Sunday, September 24

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A review of Scottish Ballet by Mark Brown in The National.

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The latest show, a double bill named after acclaimed choreographer and hip-hop dance artist Dickson Mbi’s piece Twice-Born (image below), is an excellent example of the innovative new choreography that is staged by our national dance company.

Mbi’s work (which, quite correctly, appears second on the programme) is an extraordinarily ambitious piece. Danced in front of a huge rock design that takes on the appearance of a towering mountain, it is a boldly elemental and primal piece.

 

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A preview of the new season in south Florida dance.

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Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo:

Celebrating their 50th anniversary, this all-male ballet company continues to show audiences that when men poke fun at classical dance they do this best (and most impressively) dancing en pointe (on their toes) and en travesti (as a member of the opposite gender).

 

 

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A review of San Francisco Ballet's next@60 festival by Leigh Witchel for dancelog.nyc.

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Val Caniparoli was a late substitution to the festival lineup, pinch-hitting for Benjamin Millepied. Millepied had even selected the cast Caniparoli inherited. But Caniparoli, who has known the company for years, was able to quickly create “Emergence,” and did it topically.

The sound design by Ben Juodvalkis opened with static, which became a barely audible heartbeat. Four couples, each in simple outfits by Susan Roemer – pants, skirts, shorts – wrestled one at a time, while a voice-over cataloged the neurotic fears of the pandemic: “Will we be able to go outside? Should I continue? Should I continue dancing?” The nervous thoughts were more compelling than the wrestling and racing around, especially the most topical: “Way too much Zoom!”

 

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The Joffrey Ballet celebrates the centennial of Gerald Arpino.

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Spoiler: It worked. Arpino and the Joffrey captured Chicago’s heart and the company is now inseparable from the city’s arts landscape. Celebrating his centennial could not have happened any other place. The Joffrey’s longtime former home at the Auditorium Theatre provided a perfect frame for a two-part retrospective of his best ballets this weekend — Arpino’s favorite box empty and illuminated as Joffrey prima ballerina Victoria Jaiani stood alone onstage after Saturday’s curtain call.

 

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A VOGUE story on the gala opening of the Paris Opera Ballet's new season.

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The night commenced with the traditional Défilé de ballet, a mesmerizing procession that united Étoiles, Premiers Danseurs, Corps de Ballet, and students from the Paris Opera Dance School, all under the guidance of the illustrious Elisabeth Platel. Swan-white tutus and tiaras for the traditional opening ballet were created by Chanel for the Women Étoiles. It was one of two of the night’s performances for which Chanel provided the costumes and served as the most recent collaboration between the fashion house and ballet, a relationship that began back in 1924 when Gabrielle Chanel designed the beachy costumes for the Bronislava Nijinska-choreographed “Le Train Bleu” ballet for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.