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

Dance
by 
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 ...

Love for Yvonne & a bright future for Westside Ballet 1

Dance
It was an evening of beaming smiles, prodigious effort, community love, and some real artistry last Saturday at the Broad Stage, as the Westside Ballet staged a impressive Gala fundraising event. Visiting “etoiles,” stars from companies as esteemed as New York City Ballet, Smuin Ballet, The Joffrey, and Miami City Ballet, studded the program, bringing ...

Death of a dancer: Karin von Aroldingen (1941-2018) 3

Dance
If you love ballet … as I do … then it is with choking sadness (it is unbearably sad) to learn that we have lost the magisterial Balanchine ballerina Karin von Aroldingen who passed away at age 77 on January 5, 2018. She should not die. She was so utterly in control, at the same ...

Adieu to The Suzanne Farrell Ballet~!

Dance
With sadness and regret we learn that a valiant and artistically important ballet company will soon be no longer. In a farewell program of George Balanchine favorites, each with a special meaning for Ms. Farrell, the Kennedy Center’s The Suzanne Farrell Ballet celebrates its 16th and final season with performances in the Opera House, December ...

Uneclipsed: George Balanchine’s ‘Serenade’ 1

Dance
A celestial event today, a solar eclipse in which the moon passes between the sun and Earth and blocks all or part of the sun, mesmerizing the public for a good two to three hours. This cosmic happening spurred a memory by Gary Moore, a former dancer with the Harkness, San Francisco and Pennsylvania Ballets, ...

Serenade: C’est un ballet abstrait.

Dance · Ideas & Opinion
Everything sounds better in French. That’s a given. But beyond sounding beautiful, the lovely and poetic program note posted below tackles the hard job of putting the ephemeral into words. What’s the subject? “Serenade,” a ballet that in its making, and in the viewing of it, touches God. C’est un ballet abstrait. C’est- á-dire, sans intention ...