contents
[updated May 17, 2013]

San Francisco - Bay Area Columns

April 2013 Column
by Heather Desaulniers

March 2013 Column
by Heather Desaulniers

February 2013 Column
by Heather Desaulniers

January 2013 Column
by Heather Desaulniers

Alberta Ballet - 2013

Interview with Alexandra Pera
by Kate Snedeker
April 29, 2013-- Jubilee Auditorium North, Edmonton, AB
Prior to the world premiere of Alberta Ballet’s ‘Balletlujah!’ in Edmonton, the company spent a week rehearsing in Edmonton. During this Edmonton residency, I has the pleasure of talking with company member Alexandra Pera about her career and the ‘Balletluhah’! experience.

Alberta Ballet: 'Balletlujah'
by Kate Snedeker
May 3, 2013 -- Jubilee Auditorium North, Edmonton, AB
Jean Grand-Maître has become known for his series of ballets inspired by the songs and lives of well-known musical artists – Joni Mitchell, Elton John, and Sarah McLaughlan. With the world premiere of the fourth such production, Balletlujah!, Grand-Maître and the Alberta Ballet have struck Alberta gold. Inspired by the experiences and music of k.d. lang, the ballet ostensibly follows the love story of two women. More so however, Balletlujah! is a tribute to the spirit of Alberta and Albertans...
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Alberta Ballet: Celebrating Mozart
by Kate Snedeker
April 5, 2013 -- Northern Jubilee Theatre, Edmonton, AB
Supposedly, April showers bring May flowers. That may be true in warmer climes, but in Edmonton, April snow brings the Alberta Ballet. For their April 2013 visit, the company provided a well-needed energy boost to winter-weary Edmontonians in the form of a balletic celebration of the music of Mozart.
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Mikhailovsky Ballet
London Tour

Duato Triple Bill
by Stuart Sweeney
April 3, 2013 -- London Coliseum, London, UK
The Mikhailovsky Ballet is already a firm favourite in London, bringing work we haven't seen here before, such as the restaging of Vakhtang Chabakuani's “Laurencia” and Petipa's “The Cavalry Halt”, as well as the more familiar classics from the Russian ballet rep.

'Laurencia'
by Charlotte Kasner
April 3, 2013 -- London Coliseum, London, UK
Actually, at second viewing, I think its main failure is that it is not dark enough. It is a 20th-century ballet trapped inside a 19th-century shell. The peasants are not really downtrodden and trip around in pretty clothes, till the land and do the laundry; for all the world like Jerome K Jerome’s peasants in “Stageland.”

'Don Quixote'
by Charlotte Kasner
March 30, 2013 -- London Coliseum, London, UK
“Don Quixote” is usually presented as a rather clunky Soviet-era warhorse; all too often, a dull, rather silly story that is only bearable because the audience knows that the fireworks of the famous sections, such a staple of galas and competitions, will enliven the tedium. The Mikhailovsky production has found a way to make it relevant and even exciting...This “Don Q” is a joy throughout: a breath of warm air and vibrant colour that brought to life a dull, cold, late spring evening in London.

'Giselle'
by Jessica Wilson
March 26, 2013 -- London Coliseum, London, UK
The Mikhailovsky Ballet’s “Giselle” saw Natalia Osipova create a truly succinct character, which was both of childlike innocence and learned power simultaneously. The split of Giselle’s character across the two acts, as young villager and then as the newest recruit of the Wilis

