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REVIEWS | By Oksana Khadarina

Here/Now, No. 8

Only five years ago, choreographer Justin Peck was virtually unknown. Today he is a prominent presence in the world of dance, widely praised and admired by audiences (particularly young audiences) and critics alike. His meteoric rise to fame is underpinned by an impressive body of works. So far he has created 14 ballets for New York City Ballet where he is soloist and resident choreographer (he assumed this position in 2014). His other creations (more than a dozen) include commissions from Paris Opera Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet among other companies. His ballets have been performed by...

REVIEWS | By Oksana Khadarina

Here/Now, No. 7

Remarkable in its size, range, and variety, New York City Ballet’s Here/Now festival presented ten separate programs. The first three were dedicated to works by Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, and Justin Peck, one choreographer at a time, in the format usually used for the company’s luminaries, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. The remaining seven programs were packaged as collections of stylistically and musically diverse pieces, all created specifically for the company in the past thirty or so years. Over the course of four weeks, the festival afforded audiences the unique opportunity to see a great variety of works—a one-of-a-kind retrospective...

REVIEWS | By Penelope Ford

Room to Dream

Themes were choice, play, youth, and freedom at Toronto Dance Theatre's Emerging Voices program, premiering work by Alicia Grant and Emily Law. Both choreographers had the opportunity to develop their work within TDT's choreographic incubator facilitated by TDT Artistic Director Christopher House, and set their work on company dancers.

REVIEWS | By Oksana Khadarina

Here/Now

New York City Ballet’s Here/Now festival proved an epic undertaking. Over the course of four weeks, the company presented 43 ballets created by 22 choreographers, all works made during the past four decades—a celebration of contemporary choreography, unprecedented in its size, depth, scope, and richness.

REVIEWS | By Rachel Elderkin

Decadence and Desire

Cloaked, hooded figures process ceremoniously across the stage. They cross themselves before an unseen altar and disappear into the darkness between towering pillars. Dramatic, stately chimes enhance the pious atmosphere. Kneeling at their pews the company begin a sequence of precise and ordered movement, the angular isolations of their arms and upper body suggesting a ritual of prayer.

REVIEWS | By Victoria Looseleaf

Signature Graham

On the eve of Mother’s Day, it is altogether possible that the mother of modern dance, Martha Graham, would be looking down and beaming at the latest incarnation of Martha Graham Dance Company, originally founded in—gasp—1926. To say that the 16-member troupe looked and moved beautifully is almost an understatement. Their very beings seemed infused with the spirit—and essence—of Martha herself.

REVIEWS | By Rachel Elderkin

Mayerling

In January 1889, at the royal hunting lodge at Mayerling, Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary committed suicide with his 17 year old lover, Mary Vetsera. The tragedy was quickly covered up to protect the Habsburg dynasty and, as such, the ambiguous events of that night have become as much speculation as fact; the inspiration for several screen adaptations and, of course, Kenneth MacMillan's ballet.

INTERVIEWS | By Victoria Looseleaf

New Adventures

One of the “little upgrades” of having been knighted, said renowned director and choreographer Matthew Bourne, was being able to score tickets to “Hamilton.” And while Sir Matthew received one of the United Kingdom’s highest honors last year for services to dance from the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace, he seems even more excited and—yes—astonished at the 30th anniversary of his troupe, New Adventures. Founded in 1987 and formerly called Adventures in Motion Pictures, it is a resident company at Sadler’s Wells.

REVIEWS | By Claudia Lawson

In Phase

Opening nights at Sydney Dance Company have become the place to see and be seen. The troupe's charismatic artistic director, Spaniard Rafael Bonachela, has transformed SDC into a chic contemporary outfit, at the heart of Sydney's hip art scene. The company's recent premiere of “Orb,” a double bill featuring “Full Moon” by Taiwanese choreographer Cheng Tsung-lung and “Ocho,” Bonachela's latest, was no exception, drawing the glitterati to the Roslyn Packer Theatre in Sydney's Walsh Bay.

INTERVIEWS | By Penelope Ford

Focus on Frances Chung

Frances Chung, principal dancer at San Francisco Ballet, is seated in a flat side split, bendily warming up. Her beloved chihuahua, Iggy, finds a place to rest on the nearest tutu. “He's very comfortable in the studio,” Chung laughs.

INTERVIEWS | By Penelope Ford

Lines of Thought

“When I began this company 34 years ago, education was crucial. So many people, they teach steps, but if you don’t know what the steps mean or what they are relating to, what is it?”

REVIEWS | By Lorna Irvine

Loosening the Corset Strings

Wilful, bold Rosalind—the heroine of Shakespeare's As You Like It—who dressed as Ganymede the man, always eschewed traditional tropes of female behaviour in literature, so James Cousins Company's re-imagining of her in this incredible piece seems timely, as gendered issues—whether of feminist or transgender visibility—are increasingly pushed into the mainstream media and news. His company, featuring British and Korean dancers, are effectively loosening the corset strings of Shakespeare for a new generation. And how!

Featured Reads

REVIEWS | Lorna Irvine

Teenage Angst and Institutions

Watching 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,...

INTERVIEWS | Marina Harss

The Me of Today

The choreographer Alexei Ratmansky reflects on the war in Ukraine, the connection between geopolitics and ballet, and joining the house of Balanchine.

REVIEWS | Rachel Howard

Starry Nights

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.

REVIEWS | Faye Arthurs

America, F**K Yeah

After 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.

REVIEWS | Emily May

Acosta Danza’s Choreographic Soup

An “Ajiaco” is a type of soup common to Colombia, Cuba, and Peru that combines a variety of different vegetables, spices, and meats.