March 6, 2003, ODC/SF: Remnants of Song "One might wonder how a sexy, high-energy company would conceive of Cistercian society, and the answer is with a sexy, high-energy production. With their robes split down the sides -- revealing more than a little thigh on both the men and women -- and the movement motif of firmly gripping the buttocks, one hoped that Way was making reference to the state of corruption in the old Benedictine monastic orders of the eleventh and twelfth century and not just giving us a little razzle-dazzle."
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February 28, 2003, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre: Prayers From the Egde, Apex "Apex was much different in tone, and a little more obscure in its meaning. Almost tanztheater at first glance, Apex invites us into a Cabaret meets Sprockets environment which seems to be under the four-inch heeled boot of Fisher-Harrell. She smokes a cigarette, and drags around a chair like a jaded dominatrix while the company of dancers flit in and out in bizarrely brilliant sequences. "
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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 12, 2003, Robert Moses' KIN: Lucifer’s Prance, Doscongio, Blood in Time, Solo Suite, 3 Quartets for 4 and the Second is 2, A Biography of Baldwin: Part I, The Soft Sweet Smell of Firm Warm Things "Few of the Bay Area’s modern choreographers are more highly regarded than Robert Moses and with his latest offering, “A Biography of Baldwin,” which premiered during his company’s latest season at the Cowell Theater, he once more shows us the pleasure of his elegantly intelligent and yet vital work."
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January 29, 2003, San Francisco Ballet: Opening Gala: Little Waltz, Pas de Trois from Divertissements d'Auber, Shogun, Excerpt from Without Words, Norwegian Moods, Chaconne for Piano and two Dancers, Pas de Deux from Act II of Giselle, Pas de Trois from Agon, Concerto Grosso"The phrase 'an embarrassment of riches' came to mind at San Francisco Ballet's Opening Gala last night at the War Memorial Opera House. It was an evening to admire the talent that is coming up through the ranks, as well as appreciate the virtuousity of the company's best dancers, who offered performances that elevated mere steps into artistry."
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January 1, 2003, Roundup: Nine things we're looking forward to in 2003 "After a 20-year hiatus, the Bay Area has a chance to see one of Europe's greatest dance companies, the 400-year-old Stuttgart Ballet, appearing this March both in Davis and in Berkeley, bringing two superb but very different programs."
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December 19, 2002, San Francisco Ballet: The Nutcracker "It’s always worth it to see a beautiful dancer such as Maffre make something out of nothing. Her partner, Wexcsteen, has better choreography, but I found him a touch bland and not as clean in his technique as I had expected from someone who looked so striking physically."
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November 9, 2002, Bolshoi Ballet: Swan Lake with Galina Stepanenko as Odette/Odile and Nikolay Tsiskaridze as Siegfried "In this country now, we are quite fortunate to see such a high level of dance on a regular basis, both from native and touring companies, so much so that sometimes I’m afraid we become overly picky, perhaps dwell on details that aren’t so important. The Bolshoi, being the Bolshoi, can’t help but take on a kind of iconic status. What I began to feel, I realized, is that when the first group of corps women run onstage and their pointe shoes clack and knock on the floor, you suddenly realize that they are very human."
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October 26, 2002 Ronald K. Brown/ EVIDENCE: Walking Out in the Dark "'We must speak the truth to each other, or else stay buried in the dark,' says Ronald K. Brown at the beginning of his latest work 'Walking Out in the Dark' presented by Stanford Lively Arts at their Memorial Auditorium. Brown’s endlessly kinesthetic and often eloquent choreography has placed him at the forefront of young American artists seeking light in the dark, although he is less known than he should be."
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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 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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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 2, 2002, Lyon Opera Ballet: Cendrillon and Un Ballo, Gaspard, Bolero "Many who found Marin's recent 'Points de Fuit' --presented by her own company here in April --befuddling and pretentious (although I would personally disagree) no doubt, heaved a sigh of relief at 'Cendrillon,' which is just as long, but much more accessible."
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April 27, 2002, San Francisco Ballet: Damned "I slipped into standing room on Saturday afternoon because I couldn't miss Muriel Maffre as Medea, and, as expected, she just blew me away."
