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[updated October 19, 2011]

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San Francisco Bay Area
by Heather Desaulniers
Summer 2011 Reviews

Encounter; excitement; escape - these are the themes that swirl through "The
Rambler", the newest work by the Joe Goode Performance Group. As always, Goode's transmission of the chosen narrative was both clever and clear, though the highlight of this particular piece was the chance to finally experience his choreographic brilliance.

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

San Francisco Bay Area
by Heather Desaulniers
April 2011 Reviews

reviews

Merce Cunningam Dancy Company - Legacy Tour
by David Mead and Charlotte Kasner
October 5-8, 2011 --Barbican Theatre, London, UK
When it came to the final night of this final ever London season by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company there was bound to be something of a sense of sadness that we would never see the company again. But the three programmes spread across four days were also very much a celebration of Cunningham’s work in all its guises..
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Rambert Dance Company - Season of New Choreography
by David Mead
October 12, 2011 -- The Place, London,,UK
Ten out of ten for Rambert Dance Company continuing to encourage the budding and sometimes more experienced choreographers among its members in its annual season of new works. This year’s programme featured five very different pieces and some excellent dancing.
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Beijing Dance Theater - 'Haze'
by David Mead
October 14, 2011 -- Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, ,UK
In three sections, “Haze” takes the audience on a journey that starts with figures being drawn through a dark world, through a confused and seemingly violent cityscape, to dreams of a distant future and a bright new world. If that is not a metaphor for today’s world, economically and environmentally, I’m not sure what is!
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Oregon Ballet Theatre - 'Petrouchka' and 'Carmen'
by Dean Speer
October 8, 2011 -- Keller Auditorium, Portland, Oregon
Iconic in the ballet canon, the Fokine/Diagheliev/Stravinsky 1911 production of Petrouchka is the one I’m familiar with and so had to re-tool my thinking in viewing Oregon Ballet Theatre’s newly-conceptualized production with choreography by Nicolo Fonte, as I found myself in my seat at intermission pausing and realizing I had virtually no reaction to it at all.
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Birmingham Royal Ballet - Autumn 2011
by David Mead
September 29 and October 7, 2011 --Hippodrome Theatre, Birmingham,UK
David Bintley’s ballet of the classic “Beauty and the Beast” story is a grand sight indeed. Philip Prowse’s glorious set, all burnished gold, red and black, rises over everything, opening and closing like a child’s fold-out book. It is all very Harry Potter.  The stage converts cleverly from forest to castle interior, outside becoming inside in an instant.
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Pacific Northwest Ballet - All Wheeldon Program
by Dean Speer
September 23, 2011 -- McCaw Hall, Seattle, Washington
Like everyone, Christopher Wheeldon has his strengths and weaknesses. His creative and choreographic strengths are the ones that we celebrate, such as really good choices of music, staying away for the most part from faddish composers and styles, to fresh concepts and ideas that make their way up onto the stage in ballets that tend to be bright, light, lively
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National Ballet of Canada - Western Tour Mixed Bill
by Kate Snedeker
September 19, 2011 -- Jubilee Auditorium North, Edmonton, AB
The casting inserts may have gone AWOL between Calgary and Edmonton, but the dancing certainly did not! Returning to Alberta’s capital city after a long absence, the National Ballet of Canada presented an evening that showed off the company’s classical and modern ballet talents.
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Hofesh Shechter Company - 'Uprising', 'The Art of Not Looking Back'
by David Mead
September 23, 2011 --Patrick Centre, Hippodrome Theatre, Birmingham,UK
Inspired partly by the 2006 protests by youths in Paris, “Uprising” opens with seven men in everyday, mostly khaki coloured T-shirts and trousers, striding determinedly straight towards the audience to an ear-shattering beat...
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La La La Human Steps- 'New Work'
by David Mead
September 28, 2011 -- Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, UK
Édouard Lock’s ‘New Work’ is packed with some of the fastest, spikiest ballet you are ever likely to see. It is dance on the edge; real Formula 1 stuff. It is exciting and thrilling as the dancers joust with each other lit only by stark spotlights
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Between the Seas - A Festival of Performing Arts from the Mediterranean
by Victoria Dombroski
August 31, 2011 --The Wild Project, New York, NY
Between the Seas, created and presented by Artistic Director Aktina Stathaki, is a new six day festival encompassing many facets directed towards exploring Mediterranean life. This amalgamation of concepts on a broad level included identity, history, culture, social views, values, and customs.
