REVIEW: ‘Pal Joey’ presses ahead, at New York City Center ‘Encores’

Reviews · Theater
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My introduction to Pal Joey came at New York City Center in 1995, when the then-new “Encores” series presented the iconic Rodgers and Hart’s 1940 musical with its original Hans Spialek orchestrations restored. The music – which included an old-fashioned overture and a five-minute ballet (a Richard Rodgers specialty in those vintage early musicals) to ...

New York City Ballet on your teevee, by way of Madrid

Dance
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Once upon a time, USA television viewers could take for granted that the nation’s leading dance companies be showcased on television, thanks to the seminal Dance in America series on PBS. It was great while it lasted, but eventually dance programming became a rarity on PBS. Their Great Performances series broadcasts ten or more of ...

SoUNDz’ of Savion, at The Soraya

Dance
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Ed. note: This story by Susan Reiter, commissioned and published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. Savion Glover has been in the spotlight on stage and screen since an impossibly young age. In his third appearance at The Soraya, on October 7, the one-of-a-kind tap virtuoso brings ...

REVIEW: Fascinating time-travel with Mark Morris Dance Group at the Joyce Theater 1

Dance · Reviews
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numerator, photo: christopher duggan Mark Morris Dance Group was formed in 1980. The Joyce Theater opened doors in 1983. Yet while it has presented dance companies eleven months of the year, the Joyce stage had never hosted a MMDG season until now. So Tuesday’s opening night felt momentous – even historic – as MMDG finally ...

New moves for Misty Copeland

Dance
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Misty Copeland‘s name is included on American Ballet Theater‘s current roster of principal dancers during its Metropolitan Opera House season (through July 22). But she is not scheduled for any performances, and has not appeared onstage with ABT since before the Covid pandemic interrupted performances in 2020. But Copeland was present nearby at Lincoln Center ...

REVIEW: Aaron Copland meets the 21st at New York City Ballet 1

Dance · Reviews
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Megan Fairchild, Roman Mejia, center. From left, Emilie Gerrity, Jonathan Fahoury, Daniel Applebaum, Isabella Lafreniere. photo: Erin Baiano There is so much that is invigorating and innovative about Copland Dance Episodes, Justin Peck‘s major new full-evening work for New York City Ballet in its world premiere on January 26. Yet it also connects with, and ...

Plethora of Vail Dance Festival ballet premieres livestreamed

Dance
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Limón Dance Company in ‘The Waldstein Sonata’ 2022 Vail Dance Festival. Photo Christopher Duggan The bountiful convergence that is the Vail Dance Festival is now in high gear, and along with forming new partnerships and taking on new roles (Roman Mejia performing Jose Limon’s Chaconne was one of this year’s intriguing expansions of a major ...

Death of a dancer: Kenneth Rinker 1

Dance
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ed. note: artsmeme wishes to especially thank dance writer Susan Reiter for her humanity in contributing this appreciation of the marvelous modern dancer/choreographer Ken Rinker. You may experience a taste of Kenneth in motion in this film’ed excerpt from “The Bix Pieces.” On a September evening in 1972, I had a dance epiphany that has ...

REVIEW: Karole Armitage’s ‘A Pandemic Notebook’ at New York Live Arts

Dance · Reviews
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photo: julieta cervantes There they were, two luminaries of the 1980s NYC dance scene, facing us 40 years later, Karole Armitage and Jock Soto, in simple black and grey outfits. Armitage got everyone’s attention with Drastic Classicism (1981), a fierce, high-gloss, visually and sonically arresting work that shook up ballet conventions with outrageous costuming and ...

Paul Taylor American Modern Dance’s timely staging of Kurt Jooss classic ‘The Green Table’

Dance
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4th April 1953: The ‘Gentlemen in Black’ sit around the conference table and discuss war in a scene from Kurt Jooss’s award-winning modern ballet ‘The Green Table’. Original Publication: Picture Post – 6477 – 20th Century War Dance – pub. 1953 (Photo by John Chillingworth/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) In 2014, Paul Taylor, who died in ...