So the Pils' month at the Joyce has begun, and the three premieres I was covering for the Financial Times--collaborations all, with DIY video stars, a genius juggler, and a thought-provoking European choreographer--prompted me to take the long view:Pilobolus has always been about illusion-making: lending the human body fantastical form. Until recently, the spirit of the '60s that spawned the … [Read more...]

After French Masters, the opening program in the Lincoln Center Festival's generous, three-program presentation of the acclaimed Paris Opera Ballet, I  thought, if these are the masters, what's left for the apprentices to do? The night's three ballets occupied a narrow range from silly (Bejart, "Bolero") to simultaneously stolid and fussy (Lifar, "Suite en Blanc") to hateful … [Read more...]

[Note: if you are here for the discussion of the Paris Opera Ballet, please click here, a new link.] The Joyce has had some terrific shows this summer, with the choreographers stretching their idioms.First, there was tapper Jason Samuels Smith in a tribute to Charlie Parker. The start of my Financial Times review:  According to the great hoofer Honi Coles, bebop would not have happened … [Read more...]

Here is the start of my Financial Times report of the irreplaceable Angel Corella's final dance for American Ballet Theatre: From the start - in 1995 at age 19, when he debuted at American Ballet Theatre - Angel Corella has radiated a sweetness so genuine it seemed to power his feats of wizardry: pirouettes so fast, for example, that you half expected him to spin out into the auditorium and … [Read more...]

[ED NOTE: This just in from American Ballet Theatre press office: Ratmansky to choreograph full evening of Shostakovich symphonic ballets. First up: October 18 for City Center season; next spring, the whole shabang. Yay!] So now I've seen the other two casts: Isabella Boylston as Firebird, Alexandre Hammoudi as Ivan, Kristi Boone as Maiden, Cory Stearns as Kaschei; and Natalia Osipova … [Read more...]