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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!

INTERVIEWS | By Penelope Ford

Wishing & WanTing

Originally from Anshan, China, WanTing Zhao joined the San Francisco Ballet as a corps de ballet dancer in 2011. She has danced numerous principal and featured roles in Helgi Tomasson’s classical productions, and in Balanchine repertoire including “The Four Temperaments” (3rd Theme), and “Rubies” (principal). Recently Zhao danced in Benjamin Millepied's “The Chairman Dances,” which will return as an extended ballet in the company's 2018 season. In 2016 Zhao represented SFB with Carlo Di Lanno at the Eleventh International Competition for the Erik Bruhn Prize in Toronto, Canada, and she was awarded a silver medal at the 2010 Youth America Grand Prix. She was...

REVIEWS | By Jonelle Seitz

Three Things

Fusebox FestivalAustin, Texas, April 12-16, 2017

REVIEWS | By Lorna Irvine

Of Human Bondage

It is no coincidence that the huge unruly piles of trainers and pumps littering the stage are mostly the Adidas brand, as Uri Ivgi and Johan Greben's new piece for Scottish Ballet casts an unblinking eye over exploitation, and such global brands have faced accusations in recent years of forced labour and poor working conditions, often involving young children. These symbolically also serve as borders, partitioning some of the dancers off against the others, as they scrabble piecemeal for survival.

INTERVIEWS | By Penelope Ford

Southern Stars

Three dancers of the Australian Ballet met on a recent Monday afternoon in Melbourne for a photo shoot, and giggles, lots of giggles. Meet Isobelle Dashwood, corps de ballet, Christopher Rodgers-Wilson, soloist, and Amy Harris, senior artist. Photographed by Taylor-Ferné Morris with dancewear and styling by Keto.

REVIEWS | By Sara Veale

A poignant portrait of grief

Hot on the heels of a widely acclaimed premiere with the Royal Ballet, Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite is back in the laudatory limelight, this time with an Olivier Award, won for her 2015 dance theatre work “Betroffenheit,” co-created with Jonathon Young of Electric Company Theatre.

REVIEWS | By Claudia Lawson

Isobel Anderson Awards

Isobel Anderson Awards & Joan and Monica Halliday AwardsScience Theatre of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, March 26, 2017

REVIEWS | By Jonelle Seitz

Black Grace

Performances of the New Zealand company Black Grace, founded, directed, and choreographed by Neil Ieremia, a charismatic New Zealander of Samoan heritage, are as rich as multilingual conversations. Almost instantaneously upon being introduced to Ieremia’s egalitarian and boundless movement language, embodied by eleven sturdy, versatile dancers, many of whom are of Samoan or Maori descent, one-dimensional ideations of “culture” are rendered passé and ridiculous. The work draws from—and transcends—contemporary dance, ballet, dances of the Pacific islands, and Ieremia’s personal reflections. He and the dancers are fluent in all of it, all at once.

REVIEWS | By Rachel Howard

Siegfrieds & Swans

For his 2009 revamp of San Francisco Ballet’s “Swan Lake,” artistic director Helgi Tomasson added a Prologue. The idea was to make this Odette’s story, but if you ask me it’s still all about Siegfried. We may see Odette first, witnessing her capture by Von Rothbart and transformation into an animal, but Siegfried is still the character who has, as the narratologists might say, “agency.” He’s the one who makes the wrong choice and must pay penance; his is the narrative arc.

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.