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and a review of something seen in the Linbury theatre...

Bare Bones
3 stars
2/004: Bounced Bach, Tautology, Maybe, Misconsumption, Improper
UK, London, Linbury Studio Theatre
by Judith Mackrell
    "Bare Bones might be an austere name for a dance group, but their performance style couldn't be more friendly. Each of their shows is a package of short works created by very different choreographers..."
The Guardian

Royal Danish Ballet
Recast 'Napoli': Taken to Extremes
Napoli
USA, Washington, Kennedy Center Opera House
Dancers: Cavallo, Jeppesen, Lund, Schandorff, Ambrosio, Bendixen, Boesen, Hauge, Hojlund, Massot
by Alexandra Tomalonis
    "The Royal Danish Ballet showed two new casts ... and if each performance was as uneven as the Italian temperament, each also had its pleasures."
Washington Post

Royal Danish Ballet
High-spirited Danes at KenCen
Napoli
USA, Washington, Kennedy Center Opera House
Dancers: Blangstrup, Lindstrom
by Jean Battey Lewis
    "No one does crowd scenes like this company. The stage is alive with small dramas and jostling good spirits."
Washington Times

New York City Ballet
In an Enchanted Forest, Opposites Attract
Midsummer Night's Dream
USA, New York, State Theater
Dancers: Askegard, DeLuz, Fairchild, Fowler, Korbes, Kowroski, LaCour, Marcovici, Orza, Reichlin, Stafford, Tinsley, Ulbricht, Weese
by Jennifer Dunning
    "Balanchine liked the idea of pairing a short Oberon with a tall Titania in his "Midsummer Night's Dream." Maria Kowroski's Titania certainly towered over Joaquin De Luz, who danced Oberon for the first time ... But Mr. De Luz was less an Oberon than a Puck..."
The New York Times

New York City Ballet
Telling Tales
Apollo
USA, New York, State Theater
Dancers: Borree, Hubbe, Rutherford, Somogyi
by Tobi Tobias
    "'You are a woodcutter, a swimmer, a football player, a god.' —George Balanchine, instructing Lew Christensen, who danced the title role in Apollo at the ballet's American premiere"
Arts Journal

New York City Ballet
Scandal
Apollo, Concerto Barocco, The Prodigal Son, Scotch Symphony
USA, New York, State Theater
by Terry Teachout
    "Musical standards at New York City Ballet have rarely been much better than mediocre at any time since I started looking at the company 17 years ago. A few years ago the orchestra actually dared to go on strike, in the process inspiring a joke that circulated widely among New York musicians and dancegoers: "The worst orchestra in town just went on strike. What do they want? Fewer rehearsals." (That was actually pretty close to the truth.)"
Arts Journal

Susan Stroman - New York City Ballet
Kissing frogs
London
By Hilary Ostlere
    "It is much less common for a choreographer from showbusiness to be invited into the studios of a classical ballet company - but if Balanchine took ballet to Broadway, Susan Stroman is bringing it back."
http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=040116004045

Mark Morris Dance Group
Dance Preview: Choreographer Mark Morris is all about the music
Seattle
By Brangien Davis
    "...intensive study often means his choreography brings a whole new element to the score. "It's not my mission," says Morris, "but people say they're given an entree into certain music they wouldn't otherwise have appreciated."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/classicalmusicdance/2001837365_morris16.html

Mark Morris Dance Group
'All Fours' a triumph for Morris
The dance group leader brings his latest work, intricately choreographed to Bartok's String Quartet No. 4, to Seattle.
Seattle
By Sharon Wootton
    "Finding Mark was incredible. It all made sense, all the styles I love that I thought I would have to pick between suddenly wound up in the same place with Mark because he has such a diverse dance background and loves it all," said McDonald, a Morris dancer since May 2000."
http://www.heraldnet.com/ae/story.cfm?sectionname=THEATER&file=04011617974329.cfm

Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
Trocks dance from edge to spotlight
Boston
By Theodore Bale
    "Things have completely changed since the early days of the company,'' Dobrin said during a telephone interview from his home in New York. ``Now we are considered a good career choice for younger male dancers.''
http://theedge.bostonherald.com/artsNews/edgeArts.bg?articleid=619

