World-class review of ballet and dance.
Explicit content may refer to a parental advisory warning label used by the music industry, but add an ‘s’ to ‘content’ and it is more likely that the explicit contents choreographer Rhiannon Newton is referring to come from the physical act of unfurling something to reveal what lies within.
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With the house lights still raised, renowned American dancer and choreographer Trajal Harrell stands downstage left, just across from two lines of slick, black piano stools. Wearing a white shirt and black trousers, as well as a frilly, floral dress that is hung around his neck, Harrell waits calmly and patiently as audience members clumsily try to find their allotted seats, smiling and nodding at people who catch his eye. At one point, he reaches into his pocket and grabs a tissue to wipe some sweat off his nose.
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Alan Cumming has never been one for half measures—whether taking on the iconic Emcee in “Cabaret” in 1993, garnering him a Tony award, Dionysus in a gospel tinged version of “The Bacchae,” or portraying every single role in his much acclaimed, raw and visceral one man Macbeth in 2012 (an absolute triumph of ambition and ideas.)
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After the pandemic shutdown, it felt so good to be back in REDCAT’s beautiful black box space for its annual three-week New Original Works Festival (NOW). Currently in its 19th edition—a feat in and of itself, the theater having opened in 2003—the celebrated series features nine premieres by some of Los Angeles’ foremost dance, theater, music and multimedia artists.
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I am sitting at a bar with a glass of wine waiting to watch Danish choreographer Mette Ingvarsten’s “The Dancing Public” as part of Tanz im August festival. Part dance party, part spoken word concert, the piece, according to press materials, aims to consider the 14th-17th century phenomenon of dancing plagues in our current post-pandemic context. “I hope there’s not going to be audience participation,” says one of the friends I’m attending with. Of course, from that moment, our fates were sealed.
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Akram Khan’s newest production “Jungle Book reimagined” is a spellbinding work of dance theatre that retells Rudyard Kipling’s original tale through dance, animation, text and music. At its core is a group of fantastically talented dancers, who ably take on their animal characters with a commitment that doesn’t rely on lazy mannerisms.
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Battery Dance Festival's closing night of outdoor performances harmonized perfectly with the sky. The festival celebrated its 41st anniversary at home in Battery Park City's breathtaking Robert F. Wagner Park, and as the sun set, the sky turned from baby blue to pinks, oranges, and navy. Like the New York harbor which glistened from below, the five performing companies of the evening reflected this changing background remarkably, with costumes which coordinated with the natural color palette and movement that complimented the shifting backdrop of sailboats and seagulls.
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In summarizing Sir Frederick Ashton’s oeuvre in 1961, celebrated critic Clive Barnes writes, “For all this his ballets are best seen from above.” In Covent Garden, Barnes continues, his favorite seat from which to view Ashton’s work is “from gallery right at the top of the house.” Although New York City audiences had the chance to catch a rare glimpse of Ashton’s choreography last week, thanks to Sarasota Ballet, the venue—the Joyce Theater—lacked the depth and perspective to really do his ballets justice. With its unadulterated sight lines, the intimacy of the Joyce is usually a joy for viewers. But...
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For the second year in a row, Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theater of Harlem came together for a week of free performances at the Damrosch Park Bandshell. There were way too many titles and slogans involved: it was officially the BAAND Together Dance Festival within Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City Festival, for which the tagline was: Remember, Reclaim, Rejoice. These phrases were plastered around the stage and surrounding areas. More simply, these shows are Lincoln Center’s attempt to create a summertime version of City Center’s successful Fall...
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Some might consider that a circus tent deep in the Berkshire mountains, with a full moon rising, might prove adequate to evoke a gathering of witches. With the tent sides propped open to frame glowing sections of the woods outside, it was as if we had indeed joined a witches celebration in the forest. Despite this setting for her sold-out premiere of a long anticipated “Wicked Bodies,” Liz Lerman wasn’t taking any chances of leaving her audience in the dark. The evening began as an interactive experience to prepare us. Approaching the performance tent, we first encountered an altar designed...
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Under a sturgeon supermoon, I head to Transit Dance in Brunswick, to see the Australian Ballet’s annual Bodytorque program of new contemporary works. Were I in a different hemisphere, such a bright night would symbolise the start of the harvest season, which, I guess, is true of the Bodytorque choreographic showcase: a gathering of crops, this year from Jill Ogai, Mason Lovegrove, Timothy Coleman, Serena Graham, Benjamin Garrett, and winner of the 2020 Emerging Female Classical Choreographer, Xanthe Geeves.
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I will see anything with the choreographer Kyle Abraham’s name attached to it, and so I attended the premiere of “Reunions”—a free, outdoor dance festival set on a makeshift stage squeezed between the edge of the Paul Milstein Pool and Hearst Plaza at Lincoln Center. That Abraham’s name was attached was pretty much all I knew going in. He curated the program, which consisted of new works made by alumni from his company, A.I.M. It is rare, as a reviewer, to have so little foreknowledge of an assignment. And it was more mysterious yet when I arrived to check in...
Continue ReadingWatching 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,...
Continue ReadingThe choreographer Alexei Ratmansky reflects on the war in Ukraine, the connection between geopolitics and ballet, and joining the house of Balanchine.
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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.
Continue ReadingAfter 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.
Continue ReadingAn “Ajiaco” is a type of soup common to Colombia, Cuba, and Peru that combines a variety of different vegetables, spices, and meats.
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