Orchestra-Ballet's "Pulcinella' (2nd review)

Pulcinella, we hardly knew ye

Jorma Elo's adaptation of Stravinsky's Pulcinella is at once familiar, original and cunningly constructed. But it diffused the audience's understanding of a colorful story, leaving the lead couple as the only recognizable pair.

Jim Rutter

Apr 12, 2011 · Articles · 5 minute read

Basil Twist's puppet "Petrushka' at Annenberg

Who dances better than dancers?

The 1911 ballet Petrushka cast dancers as puppets. In Basil Twist's radical adaptation, puppets portray puppets— an ingenious concept, because puppets can do things that dancers can't.

Jonathan M. Stein

Apr 12, 2011 · Articles · 4 minute read

Kashu-juku Noh Theater at the Perelman (2nd review)

Is it theater or dance? Or baseball?

Is Japanese Noh drama or dance? In Western drama, something happens; in Noh, someone appears. Noh theater just may be one of those art forms that defy category, especially if you don't speak Japanese.

Mar 29, 2011 · Articles · 6 minute read

Myth vs. dreams in Wheeldon's "Swan Lake'

It was only a dream? Then give me my money back

In falling back on the framing device of a dream, Christopher Wheeldon's recent adaptation squanders the genuine mythical power of Swan Lake. The same goes for Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan.

Jim Rutter

Mar 15, 2011 · Articles · 4 minute read

Pennsylvania Ballet's "Swan Lake' (2nd review)

The swan competition: And the winner is….

In the coveted Swan Queen role, the up-and-coming dancers Brooke Moore and Lauren Fadeley both displayed the necessary technical skill. But only Moore truly inhabited the part.

Jim Rutter

Mar 08, 2011 · Articles · 5 minute read

Pennsylvania Ballet's "Swan Lake' (1st review)

Out of the forest and into the studio

Roy Kaiser says he wanted a Swan Lake that was an original production. He couldn't have known how well Christopher Wheeldon's poetic original interpretation of a long established classic would suit his company and his audience.

Janet Anderson

Mar 08, 2011 · Articles · 6 minute read

Pennsylvania Ballet's "Swan Lake' competition

Truth is stranger? A real-life battle of the swans

In the film Black Swan, two ambitious ballerinas engage in a fierce competition for the role of the Swan Queen in Swan Lake. Now the Pennsylvania Ballet has set up the same scenario for the same ballet.

Jim Rutter

Mar 01, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

Kate Weare and Monica Bill Barnes at Annenberg

A hit and a miss

Kate Weare's Bright Land shakes up the folk traditions and gender roles that folk songs most often invoke. By contrast, Monica Bill Barnes's Another Parade was a lightweight attempt at parody.

Jonathan M. Stein

Feb 15, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

Pennsylvania Ballet's "Classical Innovations'

A program in search of a point

Two pieces on Pennsylvania Ballet's latest program offered beauty and sensory treats but no particular point. The company would do better to scrap both and stage the third by itself: Twyla Tharp's awe-inspiring In the Upper Room.

Jim Rutter

Feb 08, 2011 · Articles · 2 minute read

Argentina's Tango Fire at the Merriam

Tango's middle-age crisis

Like no other art form I know, the tango shows us who we are. But Tango Fire's brief but intense visit to the Merriam raised an implicit question: Like jazz, where is the tango headed?

Robert Zaller

Feb 05, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read