Low: The ousting of Dennis Nahat at Ballet San Jose: In a split that was as unpleasant as it was confounding, in January, Ballet San Jose's board abruptly removed Dennis Nahat as artistic director of the company he founded, while commencing a partnership with American Ballet Theatre. After a shakeup in the ranks, and a precipitous reorganization of artistic leadership, the company seems to have regained some of its footing. But while no one disputes that change is part of the artistic life of any organization, it didn't have to happen this way.
Most improved: Emerging Pictures' "Ballet in Cinema": In times past, balletomanes resorted to secretly traded, shaky and shady videotapes if they wanted to savor the Bolshoi performing "The Bright Stream" or catch a glimpse of the Nederlands Dans Theatre in between infrequent U.S. tours. Now "Ballet in Cinema" has made it possible to see everything from the Royal Ballet's latest "Swan Lake" to Martha Clarke works at La Scala, right in the comfort of your own neighborhood movie theater. Of course, nothing beats seeing live performance, but if a jaunt to the great theaters of Europe isn't in your immediate future, this comes close.
MVP: San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival: Hundreds of world dance performing troupes and organizations make their home in the Bay Area, and for 34 years the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival has brought that enormous diversity of dance to the stage - Indian bharatanatyam, Brazilian capoeira, West African dance, Argentine folklórico, Appalachian clogging, flamenco, Celtic dance - the list is both dazzling and exhaustive. Whether the troupe is earthy or airy, traditional or avant-garde, the Ethnic Dance Festival creates a milieu in which Chinese lion dances can coexist with Ewe warrior dances from Ghana while offering a lens on the human experience that can be thrilling, touching, informative and entertaining, often all in the same evening.
Top 10
Los Farruco: (Bay Area Flamenco Festival, Sept. 30). Every performance of Los Farruco feels like flamenco as it should be - low on frills and furbelows but high on octane and electric in its execution.
"Swan Lake": (Mariinsky Ballet, Cal Performances, Oct. 10). The iconic Mariinsky proved once again that true beauty in classical ballet is found not only in the elegant details but also the meticulous and loving attention to tradition.
Clas/Sick Hip Hop Festival: (Dec. 1) Marc Bauthi Joseph's brilliant informal format put the audience on the same floor with icons of hip-hop, and when you saw the look of inspiration in the eyes of the younger dancers crowded around the feet of Nonstop and I Dummy, admiring, analyzing and absorbing dance, suddenly it felt as if theatrical dance had fresh relevance to a new generation.
Renee Robinson performing with Alvin Ailey: (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Cal Performances, March 17) We didn't know it then, but it was the last time the Bay Area would see Renee Robinson in her iconic yellow dress rocking our souls in Alvin Ailey's joyous "Revelations." The inimitable Robinson, who retired in December after 31 years with the company, spread her infectious enthusiasm like a gospel, and we were her willing acolytes.
Boy Blue's "Emancipation of Expressionism": (San Francisco International Hip Hop DanceFest, Nov. 18) Hip-hop at its most expressive took on the inexorable momentum of a freight train when London's Boy Blue performed at the hip-hop festival crackling with adrenaline, barely reined in by mathematical precision.
Katherine Wells in "Helen": (Robert Moses' Kin, March 30) Was Robert Moses creating a tribute to an unforgettable woman? The remarkable Katherine Wells was mesmerizing, seductive and authoritative - a dancer that you can't stop watching, no matter what she's doing or where she is onstage. KT Nelson's "Transit": (ODC Dancing Downtown, March 17) Max Chen's quirky and inventive sculptures only added to the velocity and dynamic range of KT Nelson's wistful portrait of the pulse and hum of urban life.
"Constellation": (Lines Ballet, Oct. 19) The stars aligned in one of Alonzo King's most satisfying and playful works, an array of thrilling and kinetic dance framed by Jim Campbell's innovative LED light designs.
Ohad Naharin's "Max": (Batsheva Dance Company, San Francisco Performances, Feb. 23) Ohad Naharin's visceral Gaga technique and its interplay of muscle and bone was surprisingly compelling in a display that was as inviting as it was ritualistic.
"Tarantella": (Diablo Ballet, May 5) Robert Dekkers soared in lofty jumps and Hiromi Yamazaki flirted with intricate pointe work - together they brought to the notoriously tricky "Tarantella" a glamour and delightful vivacity - and a sense of fun too rarely seen in Balanchine's works.
Read more: Best of dance in 2012
