American Ballet Theatre – Tharp Trio: Brahms-Haydn, Deuce Coupe, Upper Room – New York
★★★★✰ Thirty years after its creation, In the Upper Room is still the ultimate Twyla Tharp piece, an expression of American dynamism and New York style.
Ivan Putrov – Against the Stream – London
★★★★✰ Putov brought together remarkable performers whom we long to see again, and left us wanting more…
Interview: Mayara Magri, First Soloist, The Royal Ballet
Jann Parry talks to the recently promoted Mayara Magri at an important time – she is about to make her debut as Gamzatti in The Royal Ballet’s production of La Bayadere – her first major and leading role in the company she joined 6 years ago…
American Ballet Theatre – Fall Gala + Symphonie Concertante & Garden Blue 3bills – New York
★★★✰✰ The fall season is too brief, particularly because it always feels as though it takes the company a few days to warm itself up. The dancing at the gala on Oct. 17 was a little slapdash, but by Friday things had begun to settle.
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Polarity & Proximity: Kin., Embrace, In The Upper Room – London
★★★✰✰ Williamson’s commission – the first of an ambitious Ballet Now programme for new works – was themed on issues of gender and alienation, with Brandon Lawrence being a man struggling for identity…
New York City Ballet – All Robbins No. 2 and Tribute to Robbins bills – New York
★★★★✰ The centenary celebration bills are more than enough to give a sense of Robbins’ breadth, theatrical savvy, stylistic curiosities, and, perhaps most unique of all, his ability to present dancers as human beings onstage.
Carmen de Lavallade Honoured at The 40th Annual Kennedy Center Honours
Dancer, choreographer, actress, teacher, director, writer, and mentor, Carmen de Lavallade is a true artist in every sense of the word – and a true legend.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – 2 premieres: Victoria & Members Don’t Get Weary + many more – New York
★★★★✰ Roberts’ “Members Don’t Get Weary” is very much a mature work with a strong emotional charge and esthetic signature.
Royal Ballet – The Illustrated ‘Farewell’, The Wind, Untouchable – London
★★★✰✰ Kevin O’Hare is commissioning choreographers who want to make use of what the Opera House can offer; he’s not setting out to declare where ballet ought to be heading and he’s not playing safe.
Gallery – Royal Ballet in The Illustrated ‘Farewell’, The Wind, Untouchable
Works by Twyla Tharp, Arthur Pita and Hofesh Shechter. Gallery by Foteini Christofilopoulou…
Pacific Northwest Ballet – Her Story: Her Door to the Sky, Afternoon Ball, Plot Point – Seattle
★★★★✰ Suspense be damned. I’m just going to give away the ending of this review: Crystal Pite’s Plot Point, which closes Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Her Story triple bill, is a terrific piece of dance-theater.
American Ballet Theatre – Souvenir d’un Lieu Cher, I Feel the Earth Move, Daphnis and Chloe – New York
★★★✰✰ The choreographer and L.A. Dance Project director Benjamin Millepied is a mover and a shaker, a clever curator, a man of taste, a force in the dance world. But is he good choreographer?
Jessica Lang – Catching up with the Choreographer and Director
Answer: “Do it!” Question: “What advice would you give to a young dancer who aspires to choreograph?”
Twyla Tharp Dance – The Raggedy Dances, The Fugue, Entr’acte, Dylan Love Songs – New York
★★✰✰✰ It all sounds terribly promising, and yet the evening falls as flat as a soufflé left in the oven for too long.
Saburo Teshigawara / KARAS – Sleeping Water – New York
★★✰✰✰ There are dances that one figures out in the first five minutes. Hope as one might that the piece will evolve or turn a corner, it soldiers on in the same vein, section after section, until the end.
Birmingham Royal Ballet – Arcadia (premiere), Wink – Cheltenham
★★★✰✰ The South tour is particularly interesting this year because it features a new piece by Ruth Brill, a first artist within the company, and this is her first major commission.
Washington Ballet – Balanchine, Ratmansky, Tharp bill – Washington
★★★✰✰ Their hunger for dance – that sense of palpable excitement to be onstage and in the moment – was particularly evident during the company’s premiere of Ratmansky’s Seven Sonatas.
Interview – Robert Barnett, former New York City Ballet dancer and longtime Artistic Director of Atlanta Ballet
Robert Barnett joined New York City Ballet in 1949. In those early years he worked closely with Balanchine and Robbins particularly before going on to direct Atlanta Ballet. Now 91 he is still actively involved in dance and passing on all he knows…
New York City Ballet – The Times are Racing, The Shimmering Asphalt, Fearful Symmetries – New York
★★★✰✰ More than anything, Peck’s “The Times are Racing” reminded me of the movie Rebel Without a Cause. These kids are uneasy, but what is the object of their unease?
Memorable Performances of 2016 – New York
Marina Harss with her personal selection of New York dance memories this last year…
