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REVIEWS | By Sara Veale

A Sweet Treat

Ballets don’t come much sweeter than “The Sleeping Beauty.” The Petipa classic is a sparkling confection of sequins and tulle, its three acts fizzing with dulcet duets and variations. Kenneth MacMillan’s 1987 version, staged here by English National Ballet, cuts through some of the fluff but is honeyed all the same, with plenty of sugary frolics swirled in. And the cherry on top? A guest turn from former Bolshoi Ballet prima Maria Alexandrova, whose perky expressiveness and top-notch technique impress mightily.

REVIEWS | By Gracia Haby

A Giddy Delight

At the Paris Universal Exhibition at the turn of the twentieth century, where it was said Debussy first heard Javanese gamelan music, near everything newly discovered or newly made could be found. The Eiffel Tower, now synonymous with Paris, for one; the world-encompassing scale of the Galerie des machines where visitors could delight in discovering such things as atmospheric hammers, cigarette makers, phonographs, and telephones. Add to this a colonial exhibition of the ‘other’ from across land and sea masses; the Imperial, the largest diamond in the world; and a giant wooden and stucco elephant, which was later purchased and...

REVIEWS | By Oksana Khadarina

Royal Treatment

American Ballet Theatre unveiled world premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s “Harlequinade”—an opulent reconstruction of Marius Petipa’s “Les Millions d’Arlequin”—at the Metropolitan Opera House on Monday, June 4. This is yet another large-scale production by Ratmansky for ABT, where he is artist in residence. Last year, the company premiered his evening-long take on Richard Strauss' ballet “Whipped Cream,” which was part of ABT’s Ratmansky Project: “a five-year, $15 million fund-raising drive to support the creation of at least one new work a year by Mr. Ratmansky,” according to the New York Times.

REVIEWS | By Rachel Howard

Dancing with Distinction

Recently retired San Francisco Ballet soloist James Sofranko, who built his leadership chops co-organizing the city’s annual Dance for a Reason cancer benefit gala, is soon off to take charge at Michigan’s Grand Rapids Ballet. SFDanceworks will continue with direction from Sofranko, and with associate direction by former Australian Ballet principal Danielle Rowe. Judging from Rowe’s new work, “The Old Child,” this is good news. Next to a passionately danced staging of Nacho Duato’s career-making masterpiece, “Jardi Tancat,” Rowe’s was the most memorable choreography of this program, and one hopes she’ll keep making dances.

REVIEWS | By Lorna Irvine

Army Dreamers

Tonight's gripping episode sees Matthew Bourne, with a restaging by Etta Murfitt, channeling all of the very best 1940's cinema classics, from Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death, via Hitchcock, David Lean and American silent movie iconography; as well as the more knockabout elements of vaudeville and slapstick. This is no twee fairytale, but rather, a meshing of historical fact steeped in survival as much as lyrical romanticism. For context, the production is bookended by plummy, RP voiced Pathe newsreels showing the devastation of war.

REVIEWS | By Oksana Khadarina

Living Doll

There is no other ballet quite like “Coppélia.” A romantic comedy spiced with elements of an action-thriller and accompanied by one of the most joyful ballet scores ever written, “Coppélia” never fails to delight and entertain.

REVIEWS | By Sara Veale

Widening the Landscape

This new programme from Akram Khan—one of the UK’s foremost contemporary choreographers—is a look into both the past and future. Khan and Farooq Chaudry, producer at Akram Khan Company, have invited four young dancers of colour to present self-choreographed solos that reflect on their heritage and explore the evolving language of contemporary dance. Drawing on genres as diverse as hip-hop and folk dance, their work forms a ‘portrait of otherness’ that encourages innovation of form and promotes visibility of lesser-heard perspectives—something Khan has strived to champion with his own company over the years.

REVIEWS | By Lorna Irvine

Love: Dangerous & Intoxicating

“The Suit”

INTERVIEWS | By Penelope Ford

New Directions: Danielle Rowe

Danielle Rowe was a bright star at the Australian Ballet. Born in Adelaide, Rowe trained at the Australian Ballet School before joining the company in 2001. With extension for days, she rose quickly through the ranks, winning accolades and hearts along the way. She is the only dancer in the company's history to win the Telstra People's Choice award twice, once in 2003 and again in 2005, and she was also the first recipient of the Dorothy Hicks Fund. She attained principal in 2008, and was the apple of company's eye.

REVIEWS | By Penelope Ford

Dancing in the Dark

Overall it must be questioned whether ballet is the right medium for a biographical tribute. Ballet by the limits of its nature is only able to give a broad brushstroke, a stylized impression of what a person stood for. Details of historical context, complex personal stories and exploration of inner drive fall by the wayside; all questions you seek in a biographical treatment remain opaque. In “Frame by Frame” a new ballet for the National Ballet of Canada directed by Robert LePage and choreographed Guillaume Côté, ballet was interspersed with film and overlaid with interactive effects by Ex Machina, yet...

REVIEWS | By Jade Larine

Unbearable Lightness

Thierrée, Shechter, Perez, Pite: they could have their names in light anywhere in Europe, but at Aurélie Dupont’s invitation, they shared the bill at the Palais Garnier. Alas, with two brand new tailor-made creations, one revival and one recent entry into the repertoire, the bill inspired mixed feelings. Amid underwhelming performances, the audience is left to draw its own conclusions, ranging from hazardous to poignant.

REVIEWS | By Erica Getto

Bound To Walk Alone

Every year, revellers flock to New York City’s Times Square to usher in the New Year. In 1999, the celebration was more grand than usual: Times Square 2000 featured twenty-four hours of live programming to usher in the Millennium. More than one million people attended; more than one billion tuned into the live broadcast. One of the masterminds behind this spectacular was David Parsons, who choreographed and directed its dance elements. Parsons seems an ideal choice for the event: since he founded Parsons Dance in 1985 with Tony Award-winning lighting designer Howell Binkley, he has been developing pieces that pulse...

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.