ABT Spring Met Season Opens
Passion! Betrayal! Murder! Revenge!
"La Bayadere" is Back!
Veronika Part, Marcelo Gomes, Michele Wiles
reviewed by Susan Reiter
Diana Vishneva, Ethan Stiefel, Stella Abrera
reviewed by Michael Popkin
Paloma Herrera, David Hallberg, Gillian Murphy
reviewed by Lisa Rinehart
New York City Ballet's Spring Season
Back to Repertory!
Four Voices
"Carousel (A Dance)," "Middle Duet," "Moves," "La Sonnambula"
reviewed by Leigh Witchel
Tschaikovsky Evening
“Mozartiana,” “Piano Pieces,” “Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2”
reviewed by Michael Popkin
A New "Sacre du printemps" in Copenhagen
by Eva Kistrup
Last season Jorma Outinen, the former Carolyn Carlson dancer and Director of the Finnish National Ballet, created the ballet “Earth” for the Royal Danish Ballet, a pagan piece for an all-male ensemble focusing on the relationship between man and earth, and one of the best works created on the RDB in a long time. The look and feel of this work made the very obvious thought that Jorma Outinen could make a valid “Sacre du printemps”, and he immediately got the offer to produce a ballet to the famous score. READ MORE
The Bolshoi's "Don Quixote" in Munich
by Marc Haegeman
It had been thirty years since the Bolshoi Ballet last performed in Munich. With just three performances of Alexei Fadeyechev’s staging of “Don Quixote” in the National Theatre, as part of the annual Ballet Week and of the ongoing homage to Marius Petipa, the Russian dancers took the house by storm. All three evenings had sold out months in advance and the audience left the theatre thoroughly convinced that this company is in glowing form, seduced by its authoritative, lively and totally irresistible way with its ‘own’ “Don Quixote.”However, I suppose no one in the audience on opening night, featuring Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev, was quite prepared for the jaw-dropping bravura on display for two hours. When Osipova finished her 1st Act variation with a tsunami of pirouettes, as if nothing would be able to stop her, the house exploded with a massive roar of cheers and foot-stamping. As one local balletomane said, she had never heard such an ovation in the middle of a ballet performance in this theatre. The final curtain calls seemed to go on forever. READ MORE
David Gordon's "Dancing Henry Five"
by Ann Murphy
The questions Thursday were posed like the opening of
a Polish joke: how many dancers does it take to
perform a four-hour Shakespeare history play about a
feckless war, and how long does it take them to do it?
“Dancing Henry Five” by David Gordon, eminent-grise of post-modernism, answered with sly simplicity: it takes seven dancers (plus three large dolls), a nimble narrator, and a healthy hour. No joke. READ MORE
A Manassas “Midsummer Night’s Dream”
by George Jackson
Shakespeare’s dream comedy is populated by mortal and magical beings, royals and so-called rabble. By instance or inference, there are also those in between. Similarly inclusive is Amy Grant Wolfe’s cast list for Dina Fadeyeva’s new ballet version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. The many dancers on stage constitute a true spectrum of types — grown ups, teens and tots. Some are talented, some are seasoned and others seem recently trained. Nationality-wise, one could spot post-Soviets because of their pliancy and steadfast Americans of varied stock. Whichever their sort or nature, they all joined together with each other and with the Prince William Symphony in the pit to project a fortunate vision of life. READ MORE