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Dance
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Dance Review: DON QUIXOTE (American Ballet Theatre / Metropolitan Opera House / New York)
VIVA DON QUIXOTE! A joyful production welcomes seasoned ballet lovers and newcomers alike For many people today, going to see a ballet is a fun idea that no longer has the air of distancing class systems and forbidding hierarchy. Gone are the days when prevailing wisdom said classical dance can only truly be appreciated by…
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Dance Review: ESCAPE (DIAVOLO / Los Angeles)
DEFYING GRAVITY, DEPENDING ON TRUST DIAVOLO’s acrobatic spectacle turns movement, risk and collaboration into something exhilaratingly human DIAVOLO is currently presenting ESCAPE, a visceral, intimate work following 22 remarkably agile performers as they struggle to break free from a chaotic world. Set to music by Harry Styles, Pink Floyd and Alicia Keys, the production combines gravity-defying…
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Dance Review: EUGENE ONEGIN (Joffrey Ballet)
FROM PAGE TO PAS DE DEUX Possokhov’s adaptation captures Pushkin’s aching tale of missed chances and irreversible choices Alexander Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin is so deeply embedded in Russian culture that generations of schoolchildren have memorized passages from it. Yet familiarity is no guarantee against heartbreak. Yuri Possokhov‘s ballet adaptation—a co-production with San Francisco Ballet now…
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Theater Review: LOVE JOY RESISTANCE (Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre, Auditorium Theatre Chicago)
THIRTY YEARS DEEP, STILL REACHING HIGHER Deeply Rooted celebrates its past while boldly pointing toward the future Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre (DRDT) initiated its hard-fought existence exactly thirty years ago when it was a small company intent on celebrating the unique cultural contributions of Black America through dance. Now, three decades later, its success allows…
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Dance Review: SPECTACULAR BALANCHINE! (American Contemporary Ballet / Los Angeles)
BALANCHINE IN A BOX ACB proves intimacy can be both an asset and a liability George Balanchine said he needed nothing but a stage, some light, and dancers. He also had the New York City Ballet, a full orchestra, and the State Theater. He had, more to the point, spent forty years teaching Americans what…
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Dance Review: MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS (Scottish Ballet / David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center)
HEAVY IS THE CROWN Scottish Ballet’s ambitious historical epic dazzles in moments while struggling under the weight of its story How much do you know about Mary, Queen of Scots? If you’re anything like me, the answer is: not very much. Perhaps you’ve heard of Mary primarily as a foil to her English cousin, Elizabeth…
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Dance Preview: SPECTACULAR BALANCHINE! (American Contemporary Ballet / Los Angeles)
WHEN BALLET BECAME AMERICAN American Contemporary Ballet celebrates the choreographer who traded princes and swans for jazz, swagger, and pure fun Before George Balanchine arrived in America, ballet belonged largely to princes, princesses, fairy tales, and European courts. Within a generation, he transformed it into something unmistakably American. Balanchine understood that Americans moved differently. They…
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Theater Review: MJ THE MUSICAL (National Tour / San Diego)
MAN IN THE MIRROR, SHOW ON FIRE A dazzling tour delivers the spectacle and the moves, even if the storytelling stays surface-level The national touring production of MJ the Musical is completing its short run at the Civic Theatre through May 10. The show portrays episodes from the life and career of Michael Jackson and…
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Dance Review: GISELLE (Los Angeles Ballet)
LOVE, BETRAYAL, AND GHOSTS IN A LUSH GISELLE Los Angeles Ballet delivers a visually rich and emotionally satisfying take on the Romantic classic. Los Angeles Ballet (LAB) closes its 20th Anniversary Season with a milestone: its first appearance at the Ahmanson Theatre, presenting the ghostly Romantic classic Giselle. Founded in 2006 with the goal of…
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Theater Review: SHADES AND SHADOWS (Back with Two Beasts / Magic Theatre / San Francisco)
LOOKING BACK AT A LOOK-BACK A fresh perspective on one of mythology’s most famous mistakes Last night, The Back with Two Beasts company premiered a new show at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre: Shades and Shadows by Bay Area playwright William Brasse. Combining spoken drama, music, and interpretive movement, the production explores the Greek myth of Orpheus…
