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 | Nutcracker |
23/12/11 |
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New York City Ballet (NYCB) |
USA, New York, Lincoln Center |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Peck, Taylor |
 | "Tiler Peck was, as always, expansive, naturally musical, and unemphatic." |
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 | The Nutcracker |
23/12/11 |
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American Ballet Theatre (ABT) |
USA, New York, Metropolitan Opera House |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Bond, Gomes, Hammoudi, Kelly, Murphy, Part, Scott, Tamm, Underwood, Monroe |
 | "In fact, both casts—Marcelo Gomes and Veronika Part, and Eric Tamm and Gillian Murphy—looked extremely challenged by the choreography. Ratmansky is pushing these dancers in new ways, asking them to be less clean and more free, more expansive, more multi-directional and shaded in their movement." |
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 | Roaratorio, Second Hand, Biped, Pond Way, RainForest, Split Sides |
13/12/11 |
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Merce Cunningham Dance Company (Cunningham) |
USA, New York, Brooklyn Academy of Music |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Goggans, Riener, Swinston, Weber |
 | "The past two weeks have put into sharp focus all that will be lost at the end of this year.......As the solo ended, the audience erupted in applause, in the middle of the piece, something I’ve never seen before. The moment passed, but its ghost lingered. It lingers still. This will be a great loss." |
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 | Nutcracker |
28/11/11 |
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New York City Ballet (NYCB) |
USA, New York, David H. Koch Theater |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Alexander, Bouder, Reichlen, Ringer |
 | "Another standout was Teresa Reichlen’s rendition of the pseudo-exotique “Coffee” variation; in which she managed to be sexy, intelligent, and completely disarming all at once. The portly gentleman sitting next to me couldn’t stop chuckling to himself as she flicked her leg behind her suggestively or subtly undulated a hip." |
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 | One Overture, Entwined, One, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Swan Lake pdd, Sleeping Beauty pdd, White Swan Suite, Follia |
23/11/11 |
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Ballet Next |
USA, New York, Joyce Theater |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Askegard, Copeland, De Luz, Jacoby, Kochetkova, Matthews, Somogyi, Wiles |
 | "The most exciting aspect of the evening was the participation of an excellent chamber ensemble (a quartet plus a piano, or, in one case, a harpsichord). It was especially interesting in the first half of the program to hear these musicians perform reduced versions of Tchaikovsky’s scores..." |
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 | The Sleeping Beauty |
23/11/11 |
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Bolshoi Ballet |
Anywhere, Anywhere, Live cinema screening |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Hallberg, Savin, Zakharova |
 | "It's a sumptuous production, but not really a convincing one. On the other hand, there doesn't seem to be a weak dancer in the whole company. Even so, it's safe to say that Hallberg was, hands down, the most affecting thing on that stage" |
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 | Black Tuesday, Company B, Duets, Sinatra Suite, Known by Heart, In the Upper Room, Seven Sonatas |
11/11/11 |
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American Ballet Theatre (ABT) |
USA, New York, City Center |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Bond, Copeland, Curry, Gomes, Herrera, Krauchenka, Murphy, Part, Phillips, Radetsky, Scott, Shevchenko, Tamm |
 | "The week-long fall repertory season plows ahead, at an inexorable pace (through Sunday). All one can say is that a week is not long enough to enjoy the company of these dancers." |
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 | The Garden of Villandry, Private Light, Sinatra Suite, In the Upper Room |
09/11/11 |
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American Ballet Theatre (ABT) |
USA, New York, City Center |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Boylston, Bragado-Young, Cojocaru, Kent, Messmer, Murphy, Paris, Stearns, Zhurbin, Voltolini |
 | "Unfortunately, at least to my eye, the ballet (Private Light) was a disappointment. It turned out to be a study in theatrics and atmosphere, à la Nacho Duato or Mauro Bigonzetti..." |
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 | Swayambhu |
04/11/11 |
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Shantala Shivalingappa |
USA, New York, Skirball Center |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Shivalingappa |
 | "she seems able to perform feats of shape-shifting which alter one’s perception of her from moment to moment." |
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 | Fall for Dance: Something Different |
04/11/11 |
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Royal Ballet (RB) |