Marin Ballet
Photo © Olivier Wecxsteen

reviews

Northern Ballet: 'The Great Gatsby'
by Charlotte Kasner
May 14, 2013 -- Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, UK
You wait for ages, then two come along at once. It is nearly forty years since the Robert Redford/Mia Farrow film of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, yet merely four days after a new film version is released, we have David Nixon’s production for Northern Ballet.
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Stuttgart Ballet: Masterworks
by David Mead
April 24, 2013 -- Staatstheater, Stuttgart, Germany
How many directors would even think about programming together the three works that made up Stuttgart Ballet’s “Masterworks” evening: George Balanchine’s sharp, classical yet angular “The Four Temperaments, Jerome Robbins’ warm and comforting “Dances at a Gathering,” and Glen Tetley’s very male-oriented “Rite of Spring.” Not only did Reid Anderson dare to think, his dancers pulled it off brilliantly is what was an exhilarating, if long, it ran three hours and twenty minutes, evening of dance.
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New York City Ballet: American Music Festival
by Jerry Hochman
May 2 and 4(me)), 2013 -- Koch Theater, New York, NY
While few of these ballets match the classic masterpieces that George Balanchine choreographed to Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky, the ballets on these programs are not without merit. The fact that three successive audiences left the DHK Theater with smiles on their faces is testament to the value of well-crafted and well-executed ballets that are evocative of a particular time and place, but that nevertheless are timeless in their emotional appeal.
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New York City Ballet: Spring Gala
by Jerry Hochman
May 8, 2013 -- Koch Theater, New York, NY
At its annual Spring Gala, NYCB showcased its greatest asset – its future: young dancers, at all levels, who already demonstrate performing excellence and who are expected to be with the company for a long time.
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Book Review: 'Agony and Ecstasy: My Life in Dance' by Daria Klimentova with Graham Watts
reviewed by Charlotte Kasner
March 2013
...her book is a breath of fresh air. Its core strength lies in Klimentova’s honesty and openness. Without being sensationalist, she does not shy away from the difficulties of dancing in an under-funded, pressured company with the instabilities that changes of artistic director and partners inevitably bring.
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New York City Ballet: All Balanchine Program
by Colleen Boresta
May 11(m), 2013 -- Koch Theater, New York, NY
At my second viewing of New York City Ballet’s American Music Festival, the audience was treated to an all Balanchine program. One well performed George Balanchine work brings a huge smile to my face but seeing four is pure heaven. The afternoon begins with ‘Who Cares?’ which is set to sixteen George and Ira Gershwin tunes.
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New York City Ballet: All Rodgers Program
by Colleen Boresta
May 5(m), 2013 -- Koch Theater, New York, NY
The first week of New York City Ballet’s American Music Festival ended with an all Rodgers program. The afternoon begins with Peter Martins’ ‘Thou Swell’, which was created in 2002 in honor of Richard Rodgers’ 100th birthday.
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Choreographics - A Letter To...
by David Mead
May 3, 2013 -- The Place, London, UK
“Choreographics - A Letter to…” is English National Ballet’s new choreography project, which this year saw five dance makers from within the company’s ranks each teamed up with a composer from The Royal College of Music. Director of the project, George Williamson hoped the outcome would be thought-provoking experimental work, made in a true spirit of collaboration that saw structural and aesthetic parity between the art forms.
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Jump on the DanceWagon
by Jerry Hochman
April 26, 2013 -- Ailey Citigroup Theater, New York, NY
When you attend a performance under the umbrella “Jump on the DanceWagon,“ you anticipate a program of emerging modern dance companies that may not have yet found their direction and probably don’t have ‘regular’ (semi-permanent) company dancers, presenting works that are not overly complex and have little in the way of production values. To a large extent that general description holds for the last weekend’s program at the Ailey Citigroup Theater.
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The DREAM Celebration
by Carmel Morgan
May 4, 2013 -- Lincoln Theatre, Washington, DC
I had not been inside the historic Lincoln Theatre on DC’s U Street until the DREAM Celebration, a very special performance presented by CityDance and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which was co-produced by Rasta Thomas. The Lincoln Theatre was built in 1922, and acclaimed African-American artists such as Washington natives Duke Ellington and Pearl Bailey performed there.
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National Ballet of Canada: 'Romeo and Juliet'
by Stuart Sweeney
April 21, 2013 -- Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, UK
