RETIREMENT Jock Soto Jock Soto, whose final performance with New York City Ballet is June 19th, has danced myriad roles since joining the company in 1981. His repertoire includes ballets by Balanchine and Robbins. Many choreographers have created roles on him, including Peter Martins, Christopher Wheeldon, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, and Kevin O’Day. Soto has appeared on […]
Boston Ballet “New Visions” The Wang Theatre, Boston, MA March 1-4, 2007 Reviewed by Iris Fanger Pictured: Larissa Ponomarenko and Sabi Varga Photo: Gene Schiavone Courtesy: Boston Ballet The Boston Ballet made its annual foray into contemporary dance with “New Visions,” a program that showcased a world premiere by Finnish-born Jorma Elo, the company’s resident […]
Last August, Los Angeles Times dance critic Lewis Segal published a diatribe titled “Five Things I Hate About Ballet.” Although his approach was somewhat clumsy—like the guy at a family reunion who drinks too much and blurts out why he hates his relatives—he brought up a number of debatable issues that prompted a response from […]
Teaching a stilt-walker how to pirouette on pointe and gracefully undulate his arms may not be part of Diana Levy’s job description as Dance Director of the Metropolitan Opera. But there she was, last fall, in a sub-basement studio at the Met readying him to take on the role of a wing-flapping, 12-foot flamingo in […]
Skimpy rehearsal periods, wretched studios, lousy music tapes, dancer injuries. You think choreographers have problems now? Ha! Those traditional vexations pale in comparison to the challenge of confronting the ego of a genuine opera diva. Yet dancemakers are taking the plunge and besieging the world’s opera stages. In some of the most prestigious opera houses, […]
The Royal Ballet Royal Opera House, London November 18, 2006 Reviewed by Margaret Willis Federico Bonelli and Marianela Nuñez in Christopher Wheeldon’s DGV Photo by Johan Persson, courtesy The Royal Ballet What an exhilarating evening! In new works by two of Britain’s acclaimed young choreographers, the Royal Ballet dancers were shot into a maelstrom of […]
In this version, Prince Siegfried falls in love with Odette at night, when she is still a maiden, and he witnesses her dawn transformation into a swan at the hands of the vengeful Rothbart. (Much use is made of his billowing cape.) As a girl, Odette wears a long, white gown, and the flowing partnering […]
Muriel Maffre and Yuri Possokhov in Wheeldon’s Quaternary. Photo by Erik Tomasson San Francisco Ballet Hôtels de Rohan-Soubise, Paris, France July 5, 2005 Reviewed by Allan Ulrich A new festival rightly demands new works. What the French succinctly call créations provided the opening-night fare for San Francisco Ballet’s 13-performance residency at Les Étés de […]
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.