USA, New York, City Center |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: McRae |
 | "He may not be the world’s most virtuosic tapper, but what a showman." |
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 | Fall for Dance: Gemini |
04/11/11 |
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Australian Ballet (AB) |
USA, New York, City Center |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Hawkes, Jones |
 | "The Aussies are wonderfully unmannered performers." |
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 | Fall for Dance Festival: Rogues |
04/11/11 |
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Trisha Brown Dance Company |
USA, New York, City Center |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | "The duet was not too drawn out, not too repetitive, with just the right touch of humor and intelligence." |
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 | fountain |
11/10/11 |
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Jeremy Wade |
USA, New York, Danspace Project |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | "This feel-good moment had no discernible connection to what had come before. Was it meant to be taken at face value? I’m not sure. The audience embarrassedly complied. So much effort and intensity, and all for this? Further proof (as if any were needed) that content, ideas, and form do matter." |
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 | Liturgy, Square Dance, La Sonambula, Jewels |
11/10/11 |
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New York City Ballet (NYCB) |
USA, New York, David H. Koch Theater |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Alberda, Askegard, Fairchild M, Huxley, King, Mearns, Ringer, Schumacher, Somogyi, Taylor, Whelan |
 | "...a typical Askegard performance: relaxed, gentlemanly, secure. He was wholly unperturbed by Mearns’ stormy, full-out dancing; with him, she could be herself. At the end of the ballet, as kneeled to kiss her hand, the two of them shared a quiet, almost teary glance. As Balanchine famously said, when you put two people together onstage, there’s always a story." |
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 | Dancing Henry V |
11/10/11 |
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David Gordon |
USA, New Jersey, Montclair State University |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Graham, La Fosse, Setterfield |
 | "And yet, for all this plain-spokenness, there were sudden moments of incredible poetry. Three of them stick in my mind...." |
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 | Tool is Loot |
04/10/11 |
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Jennifer Lacey and Wally Cardona |
USA, New York, Kitchen |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Cardona, Lacey |
 | "“Tool is Loot” is not a perfect piece; it fails in several regards, especially as a collaboration, but, when Cardona is onstage, it is never less than interesting." |
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 | Oda al Amor, Caminando |
04/10/11 |
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Noche Flamenca |
USA, New York, Joyce Theater |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Barrio, Granados, Jimenez |
 | "Granados is the least technical of the three dancers, and yet, because of his sheer joie de vivre, he got the loudest applause at the performance I attended." |
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 | Episodes |
04/10/11 |
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New York City Ballet (NYCB) |
USA, New York, David H. Koch Theater |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | "The feeling is one of impenetrability (“what are they doing?!”) combined with the recognition that something very specific and loaded with meaning is going on." |
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 | Ocean's Kingdom, Union Jack |
29/09/11 |
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New York City Ballet (NYCB) |
USA, New York, David H. Koch Theater |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Fairchild R, Hall, LeCrone, Mearns, Pazcoguin, Ramasar, Taylor, Ulbricht, Whelan |
 | "The second ballet on the program was Balanchine’s Union Jack. It was as if a fog had lifted. What vitality! The patterns shifting across the stage, the witty steps, the sense of fun." |
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 | Anna Karenina, The Little Humpbacked Horse |
15/07/11 |
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Mariinsky Ballet (Kirov) |
USA, New York, Lincoln Center |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Kondaurova, Lopatkina, Obraztsova, Ponomarev, Shklyarov, Smekalov, Tkachenko, Yermakov, Dunaev, Surkov |
 | "One of the two - The Little Humpbacked Horse - is a far superior work: whimsical, lively, exploding with ideas, deeply humane, and filled with love for Russian folklore, its fantastical cast of characters ..." |
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 | Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake |
06/07/11 |
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American Ballet Theatre (ABT) |
USA, New York, Metropolitan Opera House |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Abrera, Boylston, Gomes, Lane, Part, Semionova, Simkin, Stearns |
