The much admired Suzanne Farrell Ballet have just been performing at their Kennedy Center home in Washington - Oksana Khadarina reviews the Balanchine works (Mozartiana and Episodes) on Programme A...
Author - Oksana Khadarina
Oksana Khadarina is a Washington, DC–based dance writer and a long-time contributor to DanceTabs. She has been covering dance at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as in New York City and internationally, since 2006. She has written for Dance Magazine, Pointe and Fjord Review, among other publications.
As the soundtrack cried “Baby, Baby, Baby,” the impressively talented DToH dancers whipped the audience into a frenzy.
I am happy to report that the biggest discovery of the second program was The Sarasota Ballet, a company founded in 1991 and currently directed by former Royal Ballet dancer Iain Webb...
It’s a celebration of American ballet from coast to coast and a vivid snapshot of its diversity of style and repertory.
...Webre saves the best for last. ...watching the bare-knuckle boxing brawl in the end of the ballet, instigated by the disgruntled Robert Cohn, is worth the price of admission alone.
...with choreographic masterpieces by George Balanchine and José Limón and a Washington D.C. premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s new work, this ABT program was in every way a balletomane’s dream come true.
The revitalizing impact of Balanchine’s choreography on Tchaikovsky’s music was particularly evident in the all-Tchaikovsky, all-Balanchine program presented by New York City Ballet at the Kennedy Center Opera House during the last week of March.
The most successful piece from Göteborg’s troupe was OreloB (Bolero spelled backwards), created by Finnish choreographer Kenneth Kvarnström as part of the program titled 3xBoléro – a dance-triptych which interprets Ravel’s Bolero from three different perspectives.
Like the Stravinsky score, HUNT is a tour de force. The monumental orchestral chants of The Rite inspired the choreographer to create a dance-as-ritual in which music, movement, and multimedia blend together...
The Swan (2008), a duet created by the company’s artistic director Lára Stefánsdóttir, turned out to be the most intriguing and theatrically effective dance on the program.
The highly-anticipated and much-talked-about production of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has finally made its way to Washington D.C. for a ten-performance run in January...
The evening felt like a big party, with the Opera House filled to the brim by a cheering, adoring audience. ..."Renee Robinson, We celebrate her tonight!" said Robert Battle, artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Oksana Khadarina talks to one of Alvin Ailey company's leading lights on the eve of her retirement...
From start to finish this Nutcracker ...is a true Christmas gift for children and adults alike – one of the most satisfying versions of the holiday classic I have ever seen.
The Honors are America’s highest award for those whose creative triumphs influenced and enhanced American culture. This is a celebration of their outstanding careers and extraordinary talents and appreciation of their unyielding commitment and contribution to the arts.
The mixed bill proved once again that San Francisco Ballet is a dedicated promoter of new work...
The company premiere of The Prodigal Son was the centerpiece and highlight of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet’s second all-Balanchine program at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater - a program that also included Divertimento No. 15 and Slaughter on Tenth Avenue.
When watching them perform one understands what dance critic Joan Acocella meant when she said: “Every single time Suzanne Farrell sets a Balanchine ballet – it rises from the dead.”
“It’s very special to dance. And it’s even more special to dance a Balanchine ballet” - Suzanne Farrell
Ratmansky’s vision of Cinderella is bracingly fresh, and the ballet’s harsh, urban setting and grotesque choreography seem suitably attuned to Prokofiev’s darkly sardonic score. His concept, however, does not succeed completely.