World-class review of ballet and dance.
The inaugural season of “Escalator,” presented by Stephanie Lake Company in association with Abbotsford Convent, begins with the slow traction of Kady Mansour dressed head to toe in white as a tampon, replete with two strings around each ankle, and concludes with two dancers dressed as mirrored disco balls, declaring to the audience that they are “strong enough / to live without [us]” as they rewind and rotate on the dancefloor to Cher’s “Strong Enough.”
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Has any choreographer extracted as much value from the chug step as Mark Morris? Jerome Robbins came close in “Glass Pieces,” and George Balanchine gave chugs some big moments in “Apollo,” but Morris consistently uses the simple move to demonstrate a profound musicality.
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Adrian Danchig-Waring is a poet. His body articulates anticipation and pleasure, the tumult of ecstasy, and the ache of longing in Lar Lubovitch’s “Desire,” created as part of Lubovitch’s 80th birthday celebration in collaboration with the Guggenheim’s Works and Process series.
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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.
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George Balanchine’s 1967 ballet “Jewels”—in which each act is inspired by a different semi-precious gem—has proven a touring warhorse.
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The headline performance of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival’s Hip Hop Across the Pillow mini-festival—which took place from August 2-6, 2023 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip hop—was an abundance of embodied knowledge.
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What would the story of Alice in Wonderland look like if it was reimagined by a group of women?
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The show starts outside the theater. A car, with its right rear window busted out, pulls up, music blaring, bass turned up.
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Four distinct works, their creation initiated by a shared prompt. Four choreographers, plus time, space, and the ten dedicated contemporary ballet artists of Amy Seiwert’s company, Imagery.
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Who doesn’t love the circus—especially nouveau cirque? With its unclassifiable blend of genres, it reflects so much of what it means to be human—the comedy, absurdity, beauty, sadness, delight, and more.
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“This is historical,” Ballet22 co-founder Theresa Knudson told the audience between works on the company’s latest program, “Momentum.”
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Pilobolus has become synonymous with pushing boundaries, both in the physical and the thematic. The company’s run at New York City’s Joyce Theater, which culminated their Big Five-OH! Tour—a belated-by-Covid celebration of the company’s 50th anniversary—was a reaffirmation of this mission.
Continue ReadingLong before the dancers take the stage, Dance Theatre of Harlem’s season at New York City Center feels like one of the most energizing cultural events of the spring.
Continue ReadingIt is rare for George Balanchine’s grand, bedazzled “Symphony in C” to open a program. Its champagne-popping finale for 52 dancers tends to be a nightcap.
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The Spring is Blooming festival, by Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, now in its fifth year, has become a highlight of the spring dance circuit.
Continue ReadingAs the audience come to their feet at the end of this ballet there is a noted difference to be seen on stage. Three women stand with joined hands, taking their call as the romantic leads of a loud and proud lesbian ballet.
Continue ReadingOne of San Francisco Ballet’s greatest assets is its home venue, the Beaux-Arts style War Memorial Opera House, with four rings of seating that require performers to project their energies practically to the exosphere.
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