DANCE REVIEWS
City Ballet looks good at 20, but not after 10 pm
What does the future hold for City Ballet of San Diego? Could this admirable company celebrating its 20th anniversary take a big leap forward? Instead of restaging tired antique ballets, could it continue to build its contemporary repertory? And if it tapped into adventurous new choreographers who push boundaries, wouldn’t the outcomes be more compelling…
Read MoreBJM Danse dazzles in eclectic program
With an athletic style rooted in ballet and yet wonderfully hip, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal returned to UC San Diego’s Mandeville Auditorium on Thursday after a three-year absence. The program of three new dances includes “Zero in On,” featuring the jointless ballerina Celine Cassone and Kevin Delaney. In the work choreographed by Cayetano Soto,…
Read More‘San Diego Dances on Broadway’ cut loose in the lobby
Intrepid dance troupes are performing in non-traditional settings all over town. One of the most ambitious, and thrifty, is The PGK Project, directed by Peter G. Kalivas (pronounced Kah-LEE-vahs). Kalivas’ roving dance series “San Diego Dances” started in a hair salon in Hillcrest, bounced to a rec center in Golden Hill, then a wine bar,…
Read MoreMalashock/RAW3: Feel the sting up close
If viewers at Malashock/Raw3 sat any closer, we would be wiping sweat off our faces and asking John Malashock for an ice pack. The stripped-down series is back for its third installment, this time in the company’s studio at Dance Place, with three premieres about taking risks, fighting bullies, and an uncooperative universe, and…
Read MoreExpanded ‘Afterlight’ grows dim
Russell Maliphant’s original Afterlight – an enthralling 15-minute solo inspired by images of Nijinsky, and first presented to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes – was a huge hit at Sadler’s Wells, London, in 2010. In a new version, on view Thursday evening at Mandeville Auditorium, he retains that breathtaking solo, adds two…
Read MoreProvocation & Divulgence
You’ve got to hand it to Mickey Mounarath and Spencer John Powell of Visionary Dance Theatre, who lately are the most visible dance producers in town. Their focus is to produce up-and-coming artists in all art forms. There is great value in providing such a platform, especially when novices have the chance to shadow…
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