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[dirac]

Previews of the new Rudolf Nureyev exhibit at the de Young Museum.

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The exhibit tries, but cannot really succeed in capturing his mercurial, tempestuous talent in a fairly small exhibit of costumes and photographs, many taken from the numerous magazine articles about him.

Related.

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Reflecting Nureyev's lifelong obsession with the details of fabric, decoration, and stylistic line, the costumes in this exhibition represent every period of his long career. As a meticulous performer, the Russian ballet master demanded costumes that were not only beautiful, but precisely engineered to suit the physical demands of his dance. He also loved sumptuous decoration, and these costumes reflect his highly-refined aesthetic; fantasias of embroidery, jewels, and braid.

[dirac]

A preview of Scottish Ballet'snew mixed bill by Mary Brennan in The Herald.

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If it is hard to believe this sparky, sexy ballet is 35 years old, it is equally hard to accept that its choreographer is now an octogenarian – Van Manen celebrated his 80th birthday in July. Dutch National Ballet, a company he has had close associations with throughout his career, paid tribute to him by calling a showcase of his work Hand van de Meetser, a nice piece of visual word-play that translates as "A Master's Touch". That inspired and inspiring touch has, across the decades, brought Van Manen a fine array of awards, a Herald Archangel among them – prompted by a multi-faceted retrospective of his work at the 1998 Edinburgh International Festival. It was this paper's acknowledgement that Van Manen's choreographies (rather like their creator) have verve, insight, flair and a buoyant longevity.

[dirac]

A review of the Smuin Balletby Janice Berman for San Francisco Classical Voice.

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The Smuin Ballet these days looks like two different companies. From one we get the work of Michael Smuin, who founded the troupe in 1994 and who died in 2007. From the other we get adventurous programing under the artistic direction of former Smuin dancer Celia Fushile. This is not a knock on Smuin. He had a gift for creating accessible work and for training good dancers, and his choreography remains a substantial part of the repertory, with varying quality.