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
Trocks rock house with irreverent ballet parodies
Swan Lake - act 2, Tarantella Pas De Deux, Le Grand Pas de Quatre, The Dying Swan, Raymonda's Wedding
USA, Boston, Cutler Majestic Theatre
by Theodore Bale
    "It's hilarious, of course, but also intelligent and danced with remarkable precision. If any group is best at winning over large audiences to the splendors of ballet, it's got to be the Trocks."
Boston Herald

Massachusetts Youth Ballet and guests
Youth movement
Teen dancers give Balanchine a spin in prestigious company
Boston
By Christine Temin
    "When Cronsberg first asked the Trust if she could have "Apollo" for her company of teenagers, she did so with some trepidation. But Barbara Horgan, the Trust's head, told her, " `Balanchine always thought that dancers really learn to dance onstage,' and so she let us have it."
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2004/01/16/youth_movement/

Tina Pereira on company class, National Ballet of Canada
Breakfast at the barre
For professional dancers such as Tina Pereira, every day begins with a serious studio workout
Toronto
by Janice Mawhinney
    "I remember seeing Company B and thinking: I want to be a dancer," Pereira says. "At the school, I felt as if the whole world opened up and I had only only been aware of a little part of it before."
Toronto Star

Kanata Native Dance Theatre
Dancing For Joy
Washington
By Lisa Traiger
    "NO ONE taught Brian General how to dance. Yet he's been dancing since he could just about stand up. Today the 29-year-old serves as artistic director of Kanata Native Dance Theatre, which makes its Washington area debut this weekend..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19775-2004Jan15.html

The Red Shoes and other dance on film
Red Shoes' is prima ballerina of genre
Seattle
By Moira Macdonald
    "Every subsequent ballet-movie performance has stood in Shearer's elegant shadow. She was that rarity: a classically trained, exquisite dancer (the speed and lightness of her feet in the "Swan Lake" sequence seem almost inhuman), a dazzling made-for-Technicolor beauty and a natural onscreen."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2001837351_ballet16.html

Film - The Company, Joffrey Ballet
Dances fail to move beyond the pretty
Bay Area
By Anita Amirrezvani
    "It's too bad the dances chosen for the film often fail to inspire."
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/columnists/anita_amirrezvani/7712219.htm

Film - The Company, Joffrey Ballet
Altman cuts to the chase in no-frills 'Company'
Bay Area
By Barry Caine
    "'THE Company" is a pretty film where nothing happens and then it's over."
http://www.timesstar.com/Stories/0,1413,125%257E1549%257E1895204,00.html?search=filter

Madam Marta Becket at the Amargosa Opera House
Death Valley Junction Journal
In a Desolate Town, Her Dreams a Bit Faded, an Aging Dancer Hangs On
Death Valley
By Charlie LeDuff
    "With her long, slender legs and a small, birdlike voice, Madam Becket is the resident diva of this desert ghost town, the star of the Amargosa Opera House, its paint cracked and peeling, its stage lights built from coffee cans. She is also its owner, manager, choreographer, seamstress, prop master and ticket taker."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/14/national/14DESE.html

Royal Ballet
Triumph of the Wilis
Giselle
UK, London, Covent Garden
Dancers: Acosta, Cervera, Cojocaru, Conley, Galeazzi, Harvey, Kobborg, McGorian, Rojo, Rosato, Yanowsky
by David Dougill
    "The audience was rapt as Kobborg lifted her in arcs across the stage, as weightless as thistledown. His dancing almost to death was a tour de force."
The Sunday Times

George Balanchine celebrations
A double dose of Balanchine
New York
By Robert Johnson
    "I think he was interested in the audience seeing the body -- what the rehearsal director sees every day in class and in the studio, which is the body doing those beautiful steps, that incredible movement," Lopez of the Balanchine Foundation says. "I think more of the real dancer emerges, when they're in a leotard and tights."
http://www.nj.com/theatredance/ledger/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-1/107440906664140.xml

