Scott Wells & Dancers meld athleticism, artistry

Sitting on a sunlit stoop near his lower Pacific Heights studios, the genial Scott Wells looks more like a regular guy out for a cup of coffee than the freewheeling choreographer whose works have sent dancers swooping on skateboards, pitted balletic Baryshnikovs in a boxing match with Rocky Balboa, and melded the physicality of contact improv with the finesse of dance.

Wells has a love of pure movement that is palpable in the scores of works he has produced over the years. It's that kind of audacious athleticism that takes front and center when his company, Scott Wells & Dancers, presents the obstacle course capering of "Parkour-Deux" juxtaposed with a military-inspired precision of "Special Forces" during its 20th anniversary season at CounterPULSE this weekend.

Scott Wells & Dancers meld athleticism, artistry

LEVYdance-Foundry alliance's promising prospects

Behind the heavy curtain in the lobby of Studio Gracia, hidden in a San Francisco SoMa alleyway, there's grooving going on. A pulsing beat echoes throughout the spacious refurbished warehouse home of LEVYdance as the dancers stretch and warm up under a disco ball in the mint-green studio.

Artistic associate and dancer Scott Marlowe joins in the good-natured joking that ensues when LEVYdance founder Benjamin Levy bounds irrepressibly across the polished hardwood floor, falling to the ground and pinwheeling his legs wildly.

"Don't worry," Levy shouts as he slides past a group of dancers in splits, "We're not doing floor work today ..."

LEVYdance-Foundry alliance's promising prospects

'Les Miserables' by Oakland School for the Arts

"Timely and inspiring."

That's how teacher Michael Berry-Berlinski describes "Les Miserables," the popular musical by Claude-Michel Schonberg, which the students of the Oakland School for the Arts will perform Thursday at the Scottish Rite Auditorium in Oakland.

Based on Victor Hugo's 1862 novel recounting the student uprisings in Paris in the 19th century, "Les Miserables" follows the interwoven stories of the heroic Jean Valjean, the relentless Javert, who pursues him, the tragic Fantine and her daughter Cosette, and the idealistic student Marius.

"It's a story for all time, as appropriate now as it was years ago," says Berry-Berlinski. "The youth of a nation standing up and fighting for a cause - something that resonates with young people today, especially here in Oakland."

'Les Miserables' by Oakland School for the Arts

Diablo Ballet review: Eclectic mix springs to life

From contemplative to winsome to slightly daffy, Diablo Ballet gracefully navigated a delicate balance in the second of its "Inside the Dancer's Studio" series at the Shadelands Arts Center in Walnut Creek last weekend on a program that included four premieres, as well as the crowd-pleasing George Balanchine duet "Tarantella."

A dozen or so cafe tables, scattered in front of more standard seating, set a more informal atmosphere and brought viewers within inches of the performers. It's got to be a little disquieting to dance the high-octane "Tarantella" that near to your audience, but Hiromi Yamazaki and Robert Dekkers found just the right amount of bounce-and-go mixed with genuine warmth to put together a terrific performance. Expertly staged by Oregon Ballet Theatre director Christopher Stowell and Diablo artistic director Lauren Jonas, this delightful little duet to the music of Louis Gottschalk - performed to recorded music here - is chock-full of deceptively tricky and yet fluffy-looking moments that Dekkers and Yamazaki tossed off with ease. Dekkers had just the right kind of lively, clean jumps and pliant ballon for this kind of piece, while Yamazaki added a flirty joie de vivre.

Diablo Ballet review: Eclectic mix springs to life

Ballet San Jose 'Cinderella' review: a funny turn

Broad comedy almost won out over fairy tale appeal in Ben Stevenson's "Cinderella," which Ballet San Jose performed Friday at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. But in a production that boasted all the essential elements of the much-loved story of the rags-to-riches Cinderella and her Prince Charming, even the rollicking wickedness of the ugly stepsisters couldn't outshine the romance.

Story ballets like "Cinderella" make a good choice for Ballet San Jose, a company for which character byplay and storytelling is a particular strength. If the comedic timing for the various players wasn't always spot-on, there was no lack of energy and esprit onstage.

Ballet San Jose 'Cinderella' review: a funny turn

Free Comic Book Day

For comic book aficionados, nothing beats the visceral appeal of holding a real comic book in your hand, paging through the vibrant art and smelling the ink on the pages.

On Saturday, comic fans of any age can feed their love for the genre during Free Comic Book Day, an annual extravaganza in which more than 2,000 retailers in 50 countries will give away special editions of favorite comics - from Disney heroines to Marvel and DC superheroes to the offbeat charms of manga.

"Over 3 1/2 million comics were available for giveaways last year," says Joe Field of Flying Colors Comics in Concord. "And more than a million people showed up to stores, so it's really the world's largest comic book-related event."

Free Comic Book Day

Dance Magazine: Courtney Elizabeth Technique My Way

“The idea of ‘Technique My Way’ really tickled me,” says San Francisco Ballet soloist Courtney Elizabeth with disarming candidness. “I never thought of myself as a technical dancer.”

