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San Francisco Ballet - Margaret Jenkins and Paul Dresher
Entwined in Thread
San Francisco
By Janice Berman
    "What’s been different for Dresher is that, because of scheduling considerations, he composed the music after the dance was choreographed, working from about a dozen musical sketches. “I brought in those sketches, and the dancers were amazingly responsive to the music and its relationship to their movement,”
http://www.sfcv.org/index.php

Mariinsky (kirov) Ballet and Bolshoi Ballet
Cold war brews in Russian ballet
The Bolshoi ballet has been rocked by rows between traditionalists and modernisers. Now the same tensions look set to waylay the Kirov
London
by Judith Mackrell
    "Russian ballet watchers are in for a good spring with the Kirov's tour. But a depressing future awaits if the factions in St Petersburg and Moscow start to harden and a cold war of dance ideologies starts to brew."
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/theatre/2008/04/next_month_the_kirov_tours.html

Lydia Lopokova Book
The firebird of Gordon Square
Kathryn Hughes applauds Judith Mackrell's biography of the Russian dancer who appalled Bloomsbury's snobs and stole Keynes's heart, The Bloomsbury Ballerina
Bloomsbury Ballerina: Lydia Lopokova, Imperial Dancer and Mrs John Maynard Keynes
by Judith Mackrell Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 404pp, £25
London
by Kathryn Hughes
    "Judith Mackrell, who is the Guardian's dance critic, is brilliant at making the reader see why Lopokova matters. For, in truth, the stills that remain of her in role do not tell a particularly exciting story. She displays none of the finicky grace that we expect of our classic ballerinas. Rather, her slightly stocky torso sits on top of legs that look useful rather than naturally elegant."
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2274731,00.html

REVIEW:   Pacific Northwest Ballet
PNB dancers stretch their funny bones
Laugh Out Loud Festival: Spanish Dance, Take Five ... More or Less, Variations Serieuses, Lost Language of the Flight Attendant
USA, Seattle, McCaw Hall
Dancers: Brunson, Korbes, Nadeau, Pantastico, Porretta, Rausch, Gilbreath, Orza
by Rm Campbell
    "It is vastly amusing, often sexy, full of wit. Stroman is known for her energy and pizazz on stage. "Take Five" falls safely within those borders, with telling movement from the first phrase to the last."
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

REVIEW:   Pacific Northwest Ballet
PNB's 'Laugh Out Loud' festival shows that ballet dancers can be funny
Laugh Out Loud Festival: Spanish Dance, Take Five ... More or Less, Variations Serieuses, Lost Language of the Flight Attendant
USA, Seattle, McCaw Hall
Dancers: Eames, Gilbreath, Nadeau, Neubert, Porretta
by Moira Macdonald
    "Though beautifully choreographed, "Variations Serieuses" is as much a theater piece as a dance work; its crowded stage was filled with intricate personalities. By contrast, Susan Stroman's world premiere jazz ballet "Take Five ... More or Less" was pure dance, and pure joy."
Seattle Times

REVIEW:   Pacific Northwest Ballet
PNB's Spring Festival Made Us Laugh Out Loud
Laugh Out Loud Festival: Spanish Dance, Take Five ... More or Less, Variations Serieuses, Lost Language of the Flight Attendant
USA, Seattle, McCaw Hall
Dancers: Brunson, Nadeau, Pantastico, Rausch
by Courtney Nash
    "The fest, another genre-busting divergence from the norm by director Peter Boal, aims to celebrate all that is wacky and funny about ballet. They mean funny "ha-ha" but there's some funny "strange" thrown in as well."
Seattlest.com

REVIEW:   Cloud Gate Dance Theatre
Moon Water
UK, London, Sadler's Wells
by Mark Monahan
    "...how gorgeously it honours both sides. Performed to solo cello works by Bach, with hummingbird delicacy and coiled, cat-like grace and precision, it begins as it ends - almost imperceptibly."
Daily Telegraph

REVIEW:   Cloud Gate Dance Theatre
Moon Water
UK, London, Sadler's Wells
Dancers: Chang-ning, Ming-yuan, Pei-hua
by Gavin Roebuck
    "The 20 dancers delivered a spellbinding, spiritual performance..."
The Stage

Miami City Ballet - Jennifer Kronenberg, Edward Villella
Ballet star Jennifer Kronenberg comes to Tilles
By Apollinaire Scherr
    "Kronenberg learned early that "part of being a good dancer is being a chameleon - changing physically, theatrically and psychologically with each role," she says."
Newsday

REVIEW:   Armitage Gone Dance
Armitage troupe blends genres with authority
Ligeti Essays, Time is the echo of an axe within a wood
USA, Chicago, Dance Center
Dancers: Chiaverini, Isaac, Kelly
by Sid Smith
    "Karole Armitage says she was attracted to composer Gyorgy Ligeti "not only for his mixture of classicism and innovation," but also for his deep humanity. She might have been addressing the beauties of her own choreography..."
Chicago Tribune

REVIEW:   Black Grace
Black Grace blends cultures beautifully
Minoi, Minoi 2, Deep Far, Method, War Brides, Human Language
USA, Boston, Tsai Performance Center
by Karen Campbell
    "It's just this sublime mixture that makes the 13-year-old troupe, which is New Zealand's leading dance company, such a powerful, memorable draw."
The Boston Globe

