World-class review of ballet and dance.
From the opening moments, Jasmin Vardimon's “Pinocchio” resonates with the kind of magic you only encounter in theatre. One after the other the performers rise from the floor, hand in hand, their bodies straight and stiff, mechanically tipping in turn like the wooden figurines of an old town square clock. It’s an enduring image of this show—and it is one of many.
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Think of it as the terpsichorean equivalent of a mic drop—times four, or Beyoncé before Beyoncé (but a decided precursor to “Formation”). However one chooses to look at it, William Forsythe’s “Artifact Suite,” performed over the weekend by Houston Ballet (who premiered it just last month), was an anarchic, jaw-dropping stunner. One third of a unique bill—a trio of American ballet troupes each performing a Forsythe opus—“Artifact” is a one-act, forty-minute abstraction of the his 1984 “Artifact,” the first piece the American-born choreographer made for his now disbanded troupe, Ballett Frankfurt.
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Sixty minutes is a tricky length for a work of dance. Slot an uninterrupted hour of dance into a mixed bill and you risk an inattentive audience. But present it as a stand-alone production and you face an extra layer of critical scrutiny—is the piece truly substantial enough to carry an entire evening?
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The noise of the day drops away as I make my way to the upstairs studio of Dancehouse. I am one part of an increasingly hushed procession assembled on opening night to experience Sarah-Jane Norman’s “The River’s Children” (2013), and “Take This, For It Is My Body” (2010) paired with “Heirloom” (2013), and Nacera Belaza’s “The Shout” (2008), presented as part of Melbourne Festival.
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2016 marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, and the year has seen artistic tributes pour in from around the world: film festivals, art exhibitions, publishing initiatives, theatre takeovers. Birmingham Royal Ballet is responsible for one of the most extensive dance offerings: a dedicated Shakespeare Season featuring 80 performances of seven Bard-inspired ballets, including a new evening-length reworking of “The Tempest” from artistic director David Bintley.
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Grupo Corpo, the Brazilian contemporary company, gave one performance in Austin, sandwiched by stops in Minneapolis and New Orleans, and between engagements in New York City and Europe. I can imagine that these one-nighters blur together for the members of the group, distinguishable only by hotel and theater amenities and the receptiveness of the audience. But for Austin audiences, who have had the opportunity to see the company once every few years since 2008, thanks to programming by the University of Texas, each of these rare performances is distinct. The two ballets on this program, both created for the company...
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Down, instead of up. That is how things fall when they are dropped. But in the worlds of circus and dance, the body doesn’t have to give the appearance of being a servant to gravity. In the worlds of circus and dance, the body can defy gravity. And gravity is what pulls three pieces by three different choreographers together in Les 7 Doigts’ “Triptyque,” presented as part of Melbourne Festival at the Playhouse late on a Sunday afternoon. A swirling galaxy is made, beginning with Marie Chouinard’s “Anne & Samuel,” and Victor Quijada’s “Variations 9.81,” before pulling up the bed covers...
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It isn’t as mainstream as the Opera Garnier’s season opening. Facing the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Théâtre de la Ville hosts a yearly festival as fall takes its toll on yellowish leaves of Haussmann boulevards. In spite of its great media coverage by contemporary dance enthusiasts and low pricing policy, Le Festival d’automne, is something of a well-kept secret. The 2016 edition is dedicated to Lucinda Childs’ postmodern vibes, featuring her famous piece, “Dance” the evening of the premiere. When first performed in 1979, “Dance” met with mixed reception. Later, it earned the status of ‘masterpiece’ and it’s rare to read...
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George Balanchine’s “Jewels” will turn 50 next year. It was, and still is, a ballet like no other; a perfect night at the theater and a great introduction to the art of Balanchine.
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Crawling with hipsters, scenesters and lipstick lesbians, the funky warehouse in L.A.’s up-and-coming neighborhood, Frogtown, recently served as a performance space for WIFE’s apocryphal “Enter The Cave.” The hometown female trio—Jasmine Albuquerque, Kristen Leahy and Nina McNeely—had presented the first act of “Cave” at the Hammer Museum last June to what can only be called adoring throngs.
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It feels as if Carlos Acosta has been saying a rather long farewell to classical ballet—his 2015 farewell performance “A Classical Selection,” marked his departure from the Royal Ballet, along with his own production of “Carmen”—but this, it seems, is Acosta’s true farewell to classical dance. While Acosta will not be retiring from dance entirely (he will continue to dance in contemporary works and pursue a role as choreographer and director), his emotional curtain call proved just how much saying ‘farewell’ to classical dance means to a man who has become an icon of the ballet world.
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Tonight's little surprise, a small bonus routine, comes in the form of dancer and choreographer Jack Webb's incredible new work “Drawn to Drone,” performed by soloist Christopher Harrison and with a hypnotic soundscape by Webb himself. Using two white chairs only, Harrison enters the space, methodically strips down to underwear and sits on the lined-up chairs, tentatively stretching and contorting his limbs, which seem to move independently of his body. His arms and legs raise up in slow motion, and the focus is entirely concentrated on the geometric shapes he creates. He seems like an astronaut on a space flight...
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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