11/21/08 - sfgate.com

Diablo gets boost from Stowell's choreography

San Francisco Ballet fans miss Christopher Stowell, who for 16 years was one of the finest male dancers in the company's history. But though Stowell retired from the stage in 2001, he's hardly disappeared. In 2003, Stowell made good on his ballet lineage -...
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11/20/08 - nytimes.com

Dance Review | Urban Bush Women and Jant-Bi: Crossing Continents to Explore History and Identity

“Les Écailles de la Mémoire,” an exploration of black identity, has perfect timing politically speaking, but is only intermittently compelling to watch.

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11/20/08 - nytimes.com

Clive Barnes, Critic, Dies at 81

As a critic in Britain and later for The New York Times, Mr. Barnes helped bring dance to a broad audience with an exuberant style.

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11/20/08 - danceviewtimes.com

A Rare Royal Triple Bill

"Serenade," "L'Invitation au Voyage," "Theme and Variations"
Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
London, England
October 28 - November 10, 2008

by Judith Cruickshank
copyright 2008 by Judith Cruickshank

Triple bills are something of a rarity at Covent Garden these days, when the repertory is based firmly around full length blockbusters which are assumed to be what will fill the house and also attract the new, younger audiences for which the management yearns. Personally, I suspect high ticket prices may have something to do with the lack of younger audiences, and reports of swathes of empty seats during the recent run of "Manon" would seem to undermine the view that full-evening works are all people want.

Either way, the mixed bill which opened on 28 October for... More

11/20/08 - sfgate.com

Diablo gets boost from Stowell's choreography

San Francisco Ballet fans miss Christopher Stowell, who for 16 years was one of the finest male dancers in the company's history. But though Stowell retired from the stage in 2001, he's hardly disappeared. In 2003, Stowell made good on his ballet lineage -...
More

11/20/08 - sfgate.com

Music review: Usher, the family and ladies' man

There were no special effects or elaborate props, not even an opening act Tuesday night at the Warfield - just two fast-paced hours of music and movement by Usher Raymond, contemporary soul music's permanent song-and-dance man. The sold-out show was the 10th...
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11/19/08 - nytimes.com

Dance Review | Complexions Contemporary Ballet: A Program of Muscular Charm Guaranteed to Energize the Crowd

One thing is sure about the choreographer Dwight Rhoden: he has no fear of being thought accessible or populist.

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11/19/08 - danceviewtimes.com

Three Vintage Neumeier Works in Hamburg

Homage to Diaghilev
John Neumeier, “Daphnis and Chloe”, “The Afternoon of a Faune”, “Le Sacre”
Hamburg Ballett John Neumeier      
Hamburg Opera House
Hamburg, Germany
November 13, 2008

by Horst Koegler
copyright @2008  by Horst Koegler

 In Hamburg, John Neumeier started his 2008/9 Diaghilev anniversary season on November 7 with a revival of three of his earlier creations: “Daphnis and Chloe” and “Le Sacre”, both dating from his Frankfurt beginnings in 1972  sandwiching his version of “Afternoon of a Faune”, created in 1996 in Dresden for Vladimir Derevianko and two of his partners. I attended the fourth performance on November 13, with a full house enthusiastically applauding all three newly polished pieces, and danced by... More

11/19/08 - sfgate.com

Music review: Usher, the family and ladies' man

There were no special effects or elaborate props, not even an opening act Tuesday night at the Warfield - just two fast-paced hours of music and movement by Usher Raymond, contemporary soul music's permanent song-and-dance man. The sold-out show was the 10th...
More

11/19/08 - sfgate.com

Jazz Prof. Dee Spencer's Stevie Wonder project

Dee Spencer is grooving to Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke," doing a little dance and banging a tambourine on the backbeats. "Vocalists, get into more! Get into the spirit of the song!" shouts Spencer, a robust woman with a high-beam smile. She's rehearsing the...
More

11/19/08 - sfgate.com

Dimensions Dance Theater celebrates its 35th

Anyone who's seen a Dimensions Dance Theater performance knows the all-women Oakland company is always dancing full tilt. So if there seemed to be more energy than usual Saturday night, maybe it was coming from the grateful crowd gathered for Dimension's 35th...
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11/18/08 - nytimes.com

Theater Review | 'My Vaudeville Man!': Back When Vaudeville Was King, and Tapping Could Aspire to Royalty

Directed and choreographed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett, this show is based on the life of the tap dancer Jack Donahue.

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11/18/08 - danceviewtimes.com

In Miniature

Sensedance
Ailey Citigroup Theater
New York, NY
November 11, 2008

dance on a shoestring
New York Theatre Ballet
City Center
New York, NY
November 15, 2008

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel

Small ballet companies in New York City are an uncommon lot, laboring in the shadow of the major institutions.  Two of them, Sensedance and New York Theatre Ballet, performed last week.  New York Theatre Ballet’s “Dance on a Shoestring” series are in-studio performances that are a cross between a full-dress affair and an informal studio showing (ask the little kids wandering up and down the risers) and they’re a great value at ten bucks.  This one contained a little treasure, the beginning of a reconstruction of Antony Tudor’s “Trio Con Brio.”

Choreographed in 1952 at Jacob’s Pillow, and brought back from obscurity by Artistic Director Diana Byer’s work with silent 16mm films and the Glinka score, the work immediately strikes one as atypical.  This is Tudor, the 20th Century’s great narrative and psychological choreographer making . . . a classical divertissement. Tudor, like Ashton, is... More

11/18/08 - sfgate.com

Jazz Prof. Dee Spencer's Stevie Wonder project

Dee Spencer is grooving to Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke," doing a little dance and banging a tambourine on the backbeats. "Vocalists, get into more! Get into the spirit of the song!" shouts Spencer, a robust woman with a high-beam smile. She's rehearsing the...
More

11/18/08 - sfgate.com

Dimensions Dance Theater celebrates its 35th

Anyone who's seen a Dimensions Dance Theater performance knows the all-women Oakland company is always dancing full tilt. So if there seemed to be more energy than usual Saturday night, maybe it was coming from the grateful crowd gathered for Dimension's 35th...
More

11/17/08 - nytimes.com

Dance Review | 'Bicipital Groove or Echo My Instincts': Choosing Outfits and Hopping Stools: It’s a Busy World

For those who complain that there’s not much dance in contemporary dance, there is an antidote in the work of Teri Lee Steele and Oliver Steele.

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11/17/08 - nytimes.com

Dance Review | 60x60 Dance: An Express Without Any Delays

The first thing to be said about “60x60 Dance” is that it is a masterpiece of organization.

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11/16/08 - nytimes.com

Dance Review | 'True': A Clean, Well-Lighted Place Full of Bells and Whistles

The multimedia Japanese spectacle “True” opened a three-night run at Japan Society on Thursday.

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11/16/08 - nytimes.com

Dance Review | '837 Venice Blvd': Chopping Through Boundaries of Growth

Faye Driscoll’s “837 Venice Blvd,” which opened at the Here Arts Center on Thursday, slyly blurs the real and the theatrical, memory and fantasy, the past and the present self.

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11/16/08 - nytimes.com

Yes, They All Do Think They Can Dance

“So You Think You Can Dance” is gearing up for its fifth season, and roughly 900 hopefuls answered an open casting call in Brooklyn on Thursday.

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