Good news for anyone who missed Wheeldon's "Swan Lake" or Neenan's "11:11" -- they're returning next season! Full details HERE!!

I have heard wonderful things about this ballet, so I hope I am able to see it them time.....

In the Philadelphia Inquirer, Tanya Barrientos interviews Pennsylvania Ballet Principal Riolama Lorenzo:

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/11385036.htm

PABallet will be dancing Jerry Robbin's The Concert (company premiere), Balanchine's Raymonda Variations and Wheeldon's Continuum (company priemiere). I have been looking forward to this program all year. The casting roster is up at the PABallet web site for those of you who are interested! Hope to take in a few performances. The Concert is one of my favorite ballets and I look forward to this company showing off their comedic skills. Also excited about the Wheeldon piece which was originally set on San Francisco Ballet. This is wonderful programing IMO

Pennsylvania Ballet's March program in reviewed in Dance Magazine by Lisa Kraus:

http://www.dancemagazine.com/dance_maga ... 434dea217e

There is a wonderful review of this last weekend's program of PABallet at Philly.com/entertainment/performing_arts titled "Dances of all delightful kinds" by Nancy G. Heller.

Here is a link to Nancy Heller's review in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entert ... 516493.htm

Since no one else here has commented, PABallet's "The Concert" program was terrific! The combination of Balanchine, Robbins and Wheeldon worked well combining a spectrum of ballet material which delighted, evoked and gave laughter to the human condition.

Raymonda Variations......
The dancing was clear and rhythmic with a sweet air of classical tradition in Raymonda Variations. I liked the ways in which Balanchine reinvents the old classical Raymonda by paring down to the dancing essentials and giving this famliar ballet music a fresh air.
The dancers were wonderful in this. Both principle casts gave the charm needed and the corps soloists excelled in al their variations which are full of difficult turns, hops and balances.

Continuum......
Wheeldon's piece, originally set on SFB, paid homage to Balanchine in its use of neo classical design and the neo classical look of belted leotards, in deep green rather than black. There were two pas's that riveted me in particular. But the work meandered on a bit too long and had little or no resolve. As interesting as much of the choreography was, I was unable to wrap myself around the piece as a whole. Again, both casts danced with conviction and detail to one another in some very complex partnering. I did like seeing this kind of work on this company and felt it must have given the dancers an opportunity to stretch their talents in new directions.

The Concert......
What a romp! The humor grips me every time I see this ballet and PABallet dancers performed it with great comedic sense again showing their versatility and comic penache. This will be such a wonderful addition to an already growing repertory. In each cast, Rio Lama Lorenzo and Aranxta Ochoa gave the ballerina role its serendipidous flip, the mistake waltz was performed with perfect (imperfect?) timing and the butterfly chase in the finale captured my funny bone! Everyone needs to see this ballet sometime in their lifetime. It is just purely genius choreography and staging!

Thanks you PABallet for an outstanding program~ The company is dancing stronger than ever!

Fairwind, who danced "Continuum" in the show you saw? I'm curious, as I noticed that my satisfaction level of the work varies depending on who performs it.

Azlan~
There were two casts for Continuum actually. However, there were injuries which forced a few changes. Couples were:

Arantxa Ochoa/James Ady *replacing Zach Hench
Julie Diana/Brian Debes
Martha Chamberlain/Alexander Iziliaev
Rio Lama Lorenzo/James Ihde

Other cast:
Meredith Reffner/James Ady
Amy Aldridge/Matthew Neenan
Tara Keating/Jonathan Stiles
Val Amiss/Meredith Rainey

All these dancers had beautiful line and strong connection with their respective partners. PABallet seems to always dance with a true community spirit in most everything that they perform IMO.
Both Rio/Val and with Ihde/Rainey had some lovely moments in one of their PDD's that ends on the floor down stage one folded over the other.

I can tell you that I did like the piece much better after my first viewing.
It just wasn't as fulfilling as other Wheeldon works that I have seen.

Julie Diana and Zachary Hench are interviewed by Tom Di Nardo in the Philadelphia Daily News:

Interview

Thanks for posting this interview! I enjoyed hearing from these two wonderful dancers who 'mysteriously' left SFB for PABallet a year ago.
Their comments about schedules and opportunity were the first time I have heard them speak about their change of employment and what they were looking for in their careers. Sorry that I will miss seeing them dance together in R and J It will be special for sure

In the Main Line Times, Ruth Rovner previews Pennsylvania Ballet's final program of the 2004-05 season, John Cranko's "Romeo and Juliet."

Cranko R & J Preview

I was so glad to read this article because it spoke of Martha Koeneman, the soloist pianist for PABallet. She is a wonder and gained my admiration especially from the previous program where she performed the all-consumed pianist in "The Concert" as well as playing the Legati piece of Chris Wheeldon. She was amazing and incredibly sensitive to the dancers.
Kudos to Martha!

Lisa Kraus reviews the performance of Julie Diana and Zachary Hench in the Cranko R & J in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Review