What's Alluring, What's Touring, What's New?

August 29, 2013


A peek at the new season

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet 

Kennedy Center, Nov. 7–11

 

The company known for celebrating Balanchine reaches outside that circle of masterworks with Paul Mejia’s Romeo and Juliet. But rest assured, also on the agenda will be Balanchine’s astringent Agon, complex Episodes, and serene Mozartiana. 

 

Jennifer Fournier in
Mozartiana. Photo by Paul Kolnik, Courtesy TSFB, © Balanchine Trust.

The Forsythe Company 

Brooklyn Academy of Music, Oct. 9–12 

 

William Forsythe considers the traditions of Elizabethan drama in his newest opus, Sider. The audio soundtrack is derived from a 16th-century play, and the earphone-wearing dancers carry giant sheets of cardboard while dancing to a score we do not hear. As cryptic—and possibly fascinating—as ever.

 

The Forsythe Company in
Sider. Photo by Dominik Mentzos, Courtesy BAM.

 

 

Lucy Guerin’s
Weather

Center for the Art of Performance, UCLA, Oct. 3–4; White Bird, Portland, OR, Oct. 17–19

 

Storms are beautiful and violent, and therein lies the tension of Lucy Guerin’s approach. In her newest work, Weather, plastic bags transform into clouds, stirring up turbulence. “Dance like the wind” takes on new meaning as the Australian renegade mines our visceral relationship to nature.

 

Weather, by Lucy Guerin. Photo by Heidrun Lohr, Courtesy UCLA.

 

Miami City Ballet

Adrienne Arsht Center, Miami, Oct. 18–20; Broward Center, Ft. Lauderdale, Oct. 25–27; Kravis Center, West Palm Beach, Nov. 15–17

 

After last fall’s upheaval, Miami City Ballet returns to a classic with Serenade. The first ballet Balanchine created on American soil is a good choice for the company’s first full season with Lourdes Lopez, the former New York City Ballet principal now at the helm of MCB. Also on the program are Balanchine’s Ballo della Regina and Wheeldon’s bracing Polyphonia.

 

MCB in
Serenade. Photo by Joe Gato, Courtesy MCB, © Balanchine Trust.

 

Kate Weare’s
Garden
 

Northrop at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Dec. 5

 

The voice of the “it’s complicated” generation, Kate Weare illuminates emotional terrains with her idiosyncratic vocabulary. Garden features an upside-down tree, a large stump, and four dancers in flirt-and-fight mode. The evening also includes excerpts from her new work, Dark Lark, which has its New York premiere at BAM Nov. 6–9.

 

Leslie Kraus and Luke Murphy in
Garden. Photo by Keira Heu-Jwyn Chang, Courtesy Weare.

 

Diana Vishneva: “On the Edge”

Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Costa Mesa, CA, Nov. 6–7 & 9–10

 

A prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Ballet and American Ballet Theatre is back with a program of new works crafted especially for her ravishing talents by Carolyn Carlson and Jean-Christophe Maillot. With haute-couture costumes by Karl Lagerfeld.

 

La Vishneva. Photo by Sasha Gulyaev, Courtesy Segestrom.

 

 

Milwaukee Ballet’s
Romeo & Juliet
 

Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, Oct. 31–Nov. 3

 

Doomed lovers, feuding families, and one timeless love story make Romeo & Juliet a treasured, bard-based ballet. Michael Pink’s popular version is a fitting ballet to begin his second decade as artistic director.

 

Luz San Miguel and David Hovhannisyan in
Romeo & Juliet. Photo by Jessica Kaminski, Courtesy MB.

 

 

The Washington Ballet’s
Giselle

Kennedy Center, Oct. 30–Nov. 3

 

The Washington Ballet’s production of Giselle, staged by TWB artistic director Septime Webre and South African ballet artist Charla Genn, features Brooklyn Mack (“25 to Watch,” 2012).

 

Brooklyn Mack and Maki Onuki in TWB’s
Giselle. Photo by Steve Vacciarello, Courtesy TWB.

 

 

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre

Benedum Center, Oct. 25–27  

Tywla Tharp turns ballet upside down in her fierce In the Upper Room. The pointe-shoe-vs.-sneaker battle plays out in one of Tharp’s most relentlessly paced ballets. Performed alongside Nine Sinatra Songs, it’s going to be a Tharpfest for PBT fans.