REVIEW:   Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
PBT's 'Alice in Wonderland' brims with delightful scenes
Alice in Wonderland
USA, Pittsburgh, Benedum Center
Dancers: Abougaliev, Bandy, Choi, Erickson, Halloran, Ingley, Kappes, Kochis, Modrono, Obuzor, Ogasawara, Rendall-Jackson, Schwaner, Takeuchi, Trapp, Tsuji, Sbrizzi, Suk-Choi
by Jane Vranish
    "Amid all the seeming chaotic adventures, there was still a sense of control from Deane, plus large doses of his classically dry British wit. His "Alice" is fun for all, a large ballet feast where the audiences can pick and choose from an array of delectable options. But the end result is simply to enjoy."
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

REVIEW:   Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
Vibrant 'Alice' brings Wonderland to life
Alice in Wonderland
USA, Pittsburgh, Benedum Center
Dancers: Erickson, Hadala, Modrono, Obuzor, Silva, Takeuchi, Vickery
by Mark Kanny
    "Deane's approach is admirably old-fashioned in its respect for the story being set. All the fantasy of Alice's Wonderland is presented on stage with utter naturalness, just as Carroll did. No wonder the audience erupted with cheering and applause after the performance."
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

American Ballet Theatre II and American Dance Institute
Bjerknes' legacy in ABT II visit
Washington
By Jean Battey Lewis
    ""Historically, men have dominated the field of choreography, so, yes, it was a conscious decision to showcase female choreographers," says Kevin McKenzie, director of American Ballet Theatre."
Washington Times

REVIEW:   Michelle Ellsworth
Establishing Her Religion, Both Onstage and Online
Tifprabap.org
USA, New York, Dance Theater Workshop
Dancers: Tifprabap.org
by Claudia La Rocco
    "It was a great pleasure to return home from Dance Theater Workshop on Wednesday and discover that Tifprabap.org exists online and not just as the title of Michelle Ellsworth’s completely, winningly ridiculous new solo. Naturally, the Web site immediately crashed my computer’s browser."
New York Times

REVIEW:   Jillian Pena
Mothership
USA, New York, Dance Theater Workshop
Dancers: Brooks, Pyle
by Claudia La Rocco
    "But while individual elements shone, Ms. Peña’s “Mothership” was a bit too self-consciously self-conscious to take off."
New York Times

REVIEW:   Doorknob Company
Here’s Looking at You and You, Babe: Taking a Whack at Female Stereotypes
Object Object: Julia Julia Julia Child
USA, New York, Dance New Amsterdam
Dancers: Gillen, Motley
by Claudia La Rocco
    "...But at no point did it seem that either of these Juilliard graduates was responding to any sort of firsthand oppression or degradation."
New York Times

REVIEW:   Nicole Wolcott
Here’s Looking at You and You, Babe: Taking a Whack at Female Stereotypes
Object Object: Dramarama!
USA, New York, Dance New Amsterdam
Dancers: Wolcott
by Claudia La Rocco
    "Ms. Wolcott has a gift for organizing space, but her sophisticated comedic abilities are probably her strongest suit..."
New York Times

REVIEW:   Vanessa Justice
Here’s Looking at You and You, Babe: Taking a Whack at Female Stereotypes
Object Object: Noise’sNoise
USA, New York, Dance New Amsterdam
Dancers: Justice
by Claudia La Rocco
    "But Ms. Justice didn’t push this evocative construct very far, instead setting unremarkable phrases against a sound installation."
New York Times

REVIEW:   Davis Robertson and Helen Heineman
2 Choreographers Playing With Fire, Wind and Water
Badlands, Replacements, Elemental Moves, Urban Overalls, Flux
USA, New York, Joyce SoHo
Dancers: Buzzbee, Danieli, Ingram, Kirker, Mertz, Prescott, Thomas
by Gia Kourlas
    "But in the end “Flux” is a choppy exercise and emblematic of the real problem in contemporary ballet: dancers, with all the drive and skill in the world, but nowhere to let it all out."
The New York Times

REVIEW:   Ballet British Columbia
Peter Pan
Canada, Vancouver, Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Dancers: Kilpatrick, Wallace, Grobbelaar, Smith
by Deborah Myers
    "It is, first of all, a very dancey story ballet... it's a real ballet, with well-crafted, imaginatively shaped and phrased ensemble dances, pas de deux and solos."
Vancouver Sun

REVIEW:   Project Bandaloop
Project Bandaloop comes inside for a while, with mixed results
Interiors: Phase One, Thick, Tango Vals, Inverted Duets, One of Each, Men's Duet, Fado
USA, San Francisco, Cowell Theatre
Dancers: Baer, Estrella, Lincoln, Seeber, Stuver
by Rachel Howard
    " Aerial dance is a popular genre with deep roots in the Bay Area. For Bandaloop's 17 years, Rudolph has been at the forefront, and this show's opening parade of short pieces proves why."
San Francisco Chronicle

REVIEW:   Tracey Norman
Dancer has chutzpah but needs time to grow
Waving From the Inside and Gifted, Grey's Anatomy, Gifted, Are We There Yet, Insomnia, Rent
Canada, Toronto, Winchester Street Theatre
Dancers: Alfonso, Dell, Despres, Franklin, Fushell, Harper, Norman
by Susan Walker
    "Norman oozes character skills and is a sprightly, if not original, athletic performer. She has carved a niche as a stand-up comedy dancer. Trouble is, the scripts are terribly jejune, and most of the dances look like student work."
Toronto Star

REVIEW:   Washington Ballet
High Lonesome, The Four Temperaments, Fives
USA, Washington, Harman Center for the Arts
Dancers: Bland, Coleman, Du, Gaithner, Hallberg, Jackson, Jordan, Mahoney-Du, Nelson, Onuki, Payette, Rose, Urgelles
by Oksana Khadarina
    "The (High Lonesome) choreography is a vibrant mix of street dance, swing, and contemporary ballet. It’s straightforward, dynamic and highly entertaining."
Ballet.co Magazine


The May 2008 Ballet.co Magazine Preview is updated also.

