Washington Ballet – NEXTsteps: Reverence, Delusional Beauty, Racecar – Washington
★★★✰✰ The Washington Ballet opened its season with a program of new works created specifically for the company. All three ballets …had a strong visual appeal and plenty of winning ideas…
Birmingham Royal Ballet & Ballet Black – A Brief Nostalgia, The Suit, Nine Sinatra Songs – London
Birmingham Royal Ballet ★★★✰✰ & Ballet Black ★★★★★ The Suit rewards multiple viewings and it thoroughly merited the opportunity of the bigger platform…
American Ballet Theatre – Balanchine, Bennett & The Beach Boys bill – New York
★★★★✰ In programs like this one, ABT really looks like an American company, steeped in American popular music and the relaxed attitude of popular dance. It’s a mode that suits the company well.
Interview: Pam Tanowitz – Choreographer and Director
Pam Tanowitz, well known in New York, just created her first work outside the States – for the Royal Ballet. It’s been a critical success and Jann Parry (who gave the work 5 stars) finds out what makes her tick and why so many directors are seeking Tanowitz out…
American Ballet Theatre – Fall Gala and The Masters bills – New York
★★★★✰ The fewer the speeches, the better the gala – this universal truth seems to have bypassed the organizers at American Ballet Theatre…
Margaret Jenkins Dance Company – Trace Figures – San Francisco
★★★★✰ Friday the 13th was auspicious for San Francisco dance: Margaret Jenkins Dance Company premiered Trace Figures, a site-specific performance immersion that could be done by no other company or permutation of artists.
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.
