Sondra Forsyth - Page 3

Friday, July 13th 2018 was not unlucky for me. On that evening, I was fortunate enough to watch the final staging of legendary postmodern choreographer Lucinda Childs' Available Light at Jazz at Lincoln Center as part of the annual Mostly Mozart Festival during the Lucinda Childs Dance Company's final season. The work, last seen in NYC 33 years ago, is a collaboration among three distinguished artists: Childs, minimalist composer John Adams, and famed architect Frank Gehry.

As one of five troupes showcased during the 2018 Ballet Festival at the Joyce in NYC, BalletX proved once again that its reputation as Philadelphia's premier contemporary ballet company is well deserved. I praised BalletX back in August of 2016 and I was pleased to see that on June 30th 2018, the caliber of the choreography and the dancing continues to be first rate.

American Ballet Theatre's claim that the ballet Don Quixote is ”based on Miguel de Cervantes' sweeping tale of romance and chivalry” is a forgivable exaggeration. Cervantes' lengthy two-part novel does have a mention of the romantic triangle with Quiteria (called Kitri in the ballet), Basilio (the boy-next-door she eventually marries), and Camacho (the bumbling rich man her father wanted her to marry, called Gamache in the ballet).

In 2018 on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of legendary choreographer Marius Petipa, American Ballet Theatre presented the premiere of Alexei Ratmansky's meticulous historical reconstruction of the full-length Harlequinade. His wife, Tatiana Ratmansky, assisted him and appeared as the Good Fairy in some performances.

On May 20th 2018 at NYU's Skirball Center in Greenwich Village, dance lovers were treated to a non-stop evening of award presentations and riveting performances during the second annual Chita Rivera Awards. Known as the Fred and Estelle Astaire Awards from their inception in 1982 until 2017, the awards honor excellence in dance and choreography both onstage and on film.

Kevin McKenzie, the Artistic Director of American Ballet Theater since 1991, has created an admirably faithful staging of the company's 1987 production of Giselle to the music of Adolf Adam. A veteran himself of the leading role of Albrecht, McKenzie has kept the beloved classic alive for today's audiences with all of the requisite charm and dance mime in Act ! and plenty of eerily dramatic tension in Act II.

New York City Ballet's Centennial Celebration at the Koch Theater in Lincoln Center of the 100th anniversary of Jerome Robbins' birth honors the prodigiously gifted dancemaker, the company's Co-Founding Choreographer, with a ballet lover's feast of five programs from May 3rd to May 20th 2018. The run include two world premieres as well as 20 ballets by Robbins. He died in 1998 at the age of 80, but “Robbins 100” shows beyond a doubt that his legacy endures.

Nearly 500 guests flocked to the ballroom of the Zeigfield Theatre in NYC on the evening of April 30th 2018 for the 42nd annual Gala of the National Dance Institute (NDI). The non-profit arts education organization was founded in 1976 by renowned former New York City Ballet principal dancer Jacques d'Amboise who spoke movingly about the work he clearly loves. The event is the organization's key fundraiser, and this year a whopping $1.5 million was raised. All of the proceeds will go toward supporting and expanding NDI's mission to integrate first-rate dance training into schools during regular class hours rather than at lunchtime or after school. The roster of schools now includes not only NYC schools but also schools in China and Lebanon. Over the course of four decades, NDI has given more than two million youngsters the transformative experience of dancing.

On the afternoon of April 29th 2018 at the Koch Theater in Lincoln Center, the New York City Ballet proved that the company is still flourishing under the interim direction of a team of four after Peter Martins' resignation. The “All Balanchine” program celebrated the enduring legacy of Mr. B's choreography, and the dancing was mostly magnificent if at times not quite as clean as It should have been in the ensemble work. That has always been an NYCB issue, however, so I won't blame the interim team!

On the afternoon of April 22nd at the Joyce Theater in NYC, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company gave the final performance of a six-day run that offered three different programs to celebrate Lubovitch's 50th anniversary as an internationally acclaimed choreographer. Program A featured the Martha Graham Dance Company while Programs B added Joffrey principal dancers to Lubovitch's own roster of superb dancers, and Program C added students from the George Mason University School of Dance to the list of performers.

The eagerly anticipated 2018 NYC Final Round and Gala of Youth America Grand Prix were the best I've seen in all my years of covering YAGP. On the evening of April 18th at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center, the technical prowess as well as the beyond-their-years artistry of the competitors in the Final Round gave credence to YAGP's slogan: “Ensuring the Future of Dance”.

Justin Peck, the Resident Choreographer of the New York City Ballet, is listed as the choreographer of “Carousel on Broadway”, currently playing at the Imperial Theatre in NYC. On the afternoon of April 14th 2018, there was still no credit in the Playbill of Agnes de Mille's choreography for the original 1945 production.

The Works & Process series at the Guggenheim Museum on Fifth Avenue in NYC has been giving New Yorkers an up-close-and-personal chance to experience aspects of the creative process for over three decades. One recent installment, a fascinating retrospective entitled “Breaking Bread with Balanchine”, explored Mr. B's passionate involvement with cooking and how his relationship to food influenced his choreography. Food scholar Dr. Meryl Rosofsky researched the “culinary biography” during her resident fellowship at NYU's The Center for Ballet and the Arts.

On April 7th 2016 at New York City Center, Dance Theatre of Harlem ably performed an eclectic quadruple bill in which the closer, the late Geoffrey Holder's “Dougla”, was far and away the best of the evening's offerings.

Back in December of 2017, I wrote a glowing review for BWW DanceWorld of Julliard's New Dances Celebrating the Legacy of Lawrence Rhodes in honor of his retirement after 15 years as artistic director. I am delighted to report that since then, Taryn Kaschock Russell as acting director of Juilliard Dance has kept the program's excellence alive and even judged it a notch upward in terms of superb dancing and choreography. This was evidenced on the afternoon of Saturday, March 24th 2018 during an almost completely satisfying performance of 'Spring Dances' at Juilliard's Peter Jay Sharp Theater.

As reported on Broadwayworld.com and elsewhere in December 2017, the New York City Ballet Board of Directors appointed an interim artistic team in the wake of the leave of absence and subsequent resignation of longtime NYCB Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins following accusations against him of sexual harassment.

The 2017 edition of the Juilliard Dance Division's New Dances program celebrates the legacy of its creator and curator, Lawrence Rhodes, who is now artistic director emeritus after an impactful 15 years at the helm as artistic director beginning in 2002. Every annual edition offers four world premieres by emerging choreographers.

On November 16th 2017, opening night of this year's Radio City Christmas Spectacular, the New York City tradition once again treated an excited and cheering audience to a joyous evening of music, dance, technological magic, and of course the inimitable 36-member precision dance team, the Rockettes.

October 26th 2017 was opening night for an 11-day run at New York City Center of award-winning choreographer Matthew Bourne's adaptation of the 1948 film, The Red Shoes.

On October 18th 2017 at the Koch Theater in Lincoln Center, the American Ballet Theatre's Fall Gala celebrated Kevin McKenzie's 25th anniversary as Artistic Director with a delightful triple bill.