In advance of Twyla Tharp's 4-day run at the Wallis Theater in Beverly Hills on Oct. 1-4 -- the second stop on the company's 10-week 50th Anniversary tour across the U.S. -- a call went out for public volunteers to participate in a staging of Tharp's 1969 piece, "The Hundreds," to take place on September 29, two days prior the formal concerts. … [Read more...]
The Mariinsky’s Full-Force “Raymonda” Debuts in U.S.
Continuing its run of historic ballet firsts, the Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa, CA opened its 30th season on Thursday night with the U.S. premiere of the Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra’s production of the rare three-act classical ballet “Raymonda” (1898), one of Marius Petipa’s final works, and arguably the most sublime unveiling yet. Unlike … [Read more...]
Eifman Ballet’s ‘Psychiatric’ Problem
Billed as “the culmination of the artistic director’s cycle of ballets on psychiatric themes,” Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg premiered “Up and Down” (2015) on the west coast on Friday. A cobbled story of love and madness set in the frenetic gaiety of the 1920s jazz-age, the off-key work earned tepid response from heretofore unshakeable fans at … [Read more...]
Could an L.A. Dance Hub Grow from a Mapping Tool?
The L.A. dance scene of late has felt a fresh momentum. And the decade-long accumulation -- of new companies, new venues, new academies and institutions, prestige teachers and choreographers -- took a leap in cumulative power this past month, thanks to the debut of an elegant digital source called Dance Map L.A. Simple census taking can be a … [Read more...]
American Ballet Theatre’s Historical, Eye-Popping New “The Sleeping Beauty”
Unveiled this week at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the world premiere of American Ballet Theatre’s newly envisioned “The Sleeping Beauty,” choreographed by ABT Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky with sets and costumes by designer Richard Hudson, is a fevered outpouring of love for the art of ballet. Aiming to resuscitate the formal … [Read more...]
Los Angeles Ballet’s Notable “The Sleeping Beauty”
It’s all shiny and assured good news for Los Angeles Ballet -- as well as the evolving character of Princess Aurora -- in the lean, deftly satisfying production of “The Sleeping Beauty” that L.A. Ballet founders Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary have been debuting this winter in four different SoCal theaters. The third concert in L.A.B.’s … [Read more...]
Best Dance of 2014
Norwood Pennewell, of the Garth Fagan Company, danced exquisitely in "Prelude," performed at the Nate Holden Center -- it's my no. 1 pick. Now in his 50s, Pennewell's continuing power and delicacy raises the hairs on the back of my neck. It's thrilling to watch. How glorious to see Pina Bausch's "Kontahkof," captured in both radiant … [Read more...]
Smokin’ Ivan Vasiliev Manifests “The Flames of Paris”
By the third performance of the West Coast debut of Mikhail Messerer’s 2013 revival of “The Flames of Paris” (1932), the engine of the recently revamped Mikhailovsky Ballet and Orchestra was running incredibly hot. Never before has a three-act ballet burned by so fast, alternating multilayered scenes of street rebellion and palace treachery … [Read more...]
Rare Early Soviet Ballet in High Demand
Segerstrom Center for the Arts Executive Vice President Judy Morr adores Russian ballet and loves to make history. She was the first U.S. presenter of Eifman Ballet – also appearing this season at the center – and she makes sure the Mariinsky and Bolshoi ballets perform as often as possible. But past Segerstrom Center events could barely … [Read more...]
Australian Ballet’s Earthly, Wrenching ‘Swan Lake’
While it sounded unpredictable on paper, the 12th season of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center opened on a high note with the West Coast debut of Australian Ballet’s “Swan Lake,” choreographer Graeme Murphy’s 2002 reimagining of Tchaikovsky’s epic beauty through the lens of the Princess Diana tragedy. Though a hybrid … [Read more...]