REVIEW:   Random Dance Company
McGregor’s fascination with the brain verges on nerdy, but it creates raw physical thrills
Entity
UK, London, Shaw Theatre
Dancers: Nguyen, Wright
by David Jays
    'Entity develops into a great sexy beast of a piece � it’s like being licked by a panther’s juicy, rasping tongue while you’re revising maths.'
The Sunday Times

REVIEW:   Random Dance Company
The knee-bone's connected to the ... but maybe not
Entity
UK, London, Sadler's Wells
by Jenny Gilbert
    'Limbs snap and tense, moving through positions with a speed that can only mean they are operating on blind motor impulse, bypassing the brain...Fetishistic, ungainly, spasmic... this is certainly dance that doesn't look like anyone else's. You might say it looks like nothing on earth.'
Independent

REVIEW:   ZooNation
Inner city has all the right moves
Into the Hoods
UK, London, Novello Theatre
Dancers: Bonner, Davies, Hawkins, Lecointe
by Luke Jennings
    'What drives this show is the way that characters such as Teneisha Bonner's Spinderella..emerge from the ensemble...The piece's star is undoubtedly Bonner, whose fluent line compels the attention whenever she's on stage.'
The Observer

Mariinsky (Kirov) in Birmingham
As a preview to their visit next month, the Birmingham Post’s Susan Turner watches the Kirov in rehearsal at their home studio in St. Petersburg:
‘Male and female dancers trickle in for the next class, the only sound the swishing nylon of their huge padded warming boots. Everyone has a shoulder bag bulging with extra layers, a towel, a foam floor mat. Surprisingly, no one carries bottled water.’
Birmingham Post

Preview: San Francisco Ballet
Rachel Howard in the Times on SFB’s forthcoming programme of new works:
‘The New Works Festival…will present 10 world premieres by 10 wildly different choreographers, from the modern-dance master Mark Morris to classical ballet’s great hope, Christopher Wheeldon. It will do that over just three nights — a flash flood of what’s happening in ballet now.’
NY Times

Endpiece…
Speaks for itself - you can get a degree in stripping, according to the Scottish Sunday Mail:
BURLESQUE dancer Sarah Vernon is studying to become a doctor - of stripping. Sarah has penned a 90,000- word sociology Phd paper on the subject. She interviewed around 200 lap dancers, burlesque artists and strippers for her research. Sarah, 32, examined the origins of strip-tease and its impact on society for her paper titled Striptease and Power.
Sunday Mail

REVIEW:   Laila Diallo and Melanie Demers
Sense of Self
UK, London, The Place
Dancers: Demers, Diallo
by Ann Williams
    "The performance ended on a high note, with balloons, paper hats and the celebratory sound of exploding fireworks..."
Ballet.co Magazine

REVIEW:   Birmingham Royal Ballet
Evening of Music and Dance: Giselle pdd, Card Game excerpt, Spring Waters pdd, Concerto extract, Raymonda Act III extract, Voices of Spring pdd, Tchaikovsky pas de deux
UK, Birmingham, Symphony Hall
Dancers: Antonucci, Baselga, Bond, Caley, Cummerfield, Hirata, Lawrence, Purkiss, Roberts, Sakuma, Zhao
by Terry Amos
    "The annual “Evening of Music and Dance” at Symphony Hall has become a highlight of BRB’s season and this year’s event was no exception."
Ballet.co Magazine

REVIEW:   Nederlands Dance Theatre
Silent Screen, Toss of a Dice
UK, Salford, Lowry
by Janet McNulty
    "Needless to say that all the dancers were wonderful. ...the two pieces complemented each other and made for a seemless evening of scintillating and mesmerising dance."
Ballet.co Magazine

REVIEW:   Cloud Gate Dance Theatre
Moon Water
UK, London, Sadler's Wells
by Diandri
    "...the after-show conversations going on around me seemed to focus on the lack of contrast & an overlong running time (which is why I think sitting closer to the stage is crucial as the effects don't hit the back of the circle)."
Ballet.co Postings Review

Also added are two new galleries courtesy of Ilia Chkolnik:

Maurice Bejart Appreciation
Prix de Lausanne 2008 - Finals

The May 2008 Ballet.co Magazine Preview is updated also.

Tamara Rojo on Spanish culture
Tamara Rojo speaks her mind about Spain’s attitude to culture, particularly regarding dance , in her native Spain. From the Guardian:
‘..the real problem is lack of creativity and the lack of support from authorities makes dance distant from most people." ‘
Guardian

REVIEW:   American Ballet Theater Studio Company
A Light Undimmed by Death
Don Quixote pas-de-deux, Allegro Brillante, Barbara, Cake
USA, Washington, American Dance Institute studio
Dancers: Gorak, Hernandez, Park, Thompson
by Sarah Kaufman
    '..it wasn't the technical showpieces that left the strongest impression. That honor went to a quirky, knowing and understated piece.. "Barbara," the premiere by (Aszure) Barton, was well paced and strikingly simple.'
Washington Post

REVIEW:   Nederlands Dance Theatre
Silent Screen, Toss of a Dice
UK, Manchester, Lowry
Dancers: Cayla, Lightfood
by Robert Beale
    '..it was easy to forget just how extraordinary (the dancers) are, because the smoothness and assurance of the impossible things they do make it all look so easy.'
Manchester Evening News

