Photo copyright: Yonathan Kellerman/OnP. Nureyev's Cinderella performed by the Paris Opera Ballet.

Cinderella

Paris,
The theme of legacy has dominated the programming this fall at the Paris Opera Ballet, a season that opened with the Martha Graham Company in September and recently celebrated the centenary of Jerome Robbins. Of course, when an institution can  ...
Photo: Maria Baranova.

Custodians of Beauty

Berkeley,
Pavel Zustiak and his Palisssimo Company made its West coast première of “Custodians of Beauty” at Zellerbach’s Playhouse this week, presenting a visually saturating and multisensory experience. Both imagery and choreographic language are streamlined and minimal, weaving together a series  ...
Photo: Rob Lee.

Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers

Choreographer Kun-Yang Lin is currently creating his 101st dance piece which will have its premiere at the Annenberg Center in Philadelphia next spring. As founding director of KYL/Dancers he has choreographed all of the company’s repertory so far.  ...
Afternoon of a Faun. Mathias Heymann, Myriam Ould-Braham. Photo: Sébastian Mathé/Opéra National de Paris

Homage to Jerome Robbins

Paris,
Between 1974 and 1996, Jerome Robbins personally oversaw the staging of twelve of his ballets for the Paris Opera Ballet. Attracted by the dramatic qualities of the dancers and their technical rigor, the American choreographer is said to have considered  ...
Photo: Natalia Perez

With Care

San Francisco,
Dark Beauty Every dance performance should follow Bobbi Jene Smith’s lead of offering a 45-minute dance class to ticket-holders before a performance! In this case, a Gaga People’s class that everyone, seasoned dancers and newbies alike, could attend.  ...
Photo: Bernd Uhlig.

Körper

Berkeley,
Anyone fortunate enough to walk into Zellerbach Hall this weekend will not be surprised to learn that choreographer Sasha Waltz is the daughter of an architect. Everything about “Körper” (German for “bodies”) is about architecture--that designed by humans and  ...
Jesse Zaritt. Photo: Robbie Sweeny.

ECHO/riding the rapids

San Francisco,
“what is your name/listening through walls/the voice of stone” “ECHO/riding the rapids” is an explosive improvisational dance layered with abstraction and poignancy. It exploits the unsinkable sexuality, musicality, and embodiment of its guest dancer, Jesse Zaritt and the  ...
PeiJu Chien-Pott (center) in Graham's The Rite of Spring . Photo: Benoîte Fanton/Opéra National de Paris.

Martha Graham Dance Company

Paris,
It’s been nearly thirty years since the Martha Graham Dance Company performed in Paris at the invitation of Rudolf Nureyev, then artistic director of the Paris Opera Ballet and a veteran Graham guest artist. Since then, Graham’s company has survived  ...
Photo: Robbie Sweeny

extreme lyric I

San Francisco,
“and with sweet oil costly you anointed yourself and on a soft bed delicate you would loose your longing…” In a paleo restaurant in San Francisco’s Mission District a friend recounts his intense experience during an Ayahuasca  ...