Dance: Cue the Mouse King. It’s time once again for Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s indelible ballet, The Nutcracker, which premiered in 1892. Oddly enough, the composer didn’t care for it, thinking he had written himself out. No one would agree with that sentiment today, and his sparkling score has become particularly beloved for young ballet companies with lots of children. Lovers … [Read more...]
News briefs: Ballet Palm Beach, Palm Beach Pops
PALM BEACH GARDENS — Ballet Palm Beach, formerly Florida Classical Ballet Theatre, kicks off the season with “flash ballet” performances this week, beginning today at the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County in Lake Worth. A performance of “flash ballet” lasts no more than 10 minutes, and Ballet Palm Beach, led by Artistic Director Colleen Smith, will be performing at … [Read more...]
New Miami chamber music group makes an important debut
It could be that the audience at the University of Miami’s Gusman Hall on Sunday afternoon was witness to the birth of a musical organization that will take South Florida into the kind of direction only the New World Symphony has gone heretofore. And it may be too early to tell. But the event, ostensibly the closing day of the 20th Mainly Mozart Festival, inaugurated a concert … [Read more...]
Ballet Hispanico a knockout at Duncan
By Tara Mitton Catao Last night at the Duncan Theatre in Lake Worth, New York-based Ballet Hispanico continued its 43-year-old tradition of presenting dance that explores the diversity of Latino culture and presented a program of contemporary work that was impeccably performed and deeply artistic. Jardi Tancat, the opening work on the program, was the very first work of … [Read more...]
Ballet Memphis show celebrates togetherness
If it’s true, as Sartre said, that Hell is other people, it isn’t a message that will find much support at Ballet Memphis. The dance company, now celebrating its 25th year, brought four dances to the Duncan Theatre on Friday night in the first of two performances (the show is repeated tonight). Twelve members of the 23-person troupe from the blues capital were on stage for a … [Read more...]
Miami City Ballet’s ‘Romeo’ to open at Kravis
Following impressive performances at the Arsht Center, the Miami City Ballet’s production of Romeo and Juliet, which opens tomorrow at the Kravis Center, is quickly establishing itself as the company’s newest, and biggest, hit. The company is mounting legendary South African choreographer John Cranko’s setting of the story, to the 1940 score by Sergei Prokofiev. Part of the … [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...]
Ballet Florida standout Opdenaker launches new company tonight
It was so hard to see him go. Dancer Jerry Opdenaker retired from Ballet Florida in 2006 after 14 years with West Palm Beach’s resident contemporary dance and ballet company. He showed so much personality, imagination, even mischief in his dancing -- especially, he confided, when he was unrecognizable; say, costumed as a Cinderella stepsister or Nutcracker Mouse King. But … [Read more...]
Complexions Ballet astonishes at Duncan show
A chance TV viewing of One Last Dance (2003, Patrick Swazye) alerted me to Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Of the film’s extraordinary dance cast, Desmond Richardson’s exceptional segments burned Complexions into my brain. It has taken a long wait to get the troupe to West Palm Beach for anything more than just tantalizing one work on a festival program. But the 15-year-old … [Read more...]
PB Symphony to play score during ‘Potemkin’ showing
Ramón Tebar has worked with demanding sopranos, played as a soloist and chamber musician, and conducted orchestras in symphony, ballet and opera. But for the 30-year-old Spanish conductor, directing an orchestra as the accompaniment to a soundtrack is the hardest thing he's ever done. "The main reason is that, as a conductor, I don't have the freedom and flexibility that … [Read more...]