REVIEW:   Pacific Northwest Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet's spring festival has its last laugh
Laugh Out Loud Festival: Shindig, Ordinary Festivals, The Dying Swan, TAKE FIVE...More or Less
USA, Seattle, McCaw Hall
Dancers: Brunson, Eames, Grant, Nadeau, Nakamura, Pantastico, Porretta, Postlewaite, Weese, Wevers
by Rm Campbell
    'Olivier Wevers is in the early stages of a second career as a choreographer... And as his sense of timing rarely fails him as a dancer, it rarely fails him as a choreographer..."Shindig"... has flair, satire and moments of beauty and is a showcase for PNB dancers'
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

REVIEW:   Pacific Northwest Ballet
The B-Sides of PNB's Laugh Out Loud Festival
Laugh Out Loud Festival: Shindig, Ordinary Festivals, The Dying Swan, TAKE FIVE...More or Less
USA, Seattle, McCaw Hall
Dancers: Brunson, Eames, Imler, Nakamura, Postlewaite, Grant
by MvB
    '(In 'Shindig')Wevers has fun with a bumblebee leg extension for Chalnessa Eames... but the most giddily jubilant part is a dance-for-the-fun-of-it pas de deux for Lucien Postlewaite and Kaori Nakamura'
Seattlest

REVIEW:   Pennsylvania Ballet
Much to enjoy in this 'Coppélia'
Coppelia
USA, Philadelphia, Merriam Theater
Dancers: Chamberlain, Gribler, Hench, Lorenzo, Rowe
by Merilyn Jackson
    'If Chamberlain (Swanilda) charms, Hench (Franz) enchants. His profile presents the perfect fairy tale character, somewhere between village lad and prince charming. But it was his air-filled ballonnés and beating feet that had the audience gasping'
Philadelphia Inquirer

Viviana Durante/’Fram’
Two reviews of Tony Harrison’s play ‘Fram’ at the National, which includes a brief ballet performed by the much-missed former RB principal Viviana Durante. From The Stage::
‘…ballerina Viviana Durante is a perfect, ethereal Aurora’
The Stage

From Bloomberg:
‘There's an Arctic solo ballet, danced by Viviana Durante…’
Bloomberg

______________________________________________________________

The Mariinsky (Kirov) season in New York
Alistair Macaulay in the NY times takes a critical look back at the Kirov’s season at City Center:
‘When I first saw this company in 1982, I worshiped just the way its female corps de ballet stood to take curtain calls, stretching a magnificent line from one raised arm down through one back-stretched leg. Though I don’t quite feel that way about those dancers’ present-day successors, they remind me, as intervening generations did not, how I felt then, and gave me hope that I will do so again.’
NY Times

…..and a similar (uncredited) ‘lookback’ from the International Herald Tribune:

‘For Kirov purists, (the Forsythe) ballets may not have been the favorites. But the dancers seemed thrilled to be performing them, as if suddenly jolted with an electric charge. "In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated," a clear crowd-pleaser, featured Tereshkina in the lead role as well as the gorgeous, towering redhead Ekaterina Kondaurova. The latter's dramatic leg extension might have seemed showy in classical ballet but was perfectly suited to this work.’
Herald Tribune

REVIEW:   Mariinsky Ballet
From Russia with style
Balanchine Program: Serenade, Rubies, Ballet Imperial
USA, New York, City Center
Dancers: Fadeev, Kolb, Kondaurova, Korsuntsev, Novikova, Osmolkina, Somova
by Hilary Ostlere
    '.. the all-Balanchine programme that concluded the Kirov’s visit to the US proved that the company could dance his works as well as and sometimes better than, currently, New York City Ballet...'
Financial Times

REVIEW:   Oregon Ballet Theatre
'America,' rich in story
America: Through Eden's Gate, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Just
USA, Portland, Newmark Theatre
Dancers: Drake, Martuza, Mueller, Roper, Sultanov, Simcoe
by Catherine Thomas
    (In 'Slaughter') Martuza is all hips and feline sizzle, and Drake as her square-jawed paramour pours himself into the climactic tap dance sequence with equal parts skill and pristine comic timing. Crucially, they have chemistry to burn...'
Oregonian

Mark Morris dances Dido
This brief report from LAist.com is a preview for the Mark Morris company’s presentation of Purcell’s ‘Dido & Aneas ’ in LA next week, which Morris will be conducting, The piece includes a clip of Morris dancing the role of Dido, presumably some years ago - he’s stunning:
http://laist.com/2008/04/21/mark_morris_dan.php

Livingstone pledges expansion of cultural events in London
For London Ballet.Co-ers:: Ken promises more for the arts in London if we vote him in as Mayor:
‘Speaking at the launch of his culture manifesto, ahead of the mayoral elections on May 1, Livingstone said he wanted to continue a policy of encouraging the multiculturalism and diversity that have made London the "most culturally exciting place on earth".’
Guardian

REVIEW:   Random Dance Company
Feet of endurance
Entity
UK, London, Sadler's Wells
by Giannandrea Poesio
    '.. the dancers go through what seems to be a humanly unsustainable task, never slacking or losing momentum...McGregor has clearly demonstrated his ability to create theatrically vibrant works, but this time he has gone more than a step or two too far.'
The Spectator

Brandstrup’s new work for the Royal Ballet
Ismene Brown in the Telegraph talks to Kim Brandstrup about ‘Rushes - Fragments of a Lost Story’, his new ballet for the RB, opening tonight at Covent Garde as part of a triple bill, and to Carlos Acosta, its star (alternating the role with Thomas Whitehead):
‘With Yanowsky (who withdrew when she became pregnant), Acosta instinctively expressed a kind of awe, says the choreographer, whereas with Morera there emerges "a kind of roughness", a "kind of complicity", rewriting the relationship's emotional dynamic. The Whitehead-Rojo/Benjamin casting interestingly pitted two strong women with a more vulnerable man.’
Telegraph

