Fall for Dance 2018, Program 1 – Boston Ballet, Sara Mearns, Caleb Teicher & Co, Cie Hervé Koubi – New York
★★★★✰ On the second night the program was offered, Mearns was stunning, but the remaining three pieces, by three different companies were, to varying degrees, engaging, although hers was a tough act to follow.
Will Tuckett’s Elizabeth – London
★★★★✰ Was she passionate as well as imperious? Her own letters and poems suggest so: contemporary accounts by others are not to be trusted. Her position of power in turbulent times generated a lot of fake news…
Royal Ballet – Bernstein Centenary: Yugen, The Age of Anxiety, Corybantic Games – London
★★★✰✰ Leonard Bernstein wrote (in 1949): “I have a deep suspicion that every work I write, for whatever medium, is really theatre music in some way.’ Many choreographers have taken up the challenge, though his quasi-metaphysical musings have usually eluded them: dance is more corporeal than music.
Gemma Bond Dance – Then and Again, The Giving, Impressions – New York
★★★✰✰ It’s intriguing to see pas de deux that are clearly conceived from a woman’s point of view.
Ballet Across America – Opening Night Celebration 2017 – Washington
★★★★✰ Ballet Across America – a festival that showcases the stylistic, creative and geographical diversity of American ballet – returned to the Kennedy Center this month…
Vail Dance Festival – ReMix NYC – New York
★★★★✰ After watching two of the four programs, a few things stand out. Firstly, it is clear that this is no simple gala, despite the format; there is a strong personal esthetic and philosophy at work behind the programs.
Lawrence Rines – Boston Ballet, Corps de Ballet
“I feel as though now that I’m older, working smart is the best thing as a dancer and artist. It’s not about NOT trying as hard as when I was younger, but really thinking about things.”
American Ballet Theatre – After You, Monotones I & II, Brahms-Haydn Variations – New York
ABT galas are more laid-back than City Ballet’s; they’re less “produced,” with fewer speeches or slick video presentations. For the most part, the company just gets on with the show, with minimum fuss.
Kathleen Breen Combes – Principal, Boston Ballet
I was told my body type wasn’t really ideal, and during high school I had ballet teachers who said that maybe I should consider pursuing college because my body wasn’t suitable for classical ballet…
Interview – Zenaida Yanowsky – Principal, The Royal Ballet
The Royal Ballet’s Zenaida Yanowsky talks about her long career and also about the joys of working with Carlos Acosta – part of which is appearing with him in ‘Cubania’ this summer…
Boston Ballet – Thrill of Contact: Theme and Variations, The Concert, The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, fremd – Boston
Boston Ballet closed its season with a generous offering of four ballets spanning almost 70 years… and including a world premiere and two company premieres…
Boston Ballet – Edge of Vision: Bach Cello Suites, Eventide, Celts – Boston
The evening was full of surprises, not least that two of the three choreographers were women and that Jorma Elo broke radically new ground in his Bach Cello Suites…
Boston Ballet – Shades of Sound: Chroma, Episodes, Black Cake – Boston
All three performances brought home the fact that this is a very strong company with the skills to perform any choreography that comes its way…
Boston Ballet – Swan Lake – Boston
At my first performance, Ashley Ellis was a first-rate Odette/Odile, giving a nearly flawless performance. (I’m assuming that flawless performances transpire only in Heaven or some other extraterrestial locale.)
Royal Ballet School – Annual Main Stage Performance – London
Question… What’s the biggest audience noise you will ever hear in ballet? Answer… The roar of the audience at the end of the Royal Ballet School show at the Opera House.
Boston Ballet – Program B: Symphony in Three Movements, L’Apres-Midi d’un Faune, Plan to B, Bella Figura – New York
…the dancers seem able to handle whatever comes their way. It’s a quality that will serve them well in their travels.
Boston Ballet – Program A: The Second Detail, Resonance, Cacti – New York
Like the best comedians, Ekman is as facetious as he is profound, leaving the viewer with plenty to ponder post-performance.
Boston Ballet – Jewels: Emeralds, Rubies, Diamonds – Boston
To close its 50th anniversary season Boston Ballet mounted a splendid production of Balanchine’s 1967 masterpiece Jewels.
Boston Ballet – Pricked: Etudes, D.M.J. 1953-1977, Cacti – Boston
The evening ended with Alexander Ekman’s Cacti, one of the most wildly original, hilarious dances I’ve ever seen. If the Keystone Cops had taken up ballet, this is what they’d have looked like.
