All stories by Sarah Kaufman on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

American Ballet Theatre presents mixed repertory program by Sarah Kaufman

It takes one heck of a man to overcome a tutu disaster. Luckily for ballerina Xiomara Reyes — whose skirt trailed a loop of torn tulle during a “Don Quixote” pas de deux Tuesday — he…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:39PM
Friday, January 27, 2012

Under Mark Morris, Handel oratorio becomes a visual feast by Sarah Kaufman

Agreed: Mirth, with thee I mean to live. The chorus sings these words at the exultant finish of Mark Morris’s “L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato,” which transforms the Handel or…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:21PM

Spring preview — Dance: Hot acts, plus old favorites by Sarah Kaufman

Welcome to good times: In the realm of dance, your spring is going to heat up early and stay hot. Or at least tingly warm. There’s the brand new: Company E, a repertory troupe making a for…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:35PM
Thursday, January 26, 2012

Joffrey Ballet documentary honors the revolution that was choreographed by Sarah Kaufman

In retrospect, cultural upheavals look so dramatic. Yet we forget the day-to-day exhaustion that goes into resculpting the status quo. New York 1967: The Joffrey Ballet does the unthinkable…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:28PM
Friday, January 20, 2012

Mark Morris’s “L’Allegro”: Imagination Unbound by Sarah Kaufman

Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee Jest and youthful Jollity. — chorus, “L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato” When the young Mark Morris created the biggest production of his …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:28PM

From memoir of war and loss, ‘Into Sunlight’ seeks to heal by Sarah Kaufman

In the bright daylight of Oct. 17, 1967, a U.S. infantry battalion known as the Black Lions marched into an ambush in the Vietnamese jungle that left 61 of its members dead. Just 20 miles aw…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:43AM
Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Mariinsky Ballet shines in Fokine program by Sarah Kaufman

It’s safe to say that Michel Fokine never dreamed of the spaghetti bodies dancing his works in the Mariinsky Ballet today. He could never have imagined the prevailing extremes of flexibili…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 08:21PM
Friday, January 13, 2012

Mariinsky Ballet’s Fokine works: History revisited by Sarah Kaufman

The girls of a poet’s dreams. A classic Russian folk tale. And a story out of “The Thousand and One Nights.” These are hardly revolutionary subjects. But 100 years ago, when Michel Fok…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:16PM
Friday, January 6, 2012

Will Signature’s ‘Hairspray’ lead to a permanent wave of dance on D.C. stages? by Sarah Kaufman

From the first moments, when three go-go window-washers bop their moneymakers across a balcony over the stage, until the last, when the whole cast starts ponying like a rock-and-roll merry-g…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 03:42PM
Sunday, December 11, 2011

Personality-wise, Rick Perry is a flip-flopper by Sarah Kaufman

“Americans are lookin’ for somebody who’s consistent,” Texas Gov. Rick Perry said in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity last month. “They’re lookin’ for somebo…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:49PM

Mitt Romney’s body language speaks of physical modesty, discipline by Sarah Kaufman

Who knew Mitt “the Mitt” Romney had such a devastating left jab? Who knew the man characterized by wooden understatement even had a left hand? We saw it in slow-motion splendor in that m…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:28PM
Saturday, December 10, 2011

American Ballet Theatre’s ‘The Nutcracker” at the Kennedy Center by Sarah Kaufman

You could say American Ballet Theatre’s intriguing new production of “The Nutcracker” is all about appetites. Why else begin it in the kitchen, an unusual starting point for the ballet…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:42AM
Friday, December 9, 2011

Top 10 in dance for 2011 by Sarah Kaufman

New takes on old standards characterized many of the year’s best dance performances. Lucinda Childs’s minimalist work from the 1970s gained new life, while Merce Cunningham’s company …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:21PM
Monday, December 5, 2011

Unique Cunningham bids D.C. an unsettling farewell by Sarah Kaufman

It felt like the end of a point of view. But if you bit your lip and got through the last Washington performances of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theat…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:42AM
Sunday, December 4, 2011

Herman Scissorhands: Cain’s magical gestures by Sarah Kaufman

When Herman Cain announced the suspension of his campaign Saturday, addressing supporters in Atlanta, his words met with murmurs of disappointment. Then he teased the crowd a little, heighte…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:35PM
Friday, December 2, 2011