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April 23, 24, 2002, San Francisco Ballet: Silver Ladders, Damned, Sandpaper Ballet "To have one talented in-house choreographer is a wonderful thing, but to have two drawn right from the ranks of your dancers is almost a surfeit of riches, and in Julia Adam and Yuri Possokhov San Francisco Ballet has just that."
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April 17, 2002, San Francisco Ballet: A preview of Yuri Possokhov's Damned
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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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April 2, 2002, San Francisco Ballet: Chi Lin, A Garden, Later, Black Cake "Of the four, 'Chi-Lin' was probably the most successful, with production values and dancing that elevated it above most of Tomasson's previous works."
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March 12, 2002- San Francisco Ballet: Jewels "The defining quality of San Francisco Ballet's version seems to be a youthful freshness that underlies each of the movements, along with strong technique and effervescence."
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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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February 21, 2002, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre: All Ailey Program: Memoria,Excerpts from Night Creature, Streams, The Mooche, Opus McShann, A Song for You, For Bird-- With Love, Hidden Rites, Cry, Revelations; Program B: Serving Nia, Following the Subtle Current Upstream, Caravan "There is no doubt that Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre is one of the finest American companies around, not just surviving, but thriving in the twelve years since the passing of its founder in 1989. Of the three programs last week, one might have thought that one with a premiere by Ronald K. Brown, a piece by local favourite Alonzo King, and a fun-filled revival of Louis Falco’s “Caravan” would have been the star, but it was the evening of old favorites choreographed by Alvin Ailey himself that lit a spark."
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February 17, 2002, Ballet San Jose of Silicon Valley: Rivulet, Apollo, Graduation Ball "In a mixed repertoire program which Ballet San Jose presented for its Valentine’s Weekend performances last week in San Jose, the highlight was a frothy version of “Graduation Ball” which showed off this company of carefree, sunny personalities."
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February 15, 16 2002 - San Francisco Ballet: Fanfare, Dances at a Gathering, Glass Pieces "Although long, 'Dances at a Gathering' is obviously the sort of work that can transport an audience given the right set of conditions. Without a doubt, it's worth seeing on these dancers again; one has the distinct sense that after a few performances, it will be an entirely different animal."
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January 31, 2002 - San Francisco Ballet: 2002 Opening Night Gala "It's easy to believe that San Francisco Ballet has never been stronger. The diversity of its repertoire was only surpassed by the calibre of dancing from the impressive roster of principals and soloists..."
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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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December 11, 2001, San Francisco Ballet: The Nutcracker "The holiday season got off to a delightfully snowy start last Tuesday with the San Francisco Ballet’s opening of "The Nutcracker" at the War Memorial Opera House. I admit that in all these years, and after seeing both provincial and national productions every single year from age five to age twenty, I had not been able to bring myself to see the San Francisco "Nutcracker", but it turned out to be my loss. Despite a few peculiar choreographic moments, it was overall a fanciful, enchanting, eye-filling production which featured some of San Francisco Ballet’s finest dancers, among them an elegant and icy Muriel Maffre as the Snow Queen and a radiant Joanna Berman as the Sugar Plum Fairy."
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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 30, 2001, Savage Jazz: Take Five, Black Codes, M'Boom"'Jazz dance' can be a notoriously ill-defined category ranging from theatrical-style dance to contemporary ballet, but rarely does it intersect at all with 'jazz music' or even the principles of jazz music. Fortunately there is Savage Jazz Dance Company..."
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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 15, 2001, Words on Dance: In Conversation with Lorena Feijoo "In a perfect complement to the Ballet Nacional de Cuba's performances at Berkeley last weekend, Words on Dance and Deborah DuBowy presented a delightful evening of conversation between the Cuban-trained principal dancer for San Francisco Ballet, Lorena Feijoo, and the San Francisco Chronicle's dance critic, Octavio Roca. The evening was, in many ways, an encomium for and a study of the enduring influences that Alicia Alonso and the Cuban style have exerted on classical dance."
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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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