Reading
The Flip Side
REVIEWS | By Josephine Minhinnett

The Flip Side

This year, Fall for Dance North not only showcased a diverse range of dance forms with real emotional depth, but delivered an ample dose of humour and levity in the midst of a pandemic. The relaunched interview series set in a bathtub, “Bathtub Bran” was a brilliant way to keep people entertained and, in true FFDN style, highlighted the fact that dance is not an exclusive art form or language, but an everyday one: if you can get bath ducks and miniature unicorns, you can get dance.

Continue Reading
Fall for Dance: Take 2
REVIEWS | By Faye Arthurs

Fall for Dance: Take 2

The second and final 2020 Fall for Dance program was not as somber as the first, though it still felt far removed from the ebullient live festivals of years past. Again, four pieces and seven dancers comprised the evening. Once again David Hallberg and Alicia Graf Mack co-hosted the event. And yet again there were two world premiere commissions and two classics on the bill. But this time around I tallied the scorecard at three hits and one miss.  

Continue Reading
Muted, but Live
REVIEWS | By Valentina Bonelli

Muted, but Live

With the hidden conviction of attending the last Italian dance performances, we went to Venice at La Biennale Danza festival: a kind of resistance, before our new, imminent lockdown. Despite the enthusiastic title, “And Now!” the 14th edition was an undertone: a few critics and journalists, no one from abroad, the audience halved because of the distance rules. Neither was the director, Marie Chouinard, able to arrive from Canada. Instead British choreographer Wayne McGregor was there, attending all the shows: a few days after he would be appointed new director of dance at La Biennale.

Continue Reading
The Tokyo Ballet's M
REVIEWS | By Paul McInnes

The Tokyo Ballet's M

On the fiftieth anniversary of Yukio Mishima's death, the Tokyo Ballet produced its latest version of “M,” choreographed by Maurice Béjart. After a generally terrible year for the arts, to see a nearly sold out production at the Kunio Maekawa-designed Tokyo Bunka Kaikan was extremely positive and served as a reminder that people need to see, feel and participate in art.  

Continue Reading
A Reimagined Fall for Dance
REVIEWS | By Faye Arthurs

A Reimagined Fall for Dance

Even in the midst of a global plague, the New York City Center found a way to put on its annual Fall for Dance Festival this year—with a virtually broadcast live performance—and for roughly an hour last night everything seemed right with the world. Well, sort of. Normally, the FFD performances are like rock concerts: whooping and hollering is a main component of the fun. With its populist $15 ticket price, the fest is as much an occasion for the NY dance community to get together and proclaim its love for itself as it is to showcase diverse troupes and...

Continue Reading
Pacific Northwest Ballet
REVIEWS | By Rachel Howard

Moved to Tears

Some days, when I find myself spiraling down Twitter’s sewer drain of dystopian disinformation, I contemplate tweeting a stupid joke that goes like this: “I Used to Review Ballet and Now I Tend Chickens: My Pandemic Memoir.”

Continue Reading
Holding Tight
DANCE FILM | REVIEWS | By Rachel Howard

Holding Tight

While many smaller American ballet companies hang on month to month through the pandemic to learn the ultimate shape of their fates, other troupes have faced harsh consequences swiftly. Just three months after California’s Covid restrictions, the board of the Sacramento Ballet voted to terminate Amy Seiwert’s tenure as artistic director, and the shifts she’d begun there—away from classical chestnuts and regional-level Balanchine and towards European-influenced new works—ended abruptly. Swiftly, Seiwert announced that she was returning to her project-based company in San Francisco, Imagery, which among other endeavors (and tours to the Joyce Theater Ballet Festival and Jacob’s Pillow) produces...

Continue Reading
Windows on Dance
DANCE FILM | REVIEWS | By Gracia Haby

Windows on Dance

In a window longer than it is tall, within a white frame, there is a room. A room as a blank canvas. A room as a piece of paper awaiting the first gesture of a drawing. The optical illusion of this window through to a room held within a white frame makes the information it holds appear three-dimensional: my eye registers a room and the white frame becomes a flat two-dimensional screen, on my computer screen, by comparison.

Continue Reading
A Royal Affair
REVIEWS | By Faye Arthurs

A Royal Affair

The dance scene throughout the pandemic has largely consisted of old, recorded performances being posted online. These videos have their merits, but also many limitations. The Royal Ballet boldly tried something different last week. The entire troupe managed to gather safely to put on a gala broadcast live over the internet. Anyone with wifi could purchase a sixteen pound ticket and watch from home, with access to a recording of the performance through November 8th.  

Continue Reading
Project X
DANCE FILM | REVIEWS | By Lorna Irvine

The Future is Unwritten

Based in Glasgow, and recently celebrating three years since they formed, Project X have a strong aesthetic and highly prolific output with a focus on history, culture and the lived experience of the African and Caribbean Diaspora. These two brand new short films from the multi-disciplinary company, screening as part of Black History Month, take on a female perspective. Both films rejoice in sisterhood and a strong sense of selfhood, both are beautiful celebrations of black women, and feel powerful and moving in distinct ways.

Continue Reading
Lockdown Anxieties Laid Bare
REVIEWS | By Sara Veale

Lockdown Anxieties Laid Bare

Lockdown has seen a major uptick in dance on screen, although much of what’s streaming is old runs and historic films; brand-new work has been harder to come by. This triple bill includes premieres from three UK companies, all devised in response to the pandemic. Produced by the Lawrence Batley Theatre, the works are filmed in and around this Huddersfield venue, and lean into the themes we’ve come to associate with life after Covid: isolation, disruption, and shifting perspectives on freedom and responsibility.

Continue Reading
Good Subscription Agency