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Dance
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Dance Review: ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER (The Auditorium Theatre in Chicago)
THE PERPETUATION OF LEGACY Once a year we’re reminded of the unique space Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) occupies in the global dance sphere. And every year we’re also reminded how the venerable dance company remains as relentlessly intent on stretching its horizons as it is in honoring and maintaining the legacy of its…
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Highly Recommended Dance: 15th ANNUAL WINNING WORKS CHOREOGRAPHIC COMPETITION (The Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet)
The Grainger Academy of The Joffrey Ballet’s 15th annual Winning Works Choreographic Competition is set to showcase five world premieres that are guaranteed to stir things up. This annual event, which highlights ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American) choreographers, gives a fresh platform to voices that are shaping the future of ballet. With…
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Dance Review: TANGO AFTER DARK (Germán Cornejo at the Joyce Theater)
NOT YOUR AVERAGE TANGO Tango: a dance with European, Argentinian and Cuban influences, born in the impoverished backstreets of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay, raised in smoky bars and brothels, and now, in all its seductive, high-voltage glory, has come a long way from these humble beginnings, and is now burning up the stage…
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Dance Review: GOLDEN HOUR (Joffrey Ballet Mixed Rep)
JOFFREY ADDS SURPRISE TO A PROGRAM ALREADY BRIMMING WITH EXCELLENT DANCE Joffrey Ballet certainly must be conscious of its earth shifting habits. More likely, its propensity for greatly broadening ballet’s possibilities has been welded into the dance company’s DNA. Joffrey’s four-piece winter program Golden Hour showcases adventurously inventive choreography and splendid dance converge to prove…
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Dance Review: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (American Ballet Theatre at Kennedy Center)
DISAPPOINTING CRIME PUNISHES Based on Choreographer Helen Pickett’s riveting dance interpretation of The Crucible at the Kennedy Center in 2023, I highly anticipated her version of Crime and Punishment performed by American Ballet Theatre. However, at Wednesday‘s opening something was lost in the translation (the show runs through Sunday). Instead of capturing the crescendo of…
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Dance Review: COOL BRITANNIA (San Francisco Ballet)
BREATHTAKING BRITANNIA San Francisco balletgoers are in for a treat this month with Cool Britannia. Actually, as proved at last night’s opening, a better title would be Breathtaking Britannia. Now, that’s an apt description of this triple bill of one-act ballets by British choreographers. The cultural explosion of the mid-90s, known as Cool Britannia, fostered…
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Dance Review: ALONZO KING LINES BALLET (“Mother Goose” and “Tribute to Alice Coltrane” at Segerstrom Hall)
Alonzo King LINES Ballet’s Double Bill of Ravel’s Mother Goose and King’s Tribute to Alice Coltrane presented a fascinating study of how two musical worlds—one rooted in French impressionism and the other in American jazz spirituality—can be bound together through movement. King’s choreography bridged these contrasting styles, creating an immersive experience of transformation. The evening…
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Highly Recommended Dance: WINTER SERIES 2025 (Hubbard Street Dance Chicago at the Harris)
HUBBARD STREET’S WINTER SERIES PRIMED TO UNLEASH DANCE FIRE “It’s not magic, but it should seem like it is.” That advice came from a veteran jazz musician in the 1930s as he counseled a young aspiring player. In many ways, that nugget of truth applies to the world as dance as well. Closing in on…
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Dance Review: MEMORYHOUSE (Los Angeles Ballet at The Wallis in Beverly Hills)
KEEPING MEMORY ALIVE Memoryhouse, which premiered in 2023 as the first full-length ballet directed by Los Angeles Ballet’s new Artistic Director Melissa Barak, is an abstract work composed of vignettes commemorating World War II, all of which focus on aspects before, during, and after the Holocaust. Barak choreographed the ballet to Max Richter’s powerful 2002 album…
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Dance Review: MANON (San Francisco Ballet)
MAN, OH MANON, DOES SF BALLET EVER DELIVER San Francisco Ballet opened its season last weekend with Manon—the first in its “British Icons” series—the sumptuous and heartbreaking ballet by Sir Kenneth MacMillan. Based the hugely influential novel L’Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the colorful Abbé Prévost, Martin Yates arranged and…
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Dance Review: MALPASO DANCE COMPANY (Emerson Paramount Center in Boston)
When I first heard about Malpaso Dance Company, Cuba’s preeminent contemporary dance ensemble, I misheard their name—I thought they were called “Mariposa,” the Spanish word for butterfly. But after last night’s performance, I realized my mistake held a certain wisdom. The dancers flitted, flew, fluttered, and floated across the stage like butterflies in the sky….
