Tuesday, February 6

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A preview of San Francisco Ballet's new program by Aimee Ts'ao for San Francisco Classical Voice.

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In a phone interview, Rojo explained why she put Ashton’s and MacMillan’s pieces together. “I obviously want to introduce this work to the audience,” she said. “I just felt that it was, for many reasons, the right combination. I want to move [the audience] a little bit through the British style. Ashton is theatrical, but Marguerite and Armand is still a more traditional ballet style of performance, with certain qualities of naturalism that Margot brought [to it] because she was an incredibly gifted artist and actress. And even though she was very classical, she also had the ability to make it look incredibly natural. Her performance was never affected. She could die in fifth position because it seemed natural to her.

 

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A look at the current state of dance in Los Angeles by Robin Pogrebin in The New York Times.

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But for all the talent Los Angeles has attracted over the years, and its success in founding other performing arts institutions, the city has struggled to establish lasting dance companies able to attract and maintain audiences and patronage.

These days, though, several young companies are trying hard to change that.

 

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Jérôme Kaplan creates the costumes for the Atlanta Ballet's "Coco Chanel."

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Coco will have its American premiere February 9 through February 17, when Atlanta Ballet performs it at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center. The full-length work is a three-way co-production, the first of its kind for Atlanta Ballet. It had its world premiere in March 2023 with the Hong Kong Ballet and will enter the repertoire of Australia’s Queensland Ballet in 2025.

 

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Diablo Ballet celebrates its thirtieth season.

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The premiere of Saunders’ Diablo commission, “Dr. Magic,” is a centerpiece of the company’s Feb. 9-10 program, which also includes “Sleeping Beauty’s Wedding,” the lavish third act of Marius Petipa’s ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” set to Tchaikovsky’s playful score. An encore performance of Gerald Arpino’s athletic “Confetti” featuring music by Rossini, completes the program.