Thursday, December 1, 2011
Superbly directed and choreographed by Martha Clarke, with fascinating historically based text by Alfred Uhry, this is an enthralling dance-theater portrait of an 18th-century Shaker commu…
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:11AMWednesday, November 30, 2011
With this latest work, choreographer-designer Shen Wei seems to be moving—or at least looking—backward, embracing the past rather than evolving new approaches to the art of dan…
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:30AMSunday, November 20, 2011
More like a ballet than a play or a traditional puppet-theater presentation, this uneven choreography-driven show features a hodgepodge cast of people and puppets.
SOURCE: Backstage at 02:04AMMonday, November 14, 2011
A superbly entertaining show for all ages, this stimulating introduction to tap features five appealing male dancers backed by a three-piece rock band and a beat boxer.
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:15AMThursday, November 3, 2011
A remarkable achievement of multimedia artistry created by Phantom Limb, this spellbinding show is an imaginatively evocative depiction of British explorer Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedit…
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:01AMMonday, October 31, 2011
A stage adaptation of the Oscar-winning 1954 Italian film of the same title, this is an enchanting, cunningly constructed production, performed in Spanish with English supertitles.
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:14AMThursday, October 27, 2011
A tidy production of a compelling A.R. Gurney play, this is the kind of show that sends a critic to her thesaurus seeking synonyms for the word "perfect."
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:30AMWednesday, October 26, 2011
A world premiere choreographed by Luca Veggetti, this engrossingly experimental work combines a bit of puppetry, slippery text, flute and electronic sounds, and gorgeous contemporary dance.
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:26AMThursday, October 20, 2011
Choreographed by Wang Yuanyuan, this ultimately unsatisfying 70-minute contemporary ballet piece is danced on a spongy mat and proves mesmerizing, beautiful, and fun for the first half-hou…
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:48AMMonday, October 10, 2011
Jenn Colella achieves the impossible with her magical portrayal of a four-year-old in this smart new musical.
SOURCE: Backstage at 04:00AMThursday, October 6, 2011
In September, Pace University, in Lower Manhattan, kicked off a new degree program: a Bachelor of Arts in theater arts with a specialized track in commercial dance.
SOURCE: Backstage at 09:00AMDancers interested in earning a college degree often struggle with the decision to give up four of their prime performing years to academic studies.
SOURCE: Backstage at 09:00AMThursday, September 29, 2011
It's not every day that someone invents a new genre of theatrical performance, yet that's essentially what happens in this clever one-man show that's driven by ingeniously designed, transf…
SOURCE: Backstage at 04:43AMFriday, September 23, 2011
Though its composer and librettist, Paul McCartney, was the biggest celebrity in the house at the premiere, the real star of this simplistically choreographed ballet is costume designer St…
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:30AMMonday, September 19, 2011
A gripping history lesson comprising reconstructions of three of the earliest Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane works, this two-hour program offers an illuminating rearview mirror.
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:01AMMonday, September 12, 2011
Despite its exemplary precision Irish dance routines, this naive show is marred by its creators' lack of imagination and inability to capture an audience's interest.
SOURCE: Backstage at 08:00AMSaturday, August 20, 2011
Short on plot and long on preachy monologues, this play by Jackie Ruggiero Jacobson is nonetheless a provocative, intelligent work, rich in thoughtful feminist commentary on current politi…
SOURCE: Backstage at 09:11AMMonday, August 15, 2011
This prosaically choreographed work by Regina Nejman is performed by four lackluster dancers and set to a forgettable hodgepodge of music interspersed with idiotic text.
SOURCE: Backstage at 03:46AMSaturday, August 13, 2011
Powerfully choreographed by Berlin native Nejla Y. Yatkin, this thrilling, fiercely performed contemporary dance piece explores the personal emotions and political issues surrounding the B…
SOURCE: Backstage at 04:09AMWednesday, August 10, 2011
This top-notch San Francisco–based contemporary dance troupe is presenting a stimulating program that shows the opposite choreographic strengths of its artistic directors, Brenda Way…
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:43AMSunday, July 17, 2011
Despite a few entertaining ensemble numbers, some solid solo singing by Katy Blake, and a delightfully animated performance by Marvin Riggins Jr., this original musical is a bomb.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:06AMTuesday, July 12, 2011
This ravishing ballet, based on the Tolstoy novel, is ingeniously choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky and tells its tragic tale through efficient choreography, colorful music, and stunning s…
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:10AMFriday, July 8, 2011
This earnest production of Euripides' tragedy about the effects of war on women is too unskillfully acted to achieve director Kristin Skye Hoffman's intended comment on the timelessness of…
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:39AMThursday, July 7, 2011
Choreographer John Byrne's ambitious contemporary dance fable purports to express the idea of the transcending soul but doesn't find compelling ways to physically illustrate its weighty id…
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:40AMThursday, June 9, 2011
Appearing in New York for the first time in nearly a decade, Ballet Nacional de Cuba is offering a rousingly entertaining sampler of excerpts from six famous ballets.
SOURCE: Backstage at 03:22AMFriday, June 3, 2011
Alessandra Prosperi and company artistic director Martin Løfsnes are exhilarating dancers, but unfortunately their choreography fails to reach the same high level of accomplishment.
SOURCE: Backstage at 05:15AMThursday, May 26, 2011
In an ambitious mixed bill, American Ballet Theatre is presenting an enlightening display of masterful choreography that demonstrates why the creators are considered great dance makers.
SOURCE: Backstage at 02:25AMFriday, May 13, 2011
Lynne Taylor-Corbett's "The Seven Deadly Sins," featuring Patti LuPone, is musically and visually stunning, but choreographically it's less eventful than expected.
SOURCE: Backstage at 06:56AMFriday, April 29, 2011
Fred Newman and David Truskinoff's hokey, underdeveloped 50-minute musical only skims the surface in its exploration of cultural clashing at a dance camp for city kids in the Hamptons.
SOURCE: Backstage at 07:30AMFriday, April 8, 2011
Except in Kyle Abraham's fine "The Corner," the dancers far outshine their material in this latest offering from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's junior company.
SOURCE: Backstage at 04:34AMThursday, March 31, 2011
This is a largely commendable script-in-hand staging of the 1945 Broadway musical, which is driven by glorious Sigmund Romberg music and set against the backdrop of Tammany Hall politics.
SOURCE: Backstage at 12:06PM 
