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Month: April 2015

CAN AILEY CO. BUILD UPON ITS PAST?

CAN AILEY CO. BUILD UPON ITS PAST?

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Its Old Repertory Is Still the Best By Karl Toepfer artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area dance Weeks starting April 28, 2015 Vol. 17, No. 56 BERKELEY — Last week, the Alvin Ailey Company visited Berkeley, bringing with it three programs in six concerts. The programs mostly featured new works receiving their Bay Area premieres and works adopted by the Ailey Company. The only piece choreographed by Ailey was Revelations, his great, enduring, and immensely popular hit…

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UNIQUE AQUATIC CREATION AT S.F. BALLET

UNIQUE AQUATIC CREATION AT S.F. BALLET

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But Will It Have Legs (or Fins?) to Endure Vol. 17, No. 52 Computer animation in live ballet took a quantum leap with the premiere work “Swimmer,” at the S.F. Ballet through April 21. Techno-enhanced ballet will never again be the same. The blending of projections with live dancers was so well done (by Kate Duhamel, the trompe-l’oeil video designer) that you were never quite sure where one ended, the other began. Live strap-hangers peopled a projected commuter bus. Dancer…

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RATMANSKY’S TRIUMPHAL BALLET NIGHT

RATMANSKY’S TRIUMPHAL BALLET NIGHT

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The brilliance and imagination of choreographer Alexei Ratmansky flows abundantly over the stage, where the San Francisco Ballet performed his arresting “Shostakovich Trilogy,” honoring the composer through a trio of works co-produced with the American Ballet Theatre. Whether it’s the feathery-light steps of the dancers giving the illusion of floating, or the corps’ arms undulating overhead in unison like willows in the wind, Ratmansky takes dance to a new level quite different from Balanchine (though both emerged from St. Petersburg,…

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‘TARTUFFE’ ANEW AT THE BERKELEY REP

‘TARTUFFE’ ANEW AT THE BERKELEY REP

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Timely Hypocrisy, Pomposity, Comedy By Carol Benet artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area theater Weeks starting April 5, 2015 Vol. 17, No. 49 BERKELEY—Molière’s satirical comedy “Tartuffe,” first performed in 1664, remains one of the most timely scripts ever written despite the vast time gap since it appeared, it. In it, Molière makes fun of excessive religiosity, yet this new interpretation at Berkeley Rep by Dominique Serrand and Steven Epp, who plays Tartuffe, is both hilarious and…

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