World-class review of ballet and dance.
Men: You can’t live with ‘em, and you can’t let ‘em die! Seriously, “Giselle,” the über-Romantic dance that premiered in Paris in 1841 and was the peak of the pre-Tchaikovsky ballets (before, for example, “Swan Lake”), was first presented by Los Angeles Ballet in its fifth season.
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What gives a dance staying power? What makes any work of art continue to be relevant over time? These are questions I pondered while revisiting Andrea Miller’s “Blush,” performed by her company, Gallim, at 92NY’s Harkness Mainstage Series this spring.
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Asami Maki’s 2004 reworking of Marius Pepita’s “Raymonda” for the National Ballet of Japan dials up the wow-factor at every level.
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You can hear it before you see it. The sound of chatter, sneakers squeaking against the floor, the booming DJs reverberating through space.
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The New York City Ballet’s orchestra tackled two new pieces at this year’s Spring Gala: Edouard Lalo’s “Symphonie Espagnole,” with the star violinist Hilary Hahn debuting alongside them in the pit—her first time ever performing while submerged in subterranean darkness—and the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction.”
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In October 1942, within four days of one another, two Douglas Dunns entered the world—one in Scotland, one in California.
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Almost mirroring the geopolitical situation, contemporary dance in the West—already in the USA and soon in Europe—is showing signs of wear and tear, if not decline.
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Rudolf Nureyev’s “Romeo and Juliet” is built with a finely calibrated balance of choreographic structure, theatrical intelligence, and historical awareness.
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“Too much sanity may be madness!” Carlos Acosta’s “Don Quixote” revival is proudly, fittingly quixotic—a confetti cannon of cheerful characterisations and vibrant visuals that culminate in an actual confetti cannon.
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As a journalist and critic, I am often privy to an artist’s process before viewing their work. This insight pays off as an audience member, offering new ways of allowing a piece to come to life before my eyes.
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We ballet fans grow irrationally attached to the productions of the classics we grow up with—taking in a different “Swan Lake” or “Giselle” from the one we know can make us feel like sensitive children refusing to eat the non-Kraft-brand mac ‘n cheese.
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The idea of bringing together the Louvre’s Michel-Ange / Rodin. Corps vivants exhibition, on view from mid-April to late July, and an evening of pas de deux danced by Paris Opéra Ballet soloists is so wonderfully potpourri-like that it invites reflection even where reflection may not have been the point.
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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