A Chicago Sun-Times review: <A HREF="http://www.suntimes.com/output/show/joff20.html" TARGET=_blank>www.suntimes.com/output/show/joff20.html</A>

I think there has been some attempt to make an issue where none exists. The Joffrey acquired the work and had it set on the company by Yuriko well in advance of the Graham Company breakup earlier this year. (Whether performance of this or any other Graham work by a ballet company, whether the Joffrey or ABT, is a good thing is debatable, but that's another thread entirely.) From my relatively remote perspective, I would say that it is unfortunate that a controversy not of the Joffrey's making should cloud their opening. The Joffrey is a fragile institution attempting to operate in an environment that has not heretofore been very receptive to ballet companies. It needs all the help it can get.

The Joffrey has been through a decade of tumult and upheaval. There have been struggles for control of both the artistic and administrative sides of the organization. The company could no longer afford to operate in New York and moved to Chicago. No one has been able to make much of a success of a full-fledged ballet institution in Chicago. One reason proffered for this situation is the lockhold on Nutcracker exerted by the Chicago Tribune, which produces the work annually for the benefit of youth reading programs. Other companies have struggled to earn a following in Chicago, which has both a world renowned symphony orchestra and one of the nation's top opera companies (each with their own, historic, performance spaces). I don't accept the view that the city is fallow ground for ballet; San Francisco Ballet has attracted big crowds for performances at the Ravinia Festival during the summer. But I do think there has been an ongoing problem with getting the dollars to pencil out there.

One more review of this program, this one from Anna Kisselgoff of the NY Times: <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/24/arts/24COPL.html" TARGET=_blank>www.nytimes.com/2000/10/24/arts/24COPL.html</A>