Allegra Kent
Allegra Kent, Balanchine's Ballerina
Dancer's Abilities Inspired Famed Choreographer's Ballets
Washington
by ??
includes a Real Video of Kent in Symphony in C and also a 22 minute Real Audio recording of the interview
    "Kent was 10 when she first told her mother she wanted to be a ballerina. Soon after, she was taken to the ballet for the first time to see a performance of Night Shadow, a tale of a sleepwalking wife, choreographed by Balanchine. Kent -- now in her 60s -- remembers the event as a life-defining experience: "After that evening, I did believe that ballet was really what I wanted to pursue, and that ballet was the most exalted form of dance… I still feel that way."
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1594107

Susan Stroman - New York City Ballet
George Balanchine, Musical Comedian?
New York
By Matthew Gurewitsch
    ""Double Feature" tells a story, or rather two. First half melodrama, second half slapstick comedy, the show is a valentine to movies of the silent era. ... Does it really make sense for City Ballet to turn back the clock for full-length story ballets, when Balanchine left them behind?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/18/arts/dance/18GURE.html

Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet
Swan Lake
UK, London, Royal Festival Hall
Dancers: Buchkovsky, Dik, Kuzmenko
by David Dougill
    "As with many Russian productions, excessive prominence is given to the role of the Jester — Viacheslav Buchkovsky brilliantly virtuosic but tiresomely irrepressible."
The Sunday Times

Bare Bones
2/004: Bounced Bach, Tautology, Maybe, Misconsumption, Improper
UK, London, Linbury Studio Theatre
by Jann Parry
    "By the last of the five pieces, dancers who had seemed ordinary had grown into endearing individuals."
The Observer

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
Trockadero Ballet blends art, camp
Dying Swan, Tarantella, Le Grand Pas de Quatre, Swan Lake act II, Raymonda's Wedding
USA, Boston, Cutler Majestic Theatre
Dancers: Carter, Droguet, Gallego, Ghiselin
by Karen Campbell
    "For the knowledgeable, the exaggeration of familiar dramatic gestures is often riotously funny. For the casual observer, including kids, it's just plain fun. It's a neat little package of both tribute and parody."
The Boston Globe

CRASHArts - Dance Straight Up
`Straight Up!' but never narrow night of thrilling work
Dance Straight Up!: balkanBLUES, This Will Not Be Quick, Surfacing, Authentic Histories
USA, Boston, Tsai Performance Center
Dancers: Allen, Bennett, Pellecchia
by Theodore Bale
    "Dances that are over-intellectualized are rough-going for the audience. Dances that start with an ecstatic body in constant motion, on the other hand, are always exhilarating..."
Boston Herald

Aerial Dancing - Terry Sendgraff, Joanna Haigood and others
Aerial dance rising
San Francisco
by Rachel Howard
    "At that performance, I had an epiphany," Haigood said. "In dance, why are we stuck on this two-dimensional plane?"
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/18/PKGTA45O4N1.DTL&type=performance

Jin Xing - Jin Xing Dance Theatre
Triumph of the ballerina colonel
Paris
by Susan Bell,
    "Last week China’s most startling transsexual had usually reserved Paris audiences cheering for more as she performed her latest contemporary ballet, Shanghai Tango, before fans as curious to find out about her extraordinary life story as they were to see her dance."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-967500,00.html

Ballet Training
It's never too late to grasp the techniques of ballet, even if it only works to improve your vocabulary
San Francisco
by Adair Lara
    "If I start now at age 52," I asked Cisneros, "could I start landing minor roles in regional companies by age 60?"
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/17/DDGD14ASKT1.DTL&type=performance

Critics Peeves
Critics' pet peeves: Don't you hate when that happens?
Seattle
by arts critics
    "Random dance: We have surely seen enough stream-of-consciousness modern-dance choreography in which one step follows another and another and another (are you falling asleep yet?) with no intelligible logic. Of course, a dance doesn't need to tell a story, or make narrative sense, but shouldn't it at least have some sort of spatial structure or other ordering principle? And don't tell me all that random movement is an intentional attempt to express the indeterminacy of the universe. Please. That idea is so out of date it's practically wearing pink leg warmers." - Lynn Jacobson
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2001838213_peeves18.html