….and Reuters talks Brandstrup about his musical choice for ‘Rushes’:

‘ “I was reading an article ... and in a footnote it said that there were these scores that Prokofiev had written in the 30s for films that had never been used because the films were either abandoned or banned by Stalin," Brandstrup said.’
Reuters

I posted the following item wrongly yesterday as a non-review piece. Here it is in the correct database format::

REVIEW: Mariinsky Ballet
Kirov: Traditional Yet Reworkable
La Bayadere, Chopiniana, Paquita, Serenade, Etudes, Ballet Imperial
USA, New York, City Center
Dancers: Fadeev, Ivanchenko, Kondaurova, Korsuntsev, Sarafanov, Somova, Tereshkina, Vishneva
by Alastair Macaulay
'When I first saw this company in 1982, I worshiped just the way its female corps de ballet stood to take curtain calls, stretching a magnificent line from one raised arm down through one back-stretched leg.....they remind me, as intervening generations did not, how I felt then, and gave me hope that I will do so again.'
New York Times

REVIEW:   The Sokolow Theater-Dance Ensemble
Works Not New, but Right for the Time
Steps of Silence, Scenes from the Music of Charles Ives, Footsteps to Heaven, Covered Covenant, Souffle d'Air
USA, New York, Merce Cunningham Studio
Dancers: Bellerose, Birnbaum, Bunker, Todescu, Zaragoza
by Jennifer Dunning
    '(Anna Sokolow) is lucky that longtime company members are knowledgeable and passionate enough to try to keep her work alive. And so it was possible, in a performance by Jim May’s Sokolow Theater/Dance Ensemble....to savor how fresh her dance can look today'
The New York Times

Jennifer Fournier, National Ballet of Canada
Natasha Gauthier of the Ottawa Citizen talks to NBoC principal Jennifer Fournier about her life and her career as she approaches retirement:
‘ "Forty is the age when most ballerinas think about retiring," says Fournier, who is 38. "I'm maybe on the early side. But it's something I was thinking about for some time, especially after I came back from having my second child." ‘
Canada.com

Los Angeles Ballet
The LA Times talks to the ADs of the two-year-old Los Angeles Ballet as they rehears their forthcoming production of ‘The Evangelist’:
‘Created by choreographer Lar Lubovitch …"The Evangelist" was the critical highlight of Lubovitch's ballet "American Gesture" at its 1992 Kennedy Center premiere. A meld of classical form and Grahamesque force, it depicts a male penitent's struggle toward redemption, guided by a powerful female figure.’
LA Times

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
The Belgian choreographer visited the Shaolin Monks in China to work on a dance project he is creating for them. Judith Mackrell in the Guardian introduces extracts from a diary he is keeping to record the experience:
‘I made two visits to the temple last summer and it had been a big surprise. It was very beautiful, set on a mountainside, but it wasn't exactly as I had imagined. The monks were talking on mobile phones, they were allowed pop music and an internet connection was close by…’
Guardian

Carlos Acosta film
Carlos’ autobiography is to be filmed with the dancer playing himself . This brief report is from Variety:
‘Acosta, now 35, will play himself in the movie, which will be filmed in Spanish and English, and will shoot in Cuba.’
Variety

REVIEW:   San Francisco Ballet
What Audiences Haven’t Seen Before
New Works Festival: Fusion, Within the Golden Hour, Changes
USA, San Francisco, War Memorial Opera House
Dancers: Elizabeth, Kochetkova, Magierek, Orza, Stewart, Van Patten, Waldo
by Alastair Macaulay
    "Because Mr. Possokhov and Mr. Wheeldon have evidently enriched their own lexicons and capabilities, I ought to applaud them here more than I do. For the same reason, perhaps I should applaud Mr. Taylor less than I do them, for there’s hardly a jump or lift or pose in his new 'Changes' that he hasn’t often shown before."
New York Times

REVIEW:   San Francisco Ballet
S.F. Ballet's New Works Festival doesn't take chances
New Works Festival: Fusion, Within the Golden Hour, Changes
USA, San Francisco, War Memorial Opera House
by Ann Murphy
    Within the Golden Hour: "The result was sexy whimsy and novel and mesmerizing male/female motifs that seemed to talk back to Possokhov. His vocabulary included Graham floor positions, Japanese flexions, decorous Via Veneto lounge dancing, box steps and waltzes, but like Possokhov, he broke no real new aesthetic ground. The cast danced joyously."
Inside Bay Area

REVIEW:   San Francisco Ballet
Possokhov, Wheeldon, Taylor works
New Works Festival: Fusion, Within the Golden Hour, Changes
USA, San Francisco, War Memorial Opera House
Dancers: Blanco, Boada, Castilla, Elizabeth, Feijoo, Kochetkova, Long, Magierek, Meyer-Lorey, Orza, Rogers, Smith, Spaulding, Stewart B, Tan, Van Patten, Villanoba, Waldo
by Rachel Howard
    "Between the two busily inventive ballets by Yuri Possokhov and Christopher Wheeldon, it seemed, viewers tilted toward one or the other. With Paul Taylor's 'Changes,' set to blaring music by the Mamas and the Papas, I'm guessing people either loved it or hated it. I tilted toward Possokhov, whose 'Fusion' was the improbable triumph of the evening."
San Francisco Chronicle

Preview: S.F. Ballet's New Works Festival
by Rachel Howard
The choreographers listed, from Julia Adam to Christopher Wheeldon ...
San Francisco Chronicle

History of San Francisco Ballet, 2003-2008
by Leba Hertz
    "This is the final installment in a series looking at the history of the San Francisco Ballet as it celebrates its 75th anniversary."
San Francisco Chronicle

