All stories by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Nova Bhattacharya’s ‘Svāhā!’ celebrates female energy with a mash-up of diverse dance styles by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

The cast of 22 women represents more 30 forms of dance, including Bharatanatyam, jazz, hip hop, tap, modern and classical ballet.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 08:00AM
Monday, August 15, 2022

National Ballet launches season with free outdoor performances at Harbourfront by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

This is the second year in a row that the National Ballet has partnered with Harbourfront Centre to produce “Sharing the Stage” at the canopied, waterside 1,100-seat Concert Stage.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:00AM
Friday, August 12, 2022

Let’s Dance: ‘Visionary’ new Yensa festival celebrates Black women artists by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

The festival unfolds with open-to-all dance workshops and other features from August 19 to 28, including two evenings of performances at Daniels Spectrum in Regent Park

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:00AM
Thursday, August 4, 2022

Dancing in the park: Dusk Dances’ brings pay-what-you can live performance back to Withrow Park, with a few twists by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Go for a whimsical walk, as an emcee and performers delight and enchant with an event that first ran in 1993.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:00AM
Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Theatre-circus-dance hybrid ‘Anthropic Traces’ asks: ‘What do we want to leave behind?’ by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

“Anthropic Traces” is an unclassifiable synthesis of circus arts, dance, music, mask, multimedia and theatre that reflects on the continuing impact of humanity on our fragile planet.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 02:11PM
Monday, July 18, 2022

Ballet Jörgen brings the romantic spirt of Anne Shirley to Toronto in its ‘Anne of Green Gables’ ballet by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

At a cost of a million dollars, “Anne of Green Gables — The Ballet” is the company’s most expensive and ambitious production to date.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:09PM
Monday, June 27, 2022

Dance work at Harbourfront holds a mirror to our need to be loved by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Alan Lucien Øyen’s “Story, story, die” is “basically about our desire to be recognized” and the lies we tell to present a lovable image.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:06PM
Monday, May 2, 2022

A mythical creature and human misbehaviour are at the heart of Guillaume Côté’s ‘Crypto’ by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

“Let’s say it’s an adult fairy tale,” says the dancer and choreographer of his multimedia work, which draws inspiration from cryptozoology and “The Little Mermaid.”

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 04:30PM
Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Baritone Simone Piazzola celebrates 200 performances as Giorgio Germont in ‘La Traviata’ by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

“The challenge is not to make this character a villain,” says Piazzola, who will mark his first 200 performances with the Canadian Opera Company May 3.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:27PM
Thursday, April 7, 2022

Another male dancer leaves the National Ballet as Brendan Saye departs for Vienna by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

The National Ballet of Canada needs an experienced man to take his place. Artistic director Hope Muir says she has a plan.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 03:46PM
Wednesday, April 6, 2022

It took a lifetime of work — plus a pandemic — for Anne Plamondon to create ‘Only You’ by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

When the Montreal choreographer’s duet was delayed two years by COVID-19, “it didn’t feel right simply to dust it off.”

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Friday, April 1, 2022

In ‘Four Legs,’ a masterwork of dance is preserved for the future by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Oscar-nominated Barbara Willis Sweete gives new life to James Kudelka’s stage work, performed by Evelyn Hart and Zhenya Cerneacov.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:00AM
Monday, March 28, 2022

In ‘New Tricks,’ choreographer and dancer Christopher House is his most intimate version of himself by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

“One of my goals in this work is to be as unguarded as possible. I didn’t want to invoke a character,” says the former Toronto Dance Theatre artistic director.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 06:00AM
Monday, February 28, 2022

Obituary: Menaka Thakkar helped to bring Indian classical dance to Canada by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Before MenakaThakkar’s arrival in Toronto, Indian classical dance had few local practitioners and little prominence.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 04:25PM

Israeli dance troupe L-E-V brings innovative ‘Chapter 3: The Brutal Journey of the Heart’ to Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

The world premiere of “Chapter 3” featured nine dancers. It was recently performed by a cast of six in New York City; the gender mix can also vary.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 02:35PM
Friday, February 25, 2022