 | "Everyone complains about the shortcomings of ABT’s “Swan Lake,” but I have to say it: they pale in comparison to the inadequacy of the company’s “Sleeping Beauty.”.....We need a Lilac Fairy to save us—perhaps Christopher Wheeldon or Alexei Ratmansky might be willing to weave some magic?" |
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 | Swan Lake |
02/07/11 |
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American Ballet Theatre (ABT) |
USA, New York, Metropolitan Opera House |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Carreno, De Luz, Hallberg, Kent, Murphy |
 | "What makes Carreño’s smile so special was that it always seems genuine, and suffused with a kind of love. This love was very much in evidence in “Swan Lake.”" |
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 | The Game, Love Song Solos, Chamber Dances |
25/06/11 |
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New Chamber Ballet |
USA, New York, City Center |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Blacker, Brown, Deavenport, Gibson, North, Toole |
 | "They lead the viewer through the choreography, pointing the way with intelligence and grace." |
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 | Cinderella |
25/06/11 |
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American Ballet Theatre (ABT) |
USA, New York, Metropolitan Opera House |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Hallberg, Murphy, Reyes |
 | "Instead of clear mime or well-constructed episodes leading up to the main event–the ball–we get busy to-ing and fro-ing, the meaning of which the audience is left to fill in from memory." |
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 | La Sylphide, Napoli Act III |
21/06/11 |
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Royal Danish Ballet (RDB) |
USA, New York, David H. Koch Theater |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Bojesen, Botcher, Englund, Grinder, Holst, Kupinski, Lendorf, Ostergaard, Staeger |
 | "The Danes have a wonderful facility for mime; one can practically hear the characters’ “voices”, and one knows exactly what they are thinking." |
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 | Coppelia |
21/06/11 |
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American Ballet Theatre (ABT) |
USA, New York, Metropolitan Opera House |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Corella, Hammoudi, Herrera, Osipova, Seo, Simkin, Teuscher, Zhurbin |
 | "But Osipova’s Swanilda came across, at least to me, as petulant, charmless, and over-emphatic; her over-enunciated mime felt like a person who speaks at the top of his voice in order to be understood by a crowd of the hearing-impaired." |
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 | The Lesson, Bournonville Variations, Lost on Slow, Napoli act III |
17/06/11 |
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Royal Danish Ballet (RDB) |
USA, New York, David H. Koch Theater |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Kobborg, Lo Sardo |
 | "At times (Napoli), it seems that they barely touch the ground; no sooner are they down but they’re up again; as the critic Kitty Cunningham wrote, 'everything feels up, even when it’s down.'" |
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 | Coppelia |
17/06/11 |
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American Ballet Theatre (ABT) |
USA, New York, Metropolitan Opera House |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Bond, Reyes, Vasiliev |
 | "Things may yet improve with subsequent casts (Coppélia runs through June 20), but the entire spirit of the ballet feels off, and it has a lot to do with two things that are often overlooked at the ballet, music and mime." |
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 | There is a Time, Chrysalis, The Emperor Jones |
14/06/11 |
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Limon Dance Company |
USA, New York, John Jay College Theatre |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Boumaila, Comedy, Foote, Soto |
 | "It takes a moment or two to fully surrender to Limón’s dances; they emanate a deep sincerity, an earnestness that can be jarring in our super-stylized, mixed-media age,..." |
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 | Roof Piece |
14/06/11 |
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Trisha Brown Dance Company |
USA, New York, High Line West 13th Street |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | "It was thrilling, at least at first...... But the effect wore off quickly." |
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 | Dancers Choice: Apollo, Rubies, Liturgy excerpt, Agon excerpt, La Stravaganza excerpt |
14/06/11 |
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New York City Ballet (NYCB) |
USA, New York, David H. Koch Theater |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Adams, Fairchild R, Hall, Smith |
 | "Adams’ performance was luminous and quiet, without Whelan’s incredible insight and spiritual dimension, but lovely nonetheless. (Liturgy)" |
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 | The Bright Stream |
10/06/11 |
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American Ballet Theatre (ABT) |
