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[updated February 22, 2012]

San Francisco - Bay Area Columns

San Francisco Bay Area
by Heather Desaulniers
Winter 2012 Reviews Part 1
The family photograph is a strange and fascinating entity that we encounter on a daily basis. Whether planned, posed, spontaneous or silly, these images are absolutely everywhere - in homes, on smartphones and in the media. And, these photos can stir up so many questions.

San Francisco Bay Area
by Heather Desaulniers
December 2011 Reviews

San Francisco Bay Area
by Heather Desaulniers
November 2011 Reviews

San Francisco Bay Area
by Heather Desaulniers
September - October 2011 Reviews

San Francisco Bay Area
by Heather Desaulniers
May and June 2011 Reviews

San Francisco Bay Area
by Heather Desaulniers
April 2011 Reviews

reviews

Hurrahs and oles all round!: Sadler's Wells Flamenco Season
by Charlotte Kasner
February 11, 14 and 17, 2012 -- Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, UK
We may have been kept waiting for an unexplained fifteen minutes for the opening of Sadler’s Wells Flamenco Gala but the wait was well worth it. Three of the most powerful women in flamenco, Carmen Cortes, Rafaela Carrasco and Olga Pericet have joined forces to showcase their choreography and musicians. This was largely flamenco pura with few concessions to theatre, save for the fact that the dance was to the fore.
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Chop Shop: Bodies of Work
by Dean Speer
February 12, 2012 -- Meydenbauer Center, Bellevue, Washington
Director Eva Stone’s annual February modern dance festival, on the very day I attended, celebrated its fifth anniversary with yummy chocolate cake for everyone there, in the foyer after concluding the program...and which was preceded by a whole lot of delicious dancing. While I found this year’s edition to have been not quite as strong choreographically as previous programs, it was never the less a very good afternoon of excellent dancing, a couple of choreographic nuggets and some impressive local debuts by artists not previously seen here.
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The Margaret Jenkins Dance Company - 'Light Moves'
by Carmel Morgan
February 3, 2012 -- Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, College Park, MD
Margaret Jenkins and her dance company, based in San Francisco, have been visiting the DC area a lot recently. They’ve also been busy traveling the world. In previous years, Jenkins’ company brought to the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center contemporary works with dancers from India (“A Slipping Glimpse” with the Tanusree Shankar Dance Company) and from China (“Other Suns” with the Guangdong Modern Dance Company).
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Miami City Ballet - Mixed Bill
by Jerry Hochman
January 28-29, 2012 -- Kravis Center, West Palm Beach, FL
No introduction: cut to the chase. Miami City Ballet's program for January 28 (eve) and 29 (the same each performance; different casts), was remarkable for its intelligent selection and execution. “Viscera,” Liam Scarlett's new piece (its MCB world premiere was a couple of weeks earlier in Miami), is a powerful and memorable work. The company includes talented dancers who are highly competent as well as compelling to watch. And my only regret is that I can't bottle some of the MCB dancers and take them back to New York.
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American Ballet Theatre - Mixed Bill
by Carmel Morgan
January 31, 2012 -- JFK Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC
This year’s American Ballet Theatre (ABT) mixed repertoire program at the Kennedy Center debuted at the end of January, during the week prior to the annual Super Bowl. And, like some Super Bowls in years past, the performance provided a handful of thrills and even a wardrobe malfunction.
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Seattle Dance Project 5
by Dean Speer
January 20, 2012 -- ACT Theatre, Seattle, Washington
Molissa Fenley is a prolific choreographer and her “Planes in Air” is a very nice piece which was debuted a year ago by Seattle Dance Project and which was a pleasure to enjoy seeing again. Each deploying a giant-sized fan, dancers Betsy Cooper and Alexandra Dickson alternately moved congenially through a series of long arabesque lunges, small jumps and hops, and shapes that wove around each other, and in turn, getting a short solo.
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Whim W'him - 'Cast the First Rock in Twenty Twelve'
by Dean Speer
January 22, 2012 -- Intiman Theatre, Seattle, Washington
Olivier Wevers tackled a troubling social issue in his latest project, Whim W’him’s "Cast the First Rock in Twenty Twelve." “ThrOwn’s” obvious Biblical reference is that of Christ Jesus’ admonition to those gathered, presumably men, who were poised to stone the adulterous woman, with “Who that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” [John] Everyone will recall that this dispersed the crowd and then he tells her, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”
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Robin Becker Dance - 'Into Sunlight'
by Carmel Morgan
January 20, 2012 -- Gonda Theatre, Davis Performing Arts Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
On a cold January night, Georgetown University presented a very special performance by Robin Becker Dance titled “Into Sunlight,” inspired by David Maraniss’s “They Marched Into Sunlight – War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967.” The performers consisted of the Robin Becker Dance Company, plus students and alumni of Hofstra University’s Dance Department, where Becker is presently a faculty member.
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Mark Morris Dance Group - 'L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato'
by Carmel Morgan
January 26, 2012 -- JFK Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC
If the test of good choreography is wanting to see a dance over and over and over again, then Mark Morris passes that test with “L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato,” his 1988 masterwork to the music of George Frideric Handel and the poems of John Milton.
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Mariinsky Ballet: Les Saisons Russes
by Carmel Morgan
January 18, 2012 -- JFK Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC
This year, rather than performing an evening length story ballet, the Mariinsky presented a popular program titled, “Les Saisons Russes” (The Russian Seasons), featuring three beloved shorter works from the early 1900s choreographed by Michel Fokine: “Chopiniana,” “The Firebird,” and “Scheherazade.”
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editors' choice · National Ballet of Canada : La Fille mal gardée February 29 - March 4, 2012, Toronto, ON The National Ballet of Canada returns with Ashton's delightful comedy.  It's a ballet full of warmth, humour and sparkling dancing.

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, Holly Messitt, Lori Ibay, Lisa Claybaugh, Azlan Ezaddin, Jerry Hochman _______________________________