Saturday, March 19

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The Dance for Ukraine gala takes place this weekend.

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Putrov and Romanian ballerina Alina Cojocaru both trained in Kyiv and decided to mobilise the world of ballet for this "humanitarian appeal" in the face of Russia's invasion.

 

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The Hamburg Ballet appears with the Los Angeles Opera in "St. Matthew Passion."

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Now, four decades after the ballet’s creation but still rarely seen outside of Hamburg, Neumeier’s “St. Matthew Passion” has reached Los Angeles Opera, raising the further question of where dance, sacred passion and opera intersect. To make matters all the more intriguing, Dance at the Music Center invited Hamburg Ballet to bring along its “Bernstein Dances” to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for two additional evenings.

 

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A Dance for Ukraine photo gallery.

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A review of Philadelphia Ballet by Ellen Dunkel in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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This time it was Colleen Neary, a City Ballet soloist in the 1970s and the artistic director of Los Angeles Ballet. She taught the entire Bold, Brilliant, Balanchine program to Philadelphia Ballet — Symphony in C, Divertimento No. 15, and Stars and Stripes. All tutu ballets and audience favorites, one was more lovely than the other, and the dancers looked crisp and precise.

 

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A preview of Sarasota Ballet's "Comedy of Errors."

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More than two years later, the elaborate costumes and sets from “Spider,” which had already been shipped from England, are still sitting, unused, in the Sarasota Ballet’s storage warehouse. And Bintley’s “Comedy of Errors” will have its world premiere Friday night at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, perfectly timed to bring some lightness and laughter to dancers and audiences emerging from the frustrations, restrictions and somberness of a global pandemic.

 

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 A review of the Royal and Northern Ballets by Rupert Christiansen in The Spectator.

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Yasmine Naghdi replaced Marianela Nunez as Odette-Odile for the first performance. Naghdi is technically champion: she jumps as powerfully as she turns, sparking her Odile into a firecracker, but her hard-edged Odette never suggested the wounded, terrified, betrayed creature, all sighs and tears, that Natalia Osipova embodied so movingly two nights later. Naghdi’s Siegfried Vadim Muntagirov was his usual exquisite feline self, nothing exaggerated or effortful as he miraculously eliminated all corners and edges from his immaculately fluent bodily line; drop-dead handsome Reece Clarke partnered Osipova elegantly and conscientiously.

 

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Virginia National Ballet presents "Snow White."

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The show was delayed two years because of the COVID-19 shutdown of live events. Created by Hegab in 2017, the show was last presented to enthusiastic and delighted audiences in early 2020.

Ballerina Saaya Pikula Mason is poised to reprise her wonderful performance in the leading role. Mason last performed as Snow White in 2017. 

 

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A review of Pacific Northwest Ballet by Philippa Kiraly for Bachtrack.

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Finally, Justin Peck’s The Times are Racing received its PNB premiere. Danced in sneakers and gender-fluid – a chance for dancers to explore more roles – it was led here by Kyle Davis and D’Ariano who undertook the exuberant tap-dancing section – albeit in their sneakers – and Elizabeth Murphy and Lucien Postlewaite in a pas de deux where the two principals used perhaps more classic moves but imbued with warmth and humanity.