Highlights

February 15, 2003, Farruquito & Juana Amaya: Por Derecho "The flamenco term duende refers to the transportation that one experiences in the presence of performers who have released themselves completely to the music and the dance. If anyone attending this show had never experienced duende before, this was it."
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February 10, 2003, Merce Cunningham Dance Company: Suite for Five, MinEvent, Fluid Canvas "For some people, a performance of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company can be an adventure into the realm of purely distilled ideas about movement and time -- a kind of kinesthetic conceptual art -- while for others, it is a excruciating descent into pretension and boredom."
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January 30, 2003, Oakland's Artship: Gallery plans sinking quickly "The Oakland Port Commission has scuttled hopes for the Artship, an experiment that would have made the waterfront home to one of the Bay Area's most unique cultural spaces."
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January 17, 2003, Kim Epifano: Idea for 'Einstein's Daughters' fell from the sky "The work is a nonlinear swoop into the story of Mileva Maric, Albert Einstein's first wife and scientific collaborator. It is a mix of theater, dance, music and aerial work in which Epifano, Louise and 11-year-old Keefer trade off the roles of Maric and her daughter in a fluid interpretation of the former's inner life. The show continues at the Cowell Theater in Fort Mason Center."
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October 23, 2002, Cullberg Ballet: Swan Lake "Reams and reams have already been written about the bald-headed swans of indeterminate gender, about the Manichean undertones and Freudian leanings of the revamped story, but less has been made of Ek's warm affection for the old classics of ballet."
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October 14, 2002, LINES Contemporary Ballet: 20th Anniversary Celebration "Opinions about Alonzo King's LINES Ballet may always be polarized. If you are a devotee, then artistic director King is a visionary, creating works of affecting spirituality and choreographic power. If you're a detractor, King's ballets are twitchy, derivative and unnecessarily 'California woo-woo.' As with most things, the answer probably lies somewhere in between."
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October 5, 2002, Ballet Prejlocaj: Helikopter, The Rite of Spring "Love him or hate him, few can see the works of Angelin Preljocaj and not be provoked. The 45-year-old French choreographer, whose company, Ballet Preljocaj, appears tonight and Sunday as part of San Francisco Performances' season at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, is known as much for his challenging intellectual layering as for his articulate and absorbing choreography."
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October 4, 2002, Mark Morris Dance Group: Resurrection, A Lake, Something Lies beyond the Scene, Foursome, Lucky Charms "The program included the world premiere of 'Something Lies Beyond the Scene,' set to witty poems by Edith Sitwell; 'Resurrection,' with witty costumes by Isaac Mizrahi; 'Lucky Charms,' to witty music by Jacques Ibert; and 'Foursome,' a witty conception of…well, you get the point."
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September 9, 2002, Diablo Ballet: Diablo's dilemma inspires donor "Ron Huxley has a challenge for the Contra Costa community. He's donating $10,000 in matching funds to Diablo Ballet, which he hopes will help spur people to pitch in to help save the company."
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June 1, 2002, White Oak Dance Company: Largo, Early Floating, The Experts, Chaconne "Audiences may have come to see one of ballet's bona-fide stars, but along the way they were treated to some fine performances by other members of White Oak Dance Project, all of whom remind us that classicism is not always a dirty word where modern dance is concerned."
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June 1, 2002, Joe Goode Performance Group: What the Body Knows, Mythic Montana "Saturday's performance of 'Mythic, Montana' at the Yerba Buena Center shows us that, as the Joe Goode Performance Group (JGPG) marks its sixteenth anniversary, their new works have only deepened the company's ability to tell cogent and thoughtful stories by any means possible."
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May 13, 2002, San Francisco Ballet: Giselle "It was less a sad occasion than a joyous celebration of a dancer at the height of her powers, where perhaps the most touching aspect of the evening was not Berman's own incandescent portrayal of the title role, but the way her fellow company members paid homage to her with their own dancing."
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April 5, 2002, Compagnie Maguy Marin: Points de fuite "A bare stage, screaming guitars, flocking dancers, 'Don't talk to me about what you are saying. I'm not asking you what you are saying,' -- all without intermission. French post-modernist Maguy Marin frustrates."
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March 1, 2002 - San Francisco Ballet: Othello "It will be immortalized on television, with the controversially non-controversial choice of Desmond Richardson as the lead, and it carries the imprimatur of two major American dance companies, but is it any good?"
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January 29, 2002 - Joe Goode Performance Group: Shut up and Dance "Saturday's performance of the Joe Goode Performance Group's program, 'Shut Up and Dance', offered an evening of eclectic works, old and new, some still rough at the edges, and others carefully finished, but all of them thought-provoking and engaging."
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November 24, 2001, ODC/SF: The Velveteen Rabbit "Okay, so I admit it. Despite a jaded San Francisco air, I can still be found sniffing away and holding back tears next to the six-year olds at a matinee of ODC/SF’s "The Velveteen Rabbit". No one is too old for KT Nelson’s clever adaptation, which was designed as family fare and is celebrating its 15th anniversary with a two-week run at the Yerba Buena Center this year. It was sweet entertainment all the way."
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November 6, 2001, Adventures in Motion Pictures: Car Man "It's a scandal; it's several scandals, in no particular order: sex, orgiastic mayhem, murder and gore. But secretly, isn't this tawdry story just the kind of thing you love to watch?"
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October 23, 2001, LINES Contemporary Ballet: The People of the Forest "Despite some beautiful and evocative moments, a perplexing interpretation of its sociopolitical agenda kept Alonzo King's newest work, 'The People of the Forest' from making a serious impact. "
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October 16, 2001, Company Joachim Schlömer: La Guerra d'Amore "But while there are many beautiful moments and a conceptually arresting melding of music with dance, ultimately 'La Guerra d'Amore' possesses more of tanztheater's long-windedness than emotional bite."
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October 12, 2001, Ballet Nacional de Cuba: Coppélia "Few companies in the world can render the great classic ballets as well as the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, and last Friday's performance of Alicia Alonso's version of the storybook ballet, Coppélia demonstrated the sunny charm and style that is the hallmark of this company."
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July 20, 2001, La Scala Ballet: Giselle "Much attention has been given to the alterations that Guillem has made to the Romantic ballet, which she originally set for the National Ballet of Finland in 1999, and for many who are used to a particular aesthetic, La Scala's Giselle will indeed look vastly different. Nevertheless, in the end, it is not a deconstruction of the 19th century classic, but simply a new staging."
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April 30, May 1, 3, 2001, Paris Opera Ballet: La Bayadere "On Monday night, as I sat in the War Memorial Opera House I fantasized about what it would be like to have the Paris Opera Ballet as my "home" company. What if I were able to see them every week, to watch them in contemporary and in classical rep? To be able to track as this coryphée got their first shot at a particular role, or that sujet tried out a variation? It seems unfair to see them only as a taste. It seems unfair to see any company that way. What if the dancer was executing sloppy pirouettes that night? Is he a bad turner or is he having an "off" night? One wishes for the luxury of seeing them week after week, but just one week will have to suffice."
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