Washington Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker’ is, once again, plenty sweet by Sarah Kaufman

It’s that “Nutcracker” time of year again, time to welcome back our adorable little friends Fox, Squirrel, Deer, Frog and let’s see . . . oh yes, that valiant contingent of Valle…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 09:21PM
Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Merce Cunningham, as remembered by his dancers by Sarah Kaufman

Talk about a radical departure. What we will see when the Merce Cunningham Dance Company performs at the Kennedy Center on Friday and Saturday will never exist again. The troupe is in the fi…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:49PM

Gift ideas for dancers (and dance lovers) by Sarah Kaufman

Oy, it’s been a year. We’re beleaguered. Beaten up. Depressed by the economy, distressed by political dithering, swirled by tornadoes, slammed by hurricanes, shaken by earthquakes. Thing…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:49PM
Friday, November 18, 2011

Beyonce: “Countdown” video and the art of stealing by Sarah Kaufman

This time, the mass market is leading the avant garde. And it is Beyonce who is pushing the boundaries. Granted, the pop star has done nothing radical or unusual. But by virtue of her enormo…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:14PM
Monday, November 7, 2011

State Ballet of Georgia enchants at Lisner Auditorium by Sarah Kaufman

As Nina Ananiashvili, in a flame-red catsuit and toe shoes to match, slithered across the stage like an elegant, loopy vixen in “Dreams About Japan” at Lisner Auditorium on Sunday night,…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:16AM
Friday, November 4, 2011

Nina Ananiashvili: Dancing to serve her country by Sarah Kaufman

This is not the first time that the internationally renowned ballerina Nina Ananiashvili has found herself in a tricky position. And as usual, her extraordinary artistry is part of the solut…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:49PM

Washington Ballet’s “The Great Gatsby” by Sarah Kaufman

The first bit of action in Septime Webre’s “The Great Gatsby” is the emergence of the jazz band, rising on a lift from the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater’s orchestra pit, the tuba…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:14PM
Sunday, October 30, 2011

Ballet Hispanico: Stilettos and the human heart by Sarah Kaufman

If your Halloween costume still needs some heat, try a pair of high red lace-up boots with stiletto heels, like the ones that took the first steps in “Mad’moiselle,” an attention-getti…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:56PM
Friday, October 28, 2011

Beijing Dance Theater: ‘Haze’ in more ways than one by Sarah Kaufman

The Beijing Dance Theater did a fair job of capturing the dull gloom and psychic thrum of haze in a work called “Haze,” performed Wednesday at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater. …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:56AM
Wednesday, October 26, 2011

China’s high-energy ballet is on trend by Sarah Kaufman

Is the National Ballet of China bringing us ballet of the future? Presumably, as China grows its wealth and global ambitions, so will this company and its way of presenting classical Western…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:35PM

Suzanne Farrell Ballet: Big dreams, small scale by Sarah Kaufman

When Suzanne Farrell arrived in Washington a decade ago to launch a ballet troupe at the Kennedy Center, it was as momentous for the arts as when basketball great Michael Jordan moved here t…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:35PM

Washington Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker’ to have live music by Sarah Kaufman

After two years of canned Tchaikovsky, the Washington Ballet will dance to a live orchestra during its four-week run of “The Nutcracker” this season, thanks to a $250,000 gift from longt…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:35PM

Pixels and pirouettes: Live ballet in movie theaters by Sarah Kaufman

Ballet fans, rejoice: Movie technology has come to your rescue. At the very least, it can help salve a recent wound. You know the one I’m talking about — the history-making news that hit…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:35PM

‘Footloose’: Dancing lets off steam, loses heat of original film by Sarah Kaufman

Back in 1984, the news hit the dance doubles hard: “Footloose” was going to have more story than dancing. But that choice has served fans of the original film well — we got more of Kev…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:34PM

Hope Solo’s revealing moment: It’s more than skin deep by Sarah Kaufman

In her sparkly pink gown on the first week of “Dancing With the Stars,” soccer star Hope Solo looked uncomfortably exposed. Naked, even. It wasn’t just that her backless dress barely c…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:34PM
Tuesday, July 5, 2011

In unraveling choreography, Broadway’s ‘Spider-man’ loses superpowers - The Washington Post by Sarah Kaufman

The creators behind the revised version of “Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark,” the bedeviled Broadway show that officially opened last month after a surgical shutdown, took its title too se…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:00PM