Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – Minus 16 quad bill – Boston
The whole thing (Minus 16) wasn’t a piece of choreography so much as a choreographed event, and hands down one of the most delightful things I’ve ever seen.
Boston Ballet – Coppélia – Boston
Boston audiences were very lucky in their first two Swanildas. Opening night, Misa Kuranaga was a vision of loveliness…
Boston Ballet – Chroma, Serenade, Symphony in C – Boston
Chroma: Perhaps it’s meant as a kind of sherbet to clear the palate between the Balanchine pieces… In short, I found the ballet dazzling but soulless.
Boston Ballet – The Sleeping Beauty – Boston
The opening night Aurora and Désiré were danced by Misa Kuranaga and Jeffrey Cirio, a superbly matched couple who have become a standard in the company.
Boston Ballet – The Nutcracker – Boston
And together, Kuranaga and Cirio make a superb couple, performing with such sensitive musicality and balanced unison that it sometimes seems you’re watching a single composite creature.
Mikko Nissinen – Boston Ballet – Artistic Director
“I think for me the high point is that I don’t see Boston audiences as having any limitations. When I got here everybody was telling me what I couldn’t do and people warned me to play it safe. But I have found people extremely open and willing to explore and I’m really thrilled about that.”
Boston Ballet – Don Quixote – Boston
And I’ll close with more praise of Maina Gielgud. I’ve never seen a ballet she’s set that hasn’t been absolutely first-rate. Boston Ballet has performed her Giselle for many years now and it’s easily my favorite Giselle, just as this production is now my favorite Don Quixote.
Boston Ballet – Play with Fire triple bill – Boston
But in Sharper, aggressively awkward movements are kept to a minimum: the ugly is reduced, and the residue now acts like a tonic of wit. And for the first time in Elo’s work, at least in my experience, we find a lyricism and beauty so profound they sometimes took my breath away.
Boston Ballet – Simply Sublime triple bill – Boston
Symphony in Three Movements: This collaboration of two of the giants of 20th century art (Balanchine, Stravinsky) was clearly a marriage made in heaven, and thanks to Boston Ballet’s newest production, we got to attend the nuptials.