REVIEW:   Pacific Northwest Ballet
The Laugher Curve
Laugh Out Loud Festival: Variations Serieuses, The Dying Swan, Shindig, Take Five ... More or Less, Lost Language of The Flight Attendant
USA, Seattle, McCaw Hall
Dancers: Bychkova, Duge, Gilbreath, Wevers
by Sandra Kurtz
    "Christopher Wheeldon's Variations Sérieuses has a cast of lovingly drawn types (the fussy Balletmaster, the emotional Conductor, the tempestuous Ballerina) and a backstage plot that we watch from 'the wings.' It's a hybrid of contemporary elements (baseball caps and sweat pants) and the more romanticized perspective of films like The Red Shoes."
Seattle Weekly

REVIEW:   Youth America Grand Prix
The Cream of the International Crop
YAGP Gala: Petit Mort, Carmen, The Flames of Paris, Chaconne, Millennium Skiva, Alloy, and others
USA, New York, City Center
Dancers: Bolle, Carreno, Hallberg, Hodgkinson, Hoven, Loizides, Marshall, Osipova, Semionova, Ueno, Vasiliev, Whelan, Yao, Zhen, Jacoby, Neal, Pronk, Tanatanit
by Joel Lobenthal
    "The Youth America galas cap a multiday competition in which students win scholarships to ballet schools around the world. At the gala, they get the chance to share the stage with the pros. The audience, too, is filled with students, who at every year’s gala squeal ceaselessly from the top gallery of City Center."
New York Sun

Youth America Grand Prix
Missteps and moxie
by Ellen Dunkel
    "There were nerves, slips, wardrobe malfunctions, and two major falls. In the end, the 20 students from the Rock School for Dance Education won only two medals at the Youth America Grand Prix finals last weekend - which for the Rock meant a slow year. But one of them was gold."
Philadelphia Inquirer

REVIEW:   Northern Ballet Theatre
Hamlet
UK, London, Sadler's Wells
Dancers: Hinton-Lewis
by Clement Crisp
    "Christopher Hinton-Lewis is the Hamlet proposed by the staging, and does well in this lost cause. The rest had better be silence."
The Financial Times

REVIEW:   Northern Ballet Theatre
Missing the family drama
Hamlet
UK, London, Sadler's Wells
Dancers: Hinton-Lewis, Leger, May
by Sarah Frater
    "The company, a committed troupe geared to the family market, struggles with the subject and much of its Hamlet is incomprehensible."
The Evening Standard

REVIEW:   Mark Morris Dance Group
Mark Morris presents 'Dido' as a dance
Dido and Aeneas
USA, Irvine, Irvine Barclay Theatre
Dancers: Biesecker, McDonald, Okamura
by Timothy Mangan
    "This music-centric viewer enjoyed the ensemble dancing the most. Morris made the music itself visible, expressing rhythms, outlining phrases and even illustrating harmonies. The dancing moved elegantly toward cadences, finding long lines and resting points."
Orange County Register

Mark Morris's Romeo
Happy ending for Romeo and Juliet
by Laura Barnett
    "The opportunity to present the premiere of one of the greatest full-length works for dance in its original form - the one completed by the composer without regard to the pressures of Stalinist censorship - is thrilling ..."
The Guardian

Mark Morris as conductor
Mark Morris will “do no harm”
by Tim Mangan
    "We’ve never heard of a choreographer taking up conducting before, but if anyone can do it, Morris … well, we see."

REVIEW:   Gravity and Levity
Shift
UK, London, Linbury Studio Theatre
Dancers: Butcher, Smith, Adams, Cook, Cresswell, McNicholas, Paterson
by Sanjoy Roy
    "As too often in Shift, the choreography is more bogged down than liberated by the equipment, leaving me yearning for Lycra, pizzazz and a few aliens."
The Guardian

REVIEW:   Gravity and Levity
Shift
UK, London, Linbury Studio Theatre
Dancers: Adams, Butcher, Cresswell, McNicholas, Paterson
by Liz Arratoon
    "Shift is a triple bill by four choreographers, but all the pieces seem to blend. At times the idea of space-type weightless flight becomes real and the occasional hanging-bat poses look fun."
The Stage

Kim Brandstrup's Rushes
Forgotten Prokofiev score gets second life as ballet
by Reuters
    "There are some very early drafts of The Idiot by Dostoyevsky where he's trying out different permutations and different characters, and I thought there would be something very interesting superimposing these sets of fragments."
ABC News

Slideshow: Photos of Kim Brandstrup's Rushes at the Opera House
The Guardian

Three from Crosscurrents: Europe Collaboration in San Diego

REVIEW:   SDSU Dance Faculty
Crosscurrents - Europe Collaborations: Forever Without End, Life’s a Very Funny Proposition After All
USA, San Diego, State University
by Brian Schaefer
    "Patricia Sandback’s clever 'Life’s a Very Funny Proposition After All,' was a refreshingly witty work that poked fun at, among other things, soap operas and infomercials."
sandiego.com

REVIEW:   Mojalet Dance Collective
Crosscurrents - Europe Collaborations: Preludes Fugues and Riffs
USA, San Diego, State University
by Brian Schaefer
    "a work that seemed to have little care in the world other than find the fun in the music and run with it."
sandiego.com

REVIEW:   Elfi Schaefer-Schafroth
Crosscurrents - Europe Collaborations: Lichtungen, amourire - to love to die to smile
USA, San Diego, State University
Dancers: Schaefer-Schafroth
by Brian Schaefer
    "The work began with a dancing hula doll, shaking her hips happily under a spot light until a remote-controlled toy truck interrupted her dance to steal the stage and knock her flat ..."
sandiego.com

