Miami City Ballet dancers in Baker’s Dozen.(Photo by Kyle Froman)Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct factual errors.By Rex HearnTwenty-five years can be like a lifetime for a ballet company.First there were the early struggles with fundraising, performing without an orchestra, then finding the corps de ballet, the soloists, the prima … [Read more...]
MCB makes splendid showing in Kravis program
Twenty-five years can be like a lifetime for a ballet company. First there were the early struggles with fundraising, performing without an orchestra, then finding the corps de ballet, the soloists, the prima ballerinas and the male danseurs. Plus administrators, ballet teachers, accountants and yes, even doctors specializing in bone injuries. It’s exhausting, but the Miami … [Read more...]
MCB marks 25th anniversary with sparkling opener
The Miami City Ballet is nothing if not synonymous with the name Edward Villella, the founder and artistic director. Villella’s second act, after a long and distinguished career dancing with George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet, was the creation of Miami’s world-class ballet troupe, which he has grown and nourished over the past 25 years. His philosophy, like … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Oct. 8-11
John Leonard Thompson and Kim Cozort in Candida.Theater: Palm Beach Dramaworks opens its new season by continuing to take the high road, giving its audience “theater to think about,” the triangular comedy Candida by the all-too-rarely produced in South Florida George Bernard Shaw. Kim Cozort stars in the title role, the wife of a “moralist and windbag” … [Read more...]
ArtsPreview 2010-11: The season in dance
A scene from Barak Marshall’s Monger.By Sharon McDanielThere’s dance in a variety of styles, stars and stripes this season.The mix runs from modern dance to Irish, contemporary ballet to tango, flamenco to Philippine. A dance fan can catch a Russian ballet classic—featuring a cast of Russians to the ballet born—then make tracks for really rad, cutting-edge … [Read more...]
ArtsPreview 2010-11: The season in dance
There’s dance in a variety of styles, stars and stripes this season. The mix runs from modern dance to Irish, contemporary ballet to tango, flamenco to Philippine. A dance fan can catch a Russian ballet classic—featuring a cast of Russians to the ballet born—then make tracks for really rad, cutting-edge dance theater. Incoming to South Florida are popular touring companies … [Read more...]
Dance review: FCBT’s ‘Dream’ a nice climax to sharp, entertaining show
Rogelio Corrales and Lily Ojea in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, at Florida Classical Ballet Theatre.(Photo by Janine Harris)By Greg StepanichOver the years I’ve seen a number of ballet companies that feature a large contingent of children, and usually that means there’s a good deal of wiggle room for the kids in the presentation, which allows things to be … [Read more...]
FCBT’s ‘Dream’ nice climax to sharp, entertaining show
Over the years I’ve seen a number of ballet companies that feature a large contingent of children, and usually that means there’s a good deal of wiggle room for the kids in the presentation, which allows things to be not-so-precise but irresistibly crowd-pleasing. But Colleen Smith’s company, the Florida Classical Ballet Theatre, doesn’t do things that way. In a Wednesday … [Read more...]
Bulletin from Broadway No. 6: ‘Come Fly Away’
Holley Farmer and John Selya in Come Fly Away. (Photo by Joan Marcus)By Hap ErsteinEight years ago, Twyla Tharp won the Tony Award for choreography, using the music of Billy Joel for her quirky, alternately graceful and clumsy leaps and lifts in a show called Movin’ Out.The Playbill program for it contained a three-paragraph synopsis of the plot -- … [Read more...]
Dance feature: New West Palm dance company sets May 1 debut
Christine Winkler and John Welker of Explore Dance Theater.By Jan EngorenBallet Florida, a West Palm Beach institution for almost a quarter-century, closed its doors in June 2009, leaving a vacuum that a new not-for-profit professional dance company hopes to help fill.Explore Dance Theater, founded in 2009 by two former principal dancers of Ballet Florida, Tracy … [Read more...]