New York City Ballet
Courtship Laced with Mischief Makes a Comic Comeback
Harlequinade
USA, New York, State Theater
Dancers: Ansanelli, DeLuz, Fairchild, Kramarevsky, Millepied, Sylve, Tinsley, Danchig-Waring
by Anna Kisselgoff
    How could one reconcile his (Balanchine's)avant-garde works, danced in leotards to contemporary music, with a sweet and sunny confection like the two-act "Harlequinade"..
The New York Times

New York City Ballet
Glimpses of an Influence That Made Balanchine Balanchine
Flower Festival in Genzano, Donizetti Variations, Apollo, Concerto Barocco, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
USA, New York, State Theater
Dancers: Ansanelli, Boal, Bouder, Carmena, Hendrickson, Hubbe, Kistler, Kowroski, Neal, Riggins, Ringer, Sylve, VanKipnis, Veyette, Weese, Woetzel, Flower, Severini
by Jennifer Dunning
    One of the aims of the New York City Ballet's Balanchine 100 festival is to suggest what influenced George Balanchine in his epochal work. Two programs presented by the company on Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the New York State Theater offered a glimpse of how August Bournonville's style affected at least one Balanchine ballet.
The New York Times

David Gordon
A 'Henry V' That Would Amaze the Groundlings at the Globe
Dancing Henry V
USA, New York, Danspace Project
Dancers: Brdnik, Graham, Setterfield, Allen, Brouk, Morgan, Smith, Tentindo
by Jennifer Dunning
    "Dancing Henry V" is a delightful and accomplished evening of theater that sweeps its audiences along in a stylish, essentially feel-good theatrical experience. That may be its sliest subversion.
The New York Times

Ben Munisteri Dance Projects
All Together Now: Bounce! Bounce! Bounce!
Muse of Fire, Turbine Mines, Earthly Perch, Smash Through to Sunlight, Late Night Sugar Flight
USA, New York, Joyce Theater
Dancers: Fitchett, Fogel, Holoviak, Keigwin, Lang, Leventhal, McMillan, Wheeler
by Jack Anderson
    Peppy bounces made the excerpt from "Muse of Fire" that opened the evening pure jollity. Many of the hops were in unison, and there was much unison choreography in the company's other dances
The New York Times

Hubbard Street Dance
A piece on the collaboration between the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Hubbart Street Dance.
The CSO has previously worked with Savion Glover and is keen to continue its relationship with other dance companies.
by Wynne Delacoma
“This week the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago will appear for the first time on one stage. Jim Vincent, Hubbard Street's artistic director, has reworked his 2002 ballet, "counter/part" set to music of J.S. Bach for live performances at Symphony Center with the CSO, conducted by Pinchas Zukerman.”
http://www.suntimes.com/output/delacoma/sho-sunday-cso18.html

Mikhail Baryshnikov
Baryshnikov talks to Ken Ross of the Cleveland Plain Dealer not only about his role in ‘Sex and the City’, but his plans for future projects.
“Asked if he has thought about retiring, Baryshnikov said, "It's in my mind somewhere. But I'm not planning anything now. I'm in good shape, and I have a lot of projects ahead of me."“
http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1074439802156560.xml

Mikhail Baryshnikov
Creative as ever, Baryshnikov moves on
Christine Termin of the Boston Globe reports on Baryshnikov’s new tour.
In the past, Baryshnikov has been openly critical of dancers continuing beyond their prime. He's redefined "prime." .....Unlike other older dancers, he has not deleted jumps from his vocabulary. "I'm doing almost a full class every day, so I have to jump," he says.
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2004/01/18/creative_as_ever_baryshnikov_moves_on

Mark Morris
“"It's the sort of music that if you heard it on the radio, you might change the channel. But you shouldn't." Choreographer Mark Morris is talking about Béla Bartók's Fourth String Quartet, the music he selected for his latest dance, "All Fours," which will have its Seattle premiere next week.”
Brangwen Davis of the Seattle Times previews the choregrapher’s latest work.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/classicalmusicdance/2001837365_morris16.html

