ABT presents new and recent ballets at Lincoln Center through October 29th. As diverse and original as Alexei Ratmansky’s ballets are, it’s tempting to probe for artistic sources that may have nourished them. His Russian roots include his experiences as a dancer in the Kirov Ballet and as the Bolshoi Ballet’s artistic director. His years as a member of the Royal Danish Ballet count too. Few … [Read more...]
New York City Ballet premieres a New Ratmansky Work
New York City Ballet’s 2017 Spring Gala is a testament to the acumen of the company’s supporters. Beautifully dressed people are provided with champagne in advance of the performance and dinner after it, but no speeches this time, no films, and no intermissions. And after those assembled have watched Peter Martins’ Jeu de Cartes, the pas de deux from Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain, and … [Read more...]
Past Hits and a New Dance from Abroad
The Alvin Ailey America Dance Theater at City Center, November 30-December 31. Not long after its beginnings in 1958, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company broke an unspoken rule for modern dance companies. Most of those had a single choreographer, who also starred in almost every work; dancers wishing to perform leading roles had to found their own groups. But Ailey created a repertory ensemble, … [Read more...]
A Wintry Tale of Love and Jealousy
“What were you thinking, Will?” And “Eat your heart out, Marius Petipa.” These two silent remarks to the eminent dead periodically rattled around in my head while I was at Lincoln Center watching The National Ballet of Canada perform Christopher Wheeldon’s remarkable three-act work based on William Shakespeare’s 1611 play The Winter’s Tale (staged for the NBC by Jacquelin Barrett and Anna Délicia … [Read more...]
Satin and Furs and Love of Dancing
New York City Ballet's Spring Gala celebrates with new ballets and a recent masterwork. Fundraising galas are strange beasts. The New York City Ballet’s May event was no exception. Women swan by in improbable gowns, assuming no one would dare to step on their trains; some display—intricately—enough skin to make you wonder how the garment is anchored. Festive roped-off tables and a … [Read more...]
BalletBoyz® and Pacific Northwest Ballet
A company from London and one from Seattle visit NYC. History often appears less as a straight line than a looping, occasionally tangling collection of threads. Before Michael Nunn and William Trevitt founded Ballet Boyz in 2000, they were principal dancers with Britain’s Royal Ballet. That’s also the year that Christopher Wheeldon, formerly in that company, stopped dancing in the New York … [Read more...]
Dancing a Fairytale, Its Joys and Tribulations
The New York City Ballet premieres Justin Peck's new ballet and offers works by Thatcher, Binet, Schumacher, and Wheeldon. George Balanchine was reared on story ballets and gradually weaned himself into abstraction, but he never forgot how to tell a good yarn. The New York City Ballet’s vastly gifted young resident choreographer, Justin Peck, was reared on Balanchine and suddenly—without … [Read more...]
The Ailey Dancers Welcome In the Holidays
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater opens its City Center run, December 2 through January 3. During the curtain call at City Center that followed the world premiere of Robert Battle’s Awakening, the twelve members of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater joined the audience in clapping enthusiastically for him. Sweaty, their faces alight, their hands slamming together, they showed their … [Read more...]
From Florida with Skill and Devotion
The Sarasota Ballet brings Ashton classics and 21st-century ballets to Jacob's Pillow. With art and culture kiting around in cyberspace and responding instantly to our keyboard-trained fingers, we are constantly jumping over boundaries. Crossing them in real time with tangible objects is another matter. Who would have imagined that The Sarasota Ballet would become a treasure house of over … [Read more...]
A Small Ballet Ensemble Looks on the Bright Side
Daniel Ulbricht has a mission in life that goes beyond being a buoyant, dramatically expressive principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. Forming and re-forming Daniel Ulbricht & Stars of American Ballet in NYCB’s off-season enables him to bring first-rate dancers to communities around the country. The group he brought to Jacob’s Pillow this summer for its second appearance there numbers … [Read more...]