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Highly Recommended Dance: MEMORYHOUSE (Los Angeles Ballet at The Wallis in Beverly Hills)
YOUR MEMORY WILL NEVER BE THE SAME With its gripping ensembles, intense partner work and evocative movement, Los Angeles Ballet’s Memoryhouse tells personal and collective stories of loss, resilience, and the events of World War II and the Holocaust that forever altered history. Breaking traditional theatrical norms, this full-evening work by Melissa Barak combines contemporary ballet with stunning immersive…
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Recommended Dance: THE RITE OF SPRING (World Premiere with Live Orchestra by Atlanta Ballet)
ATLANTA BALLET DOES THINGS RITE One hundred and twelve years ago, a new ballet took place at Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. This highly controversial work – for both its music and choreography – would revolutionize dance and thrust ballet and classical music into the modern era. As if the avant-garde nature of the dance was…
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Dance Review: THE HARD NUT (Mark Morris Dance at BAM)
Mark Morris Dance Group‘s The Hard Nut made its U.S. debut at Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1991. Thirty-three years later, Mark Morris’s reinterpretation of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker is back at BAM, featuring live music by the MMDG Music Ensemble directed by Colin Fowler, and Brooklyn Music School and Brooklyn Technical High School’s The…
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Dance Review: DEAR LORD, MAKE ME BEAUTIFUL (World Premiere by Kyle Abraham at Park Avenue Armory)
IT IS, INDEED, BEAUTIFUL Wavering graphics of kaleidoscopic greenery paint the Park Avenue Armory, transforming the space into a trippy, mystifying woodland. Kyle Abraham, choreographer and dancer in Dear Lord, Make Me Beautiful, runs around the stage’s perimeter in an expansive circle. His energetic speed embodies that of a child who has escaped the clutches…
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Chicago Dance Review: CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON’S THE NUTCRACKER (The Joffrey Ballet at Lyric Opera House)
REIMAGINING THE NUTCRACKER MAKES IT EVEN MORE MAGICAL In the Joffrey Ballet’s spellbinding reimagining of The Nutcracker, choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and Artistic Director Ashley Wheater have conjured a delicious historical confection that transports audiences to the threshold of one of the most magical moments of Chicago history. The Joffrey Ballet Ensemble Anabelle de la Nuez…
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Review: THE NUTCRACKER SUITE (American Contemporary Ballet at the Bank of America Plaza in Downtown L.A.)
THE NUTCRACKER SUITE IS SWEETER THAN THE NUTCRACKER American Contemporary Ballet’s advertising for their annual production of The Nutcracker Suite, now playing Downtown in Bank of America Plaza, is misleading. Their scant imagery suggests that it would be an austere and intellectual outing for adults ̶ theatrical vegetables, if you will. However, it turned out…
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Dance Review: A VERY SW!NG OUT HOLIDAY (The Joyce)
HAVE YOURSELF A SW!NGIN’ LITTLE XMAS Nimble and percussive feet, wild windmill arms, and bright brilliant smiles are abundant and infectious throughout A Very Sw!ng Out Holiday, running until December 15 at The Joyce. Created by Caleb Teicher with a collection of collaborators known as Braintrust, and produced by Joyce Theater Productions, the spirit-infusing event…
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Highly Recommended Dance: TURING TESTS, APPLES AND QUEENS (Invertigo Dance Theatre at Caltech in Pasadena)
A FUSION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, MATHEMATICAL GENIUS AND FAIRY TALES CaltechLive’s Opening Doors is a themed series of dance, music, and theater events on campus that showcase artists whose work engages with both the history of science and cutting-edge scientific research. In October, they presented the wonderful Tesla: A Radio Play for the Stage with…
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Dance Review: COMPLEXIONS CONTEMPORARY BALLET 30TH CELEBRATION (Program B at The Joyce)
I’M NOT SAYING I’M OUT FOR BLOOD, BUT FOR CRYING OUT LOUD… As four spry dancers emerged through the hazy illumination, I wanted to believe their forms could transport me into their dusty hollow desert. Howling winds paired with the sparse plucking of guitar strings by Chief Adujah surged through The Joyce, cultivating an eerie,…
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