REVIEW:   Colette Harding
Creative Myth Project II: The Ties That Bind, Then and Now
USA, San Diego, Stage 7b Studios
Dancers: Brawley, Delgado, Griffin, Jackson, Kelley, Martin-Lamm, Ross, Velasco, Viernes, Weinberg, Wornovitzky
by Brian Schaefer
    "Though slightly off the radar for most of the 'Ray at Night' crowd, this street-front studio attracted a fair share of passers-by who paused to observe the performance inside. And that’s what the concept is about – finding a new audience."
sandiego.com

REVIEW:   CADC
Fusion
USA, San Diego, RIMAC arena
by Brian Schaefer
    "The dancing was impeccable. But dancing aside, CADC showed me a different side to hip-hop dance. In breaking with tradition and presenting a loose narrative, re-interpreting a fairy tale classic, and choreographing characters with solos into their work, which was a big departure for the mostly unison choreography that pervaded the rest of the evening ..."
sandiego.com

REVIEW:   Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
Graceful and dynamic
Passage to the Silk River, Raindrops, The Way of Five - Fire, Unfolding, The River of Dreams, The Legend of the Double Spear Warrior, Festival
USA, North Branch, Theater of Raritan Valley Community College
Dancers: Chen, Licea, Chau, Wen-Long, Zeng
by Robert Johnson
    "While 'Passage to the Silk River' seems to hold opposing tendencies in balance, Chen's gentle expression lends the work poetry. She seems as spontaneous and free as a cloud passing overhead."
Newark Star Ledger

REVIEW:   Sean Curran
Physical Grace, Propelled to a Higher Ground
Force of Circumstance, Aria/Apology, Fire Weather
USA, New York, Dance Theater Workshop
by Claudia La Rocco
    "Working in collaboration with the dancers in Force of Circumstance, Mr. Curran set robust skeins of movement against an elegiac tone. 'You can do all of these incredible physical feats that I no longer attempt,' he seemed to be saying, 'But just wait: I know what lies ahead.'"
New York Times

REVIEW:   Scapino Ballet Rotterdam
Giant Vacuum Cleaners and Green, Green Grass
The Green, De Bruiden, Der Rest Ist Schweigen
USA, New York, Joyce Theater
Dancers: Kokeguchi
by Roslyn Sulcas
    "Both Mr. Wubbe’s all-male Green and his all-female piece De Bruiden (The Brides), to Stravinsky’s Noces, offer an outpouring of movement that merges ballet technique with more contemporary impulses: powerful contracting movements, lashing legs, sweeping arms. The dancers' strong performances make each work intermittently compelling ..."
New York Times

Three companies in Boston

REVIEW:   Black Grace
Fusion forms
Fa’a Ulutao, Deep Far, War Brides, Method
USA, Boston, Tsai Performance Center
by Marcia B Siegel
    "The Black Grace men were terrific in the closing dance, Method. Maintaining the acute sense of ensemble timing they’d shown all evening, they hurled themselves into rolling falls and headlong chases, whirligig jumps and flying leaps into the arms of their chums. "
The Boston Phoenix

REVIEW:   Kinodance
Fusion forms
Fuse, Behemoth
USA, Boston, Institute of Contemporary Art
Dancers: Cardone, Lanckton, Pellecchia, Rylan, Schatz
by Marcia B Siegel
    "Mysterious figures wearing mismatched costumes (the choreographers and Stephanie Lanckton and DeAnna Pellecchia) glimmered and went invisible in a 12-foot room with a scrim for a front wall ... Perhaps at random, one or two of the figures slipped out to wander through the stage at large or lurk indecisively near a ladder of neon."
The Boston Phoenix

REVIEW:   Lorraine Chapman The Company
Fusion forms
Here to There
USA, Boston, Institute of Contemporary Art
Dancers: Chapman
by Marcia B Siegel
    "Chapman has the unusual gift of stylization. She can make you see a drum majorette, a music-hall floozie, a marathon runner, and a dozen other tintypes with a tilt of the shoulder, a turned-out heel, a well-placed glance."
The Boston Phoenix

REVIEW:   Armitage Gone Dance
Armitage Dance program has music missteps
Ligeti Essays, Time is the echo of an axe within a wood
USA, Chicago, Columbia College Dance Center
Dancers: Arpon, Branham, Chiaverini, Isaac, Kelly, Wang
by Hedy Weiss
    "Armitage's movement for her six dancers, who are clad in minimalist black, are alternately angular and caressing, angry and sensual, abstract and erotic, with solos, duets, trios and group pieces (sometimes with a vinelike folk dance motif), making them appear as if they might have been lifted from the paintings of Egon Schiele or Max Beckmann."
Chicago Sun-Times

REVIEW:   Dallas Black Dance Theatre II
Dallas Black Dance Theatre II second in name only
No More Dry Tears, Brother to Brother, To Feel Understand, Secrets, Womenspeak, Chaos
USA, Dallas, Latino Cultural Center
Dancers: Freeman, Gartrell, Jackson
by Margaret Putnam
    "Saturday night at the Latino Cultural Center, DBDT II proved its mettle. When nine dancers burst forth in Edmond Giles' No More Dry Tears, they brought an emotional force and purpose that augured well for the program."
Dallas Morning News

REVIEW:   Chris Yon
La Jetée En Spirale
Hugo
USA, New York, Dance Theater Workshop
Dancers: Griggs, Larson, Keithley, Paraiso
by Brian McCormick
    "A moving sculpture, literally framed by rectangles of light, the female called Griggs and the male called Larson, corkscrewed into the spaces between each other, sometimes colliding, overlapping, breaking like water on jetty."
Gay City News