 

In the Upper Room with PBT’s Alejandro Diaz and Ashley Wegmann. Photo by Rich Sofranko, Courtesy PBT.

 

 

WORLD PREMIERES THIS FALL

 

Houston Ballet
presents new works by James Kudelka, Garrett Smith, and Melissa Hough, Sept. 5–15.

 

New York City Ballet
premieres a work by Angelin Preljocaj at their gala Sept. 19.

 

Armitage Gone! Dance
premieres Karole Armitage’s Fables on Global Warming at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Sept. 24. Touring through Oct. 26 to Kansas, Colorado, Texas, and North Carolina.

 

Fall for Dance
has commissioned works by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa for Ballet Hispanico, Liam Scarlett for two Royal Ballet dancers, and Justin Peck for Sara Mearns and a partner yet to be named. Sept. 25–Oct. 5.

 

Twyla Tharp makes a new work for Pacific Northwest Ballet, Sept. 27–Oct. 6.

 

Twyla Tharp and PNB’s Peter Boal in rehearsal. Photo © Lindsay Thomas, Courtesy PNB.

 

Kansas City Ballet
offers a new ballet by Jodie Gates, Oct. 11–20.

 

Dance Heginbotham
premieres Dark Theater at BAM Fisher, Oct. 29–Nov. 2.

 

American Ballet Theatre
debuts Alexei Ratmansky’s one-act Tempest for the company’s fall season at Lincoln Center’s David Koch Theater, Oct. 30–Nov. 10.

 

National Ballet of Canada
performs new works by Robert Binet, José Navas, and James Kudelka, Nov. 22–28.

 

HIJACK
premieres redundant, ready, reading radish, Red Eye at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Dec. 5–7.

 

Tere O’Connor Dance
premieres Bleed at BAM Fisher, Dec. 11–14.

 

 

TOURING COMPANIES

 

Matthew Bourne’s
Sleeping Beauty

New York City Center, Oct. 23–Nov. 3; Kennedy Center, Nov. 12–17; L.A. Music Center, Nov. 19–Dec. 1.

 

Nobody tangles with a classic like the U.K. choreographer Matthew Bourne. He has been as wildly successful for musicals like Mary Poppins as for his mostly male Swan Lake. With his gothic take on Sleeping Beauty, he completes his Tchaikovsky cycle that started with his 1992 Nutcracker.

 

Bourne’s
Sleeping Beauty. Photo by Mikah Smillie, Courtesy Bourne.

 

 

Jessica Lang Dance

Winspear Opera House, Dallas, TX, Sept. 14; Wortham Center, Houston, Sept. 20; Jorgensen Center, Storrs, CT, Nov. 7.

 

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company

Ithaca, NY, Sept. 28; BAM, Oct. 3–5; San Francisco (CounterPulse/Yerba Buena) Oct. 8–9 and 11–13; Santa Barbara, CA, Oct. 16; Columbia College Chicago, Oct. 24–26.

 

Bill T. Jones in
Story/Time. Photo by Paul B. Goode, Courtesy BAM.

 

 

Nederlands Dans Theater

L.A. Music Center, Oct. 18–20; Cal Performances, Oct. 23–24.

 

Shanghai Ballet 

Extensive U.S. tour from Oct. 23–Nov. 23, including Charleston, SC; Northridge, CA; Berkeley; Houston; St. Louis; Minneapolis; Rochester, NY; New Brunswick, NJ; and George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.

 

Susan Marshall & Company

Columbia College Chicago, Sept. 19–21; ASU Gammage, Tempe, AZ, Oct. 5; Kennedy Center, Oct. 29–31; UCLA, Nov. 9; BAM, Nov. 20–23.

 

Kristin Clotfelter of Susan Marshall & Company. Photo by Rosalie O’Connor, Courtesy Marshall.

 

Jérôme Bel 

New York Live Arts, Nov. 12–17; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Nov. 21–23; UCLA, Nov. 23 and Dec. 5–6.

 

AILEY II

From Sept. 17 to Nov. 2, this troupe of 18- to 23-year-olds comes to Williams College, Towson University, Oklahoma State University, Stephen F. Austin State University, Governors State University, Ohio Northern University, Stockton State College, and Vassar.