David Parsons
“What does Verb Ballets have in common with the Paris Opera Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance/Chicago and numerous other leading classical and contemporary companies around the world? A delightful little dance called "The Envelope." The witty work was choreographed by David Parsons 18 years ago....”
by Wilma Salisbury of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1074335443172184.xml

Breakfast at the Barre
A young and promising ballerina in the corps of the National Ballet of Canada talks about life with the company.
“Gifted with exceptional flexibility and natural grace, Pereira is the one to watch in her company.”
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1074121810354

From Monday's FT, a profile by Alastair Macaulay. "Ashton gave me a look as soon as I went into his office. He said, 'So, which full-length ballet do you want?' He made it perfectly clear he didn't think I was an Aurora or a Giselle. I said, 'Well, Sir Fred, I think I can dance the double role in Swan Lake."
Financial Times

Royal Danish Ballet
Other casts in Napoli
Napoli
USA, New York, John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Dancers: Cavallo, Frishoi, Hojlund, Jeppesen, Lund, Massot, Ryberg, Schandorff, Simone, Slot
by George Jackson
    ....letting the audience discover bonds these people have in common with the rest of humanity is the challange Royal Danish stagers and performers face every time the curtain goes up on August Bournonville's Napoli, a ballet in three very different acts.
Danceview times

New York City Ballet
Balanchine's Magical Confection
Harlequinade
USA, New York, State Theater
Dancers: Ansanelli
by Nancy Dalva
    The ballet seems to have been inspired by a convergence of means and circumstances—for which you may read, if you like, “inspiration,” of which Balanchine, a practical man, had no need.
Danceview

Bare Bones
Anyone for leaping and laughing?
2/004: Bounced Bach, Tautology, Maybe, Misconsumption, Improper
UK, London, Linbury Studio Theatre
Dancers: Baugh, Dunks, Gaborit, Manderson
by Zoe Anderson
    The new works, each made in a fortnight, are a mixed bag: different styles, different levels of execution. Part of the fun is seeing how different choreographers respond to these developing dancers, how well they challenge and make use of them.
Independent

Fugate-Bahiri Ballet NY
Old and New
Vivaldian Chat, A Glimpse, Reflections, Valse-Fantaisie, Continuo
USA, New York, Symphony Space
Dancers: Credell, Davis, Fagundes, Fox, Lavin, Robertson, Stadler, Bahiri, Braun, Capdevila, Munier, Sladkin, Thatcher
by Mary Cargill
    ...fortunately, BalletNY, with their loving and detailed productions of Balanchine and Tudor, show clearly how beautiful and powerful and moving dance can be.
Danceview

Diablo Ballet
Diablo Ballet transcends baffling programme
The Petites, The Magic Toy Store, Tarantella Pas de Deux
USA, Berkeley, Zellerbach Hall
Dancers: Bohnstedt, Johnson, Kabaniaev, Pelaez, Stegge, Torres, Main
by Rachel Howard
    You'll find no hints of lingering anxiety in the dancing, but then again this is not a company that lets quality slip, taxing times be damned. Even when Diablo Ballet is not at its very best, certain standards apply.
San Francisco Chronicle

Sean Curran
Ingenuity evident in Curran's minimalist approach
Amalinda Dances, Abstract Concrete, Metal Garden, Sonata - We Are What We Were
USA, Houston, Wortham Theater Center
Dancers: Boyer, Brickman, Brous, Curran, Demos, Guglietti, Kalivas, Scarpin, Williams, Jaffe, Lambert
by Molly Glentzer
    Seán Curran's dances make you smile and not just when the choreography is funny. Watching his company's Houston debut...was like sitting in warm sunshine on a park bench; sometimes that's all it takes to make you glad you're alive.
Houston Chronicle

New York City Ballet
Letter from New York
Mindy Aloff of Danceview comments on NYCB’s Balanchine current season, other Balanchine works and past performers.
“In the years since the premičre of PNWB’s production, the New York City Ballet Midsummer also seems to have been more carefully groomed, and in the company’s performances this month, the detail was extraordinary.”
http://www.danceviewtimes.com/dvny/aloff/winter04/011904.htm

