The Smuin Ballet’s current season, Spring Bouquet, has one remarkable flower at its center. The ballet’s title, Petal, hardly does it justice in this metaphor since the work is far beyond the sum of its botanical parts.
Author - Aimee Tsao
Christopher Wheeldon's new Cinderella for San Francisco Ballet is spied in 2 more casts by Aimée Tsao. Some nice dancing but still rather an OTT Broadway-style extravaganza.
If extravagant productions are the way to bring in new audiences and fill the till then they are justified for those reasons alone. However, they don’t necessarily leave a rich legacy for future generations.
Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon is currently at the San Francisco Ballet preparing for the American premiere of his Cinderella. He has a rehearsal in forty-five minutes so we quickly set off to discuss his latest full-length ballet and many other things...
San Francisco Ballet – Criss-Cross, Francesca da Rimini, Symphony in Three Movements – San Francisco
Program 7 made me think a lot about this tricky issue of programming because this bill is a weird sandwich made with a delectable gourmet filling between slices of bland Wonder bread.
The highlight of the program is Lorena Feijóo's return to the stage in more than one ballet during the evening. After being out on maternity leave for a year ...is dancing better than ever.
I first saw Onegin with Marcia Haydée and Richard Cragun when the Stuttgart Ballett made its New York debut in 1969. So when San Francisco Ballet premiered it in the 2011-12 season I was happy to meet an old acquaintance again.
For the past ten years, since I first saw Shen Wei's Folding, I have been an admirer of this artist’s work.
From Foreign Lands: "This amusing, yet subtle send-up of classical ballet is rewarding in its expertly-shaped choreography, and made all the more appealing by the slight wackiness of the costumes and visual jokes."
Possokhov’s Rite of Spring is a mixture of mostly good choices with a few that seem rather odd to me.
The good news is that I had a very pleasant afternoon, mostly the result of the dancers actually having a splendid time on stage.
It’s Valentine’s Day and I wish I could write a “love letter” review to the Hamburg Ballet. I am not being sentimental - this company is full of incredible dancers, from principals to corps de ballet...
The dancers are really top-notch, razor-edge precise and boundlessly energetic, but limited to an eclectic vocabulary reflecting a Nederlands Dans Theater aesthetic...
Closing the program is Kurt Jooss’s anti-war ballet from 1932,The Green Table, one of the greatest pieces of choreography ever created and still relevant after more than 80 years.
The highly anticipated world premiere of Wayne McGregor’s Borderlands, commissioned by SF Ballet, meets with a standing ovation.
Perhaps the best pas de deux of the evening, judging by the audience reaction, is one from Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain.
I always enjoy The Hard Nut even though there isn’t a lot of choreography.
Sitting through both a matinée and an evening performance of the 14th Annual San Francisco International Hip Hop DanceFest on November 18th is the perfect antidote to the memorial service I attended the day before. Both celebrate life...
Not to be a scrooge-ish Grinch (or is it a grinchy Scrooge?), but I don’t really like all the sentimental and consumeristic trimmings and trappings that surround the holidays.
...I’m not certain in which direction the company is headed. There is so much potential to be realised that it would be disappointing to see it ebb away.