As Ashley Bouder runs onto the stage and into a crisp, high pas de chat, arms held overhead in delight, there is no doubt that she is queen of that pearly underworld that is George Balanchine’s Ballo della Regina. And when, after the flirtatious little polka on pointe that opens her first solo, she suddenly […]
Sarah Lane could be the smallest girl American Ballet Theatre has ever hired into the corps. Yet neither height nor technique are the first thing you notice about this vibrant 20-year-old. Instead your eye goes to her open upper body, breathtaking line, and strong, solid center. Even in corps roles—like the peasants in Swan Lake […]
New York City Ballet is overflowing with youthful energy. With an unprecedented nine new soloists this year and corps members making their mark as they step into major roles, there seems to be an onrush of new talent. So deep is NYCB’s “bench” that when injuries occur or key dancers like Jock Soto and Peter […]
In Jennifer Tipton’s hands, light is a living thing. Her designs have illuminated, both physically and metaphorically, the works of Paul Taylor, Trisha Brown, Twyla Tharp, Jerome Robbins, Antony Tudor, Jiri Kylian, and most recently, Christopher Wheeldon. Her range is extraordinary, from lighting the striped figures who dance through smoke in Tharp’s high energy In […]
Even in full company class where talent lurks everywhere, San Francisco Ballet principal Muriel Maffre draws your attention and locks in your gaze. She is the five-foot-ten dancer who is not looking into the mirror while she adjusts her épaulement. She’s the one who is working at the barre shrouded in an aura of introspection. […]
Imagine a ballet company without its corps de ballet. There would be no lines of wilis in arabesque drawn magnetically together in Giselle, nor any grand polonaise for the ensemble in Theme and Variations. The corps de ballet is to a dance troupe as the spine is to the body: It provides framework, support, context, […]
Calgary-based Alberta Ballet, under the artistic direction of choreographer Jean Grand-Maître, is rapidly emerging as the Canadian troupe to watch. The originality of its programming combined with the passionate commitment of its dancing has earned Alberta Ballet a strong following at home and growing attention abroad. This season the number of performances jumped to 107 […]
Leann Underwood flashes through Concerto Barocco’s second movement, dancing with such lyrical, fine-tuned musicality that Balanchine might have made the role on her this morning, instead of in 1941. If she looks divinely inspired, in a way she is. Deeply religious, Underwood says she “feels we are all on earth with a purpose. Part of […]
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