REVIEW:   Ballet Theatre of Maryland
Ballet Theatre in tribute, in fine form
Italian Symphonette, Tango Dramatico, Meetings Along the Edge, Annapolis Anthologies
USA, Annapolis, Maryland Hall
Dancers: Braga, Carlson, Decker, Fry, Hannah, McAlister, Seitz, Skates, Skates J, Taylor, Walker
by Mary Johnson
    "The major work of the evening, Annapolis Anthologies, was Cuatto's tribute to the late Grace Clark, who founded her own School of Dance and later the Annapolis Civic Ballet Company."
Baltimore Sun

REVIEW:   Riverdance
A leap, a twirl, a click of the heel
Riverdance
USA, New Jersey, Performing Arts Center
Dancers: Armengou, Bernard, Buffini, Dowds, Hall
by Robert Johnson
    "The show draws its strength from a deep-flowing current of mysticism, recalling pagan worship of the sun and moon in a setting adorned with runic whorls and peopled with candle-lit processions."
Newark Star Ledger

Preview: NYCB’s Tribute to Jerome Robbins
by Joel Lobenthal
    "The season opens with an all-Robbins gala performance, but two days later comes the real showstopper: 'Fancy Free,' without which no Robbins tribute would be complete."
New York Sun

Preview: Akram Khan in New York
Around the World With Akram Khan
by Valerie Gladstone
    "Because of his drive and popularity, Mr. Khan has not stopped working for eight years. But finally — after creating a dance this summer with the actress Juliette Binoche for a fall premiere in London — he is going to take a much-anticipated five-month break."
New York Sun

Preview: Akram Khan
Orient Express
by Joan Acocella
    "The piece combines Western modern dance and Indian kathak, and its subject, really, is the border between life and death."
The New Yorker

Dancing The World '08 - Newcastle
Dance festival takes off with route to stars
by David Whetstone
    "The flag wavers each represented one of the 12 nations which will be represented at the festival, running from May 2 to 24. As Nadia Iftkhar of Dance City explained, these will include Norway, Portugal, Japan, Canada, Spain, South Korea and the United States."
Journal Live

Bay Area National Dance Week begins April 25
by Steven Winn
    "It begins Friday with a public conga line in Union Square at noon and ends 10 days later with a May 4 slate of performances, classes and communal dancing spread out from Mountain View to Berkeley and Oakland and all over San Francisco."
San Francisco Chronicle

Exhibition: Laura Knight at the Lowry Theatre Gallery, Salford Quays
Honest observer
by Laura Gascoigne
    "Diaghilev’s old ballet master Cecchetti had such faith in Knight’s command of anatomy that he used her sketches to critique his dancers’ technique."
The Spectator

Preview: Jin Xing Dance Theatre, Stanford
Journey of a transgender choreographer
by Joe Landini
    "Jin, a former colonel in the Chinese army, is the first transwoman to be recognized as a cultural pioneer in China. In Germany, Die Zeit (The Times ) has called Jin 'probably the world's best dancer.'"
Bay Area Reporter

Paris Journal: In the Depths of the Palais Garnier
by Anthony Tommasini
    "But, for all its splendor, the Palais Garnier is a place for working. Mr. Pflieger took me to an upstairs rehearsal room for dance, and when we spied through the window in the door, there, to his surprise and my delight, was Mikhail Baryshnikov rehearsing a duo with the veteran dancer Ana Laguna."
NY Times blog

Preview: Yasuko Yokoshi's Reframe the Framework DDD, NY
Teen-Speak Found in Translation
by Claudia La Rocco
    "'Reframe' plunges into the complex society of present-day Vermont teenagers. Using conversations culled from their daily lives, taped interviews, everyday movement and a large frame that the dancers maneuver onstage as a literal framework for their interactions, the piece examines the often inscrutable hows and whys of communication among American youngsters as they navigate their high-pressure world."
New York Times

Video of scenes from Reframe the Framework DDD
New York Times

Preview: Ultima Vez, Pittsburgh
Dance troupe explores body's reaction to freedom
by Mark Kanny
    "What I was interested in, almost from the beginning, was freedom without thinking. How can it be that, when I fall, my arms go out to protect me? The beauty of this accident can suddenly get dramatic beauty."
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Preview: Bay Area National Dance Week
by Rita Felciano
    "Can dance save the world? Those of us who are hooked on it like to think so. At the very least, it makes you feel more alive as a human being."
SAn Francisco Bay Guardian

Preview: Haiti!: CubaCaribe spotlights dance
by Reyhan Harmanci
    "It's one thing to read about the history and cultural traditions of Haiti, especially with its close ties to Cuba, but it's another thing to see it through performance. That's the thesis of CubaCaribe's second weekend of dance events titled Haiti!"
San Francisco Chronicle

Preview: Peter Schaufuss's Divas, London
Divas spend summer at the Apollo
by M.A.
    "Divas pays homage to three of entertainment’s great female icons, Edith Piaf, Marlene Dietrich and Judy Garland."
Official London Theatre Guide

Preview: Imperial Ice Stars in Canada
Cold Lake
by Susan Walker
    "A story reinterpreted for swans that really glide and actually fly, and for dancers who make a pas de deux look as much a technical tour de force as anything in ballet slippers, the show has more thrills than a high-wire trapeze act (and has a bit of that, too)."
Toronto Star

Another male bellydancing story
These men have guts
by Susan Walker
    "Male bellydancers do all that their female counterparts do, except they make it look more masculine, says Toronto performer Valizan."
Toronto Star