Sonia Rodriguez will end her National Ballet of Canada career digging deep in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Rodriguez’s farewell comes next month after 32 years while Jillian Vanstone, who made her mark in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” will leave the company after 22 years.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Jazz, astrology and the northern lights combine in Rodney Diverlus’s dance work ‘Sagittarius, Meet Capricorn’ by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

One of Toronto’s fastest rising dance talents, Diverlus is part of Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre’s WinterSong at Harbourfront.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:00AM
Thursday, December 2, 2021

With fewer performances and no ‘adorable little lambs’ ‘The Nutcracker’ returns in person to local stages by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

The National Ballet, Ballet Jörgen and Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement manage to bring back the holiday season ritual with pandemic restrictions.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 02:22PM
Thursday, November 25, 2021

Ballet boys get help from adult dancers with bullies, homophobia by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Toronto-based dance company offers mentorship and aid knocking down stereotypes.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:00AM
Tuesday, November 2, 2021

‘We became like one living being’ — dancers bond, literally, at ‘Bodies in Urban Spaces’ audition by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Dancers auditioned at the Bentway Studio for a Toronto version of ‘Bodies in Urban Spaces,’ a site-specific street performance in which locally recruited casts in colourful, gender-blurr…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 03:12PM
Thursday, October 21, 2021

Caleb Teicher’s and Conrad Tao’s ‘More Forever’: exuberant joy with a melancholy undertow that speaks to the fragility of human existence by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Pianist Tao and dancer Teicher encountered each other as teenagers at an arts competition where Tao composed a classical arrangement of Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair.” “More Forever�…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 06:26PM
Wednesday, October 13, 2021

From India to Cuba to England (in spirit), Vikram Dasgupta’s bumpy road to putting dance on film by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Filming the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble in India helped Dasgupta handle the unexpected death of his father, but soaring COVID-19 infections kept him from flying to London to shoot the November…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 06:00AM
Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Fall for Dance North roams geographically and artistically with its global virtual programming by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Instead of a five-days festival of live performances in Toronto, this year’s event will not officially end until Oct. 29, with livestream offerings available until Nov. 5. And the artistic…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:00AM
Tuesday, September 21, 2021

The artists of Dance Made in Canada return to quasi-normality with live performances in High Park by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Co-director Yvonne Ng couldn’t take the gamble of indoor performances for the 2021 fest so it’s a hybrid of live outdoor shows and virtual presentations.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Thursday, August 26, 2021

‘Exceptional experience’ — first live National Ballet in more than 16 months elicits cheers, dreamy ambience by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Mixed bill of four works from new and existing repertoire made for an emotion-charged event on the Harbourfront stage

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 01:24PM
Monday, August 23, 2021

National Ballet leaps into live performances with open air Harbourfront shows by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

First in-person shows since March, 2020 will sample classic and contemporary ballet, take place on open air concert stage with patio-style tables

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 03:02PM
Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Indigenous artist Christine Friday dances her way to healing at Canadian Stage’s revamped Dream in High Park by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

The 50-minute solo performance of “Maggie & Me” is one she hopes will lead towards understanding and reconciliation

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 05:00AM
Wednesday, July 7, 2021

‘I wanted this next challenge,’ says Hope Muir, the new artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Toronto-born Muir got her start as a professional dancer at English National Ballet and has been artistic director of Charlotte Ballet since 2017.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 11:00AM
Sunday, July 4, 2021

Who’ll fill Karen Kain’s shoes at the National Ballet of Canada? We name a few hypothetical candidates by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Nobody has been groomed for the job, but principal dancer Guillaume Côté would be an attractive insider choice. For outside candidates, Tamara Rojo would be well suited if she could be wre…

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 08:00AM
Tuesday, June 29, 2021

‘Karen represents the very best of what Canada can be’ — colleagues express love and admiration for the National Ballet’s Karen Kain by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

To mark Kain’s official departure June 30 as the National Ballet of Canada’s artistic director the Star invited a selection of friends and colleagues to send their congratulations.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 07:00AM
Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Karen Kain’s ‘Swan Lake’ will finally take flight in the National Ballet’s 70th anniversary season by Michael Crabb - Special To The Star

Kain announces the 2021-22 National Ballet of Canada season in one of her last official acts as artistic director. She’ll step down at the end of June.

SOURCE: Toronto Star at 12:00PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards