Sharing the stage with a singer as powerful as Martha Wainwright is a risk—and Christopher Wheeldon took it with mixed results. The first few dances didn’t hold a candle to the music, but by the end of the concert, it was worth it. The first half alternated Wainwright singing alone and with dancers. Two of […]
The crowds at the Met pressed forward, jamming the aisles and holding up cell phones for one last glimpse of their beloved Nina Ananiashvili. It was her final performance with ABT last night, and the audience cheered, roared, and pelted her with flowers. Her Swan Lake with Angel Corella had been magical. Even in […]
American Ballet Theatre has a winner in James Kudelka’s Désir. This rhapsodic ballet has gorgeous partnering with soaring lifts and beautiful touches of affection. Every single pas de deux is both rapturous and inventive. The legs make aching arcs and the bodies and skirts follow. In the fourth section, Hee Seo (see her in “25 […]
After Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes’ balcony scene from Macmillan’s Romeo and Juliet, I wanted to go home. Enough beauty for one night. I wanted to savor what I had seen: the illusion of a true love, where two bodies surrender to each other. Vishneva, who usually sucks all the attention into her, yielded to […]
American Ballet Theatre Metropolitan Opera House, NYC. May 18–July 11, 2009 Reviewed by Lynn Garafola With two repertory programs, six full-length ballets, and wildly cheering crowds, the eight-week American Ballet Theatre season at the Metropolitan Opera was in many ways business as usual. However, with Nina Ananiashvili’s farewell performance, the presence of exciting newcomers, […]
Fifteen years ago, Paloma Herrera was an 18-year-old American Ballet Theatre soloist who had audiences at her feet and critics showering praise. Her exhilaratingly polished debut as the ballerina in Balanchine’s challenging Theme and Variations led The New York Times’ Anna Kisselgoff to proclaim the young Argentine the “spirit of rebirth” at ABT. Her […]
We know the names of the famous dancers of today, but we never know the names of the teachers who trained them. So said Alexei Ratmansky while introducing an evening at City Center devoted to the great Bolshoi men’s teacher, Peter Pestov, on his 80th birthday. Ratmansky said that Pestov’s classes stress elegance and solid […]
Seems like everyone is rounding up their personal faves of 2007, so I thought I would throw mine into the fray. This is an entirely subjective list. Everything is in NYC unless otherwise specified. Please tell me your top picks of 2007 (just three please) by emailing me at [email protected] . (Listed alphabetically within […]
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