Yolanda Sonnabend
Ballet design steps off stage
An exhibition of the stage designers work is to be held at the Winter Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair in Battersea Park.
by Conal Gregory, The Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,171-970044,00.html

The Company
The Inside View
Rita Felciano of Danceview reviews the film.
“Considering, the high melodrama which seems to curse ballet films, one can only hope that The Company is setting a standard for others to follow. Maybe with some really good dances.”
http://www.danceviewtimes.com/dvw/reviews/2004/winter/thecompany.html

The Company
Dancers fail to move beyond pretty
And another point of view from Anita Amirrezvani of The Mercury News.
“It's too bad the dances chosen for the film often fail to inspire. Even though the Joffrey, founded nearly 50 years ago, has powerful work in its repertory, the film emphasizes dance that is pretty and a touch vapid.”
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/columnists/anita_amirrezvani/7712219.htm

No One Danced At My Mother’s Wake
Irish Wakes are not what they used to be, says Ann Murphy of Dancviewwest.
“No one danced at my mother’s wake. Not a single person found the screwdriver that might have removed the front door so that that door could be stretched out in the parlor to let an uncle tap out a jig or a reel as another relative fiddled.”

Moving Africa
Moving Africa, Barbican, London
The Torn Eye, Chiefs, Several Form One
UK, London, Barbican
by Jenny Gilbert
    ..all three of the works..bore traits of the worst kind of European contemporary dance: over-long and wilfully obscure.
Independent

Fabrik Company
Boxed in, claustrophobic...inspired
Pandora 88
UK, London, Purcell Room
Dancers: Hoffmann, Till
by Jenny Gilbert
    In Pandora 88 a box, barely 1.5 metres square, encapsulates the shared experiences of two young men (Wolfgang Hoffmann and Sven Till) who clearly would not choose such intimacy.
Independent

Sim

http://www.danceviewtimes.com/dvw/features/2004/wake.html

Forget Me Not
Donald Hutera in the Times reviews a mime show. He liked it, but: ‘ I won’t suggest that you run down to Deptford to see it. In the show’s own geriatrically paced terms, “creep” might be a more apposite verb’.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,685-970765,00.html

Sadler’s Wells
Sadler’s Wells is to lose its chief executive Jan-Luc Choplin in 2006, So says a brief report in Andante:
http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=22996

Russian Ballet on DVD
Tobi Tobias in the Village Voice reviews some Russian ballet DVDs of long-past performances: ‘The Swan Lake, for instance, shows a style of dancing more natural, less highly wrought, than today's, and an acting style, alternating subtlety with melodrama, that is sincere to the core.’
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0403/tobias.php

Dan Hurlin
Tale of a Ruined Face
Hiroshima Maidens
USA, New York, St.. Ann's Warehouse
by Deborah Jowitt
    'In 1955, 25 young Japanese women, horribly disfigured when the U.S.A. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, were brought to this country for plastic surgery. In Hiroshima Maiden, Dan Hurlin..has told, exquisitely and movingly, a tale of despair, guilt, and political manipulation..'
The Village Voice

Freefall
The Fifth Story of the Fourth Day, Homage A Short Piece About Love, Hostage of Love
USA, New York, Clark Studio Theater
Dancers: Armbruster-Russell, Brown, Ruse, Spring
by Deborah Jowitt
    'Lynn Brown (male) and Lynn-Marie Ruse met as graduate students at NYU a decade ago, and their company, Freefall, has been a hit on dance series and at fringe festivals in the U.S. and Canada.'
The Village Voice

Douglas Wright
Elizabeth Zimmer in the Village Voice writes briefly on the New Zealand dancer and choreographer, who has a book coming out. (If I remember correctly he was a founder member of the wonderful DV8 company):
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0403/zimmer.php

Damaged Goods
Alibi
Australia, Sydney, Town Hall
by Jill Sykes
    'Here are seven fantastically good and daring dancers and movers showing how violent and confronting the world can be for people with nothing but damaged bodies and minds.,
Sydney Morning Herald

