Holiday jollity hit the stage Friday as Smuin Ballet heralded the arrival of the holidays with a cheery, chipper opening of 'The Christmas Ballet' at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek.
In its 14th outing, Michael Smuin's spiffy, toe-tapping alternative to the avalanche of 'Nutcrackers' retains its lovable verve and still sports loads of eye candy for the anti-snobs of ballet."
Read more on the SF Chronicle site.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Dance Review: San Jose Ballet's 'Toreador'
"It's been 168 years since the premiere of August Bournonville's Spanish postcard ballet "The Toreador," but with delectable costumes and sets and loads of bright, effervescent charm, this once-lost ballet has become an attractive showcase for Ballet San Jose's deepening roster of dancers, who gave it a lively showing at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts Thursday night.
'The Toreador' hasn't been seen since 1990, after Ballet San Jose's artistic director, Dennis Nahat, bought the sets and costumes - created originally for the Royal Danish Ballet's 1978 revival - from the Dallas Ballet, which had folded under director Flemming Flindt. Once a staple at the Royal Danish Ballet, 'The Toreador' left the active ballet repertoire in 1929 and was not seen again until 1978, when Danish choreographer Flindt revived it based on historical notes and the memories of the few people who had danced the ballet."
Read more on the SF Chronicle website.
'The Toreador' hasn't been seen since 1990, after Ballet San Jose's artistic director, Dennis Nahat, bought the sets and costumes - created originally for the Royal Danish Ballet's 1978 revival - from the Dallas Ballet, which had folded under director Flemming Flindt. Once a staple at the Royal Danish Ballet, 'The Toreador' left the active ballet repertoire in 1929 and was not seen again until 1978, when Danish choreographer Flindt revived it based on historical notes and the memories of the few people who had danced the ballet."
Read more on the SF Chronicle website.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Yerba Buena Learning Gardens
The Yerba Buena Gardens provides a wide assortment of delights for children, with the Zeum museum, the carousel and Paul Lanier's 10-foot-tall Wishing Tree. But what parents might not know is that on weekends Yerba Buena Gardens also offers Learning Days, a year-round series of free workshops and events designed to foster the green thumb.
"It's one of the best kept secrets in town," Mary McCue, the general manager of Yerba Buena Gardens, says of the program that has been quietly teaching urban kids the basics of gardening for almost 10 years.
"It started when we were taking a group around on a tour of the Yerba Buena Gardens," she recalls, " and we had a little boy in the group who said he was going to start a garden, too. He said he was going to plant tomatoes and carrots ... and lamb chops. And I thought, 'Oh my, we need to teach these kids about gardening!' "
Read more on the SF Chronicle site.
"It's one of the best kept secrets in town," Mary McCue, the general manager of Yerba Buena Gardens, says of the program that has been quietly teaching urban kids the basics of gardening for almost 10 years.
"It started when we were taking a group around on a tour of the Yerba Buena Gardens," she recalls, " and we had a little boy in the group who said he was going to start a garden, too. He said he was going to plant tomatoes and carrots ... and lamb chops. And I thought, 'Oh my, we need to teach these kids about gardening!' "
Read more on the SF Chronicle site.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)