USA, New York, Metropolitan Opera House |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Barbee, Copeland, Gomes, Hallberg, Herrera, Murphy, Salstein, Van Hamel |
 | "For two hours, I (and many others) had been reduced to a state of child-like delight which seemed to spill over to the dancers onstage, though, it must be said, they were working much, much harder. Even so, I think I can safely say that I have never seen the dancers at American Ballet Theatre perform with such a sense of happiness and presence in the moment ..." |
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 | La Magia de la Danza: Coppelia, Don Quixote |
09/06/11 |
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Ballet Nacional de Cuba |
USA, New York, Brooklyn Academy of Music |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Gounod, Morejon, Valdes, Virelles |
 | "Don’t get me wrong, I love the dancers’ warmth and general lack of affectation - they don’t treat ballet like it is some sort of effete pursuit for delicate orchids - but a line should be drawn somewhere, and it seems to me that the blatant batting of eyelashes, shaking of shoulders, and flirtatious smiles are demeaning to the artists." |
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 | Lady of the Camellias |
05/06/11 |
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American Ballet Theatre (ABT) |
USA, New York, Metropolitan Opera House |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Gomes, Hammoudi, Messmer, Vishneva |
 | "It was hard to tell with all the fussiness and the petticoats, but the ballet seemed under-rehearsed, with labored partnering and spacing issues popping up here and there." |
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 | Jewels, 2 and 3 Part Inventions, Mercurial Manoeuvres |
05/06/11 |
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New York City Ballet (NYCB) |
USA, New York, David H. Koch Theater |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Angle J, Angle T, Applebaum, Fairchild M, Finlay, Garcia, La Cour, Laracey, Lovette, Lowery, Mearns, Peck, Pereira, Thew, Whelan |
 | "Sara Mearns.....is completely in the moment and full of imagination. There are chapters and chapters of stories in her phrasing, and no-one has a more pliant back, or carves out the space around her as incisively in attitude." |
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 | Allegro Brillante, Who Cares, Les Gentilhommes, Circus Polka |
05/06/11 |
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School of American Ballet |
USA, New York, Peter Jay Sharp Theater |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Bachman, Dutton-O92Hara, Farley, Walker |
 | "On the night I attended, June 4, the dancing was electric, unmannered (with one exception), fresh, and incisive. How good these dancers are already!" |
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 | Giselle |
31/05/11 |
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American Ballet Theatre (ABT) |
USA, New York, Metropolitan Opera House |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Bond, Boylston, Cojocaru, Gomes, Hallberg, Lane, Matthews, Part, Saveliev, Seo, Simkin, Vishneva |
 | "Cojocaru was less perfect, less technically awe-inspiring—sometimes she was behind the music, her turns were less fast, etc–but her interpretation of the role was so pure, so honest, and had such sweetness, that its effect seemed magnified a hundred-fold." |
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 | Shadowplay, Thirteen Diversions, Troika, Dumbarton |
28/05/11 |
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American Ballet Theatre (ABT) |
USA, New York, Metropolitan Opera House |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Bond, Boylston, Bragado-Young, Copeland, Doble, Forster, Gomes, Hammoudi, Hoven, Lane, Matthews, Paris, Radetsky, Reyes, Salstein, Seo, Simkin, Stearns, Underwood |
 | "Wheeldon’s piece, “Thirteen Diversions,” had no such loose ends. It was the most formal, most polished, and most fully realized work of the evening,..." |
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 | Divertimento No. 15, Seven Deadly Sins, Le Tombeau de Couperin, Vienna Waltzes, Episodes, Apollo, West Side Story |
28/05/11 |
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New York City Ballet (NYCB) |
USA, New York, David H. Koch Theater |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Applebaum, Finlay, Huxley, Laracey, Lovette, Mearns, Peck, Reichlen, Taylor |
 | "the company is in great form; there have been noticeably fewer tired performances, and each night offers a compelling reason to see this or that program, this or that cast." |
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 | Don Quixote |
23/05/11 |
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American Ballet Theatre (ABT) |
USA, New York, Metropolitan Opera House |
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Reviewer: Marina Harss |
The Faster Times Homepage |
 | Dancers: Carreno, Cojocaru, Hallberg, Semionova |
 | "Neither of these two ballerinas was my ideal - I like my Kitri a bit saucier—though both were, as one might expect, very very good. Cojocaru’s interpretation was perhaps the stranger of the two, and the most uneven, though on some level also the more personal and certainly the more exciting." |
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