It's 26 years since NBoC visited London and they returned with an enticing calling card – a new production of Romeo and Juliet by Alexei Ratmansky, one of the most successful ballet choreographers around. NBoC Artistic Director, Karen Kain, felt the need of a replacement for John Cranko's version as “...there is very little dancing except for the lovers,” and Ratmansky accepted the challenge.
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Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui: 'Puz/zle'
by Charlotte Kasner
April 25, 2013 -- Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, UK
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui is guaranteed to produce work that is dangerous and complex and “Puz/zle” is no exception. His collaboration with Filip Peeters on the set bears some of the familiar hallmarks. It is monumental and has a tendency to look as if it is threatening to flatten the dancers as great slabs tumble and slide across the stage, with or without effort from the performers.
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Peter Schaufuss Ballet: 'Midnight Express'
by Charlotte Kasner
April 10, 2013 -- London Coliseum, London, UK
Anyone who was put off attending this year's production by Schaufuss Ballet after the ghastly Tchaikovsky triple bill that they presented when last in London made a big mistake. Thirty five years after the film of “Midnight Express” shocked so many and on the day that we hear that a British woman has been sentenced to death for drug smuggling, Schaufuss gave us the chance to see Billy Hayes’ story represented in dance - and it works.
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English National Ballet: Ecstasy and Death
by Charlotte Kasner
April 18, 2013 -- London Coliseum, London, UK
Tamara Rojo has stated that she wants to challenge audiences and bring something different to the English National Ballet repertoire. Well, there is plenty in this programme to challenge the Company, although perhaps less for the experienced audience members.
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American Ballet Theatre: Mixed Repertory Program
by K. Mitchell Snow
April 9, 2013 -- Kennedy Center, Washington, DC
The American Ballet Theater opened its annual spring schedule at the Kennedy Center with two contrasting masterworks from the mid-20th century showcasing the heritage of the evening’s main event -- the Washington premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s much anticipated setting of Shostakovich’s Symphony #9.
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New York Theater Ballet: Legends & Visionaries, Program B
by Jerry Hochman
March 22, 2013 -- Florence Gould Hall, New York, NY
New York Theater Ballet is one of those companies that, if it didn’t exist, would have to be invented. A small company, NYTB’s ‘mission’ is to provide a showcase for infrequently performed ‘chamber’ ballet masterpieces and for works by choreographers who have fallen from prominence, as well as an encouraging pathway for new, and relatively new, choreographers: that is, to combine the legendary (but under-performed or overlooked) with the emerging. Friday’s program, one of two collectively titled “Legends & Visionaries,” fulfilled this mission admirably in all respects.
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Riedel Dance Theater & Ariel Rivka Dance- Joint Performance
by Jerry Hochman and Cecly Placenti
March 9, 2013 -- Ailey Citigroup Theater, New York, NY
The joint program of new dances by Riedel Dance Theater and Ariel Rivka Dance at the Ailey Citigroup Theater on March 9, 2013 demonstrates how fresh ideas can stimulate creative dance theater, but also how difficult it can be to translate an interesting idea into a compelling work of choreography. While both pieces, In Violent Circles and Vashti, danced respectively by Reidel Dance Theater and Ariel Rivka Dance, were promising, each would benefit from further development.
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American Repertory Ballet: 'Romeo and Juliet'
by Jerry Hochman
April 12, 2013 -- Union County Perfoming Arts Center, Rahway, NJ
The new full length version of Romeo and Juliet by American Repertory Ballet’s Artistic Director Douglas Martin, which had its first full-choreographic ‘preview’ (full-length choreography, with costumes but not sets) on Friday at the Union Count Performing Arts Center (“UCPAC”), is destined to be one of those successful productions, and in many respects it’s already a pleasant surprise.
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American Repertory Ballet: Viva Spring
by Jerry Hochman
April 5, 2013 -- South Orange Performing Arts Center, South Orange, NJ
When the curtain came down on American Repertory Ballet’s April 5 performance of three ballets under the rubric “Viva Spring” at the relatively new and comfortably intimate South Orange Performing Arts Center (“SOPAC”), I remained in my seat for a few minutes, not quite knowing what hit me.
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Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre: Double Bill
by Jessica Wilson
April 11, 2013 -- Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, UK
