New York City Ballet / David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC / January 22, 2011 Prayer: New York City Ballet principal dancer Wendy Whelan with SAB students in George Balanchine's Mozartiana Photo: Paul Kolnik On January 22, the 107th anniversary of George Balanchine's birth, the New York City Ballet marked the occasion with two programs, matinee and evening, composed entirely of the master's work, along with supplementary activities that made the day a marathon of celebration. The doings were belatedly given the odious (and … [Read more...]

Works & Process: Pacific Northwest Ballet: Giselle Revisited / Guggenheim Museum, NYC / January 9 (2 performances) & January 10, 2011 Works & Process, holding forth since 1974 at the Guggenheim Museum on New York's Upper East Side, has been, at heart, a lecture-demonstration series--Show & Tell for adults attracted by the arts. The programs devoted to dance have traditionally hewed to the simple, sensible pattern of alternating The Talk and The Walk. Spoken explication and anecdote (everybody loves to hear the backstage … [Read more...]

Trisha Brown Dance Company: Works by Brown from the early 1970s, presented in conjunction with the exhibition On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century / Museum of Modern Art, NYC / January 12, 15, & 16 (2 performances), 2011 Trisha Brown has been choreographing for half a century; from today's vantage point her development can safely be termed evolutionary. Examining the path of her career, it's easy to trace the innate logic that led her from simple (nevertheless ingenious) pedestrian ideas, actions, and gear to complex creations, … [Read more...]

American Ballet Theatre: The Nutcracker / BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, Lincoln Center, NYC / December 22, 2010 - January 2, 2011 A tree grows in Brooklyn--with a vengeance. At BAM's Howard Gilman Opera House, American Ballet Theatre's brand-new Nutcracker, by Alexei Ratmansky, followed on the heels of the Mark Morris Dance Group in The Hard Nut. Same evolution-of-the-girlchild theme (more or less), same glorious Tchaikovsky score. Musically, you can't fault the nation-wide and ever-expanding Nuts endeavor. Choreographically and … [Read more...]