When I started reading Toni Bentley’s Serenade: A Balanchine Story, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. In fact, I wasn’t sure that I was going to continue reading it. I had my suspicion that the tone might be overly reverent, as Bentley was young and impressionable when she joined the ranks of New York City Ballet and was chosen by master choreographer George Balanchine to dance … [Read more...]
In MCB’s season-ender, couples, soloist Peters stand out
Miami City Ballet hedged its bets for the last program of season by presenting the world premiere of an elaborately ambitious collaborative work together with the company premieres of two acclaimed contemporary pas de deux and a dated repertory warhorse --- George Balanchine’s The Prodigal Son. It was an evening of strong performances by all the company dancers, but the … [Read more...]
Glittering ‘Jewels’ was true treasure at Miami City Ballet
Miami City Ballet shared a glittering jewelry box with us March 18 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts by presenting a treasure: Jewels. This iconic ballet, which is performed by numerous ballet companies around the world, was choreographed for New York City Ballet in 1967 by George Balanchine who always claimed that, despite the title, his evening-length ballet … [Read more...]
Beautiful, visually lavish ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ ends MCB season
The visually lavish production of George Balanchine’s evening-length ballet A Midsummer Night’s Dream closed out Miami City Ballet’s 2018-19 season in the Palm Beaches last week. This revisit of the $2.1 million reimagining of the original work was something to behold. The spectacular set and costumes were by artist Michele Oka Doner, who looked to the Miami waterways for … [Read more...]
Lovely, lustrous ‘Jewels’ opens MCB’s season
Seeing the Miami City Ballet’s opening program of the season Nov. 18, which featured George Balanchine’s Jewels, was very much like opening a box and finding an array of precious gems inside, beautifully crafted in elegant and intricate settings. Each section of Balanchine’s acclaimed triptych was distinctly different but all were polished, multi-faceted and brought to … [Read more...]