7 replies to this topic

[dirac]

A review of Cincinnati Ballet's 'Giselle' by David Lyman in The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Midway through her pas de deux with Albrecht, who has come seeking forgiveness, it felt like Touchet somehow tapped into a reserve of profound emotions she's rarely displayed before. It was made all the more memorable by the dancing of the women's corps de ballet. Despite a number of new faces in the group, this corps moves like an ensemble that has spent years together. Crisp and precise, they move with the confidence and familiarity of a single breathing organism.
Unfortunately, Touchet's partner Gurevich - a guest artist from the Boston Ballet - wasn't able to conjure up the same sort of depth. He's an able dancer and a pleasant performer, but dramatically he simply wasn't in Touchet's league.

[dirac]

A review of Carbon Dance Theatre by Merilyn Jackson in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Carbon's founding artistic director, Meredith Rainey, invited Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, a master character developer and choreographer, "to take the edge off" in the pauses between the four works. In this program, he is Jeremiah, a seriously funny MC who reads poems (some his) and drolly recounts his time spent on safari or in Peru.
Rainey is a former Pennsylvania Ballet soloist and this year's A.W.A.R.D. show winner for a duet he choreographed and danced with Sun-Mi Cho, Carbon's artistic associate. He created two works for the program and invited works in the last-song theme from 2007 Pew Fellow Kate Watson-Wallace and Matthew Neenan, choreographer in residence at the Pennsylvania Ballet and a founding director of BalletX.

[dirac]

A review of Carbon Dance Theatre by Merilyn Jackson in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Carbon's founding artistic director, Meredith Rainey, invited Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, a master character developer and choreographer, "to take the edge off" in the pauses between the four works. In this program, he is Jeremiah, a seriously funny MC who reads poems (some his) and drolly recounts his time spent on safari or in Peru.
Rainey is a former Pennsylvania Ballet soloist and this year's A.W.A.R.D. show winner for a duet he choreographed and danced with Sun-Mi Cho, Carbon's artistic associate. He created two works for the program and invited works in the last-song theme from 2007 Pew Fellow Kate Watson-Wallace and Matthew Neenan, choreographer in residence at the Pennsylvania Ballet and a founding director of BalletX.

[dirac]

A review of Tulsa Balletby James D. Watts Jr. in Tulsa World's blog.

The program was made up of three works: Twyla Tharp’s “Nine Sinatra Songs,” and two new-to-Tulsa pieces — William Forsythe’s “In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated,” and Jiri Kylian’s “Sechs Tanze (Six Dances).” These last two pieces were what made Friday’s performance so spectacular. Each makes punishing demands on the dancers, requiring them to move in ways that play merry havoc with the requirements of classical ballet and at speeds that seem at the limits of what the human body can do.

Yet Tulsa Ballet’s dancers gave performances that did not so much push the envelope as shred it into confetti. Every dancer on stage attacked these works with a ferocity and fearlessness that was something to see.

[dirac]

The Royal New Zealand Ballet presents "The Sleeping Beauty."  Photo.

The Sleeping Beauty has to be the most lavishly designed ballet that I’ve seen the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform in recent years. Unlike last year’s The Nutcracker, this version of The Sleeping Beauty hasn’t been cleverly transplanted into a 20th century setting, and it’s child-friendly with Catalabutte portrayed as a cat. However, there’s more than enough for traditionalists to revel in the performance, and the Vector Wellington Orchestra has faithfully interpreted the Tchaikovsky score.

   Beyond Greg Horsman’s excellent choreography, the pièces de résistance have to be the sets and costumes, the brainchild of designer Gary Harris.

[dirac]

A review of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet by Bob Clark in The Calgary Herald.

Though absent, Alberta Ballet continues to serve its audiences - and serve them very well, indeed. First, there was Canada's touring National Ballet with its superb mixed program of modern and contemporary work, which more than helped fill the void left by Alberta Ballet's planned junket to China (cancelled for unforeseen conflicts in booking, as it turned out). It also took care of the time during the company's subsequent Vancouver debut of its very palpable 2009 hit, Love Lies Bleeding. And now - when Alberta Ballet readies that Elton John tribute for a big splash in Toronto - comes the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, with its eyecatching show, Wonderland.

[dirac]

A review of Fall for Dance by Tobi Tobias in her blog, 'Seeing Things.'

The Joffrey Ballet, which way back when was resident at City Center, flew in from its Chicago home to represent classical dancing. To me, Edwaard Liang's Woven Dreams, set to music by Maurice Ravel, Michael Galasso, Benjamin Britten, and Henryk Gorecki, seemed essentially unwatchable. Svelte muscular bodies in sleek costumes rendered a slew of balletic conventions that lacked a coherent structure and afforded no clues as to musical inflection and emotional subtext. The dancers--hardworking if still needing a jot more technical polish--seemed to be, literally, just going through the motions.

[dirac]

A review of Morphosesby Deborah Jowitt in her blog, 'DanceBeat.'

How does a choreographer tell a story in dance without telling a story? This question hangs over Luca Veggetti’s take on Euripides’ The Bacchae for Morphoses. The company co-founded by Christopher Wheeldon and Lourdes Lopez has, since Wheeldon’s departure, reconfigured itself as a pick-up ensemble whose profile changes yearly with a new resident artistic director and new dancers. Veggetti’s Bacchae (which premiered at the Joyce Theater October 25 through 30) marks the debut of Morphoses’ new identity (Veggetti will be succeeded in 2012 by the Swedish choreographer-filmmaker Pontus Lidberg).