Emily Berger

What did our critic think of GEORGE BALANCHINE’S THE NUTCRACKER® at Kennedy Center?

The final show of the XX Fuego Flamenco Festival runs through November 23

Flamenco afficionados and skeptics alike should make every effort to see this performance for its choreographic range and strong performances.

While neither piece of choreography made full use of the dancers’ prowess, Thursday’s opening night performance was nonetheless a captivating and welcome distraction. 

Confounding at times and also beautiful, this traditional puppetry company is wrapping us a US tour. Yes, orchestras may downsize from 30 violins to 25, but it still takes all 25 roughly forty minutes to play Beethoven’s sixth symphony. You could speed up the tempo, increasing “output” with the same number of performers (the orchestra could play it twice in an hour instead of 1.5 times!) but no audience pays to listen to it twice in a row nor wants to hear it played vivace.

Saturday, September 21, 2024 marks the 15th year of National Dance Day, a celebration of artistic expression and the joy of movement.

While Fringe proudly does not screen for quality, from what this reviewer saw, this year's dance offerings including two strong works and another mediocre one.

Directed by John Caird and, for this revival, Katherine M. Carter, the production featured a talented cast of emerging opera stars, Studio Artists (many of whom were in featured roles), additional chorus members and the Children’s Chorus of Washington. This large cast filled the stage with excitement, love, and ultimately profound grief. 

The company's signature athletic partnering and haunting effects were on display across five works whose power was diminished by the same beauty and craft that made them worth noticing.

This outstanding festival featured brilliant new or recent work by five choreographers.

This festival includes performances by Ballet West, Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company, Goh Ballet featuring dancers from the National Ballet of China, Houston Ballet. Pacific Northwest Ballet, Singapore Ballet, and The Washington Ballet.

New York City Ballet returns to the Kennedy Center with a thrilling production of George Balanchine’s Jewels, through Sunday, June 9.

This new work featured three episodes in Asian American history.

Message in a Bottle, a narrative dance work set to music by Sting, with choreography by Kate Prince ranging from hip hop to break dancing to contemporary, is sometimes maddening but often exhilarating.

Thursday’s return of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo to the Kennedy Center brought a full house and lots of laughs to the DMV.

GMU's students performed four diverse works Friday night, from historical modern dance to contemporary to one with inflections of break dance. Friday’s annual showcase of GMU’s dancers at the George Mason Center for the Arts, featured roughly half of the school’s majors in works by Martha Graham, Kyle Abraham, Rena Butler and Susan Shields. 

Thursday’s Ailey performance of Program B featured Century, a new work by Amy Hall Garner, her first for the company, 2019’s Ode by former company member Jamar Roberts, and Mr. Ailey’s juggernaut Revelations. 

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s annual run at The Kennedy Center is consistently a highlight of the winter season, and this year is no exception. This year the company brings three programs to D.C., all including Mr. Ailey’s 1960 classic Revelations, representing the best of recent revivals and new works.