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[dirac]

A look at New York City Ballet's season by Alastair Macaulay in The New York Times.

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Its main feature, however, was the Balanchine-Stravinsky ballets, 13 of them. It was with these that City Ballet at last found a way of making this short fall season — introduced in 2010 — feel substantial. (Hitherto it’s felt merely like heated-up leftovers from the spring.) Most of these Balanchine-Stravinsky works are familiar fare with this troupe. As a rule, though, they blend into a larger landscape of mixed repertory. When you see them en bloc, however, new connections fall into place. The unequaled richness of City Ballet’s repertory becomes the envy of the world. No element in these Stravinsky ballets — not even the bracing rhythms and audaciously modernist structures — proves more striking than the dramatically mutual need of male and female. Everyone knows that Balanchine celebrated women; but it’s amazing to discover his male-female relationships are at their most loaded in his Stravinsky creations (which also contain several of his greatest male roles).   

[dirac]

Ballet Jorgen Canada visits Halifax.

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Ballet in the Studio, this year at the Meinertzhagen Theatre of the Halifax Grammar School, at 7 p.m. is a more intimate presentation of works by the Toronto classical company. It’s similar to a songwriters circle in which choreographers discuss the works and inspirations for them.

The program will feature Silences Between, choreographed by Truro’s Margot Begin-Gillis and Melissa Page-Webster; a new work by Toronto’s Derek Sangster titled Good Mourning; and excerpts from the company’s 25th anniversary production of Swan Lake, which Ballet Jorgen will present April 19 at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax.

[dirac]

A review of American Ballet Theatre in Barcelona by Carla Escoda in The Huffington Post, with photos.

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Neither Wednesday nor Thursday's cast fully worked all the tragicomic angles, but as ABT fields four more casts this week in Barcelona - all very different in personality - we expect some tantalizing interpretations. Count on fireworks from Paloma Herrera, Natalia Osipova, and Ivan Vasiliev. Fans of the fleet-footed Daniil Simkin are no doubt flying in for his weekend performance. And coming up: Alexandre Hammoudi's debut as Espada. Wednesday's dress rehearsal provided very satisfying peeks at the remaining casts, including the sinewy, polished Polina Semionova as Kitri, and the elegant and commanding Veronika Part as Mercedes/Dryad Queen.

[dirac]

The Brandywine Balletpresents "Dracula."

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The ballet, choreographed by the company's own Nancy Page, takes one liberty with Stoker's original plot: The story is reimagined as a tragic romance between the characters Mina and Dracula. While die-hard fans of the gothic horror novel might be skeptical of this take, a forbidden romance does seem more fitting for a medium such as ballet.

[dirac]

A review of Boston Balletby Karen Campbell in The Boston Globe.

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Some of Elo’s most effective choreography comes when the pace slows, in duets and trios that recall lost connections or new discoveries. Despite one backwards tumble during an awkward passage, Lia Cirio and Sabi Varga are technically excellent and dramatically touching as the parents. However, Jeffrey Cirio is nothing less than brilliant. He not only spins out dazzling leaps and sinuous coils atop fleet footwork, he conveys the transformation from child to old man in the blink of an eye. His most powerful work comes with Kathleen Breen Combes, who emerges from a kind of Greek chorus of women to become his character’s love interest. Their intricate partnering is full of slow, tentative couplings that melt into liquid embraces and moments of stillness.....

[dirac]

A report from the Joffrey'sadult beginner ballet class by Amanda L. Chan for The Huffington Post.

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What Fitness Level Is Required: Even though the class is considered a beginner ballet class, it certainly helps if you've taken ballet before, even as a kid. I took ballet up through middle school, and then a general dance class for one year in high school, so I remembered the basics -- first position, second position, how to do a tendu or an arabesque, etc. If I hadn't known these basics, I might have had a harder time keeping up in the class (although the instructor was very good about helping people who were more beginner-level than others!).