Black Grace
Malcolm Burgess in the NZ Herald interviews Jeremy Poi, newest member of the New Zealand dance company Black Grace: ‘ "Black Grace has always been about life, never just about making dance. Dance is fantastic and that's our passion, but we're not the kind of people who are going to slit our wrists if we can't dance tomorrow." http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/entertainmentstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3544628&thesection=entertainment&thesubsection=arts&thesecondsubsection=general

Belly Dancing
If you’re not Egyptian, you can’t do belly dancing. So says the Egyptian government, anyway. Neil MacFarquhar in the NY Times reports: ‘Officials will not come right out and admit it, but many in the dance world also say the government suspected that women from Russia and elsewhere were claiming to be dancers while plying an older profession’
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/20/international/africa/20EGYP.html

The Nightingale
Diana Wright in the Seattle Times previews a narrated dance version of the old Hans Chrisian Andersen story: ‘ "The piece is rooted in ballet vocabulary for the nightingale and emperor, but he's also influenced by forms of Asian dance as well as martial arts," (the director) said.’
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2001840187_nightingale21n.html

Birmingham Royal Ballet
Beauty and the Beast
UK, Manchester, Lowry
Dancers: Helimets, Jiminez, Marr, Smolen, Tait
by Robert Beale
    'Birmingham Royal Ballet are so strong in every department, and field such gifted soloists, that anything they do is a treat. This is dance entertainment of the highest quality'.
Manchester Online

London International Festival of Mime
The Independent’s Paul Taylor on the Canadian Stage Company’s production of ‘The Overcoat’ at the Barbican: ‘this staging minds its manners too much…. there's an underlying politeness in the company's approach that inhibits sheer imaginative abandon.’
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre/reviews/story.jsp?story=483377

…and Ismene Brown in the Telegraph agrees: ‘It's the composer's edgy, stained bite at his own era's totalitarianism that provides most of the production's momentum. Because, oh dear, the amiability of the company, the toothlessness of the comic effect.’
http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2004/01/22/btisme22.xml&sSheet=/arts/2004/01/22/ixartright.html

The stars that shed no light
An interesting piece from Sarah Crompton in the Telegraph on the use of ‘star’ ratings in reviews of the arts. She quotes the playwright David Hare: "It is noticeable that in the books pages no such vulgarity obtains It is only the tumblers and fiddlers of the performing arts who have to be put where they belong, alongside washing-machine surveys and comparative studies of frozen foods."
http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=%2Farts%2F2004%2F01%2F22%2Fbacromp23.xml

James Sewell Ballet
Moving Works, Loves Remembered, Barrage
USA, New York, Joyce Theater
Dancers: Freeh, Johnson, Keefe, Leaf, Seipp, Welsh, Freidenstein, Sewell
by Anna Kisselgoff
    ' "Moving Works" is a Sewell trump card, brilliantly analytical in its use of musical and choreographic structure and its range of movement. He knows how the body works and makes it work in new ways.'
The New York Times

Balanchine celebrations
Jean Battery Lewis in the Washington Times on the performances planned to celebrate‘Mr. B’s’ centenary: ‘Today marks the 100th anniversary of George Balanchine's birth. One of the towering figures of 20th-century art, Mr. Balanchine helped define modernism. He is being celebrated with museum exhibits, television shows and performances throughout the year by most of the world's leading ballet companies.’
http://www.washingtontimes.com/entertainment/20040121-091739-1289r.htm

Ballet Pacifica
Mike Anton in the LA Times reports on the financial crisis which has forced the resignastion of its AD, Christina Lyons:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ballet21jan21,1,3306678.story

African-American dance
Molly Glentzer in the Houson Chronicle interviews choreographer Reggie Wilson, whose show is about to open in Houston: ‘Wilson also is bringing a new dance, his first-ever for an all-male cast, called Big Brick -- A Man's Piece. "All the double-entendre is intended," he says. "When you put four good-size African-American males onstage, there's a certain sensuality attached to it. I wanted to deal with that up front." ‘
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/ae/dance/2364516

