Search results for: Alexei ratmansky

American Ballet Theatre Metropolitan Opera House May 25, 2011 Reviewed by Gus Solomons jr Sascha Radetsky, Alexandre Hammoudi and Daniil Simkin in Benjamin Millepied’s Troika. Photo by Mikhail Logvinov. Courtesy ABT.   It’s a shame the general public has no idea how difficult the dancing is that American Ballet Theatre does with such authority, grace, […]

        Down on the (Collective) Farm The Bright Stream , Alexei Ratmansky’s robustly comic ballet, set to a neglected 1935 Shostakovich score, won over New Yorkers when the Bolshoi brought it here in 2005. Now American Ballet Theatre, where Ratmansky has been enriching the repertoire since becoming artist in residence, will perform […]

Some people have asked about the talk I gave in Sarasota, where I outlined my seven reasons ballet is NOT dying, in response to ballet-doomsday-sayer Jennifer Homans in her book Apollo’s Angels. (Her book is actually excellent until that last chapter.) So I decided to tweak my notes from my talk at the event for […]

At a showing for arts presenters in the Dance Theatre of Harlem studios last January, Virginia Johnson told the audience, “Excellence is…elusive.” As she was speaking, her slight épaulement, gracious manner, and swiveling hands hinted at her own past excellence as a dancer.   The buzz is optimistic now that Virginia Johnson has taken the […]

Four significant dance critics, Sarah Kaufman, Wendy Lesser, John Rockwell and Lewis Segal (i.d.s below), spoke at U.C. Berkeley on Friday to some 80 students, dancers, and fellow critics, about the changing nature of arts journalism.   Kaufman challenged critics to go beyond the proscenium. Invite into your reviews pop culture, TV dance shows, and […]

  Alexei Ratmansky, resident choreographer of American Ballet Theatre, makes complex roles for artistically mature dancers. ABT corps member Alexandre Hammoudi is one. As Olga’s jilted fiancé in Ratmansky’s On the Dnieper, Hammoudi brought a rich intensity to the role. While the part was made on principal dancer David Hallberg, Hammoudi stepped into it as […]

          Clara Comes in Two Sizes Here’s what we know about the new Nutcracker that Alexei Ratmansky is making for American Ballet Theatre: The leads, on different nights, include Gillian Murphy and David Hallberg, Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes, and Paloma Herrera and Cory Stearns. There is no traditional Sugar Plum […]

    Latino Fest Ballet Hispanico plans a smashing 40th anniversary season that stretches the geographical concept of “hispanico.” Spread out over three programs are world premieres by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa (from Spain) and Maray Gutierrez (from Cuba); revivals of works by choreographers no longer with us—Talley Beatty (African American) and Christopher Gillis (from Canada); […]