'Onegin' comes to S.F. Ballet

The words that comes up the most often when talking about John Cranko's sweeping ballet "Onegin" is "life changing." Ask anyone who's seen the ballet what they thought of it, and you're likely to get a rapturous account of a performance that changed the way they saw classical ballet. And when San Francisco Ballet at last brings Cranko's iconic masterwork to the War Memorial Opera House stage Friday, it will be the fulfillment of a long-held dream for Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson.

Read More: 'Onegin' comes to S.F. Ballet

Company C Contemporary Ballet review: 10th season

The emphasis was on the contemporary as the intrepid Company C Contemporary Ballet embarked on its 10th anniversary season Friday night at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek with a peppy, agreeable program showcasing works by a few of the latter-day choreographers with whom the troupe has cultivated relationships over a decade of performing.

The evening's most effective moments came wrapped in Paul Taylor Dance Company alum David Grenke's "Vespers," a duet for Jacqueline McConnell and Oliver Freeston to Tom Waits' version of "Waltzing Matilda."

Read more: Company C Contemporary Ballet review: 10th season

Oakland Ballet to delay spring program

In a cost-cutting move described by its director as "risk avoidance," the Oakland Ballet Company is postponing its spring performances, which had been planned for May 18-20 at the Malonga Casquelourd Center in Oakland.

Artistic Director Graham Lustig said that after disappointing ticket sales for "The Nutcracker" at the end of 2011, the company - which has an annual budget of $600,000 - faced an $80,000 deficit.

Read more: Oakland Ballet to delay spring program

San Francisco Ballet review: Gala's depth, daring

San Francisco Ballet dispelled any lingering gloom from the damp, chilly evening with a gala opening on Thursday night at the War Memorial Opera House that deftly showcased the company's notable versatility.

In a program that ran the emotional gamut from dark and brooding to fiendishly nimble, modernity and drama took center stage, with not a Petipa tutu in sight. The oldest ballet excerpt on what felt like a briefer gala program than usual was Vasily Vainonen's 1932 Soviet-era chestnut "The Flames of Paris," and the most recent, Christopher Wheeldon's sleek, candy-colored "Number Nine," was created in April for the Ballet. That's a span of 79 years and, it just so happens, almost traces the life span of San Francisco Ballet itself.

Read More: San Francisco Ballet review: Gala's depth, daring

'A Wintry Mix': Metaphor for immigrant issues

Although it's felt less like winter and more like spring in the Bay Area this year, Davalos Dance Company takes the brisk chill of the season as its inspiration in "A Wintry Mix," which the company performs this weekend at CounterPulse.

"I liked the metaphor of winter - the rain, the sleet and snow, with maybe just a little sunshine mixed in," choreographer Catherine Marie Davalos says. "I love that texture and palette."

Read More: 'A Wintry Mix': Metaphor for immigrant issues

'The Stinky Cheese Man': Kids book turns into play

If you were about to become lunch for a giant, what kinds of desperate stories would you spin to save yourself?

Wits and wackiness come in equal parts in William Massolia's cheerfully nutty play, "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales," which the Griffin Theatre Company will perform Sunday at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco.

Read more: 'The Stinky Cheese Man': Kids book turns into play

S.F. Ballet plays to its strengths in 2012 season

If San Francisco Ballet's exhausting, whirlwind schedule takes a toll, director Helgi Tomasson isn't showing it as he sinks comfortably into the couch in his office in between fittings for the costumes for San Francisco Ballet's new production of Don Quixote and rehearsals for the company's upcoming production of "Onegin."

But then perhaps everyone is simply used to this level of activity, as the company prepares simultaneously for the launch of "Onegin," the opening gala and well, pretty much the entire run of the 79th season's 18 ballets.

Read more: S.F. Ballet plays to its strengths in 2012 season

S.F. Ballet season opening

"What impresses me this year is the quiet ambition Tomasson exhibits," Hunt says. "He's very modest about the past accomplishments of the company, and this season they dive into big new productions like 'Onegin' and 'Don Quixote', as well as complicated premieres that call on not only the skills of the dancers, but also the musicians and designers and all the artists that must come together to make the next five months happen.

"He's built a strong organization, but it's been very carefully done with just the right soup�on of experimentation. As the Ballet heads toward its 80th anniversary, that's an underappreciated achievement."

Read more: S.F. Ballet season opening

San Francisco Ballet 2012 season at a glance

"Chroma," "Beaux," "Number Nine" Rich textures interplay with dramatic color on a mixed program of works that push the boundaries of ballet. Wayne McGregor's riveting "Chroma" stretches the classical lexicon to eye-catching extremes to create a kind of hybrid vernacular to match the pulse of modern life. With "Beaux," Mark Morris creates his seventh commission for the Ballet, using the jaunty music of Bohuslav Martinu as a springboard for nine men to show off a different side of male virtuosity. The evening concludes with the return of Christopher Wheeldon's commission from last season, the high-velocity, kaleidoscopic "Number Nine."

Read more: San Francisco Ballet 2012 season at a glance

Dennis Nahat out at Ballet San Jose

Changes are afoot at Ballet San Jose, but a graceful transition still eludes the embattled company, which has delayed its spring season announcement, shortened its "Nutcracker" run and announced a new partnership with American Ballet Theatre, new artistic leadership and the departure of Ballet San Jose's board chair. Now, founder Dennis Nahat, whose future with the company had been in question, confirmed this week that he has received a letter from Executive Director Stephanie Ziesel removing him as artistic director.

"I am flabbergasted at how this has happened," Nahat said during a phone call Wednesday evening. "I don't understand the rationale behind it, and I guess one cannot rationalize it at this point."

Read More: Dennis Nahat out at Ballet San Jose

Battery Chamberlin: Disappearing gun demonstration

You may have never noticed the gun in battery No. 4 at the north end of Baker Beach, but that's entirely by design.

Hidden gun emplacements dot the California coastline - remnants of coastal defense systems that stretched back to the 19th century. On Saturday, you can not only see one of those hidden 50-ton rifles but also take part in an actual demonstration of loading and aiming one of the last guns installed during the Endicott period at Battery Chamberlin.

Read more: Battery Chamberlin: Disappearing gun demonstration

'Future Motive Power': Mugwumpin's take on Tesla

Science and art, energy and perhaps a touch of madness will all blend together in Mugwumpin's "Future Motive Power," a new theatrical work about the elusive 19th and 20th century genius and inventor Nikola Tesla.

"This is not really a period piece, per se," says Christopher White, artistic director of Mugwumpin, the inventive theater group that he co-founded in 2004. "Although there will be elements of that, as well as elements of the contemporary world creeping in. Tesla had one foot in his century and one in ours."

Read more: 'Future Motive Power': Mugwumpin's take on Tesla

Pointe magazine – Sarah Van Patten

San Francisco Ballet principal Sarah Van Patten brings focus and musicality to her roles.

Is there anything you would change about yourself as a dancer?
Sometimes I get hung up on certain steps or phrases. When you have a moment that doesn’t go well, it’s hard to let that go and continue as if it didn’t affect you.

Do you ever suffer from stage fright?
I do when I have to deal with heights. In Swan Lake, I run all the way up this giant rock and jump off the top, which is terrifying for me. It’s a stunning ending, but my goodness!

Read more: Pointe magazine – Sarah Van Patten

Top 2012 Bay Area dance performances

San Francisco Ballet season (Jan. 26-May 7, War Memorial Opera House, S.F.) Drama and romance converge throughout the San Francisco Ballet season, which kicks off with John Cranko's ravishing "Onegin," based on the Pushkin poem. Beyond the returning classics like "Raymonda," "Romeo and Juliet" and "Don Quixote," SFB's repertory programs promise tantalizing premieres from Mark Morris, Edwaard Liang and Ashley Page as well as Yuri Possokhov's latest - a take on "Francesca da Rimini" - and a long-overdue revival of Balanchine's delightful "Scotch Symphony."

Read more of : Top 2012 Bay Area dance performances:

Dance 2011: Highs, lows and top 10 moments

High: Maria Kochetkova and Gennadi Nedvigin at San Francisco Ballet. In the greatest partnerships in ballet, the union is greater than the sum of its parts, and so it was with these two dancers throughout the 2011 season. It wasn't just that his princely comportment set off her delicate phrasing in "Giselle," or that his rakishness highlighted her vivacity in "Coppelia." So well matched in their impeccable Russian training, Kochetkova and Nedvigin serve up not only artistry of the highest caliber but also that inexpressible, mysterious excitement born of potent onstage chemistry.

Low: The premature retirement of Miami City Ballet Artistic Director Edward Villella. The word that Villella was being ousted by his board sent ripples of outrage through the dance world. Now there are signs that a similar fate may await Ballet San Jose Artistic Director Dennis Nahat. Tracking fiscal health is a board's mandate, but when it ventures into artistic decisions and treats a ballet company like a business machine, the real loser is the art form.

Read more: Dance 2011: Highs, lows and top 10 moments

'Yes Sweet Can': 'Mittens and Mistletoe' circus

Take a little bit of acrobatics and a little juggling, throw in some trapeze work and clowning, and it adds up to a charmer of a circus cabaret for kids.

This weekend, the 5-year-old Sweet Can Productions kicks off two weeks of holiday performances of its popular "Yes Sweet Can" show at Dance Mission, turning the everyday into magical moments.

Read more: 'Yes Sweet Can': 'Mittens and Mistletoe' circus

'The Jewish Nutcracker, a Maccabee Celebration'

Who wouldn't want to make friends with the Sufganiyot Fairy?

Like her counterpart, the Sugarplum Fairy, she's delicate and sweet, and in the guise of Katy Alaniz Rous - who plays the Sufganiyot Fairy in "The Jewish Nutcracker," which opens at the ODC Theater today - she also looks as if she's got a Yiddishe kop - some real smarts.

"Usually when people hear about a Jewish 'Nutcracker,' they say, 'How is that Jewish?' " says Rous, who also choreographed this unusual production last year. "But you know, the regular 'Nutcracker' isn't really a Christian story; it just takes place at a Christmas party."

Read more: 'The Jewish Nutcracker, a Maccabee Celebration'

Ballet San Jose review: Generous 'Nutcracker'

A fairly imposing, 6-foot Mouse King was bounding around the entrance to the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, making more than one youngster a little wary about this whole ballet thing as patrons filtered into Ballet San Jose's matinee performance of Dennis Nahat's "Nutcracker."

Fortunately, once coaxed past the dangers of the rodent kind and into the theater, there was plenty to bewitch ballet-goers of any age. Nahat's 1979 retelling of the holiday classic has always been notable for its fresh spin and the wealth of detail throughout the ballet, whose Tchaikovsky score - with some interpolations and rearrangement - was given a sensitive rendering by the Symphony Silicon Valley under Dwight Oltman's direction. The first act especially, with its broad and yet meticulously executed comedy and thoughtfully plotted individual characters set in David Guthrie's textured and decorative Viennese home, just might be the best in the Bay Area's bevy of "Nutcrackers."

Read more: Ballet San Jose review: Generous 'Nutcracker'

Main portion of the post

Rest of post here.

San Jose Ballet's Dennis Nahat may be forced out

San Jose Ballet Artistic Director Dennis Nahat may be forced out of the company he founded. Apparently, the artistic direction has moved solely into the hands of the board of directors.

"It's a peculiar and precarious situation," Nahat said in a conversation shortly before a matinee performance of his production of "Nutcracker." "I am still an employee of the ballet, I am still management, but if there are changes being made, I am not privy to them."

Read more: San Jose Ballet's Dennis Nahat may be forced out

BALLET REVIEW / Cracking open the joy, awe

It would be so easy to think of this yearly tradition as a kid's ballet, a socially acceptable night out for the juice-and-cookies set. But if a jaded smirk crosses your lips at the thought of yet another year of "Nutcracker," it's good to remember that for more than a few patrons in the theater, this will be their first ballet, and the wonder it generates can be infectious. For every trick you think you know, there is someone in the audience who won't be able to hold back an awed "Wow!" when the doll pops out of a magic box, or a tree begins to ascend magically - and, news flash, it might not be just kids we're talking about.

Read more: BALLET REVIEW / Cracking open the joy, awe:

'Danzón,' Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal, review:

"Tanzt, Tanzt, sonst sind wir verloren," German choreographer Pina Bausch once said. "Dance, dance, or else we are lost."

Now two years after her death, her imperative lives on in her company Tanztheater Wuppertal, which returned to perform Bausch's 1995 "Danzón" on Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall stage courtesy of Cal Performances last weekend.

Bausch's variety of dance theater - evidenced in sprawling evening-length collages of surreal, seemingly absurd vignettes - is sometimes ridiculed, sometimes embraced and often misunderstood. But if her work seems at first glance to be random and incomprehensible, it can also be compelling and intensely personal - a potent dream sequence of images that will bring up different correlations and correspondences in the mind of each viewer. Importantly, what it is for you, may not be what it is for me.

Read more: 'Danzón,' Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal, review

Left Coast Leaning Festival review: hit and miss

"What are you trying to say?"

It's a question that could be sardonic, frustrated or genuinely curious, and the latest edition of the Left Coast Leaning Festival, which opened at the Forum at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Friday, evoked a combination of those moods in a program of works that was inventive, perplexing, combative and delightful.

This is the third year for Left Coast Leaning, a co-presentation of YBCA with Marc Bamuthi Joseph's Living Word Project, and the mission - to seek out works of a distinctively West Coast voice that "emanate from a guttural, visceral place," as Joseph says - continues to be both provocative and appealing. But as is often the case with festival programs, the lineup of five works - by local performers as well as artists from Los Angeles and Portland, Ore. - is hit-and-miss.

Read more: Left Coast Leaning Festival review: hit and miss

'Hover Space' review: Shifting possibilities

There's a wonderful idea at the heart of "Hover Space," which the nervy and rumbustious Printz Dance Project premiered at Z Space at Theater Artaud on Wednesday night. Although ostensibly themes of love and longing thematically tie the 12 dancers together, the centerpiece - literally - of the work is a massive square platform designed by Sean Riley and suspended on chains, covering roughly half the space of the stage.

Bookended by solos performed by choreographer Stacey Printz, "Hover Space" comes in 12 segments in which the dancers work - often in pairs - on, under and around the platform, which not only rises and lowers to reshape the theatrical space but also dips at steep angles to form a surface for the performers to scale, or slide along.

Read more: 'Hover Space' review: Shifting possibilities

Pina Bausch company carries on with 'Danz�n'

In the world of modern dance, Pina Bausch is indisputably an icon of the postmodern dance movement. The sprawling works she created for Tanztheater Wuppertal redefined what it meant to create a dance. They might be simultaneously touching and yet cryptic, keenly perceptive and also frustratingly intellectual, but always they are movingly human.

Two years after the passing of its director and auteur at the age of 68, the company carries on her legacy with former dancer Dominique Mercy and Bausch's assistant Robert Sturm at the helm. The disarming and affable Mercy was one of Bausch's first recruits to the Tanztheater Wuppertal, and speaking by phone from the company's home base in Germany, he candidly discussed the troupe's direction after Bausch's death, and about "Danzón," her 1995 work that they'll bring to the Cal Performances stage at Zellerbach Hall in UC Berkeley this weekend.

Read more: Pina Bausch company carries on with 'Danzón':

Fungus Fair at Lawrence Hall of Science

If you've ever wondered if that little brown mushroom that grows on your lawn is poisonous or whether that pretty shelf fungus you saw on a hike was edible, now is your chance to find out.

This weekend, the Mycological Society of San Francisco's annual Fungus Fair will draw fungi fans from all over the Bay Area for a weekend of getting down and dirty with mushrooms. The Mycological Society has been around since the 1950s, and in addition to leading mushroom field trips and forays, it has sponsored the Fungus Fair since 1969.

Read more: Fungus Fair at Lawrence Hall of Science