Chunky Move
Tense Dave
Australia, Sydney, Opera House
Dancers: Ayre, Carbee, Heaven, Smiles, Lucas
by Jill Sykes
    '..a slight but refreshingly entertaining and energising production. It whizzes along as a garland of set pieces that can make you laugh or shudder, sometimes both at once.'
Sydney Morning Herald

MOMIX in New Zealand
The New Zealand online news agency Scoop on the US company Momix’s Auckland appearance next month in their sultry-sounding production ‘Opus Cactus’.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/CU0401/S00048.htm

Bare Bones
Bounced Bach, Tautology, Improper
UK, London, Linbury Studio Theatre
Dancers: Baugh, Dunks, Manderson
by Lucy Wallis
    'If this is the type of art that can be achieved without the use of elaborate sets and state of the art technology, then I would certainly encourage more choreographers to go back to basics'
The Stage

George Piper Dances
Critics Choice, Torsion, Dearest Love, Satie Stud, Mesmerics
Australia, Sydney, Opera House
Dancers: Nunn, Trevitt
by Tim Benzie
    The one to watch out for (for this reviewer at least) was ('Dearest Love), which speaks more about (Bourne's) gloriously technicolour vision of the world than his expertise as a choreographer..'
Sydney Star-Observer

Royal Danish Ballet
La Sylphide Restored
La Sylphide, Etudes
USA, Washington DC, Kenendy Center
Dancers: Blangstrup, Bodtcher, Bojesen, Bowman, Buchwald, Cavallo, Eggert, Hansen, Hojlund, Jeppesen, Lund, Massot, Schandorff
by Alexandra Tomalonis
    'What we saw last weekend (in 'La Sylphide') was what we saw 11-and-a-half years ago when the company last danced La Sylphide at the Kennedy Center. The musicality was there, the poetry was there, the drama, the pacing, the beautiful soft, clear, modest dancing.'
Danceview times

Royal Danish Ballet
Robert Johnson in the New Jersey Star-Ledger on the RDB, which is about to open in New Jersey: ‘American audiences, who may be more accustomed to seeing the statuesque perfection of Russian dancers or the stretched lines favored by George Balanchine, can marvel at the Danes' effortless lightness in the air…. Specialists may even observe old steps, such as the "contretemps" jump, that were common in early 19th century ballet but have fallen out of use.’
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/ledger/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-1/1074842069185680.xml

Boston Ballet
Geoff Edgers in the Boston Post on Boston Ballet’s possible move from it old home at the Wang Center to the Hynes Convention Center: "It's a dream," said Valerie Wilder, Boston Ballet's executive director. "The Hynes has great bones and doesn't have any huge limiting factors. But have we done our homework to make sure it's a possibility? No."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/01/22/could_hynes_house_the_boston_ballet/

The Forsythe Company
The Frankfurter Allgemeine on the funding arrangements for the newly-formed Forsythe company: ‘The sense of victory among Frankfurt ballet lovers is almost tangible…..Frankfurt Mayor Petra Roth, a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union, last week signed an agreement that foresees Frankfurt's participation in the funding of the new ensemble’
http://www.faz.com/IN/INtemplates/eFAZ/docmain.asp?rub=%7BB1311FFE-FBFB-11D2-B228-00105A9CAF88%7D&doc=%7BA5F9A927-7837-496C-ABF4-BD662F78205B%7D

The Company
Sarah Kaufman in the Washington Post reviews the Altman ballet film, ‘But though Campbell is gorgeous to look at, with her chiseled features and smoldering eyes, when she opens her mouth it's all disappointingly gooey cutesiness. Watch out for dimple overload’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40447-2004Jan22.html

Ann Miller
An obituary in the Houston Chronicle for the Hollywood actress and dancer Ann Miller:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/ae/dance/2366762

Tying the Knot
A Canadian news agency report on a TV documentary on weddings, which seems to be featuring the wedding of BRB dancersTiit Helimets and Molly Smolen:
http://www3.cjad.com/content/cjad_news/article.asp?id=e012255A