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Dance Review: MERE MORTALS (SF Ballet)
PANDORA GOES DIGITAL A visually striking ballet where myth, machines, and modern anxiety collide San Francisco Ballet closes out its 2025–2026 season with Mere Mortals, a contemporary ballet choreographed by Aszure Barton with music by Floating Points. It’s a modern-day spin on the Greek myth of Pandora’s Box. Despite being warned about the consequences, Pandora…
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Dance Review: LA SYLPHIDE (San Francisco Ballet)
A SCOTTISH FANTASY TAKES FLIGHT A Romantic ballet classic that still enchants This month, San Francisco Ballet is performing the Danish Romantic classic La Sylphide. This revival was first performed in 1836 in Denmark. Choreographed by August Bournonville, and set in the Scottish Highlands, it is the story of the Sylph, a mysterious, ethereal creature…
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Dance Preview: PARSONS DANCE (BroadStage, Santa Monica)
HIGH VOLTAGE DANCE, NO SAFETY NET A company built on athleticism, musicality, and sheer momentum returns to BroadStage Few choreographers have maintained the kind of sustained, high-energy appeal that David Parsons has cultivated since breaking out as a star dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company in the late 1970s. After founding Parsons Dance in…
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Dance Review: SCORCHED EARTH (St. Ann’s Warehouse, Brooklyn)
LAND, LABOR, AND THE BODY Luke Murphy’s dance-theatre work turns ownership into something visceral and urgent St. Ann’s Warehouse unveils Scorched Earth, a striking dance-theatre work from Attic Projects, written, directed, and choreographed by the singularly inventive Luke Murphy. From the team behind Volcano, a dance I reviewed three years ago and will never forget,…
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THE LINK BETWEEN MOVEMENT, MOOD, AND BETTER DECISION-MAKING
Your best decisions rarely happen when you’re tired, stiff, and stressed. They happen when your body feels good. This is not a wellness slogan. It is a performance advantage. Movement changes how you think. It changes how you feel. It changes how you decide. A growing body of research backs this up. Regular physical activity…
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Dance Review: SYLVIA (American Ballet Theatre at Segerstrom Center)
DELIBES TAKES THE LEAD In ABT’s return of Ashton’s Sylvia, the best performance at Segerstrom wasn’t onstage Frederic Ashton’s Sylvia arrives at Segerstrom Center for the Arts after nine years away from American Ballet Theatre’s repertory, with the Pacific Symphony in the pit. Start there. Ormsby Wilkins conducted, and he set the terms of the…
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Dance Review: HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO PROGRAM A (The Joyce Theater, NYC)
THREE STYLES, ONE ELECTRIFYING COMPANY A vibrant program that moves effortlessly from sensual modernism to jazzy precision to kinetic abstraction Hubbard Street Dance Chicago returns to The Joyce Theater, bringing the springtime vibes we have all been craving. I caught Program A, and I can assure you it is a full-on, can’t-take-your-eyes-off-it showcase of movement…
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Dance Review: ALVIN AILEY DANCE COMPANY (In Residence at the Music Center; Program B)
The Music Center’s exhilarating 2025–2026 Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center season includes the beloved Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater which continued its exclusive Southern California multi-year residency with The Music Center with seven stupendous performances in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion this weekend, March 25-29, 2026. This review covers the selections presented as Program B on…
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Dance Review: BALANCHINE: TWIN MASTERPIECES (American Contemporary Ballet)
BAD MOOD? BALANCHINE WILL FIX THAT American Contemporary Ballet’s twin masterpieces turn live strings into a reset button for the soul Two string duos. Two ballets. Both pairs similar in structure and running time, but containing glimpses of unlimited invention within fixed limitations. For their spring program, American Contemporary Ballet performs two works from George…
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Dance Preview: JOFFREY BALLET’S 16TH ANNUAL WINNING WORKS (Museum of Contemporary Art)
FIVE CHOREOGRAPHERS, FIVE PREMIERES Winning Works gives emerging dancemakers a coveted professional stage—and a glimpse of dance’s next generation The Joffrey Ballet’s Winning Works initiative has quietly become one of the most influential launching pads for emerging choreographers in American dance. Now in its 16th year, the program returns to Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art…
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