Saturday’s Gala at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center had a relaxed, laid-back feel that matched the hot, humid evening, but the outdoor setting and sticky weather didn’t stop the crowds from dressing up for the occasion. Nor was the event lacking in star power: Rita Moreno, who played “Anita” in the film version of [...]

Designed by NYCB soloist Craig Hall The New York State Theater was packed on Friday night, and not just with the typical crowd of New York City Ballet devotees. Young people, too, had flocked to Lincoln Center to see the Dancers’ Choice program, a benefit for the Dancers’ Emergency Fund. Principal dancer Jonathan Stafford [...]

A curtain call for Damian Woetzel (click to enlarge) Photo by Evan - Please do not use without permission. Watching one of my favorite ballet dancers - who I’ve watched for about fifteen years - dance his final performance and take his final bow at the New York State Theater last night was not easy. Writing about [...]

Albert Evans, Rebecca Krohn, Jonathan Stafford, and Rachel Rutherford in Russian Seasons (photo by John Ross) Every season, the artistic staff at New York City Ballet has the daunting task of creating a variety of programs that will attract audiences, show variety and breadth - choreographically, musically, and thematically - and will offer the dancers room to [...]

New York City Ballet’s “Seasons” program presented two distinctly different works that exemplified the choreographic breadth of Jerome Robbins. The dark, meditative Watermill uses the seasons to convey the passing of time and the different stages in a man’s life, while The Four Seasons is a spirited personification of winter, spring, summer, and fall. Before seeing [...]

(In the lobby of the Tilles Center before the performance) On Friday night, Allison and I took two subway lines, an LIRR ride, and a taxi to get to the Tilles Center on Long Island to see Miami City Ballet, but the trek was totally worth it since the company’s program included three works by Balanchine [...]

Last weekend the Kirov Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia closed their 3-week season at New York City Center. During the 3 weeks they performed Petipa’s The Kingdom of Shadows from La Bayadere; Fokine’s Scheherazade and Chopiniana; Gorsky’s The Grand Pas de Deux from Don Quixote, as well as all-Balanchine and all-Forsythe programs. The all-Balanchine program [...]

The quadruple-bill “Matters of the Heart” program at New York City Ballet was definitely worth seeing, just maybe not on Valentine’s Day. Three out of the four ballets ended with heartbreak, death, or loss (or all of the above), the exception being the story-less Raymonda Variations. Maybe Peter Martins should have thought that [...]

New York City Ballet has developed a beautiful new look for itself this season. They’ve redone the website, the posters, the playbill, and decked out the lobby with gorgeous black and white photography of the dancers mid pas de deux. The photographs are wonderfully clean, simple and poignant, reminiscent of Balanchine’s own neo-classical work. [...]

Last night I attended New York City Ballet’s “Four by Four” program, which presents pieces from four choreographers inspired by four different composers. Reflecting on the program, I realized how diverse the ballets were, not only because of the different “voices” in each ballet, but also because of the varied settings - ranging from [...]