A quarter-century ago, C. Brian Williams, who’d honed his step-dancing skills as a member of Alpha Phi Alpha at Howard University, was visiting South Africa at the dawn of the Nelson Mandela presidency. Williams saw a boy on a roadside doing a step-like gumboot dance, the kind miners in that country developed to communicate with […]
The Washington Ballet’s 2019-2020 season offers the best of classical and contemporary works
The Washington Ballet’s 2019-2020 season promises to be an interesting mix of classical and contemporary ballets, and will without a doubt delight both hard-core traditionalists and dance lovers seeking adventurous contemporary works. The season runs from October 2019 through May 2020 at several venues across town. It will be artistic director Julie Kent’s fourth season […]
The Kennedy Center’s 2019-2020 Season of Ballet and Dance: An Embarrassment of Riches for Washington Dance Lovers
The Kennedy Center’s 2019/2020 Ballet and Dance Season is an embarrassment of riches with seven of the world’s top ballet companies, and nine stellar modern and contemporary dance troupes. The ballet season opens on October 8, 2019 with the Mariinsky Ballet. The august institution has been a regular on the Kennedy Center’s annual roster for […]
Review: Mariinsky Ballet’s Le Corsaire, a high-flying springtime treat
Out of all the ballets in the classical cannon, Le Corsaire possesses one of the thinnest and most nonsensical plot lines around, but who cares. Lovers of classical dance have been flocking to this ballet for more than 150 years for the high-flying choreography and the Mariinsky Ballet’s production, at the Kennedy Center through Sunday, […]
Review: Balanchine, Peck, Abraham and Robbins: New York City Ballet enters a new era of hope and revived energy
New York City Ballet returns to Washington this week for its annual visit to the Kennedy Center with two programs that include two works from the company’s legendary founder George Balanchine, a Justin Peck ballet, a new work from Kyle Abraham, and a number of offerings from Jerome Robbins. There is a lot to see […]
The Washington Ballet’s new Sleeping Beauty is both grand and intimate, a glittering success
The Washington Ballet’s new production of The Sleeping Beauty, running through Sunday at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater, is a breakthrough for D.C.’s hometown ballet company. It is also a study in high classicism. After two and a half years under the careful direction of Julie Kent and Victor Barbee, the dancers of the Washington […]
Review: Alvin Ailey Dance Theater at The Kennedy Center
A lone figure stood in the spotlight at the start of what I’ve come to think of as Washington’s most sparkling gala event. In the Opera House space which could have easily swallowed her up and with rustling of bejeweled gowns as latecomers hastily made their way to their seats, Nyla Pettis stood tall, looking […]
American Ballet Theatre’s Harlequinade; a comedic ballet in grand style
American Ballet Theatre’s production of Harlequinade, at the Kennedy Center through Sunday, transforms old-fashioned commedia dell’arte stock characters and situations into something elegant and beguiling. That’s largely due to the sound judgement of the ballet company’s artist in residence, Alexei Ratmansky and his careful and charming reconstruction of this Marius Petipa ballet. Les Millions d’Arlequin, […]
Matthew Bourne’s ‘Cinderella’: A masterful reimagining
Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella, at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House through Sunday, is brilliantly imagined and executed. Forget your Disney conceptions, or even the Rostislav Zakharov or Frederick Ashton ballet precursors to the same score by Sergei Prokofiev. Bourne and his New Adventures Company, in this revised version of his 1997 production, bring an idiosyncratic but deeply stirring […]
Review: Ballet West’s ‘Nutcracker’ is sweet, sly, and sumptuous
What’s more seasonally entertaining than the country’s oldest continuing production of The Nutcracker? Sprucing it up with new finery that enhances the company’s fabulous performances. That’s what Ballet West did last year under Adam Sklute’s artistic direction. What’s marvelous is that the $3 million update was channeled not toward an overdose of digital dazzle but […]
The Royal Ballet’s production of Mayerling, a riveting exploration of dark obsession
Opening today in major U.S. cinemas, The Royal Ballet’s production of Kenneth MacMillan’s riveting Mayerling is not for the faint of heart. It is also not recommended for children under 12. The ballet, this performance of which was filmed live last month at The Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden, has just about everything […]
Review: Marvin Gaye-inspired dance, What’s Going On
A three day premiere at Joe’s Movement Emporium in Mount Rainier, MD brought friends, colleagues, artists and art enthusiasts together for show, What’s Going On: Life, Love, and Social Justice, a bio-dance to continue the legacy of one of the most iconic singers in 1960’s and 1970’s, DC native, Marvin Gaye.
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