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Lucinda Childs Dance Company- 'Dance'
by S. L. Wong
August 14, 2011 -- HAU1, Berlin, Germany
Through the stunning use of video, original dancers from Lucinda Childs' 1979 piece, “Dance”, 'performed' together with live dancers on stage, in an evening that saw a modulation of movement, time and space.
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National Ballet of China - Mixed Bill
by Carmel Morgan
September 23, 2011 -- The JFK Centre for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC
In cooperation with China’s Ministry of Culture, the Kennedy Center is presenting a number of offerings this fall as part a series titled “China: The Art of a Nation.” The National Ballet
of China (“NBC”) brought with it both traditional and contemporary ballets...
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Akram Khan - 'Desh'
by David Mead
September 15, 2011 -- The Curve, Leicester, UK
“Desh” means homeland in Bengali and in it Akram Khan brings together numerous tales as he explores his Bangladeshi roots and the contradictions of his British-Asian identity. It is quite obvious from his performance that this is an intensely personal journey of discovery.
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Grupo Corpo- 'Ima', 'Onqoto
by David Mead
September 13, 2011 -- Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, UK
Colourful is certainly an apt description of Rodrigo Pederneiras’ “Ímã” that opened Brazilian company Grupo Corpo’s recent visit to London. With the dancers dressed in just about every hue imaginable, and an explosion of lighting that at various times had the stage bright green and the backdrop and flats purple among other combinations, it really was a sight to behold
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Fringe (NYC) 2011 - 'Never Look in the Mirror When You're Dancing'
by Philip Sandstrom
August 26, 2011 -- 4th Street Theatre, New York, NY
In a cute and touching autobiographical dance-drama from the perspective of a middle aged woman whose parents are ballroom dancers, even now in their 80’s, "Never Look in the Mirror When You're Dancing", directed by David Keating, at the 4th St. Theater examines how dancing can define lives.
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Eiko & Koma - 'Regeneration'
by Carmel Morgan
September 14, 2011 -- Robert & Arlene Kogod Theatre, College Park, MD
Eiko & Koma are artists-in-residence at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center during the 2011-2012 season. Lucky DC area residents thus have the opportunity to see three performances by the couple
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Ballet West - 'The Four Temperaments', 'Grand Synthesis', 'Sinfonietta'
by Carmel Morgan
August 23, 2011 -- Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, Vienna, VA
August 23, 2011, was a memorable date for the Washington, DC area, and for much of the East Coast, because of an earthquake. The Washington Monument suffered damage, as did the National Cathedral. But, at Wolf Trap, the evening went off as usual.
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Summer Dance at the Birmingham Hippodrome
by Davd Mead
August 18-30, 2011 -- Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham, UK
Three weeks of dance at the Birmingham Hippodrome this summer got off to a less than auspicious start. An evening with Carlos Acosta and Zenaida Yanowsky sounded so promising. But “Premieres Plus”, in which the muscular Cuban dancer staged and performed his own selection of choreography was lucklustre and disappointing.
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Cisne Negro Dance Company
by Cecly Placenti
August 20, 2011 -- Joyce Theatre, New York, NY
Lighting up the stage with the passion and vivacity one would expect from South America’s most prominent contemporary dance company, Cisne Negro presented a four part evening at the Joyce Theatre that combined originality with tradition. Like the diversity of the company’s home city, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Cisne Negro integrates Brazilian folk elements with ballet and contemporary dance. “Flock,” set to music by Stravinsky, spoke of transformation and mutation in its sinewy, connected duets.
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Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui - 'TeZukA'
by Charlotte Kasner
September 7, 2011 -- Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, UK
It has been a fashion in recent years to present so-called multi-media projects which, all too often, turn out to be dancers moving in front of a video which may or may not have some relevance to the title but that rarely connect with performer or audience. It was never likely that Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui could ever produce such a piece, but, even by his standards, "TeZuKa" is a phenomenal piece of Gesamkunstwerk.
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editors' choice · National Ballet of Canada - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland June 4- 23, Toronto, Ontario The National Ballet of Canada presents the North American premiere of Christopher Wheeldon's highly praised take on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

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 _______________________________