As an evening of rituals, Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre did not disappoint, from the very subtle repetitions to the exceedingly obvious theme choices. From fear to sacrifice, rituals were ever-present and depicted with skill and expertise from choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan, and conveyed effective by his array of dancers.
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Tanztheater Wuppertaal Pina Bausch: Double Bill
by David Mead
March 30, 2013 -- National Theatre, Taipei
In these days when so much is over-hyped, ‘masterpiece’ is a something of an overused term. It is, though, hard to think of any other description for the late Pina Bausch’s seminal “Café Müller” and “Le Sacre du Printemps” (Rite of Spring).
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Paris Opera Ballet: A Winter in Paris
by Grace Milandou
February 3 and March 26, 2013 -- Paris Opera House, Paris, France
The Dancers and Choreographers evening allows the dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet to show their work as choreographers. Unfortunately, our in-house choreographers tend to favour writing with other people’s words rather than developing their own idiom, resulting in an evening poor in discovery.
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Boston Ballet: 'Sleeping Beauty'
by Carla DeFord
April 6, 2013 -- Boston Opera House, Boston, MA
I went back to see “The Sleeping Beauty” a second time and found Adiarys Almeida’s performance as Princess Aurora to be a revelation. She was completely different from Misa Kuranaga, the other Aurora I saw, but with a wonderfully individual take on the role. Her athletic strengths are speed, balance, and buoyancy, which she consistently puts at the service of expressiveness.
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Royal Swedish Ballet: Time Themes
by Maggie Foyer
March 7, 2013 -- Royal Opera House, Stockholm, Sweden
Johannes Öhman, now into his second year as artistic director of the Royal Swedish Ballet, has his critics. He spent most of his performing career with the RSB but when he retired from dance to take over the directorship in Gothenburg, the critics grumbled that he was too classical for such a contemporary company...Then, moving back to Stockholm to take directorship of the Royal Swedish Ballet, the complaint came that he was too contemporary for Sweden’s only classical company!
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Boston Ballet: 'Sleeping Beauty'
by Carla DeFord
March 22, 2013 -- Boston Opera House, Boston, MA
As I was watching Misa Kuranaga in the role of Aurora, it began to dawn on me (pun intended) that standing behind her performance was that of former principal ballerina and current ballet master Larissa Ponomarenko. Kuranaga’s attention to detail, the perfect placement of each pose, the arch of her back, exquisite port de bras...
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Globaleyes 2013
by Stuart Sweeney
March 13 and 15, 2013 -- Chickenshed, London, UK
Chickenshed, one of England's leading integrated dance theatre companies, regularly creates work based on social themes. Globaleyes was one of the first of these I experienced and Globaleyes 2013 is not just a revival, but features a much larger cast, including many from their Youth Company.
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Hiroaki Umeda: 'Temporal Pattern', 'Haptic'
by David Mead
March 15, 2013 -- Experimental Theater, National Theater, Taipei
36-year-old Japanese avant-garde artist Hirako Umeda intended to follow his father into a career in photojournalism, but while studying at Nihon University, he realised he was more interested in movement than taking pictures. He took lots of classes in lots of styles, including with prominent Japanese dancer-choreographers such as Saburo Teshigawara and Kota Yamazaki.
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Birmingham Royal Ballet: 'Aladdin'
by Charlotte Kasner
March 20, 2013 -- London Coliseum, London, UK
The late, great Gene Roddenberry created a prop for “Star Trek” that had the initials “GNDN” on the side. The ever alert Trekkies contacted him and asked him what it stood for, knowing that he had a reputation for logic and engineering accuracy. “Goes nowhere, does nothing”, he replied. That is rather the way that I feel about David Bintley’s Aladdin.
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Sun Shang-chi: 'Uphill'
by David Mead
March 8, 2013 -- Experimental Theater, National Theater, Taipei
The lights go up to reveal a stark, bare stage. Towards to front, and off to one side, a man lays motionless on the floor. So begins “Uphill”, Sun Shang-chi’s latest work, commissioned specially by the National Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Center for this year’s Taiwan International Arts Festival.
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editors' choice · New York City Ballet: American Music Festival April 30-May 19 , 2013 -David Koch Theater, New York, NY The New York City Ballet celebrates the music of Americam composers during the company's spring seasons. Performances include a world premiere by Christopher Wheeldon.

For ballet-dance magazine _______________________________ Executive Editor Kate Snedeker Executive Editor 2003-2005 Mary Ellen Hunt Focus and Photo Editors Elizabeth McPherson, Dean Speer Associate Editors & Compositors Francis Timlin, Lori Ibay, Azlan Ezaddin, Jerry Hochman, Carmel Morgan, Heather Desaulniers _______________________________