Just three months before his death, Paul Taylor, who for years refused to name a successor, surprised the dance world by naming Michael Novak, a company dancer for just eight years, as Artistic Director-Designate.
San Francisco Ballet was back in the Opera House for a two-week run continuing through Sunday, with a pair of great mixed bills. Each was like a three-course meal, each piece a world unto itself, but linked like islands in an archipelago.
San Francisco Ballet is back in the Opera House, and they opened their season, Helgi Tomasson's 35th as artistic director, with a ballet that is sure to please.
San Francisco Ballet's Gala dances ticked off the boxes an Olympics judge might face: technique, style, artistry, showmanship, and musicality. Everybody gets an A.
Director Alla Kovgan's captivating bio-doc "Cunningham" (1919-2009) provides a hypnotic view of the fabled gay star dancer/teacher Merce Cunningham's choreography.
Former Smuin company dancer Rex Wheeler, a.k.a. Lady Camden, is rehearsing the lead role in "Santa Baby," a work created by late company founder Michael Smuin that will be the centerpiece of "The Christmas Ballet" LGBTQ+ Night on Thurs., Dec. 19.
"Stomp," the so-called "international percussion sensation," played A.C.T.'s Geary Theater in San Francisco for eight performances last week, and Out There and a lot of vicarious percussionists were in the house.
They were ready. Nothing short of a fire that could engulf Berkeley would have kept Cal Performances from presenting the Russian ballet "La Bayadere" in Zellerbach Hall last week.
Alonzo King LINES Ballet's fall program at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts featured two brand new works: "The Personal Element," which premiered at the Vail Dance Festival in August, and the world premiere of "Azoth."
Cal Performances finally kicked off its season of major international performing arts last Friday night in Zellerbach Hall with a brilliant revival of Mark Morris' "Mozart Dances." I am glad to see it again.
Choreographer James Kudelka is putting the final touches on his ballet "The Man in Black," the top-billed work on Smuin Contemporary Ballet's first program of the season.
