Principal dancer with The Royal Ballet Adrenaline junkie: Steven McRae in David Dawson’s The Human Seasons. Photo by Bill Cooper, courtesy ROH. The first time I experienced a true sense of freedom was in my first dance lesson: I was 7 years old, and my jazz teacher told me to spin as fast as I […]

Melissa Hamilton’s late start should have prevented a ballet career. Instead, it pushed her to unthinkable heights.  Photo by Nathan Sayers The first thing you notice about Melissa Hamilton is the classical beauty of her lines: the dainty features, the long arms, the sinewy legs and gorgeously arched feet. Yet The Royal Ballet first soloist […]

This summer’s Vail International Dance Festival features the biggest stars in dance.   Lil Buck and Tiler Peck at Vail 2013. Photo by Erin Baiano, Courtesy Vail.   Since Damian Woetzel took over Colorado’s Vail International Dance Festival in 2007, audiences have come to expect novelty: diverse styles of dance, collaborations between of-the-moment stars and […]

IN HIS FIRST GO at a romantic role, Houston Ballet’s Joseph Walsh dove deep into the delirium of love. He’d been cast opposite Sara Webb in Manon, and danced as though every muscle in his body was longing for her. Then, as soon as bows finished opening night, the first person he ran into in […]

There isn’t much that seems to pose a serious challenge to Jamar Roberts. At 6′ 4″, with the uncanny ability to shape energy to its most attractive or powerful or luscious impact, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater dancer has given unforgettable performances of Alvin Ailey’s lyrical Night Creature, Robert Battle’s tortured tour-de-force In/Side, and […]

Bold, fierce, and fresh, the choreographer challenges dancers and audiences alike. From left: Sofiane Sylve, Frances Chung, Koto Ishihara, Maria Kochetkova, and Elizabeth Powell of San Francisco Ballet in Borderlands, with lighting by Lucy Carter. Photo by Erik Tomasson, Courtesy SFB.   It’s the day after Wayne McGregor’s Borderlands for San Francisco Ballet premiered in […]

Tamara Rojo takes the helm at English National Ballet.     Rojo in costume for Life is a Dream, by Fei Bo. Photo by Matthew Karas.   It’s not every prima ballerina who is willing to share her stage with a live goldfish, and Tamara Rojo chuckles in remembering her unusual partner in Life Is […]