Elizabeth may be modest, but her performances reveal not only a steadiness—born of early Cecchetti and RAD training at Charlotte School of Ballet, followed by guidance from Patricia McBride and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux at North Carolina Dance Theatre—but also the spark of a quick mind. After a stint as a company apprentice, Elizabeth joined SFB’s corps in 2003. Her versatility and maturity led to her promotion to soloist last year. Dance Magazine talked with Elizabeth about the daily discipline behind her liveliness and ease—including the discipline of letting go when the workday is done.

Read More: Dance Magazine: Courtney Elizabeth Technique My Way

Luna Dance Institute in full swing as it turns 20

Rapt fascination was written on the faces of the two dozen schoolkids sitting scattered around the perimeter of Luna Dance Institute's main studio in an industrial building in the heart of Emeryville on Wednesday. Occasionally a teetering balance or a particular movement drew a quiet giggle, but for the most part, the students were mesmerized by the institute's "20/20 Points of View," in which Melissa Caywood of Deborah Slater Dance Theater performed a solo from Slater's latest work in progress.

"This has always been the dream," said Patricia Reedy, Luna Dance Institute's founder and director, "to bring together real working choreographers and kids - to get them thinking about how to get the kids engaged with dance."

It's been 20 years since Luna opened as a community dance space in Berkeley, a place that Reedy and her co-director, Nancy Ng, hoped would fill the need for rehearsal and class studios left by the loss of Citicentre Dance Theatre. Since 1992, the scope and complexity of Luna's programs have multiplied to include not only dance classes and summer camps for children and choreographic workshops for teens, but also professional development programs for teachers and dance artists, and support for school and community administrators who are interested in organizing dance programs in their home institutions.

Luna Dance Institute in full swing as it turns 20

Open Make: Trash: Exploratorium DIY clothes swap

What once might have gone to a landfill can become useful again at the Open Make: Trash program Saturday at the Exploratorium.

The Exploratorium's popular Open Make series has grown over the years from a small program for youngsters into a monthly public event. This month, the folks at the museum's Tinkering Studio have collaborated with Make magazine and Pixar Animation Studios to devise a special Earth Day celebration that looks at imaginative ways to reconfigure your trash into practical, interesting, even beautiful projects.

Open Make: Trash: Exploratorium DIY clothes swap

Ballet San Jose review: surprising turns

For better or worse, the recent revisions in leadership at Ballet San Jose have meant a redefinition of the company's identity, but promising, even surprising performances buttressed Ballet San Jose's mixed repertory program of company premieres this past weekend at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts.

George Balanchine's "Allegro Brillante" is, on balance, a sound addition to the company's repertoire - the kind of ballet that makes a good company stronger, even as it appeals to the audience.

There was plenty of brio from Friday night's cast, although for all the pep onstage, only a couple of the dancers looked comfortable enough to enjoy the luscious phrasing of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto - unfortunately danced to a noticeably poor-quality recording.

In the ballerina role, Junna Ige seemed nervous and tightly wound, resulting in careful, though nimble, pointework when you longed for her to give more amplitude to her steps to fill out the musical phrases and really make the choreography sing. By contrast, her partner Maykel Solas struck an appealing balance between buoyant enthusiasm and gallant partnering, often looking like he wanted nothing more in the world than to set her at ease.

Ballet San Jose review: surprising turns

SF Ballet review: Balanchine's 'Scotch Symphony'

George Balanchine's delightful 1952 "Scotch Symphony" returned to San Francisco Ballet's active repertoire with lively vigor on Friday night's opening of the company's all-Balanchine program at the War Memorial Opera House.

This highly atmospheric, though plotless, homage to Scotland takes inspiration from the pageantry of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and the heather-scented charms of the Romantic-era Bournonville classic "La Sylphide" as well as the music of Felix Mendelssohn's "Scotch Symphony" conducted with exuberant gusto by Martin West. Full of lively dancing, flashing kilts and jaunty tams, the ballet makes a happy vehicle for the freshness and energy of the corps, which was led in the first movement by Courtney Elizabeth with especial vivacity and sprightly attack.

The ballet is anchored, though, by the central pas de deux for a sylph-like ballerina and her lover, a duet that Yuan Yuan Tan and Davit Karapetyan imbued with a sweet longing on opening night. Balanchine fills this second movement with mysterious interludes - Tan flirts gently with Karapetyan, however romantic moments are enigmatically interrupted by the corps of men, who surround her protectively, blocking him from reaching her.

SF Ballet review: Balanchine's 'Scotch Symphony'

Caroline Rocher connects the dots to Lines Ballet

Afternoon rehearsal is serious business in the Lines Ballet studios, where Alonzo King is working with the dancers on his lavish "Scheherazade" for the company's upcoming season at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Intensity and concentration are written across Keelan Whitmore's face as he works with the lovely Caroline Rocher. She gives a little shimmy that ripples from her hips to her shoulders, but then a smile begins to break out across Rocher's face. It's the first sign that they've hit a piece of the choreography that doesn't quite feel right and it also signals one of Rocher's more endearing qualities. Even when things aren't going perfectly, her outlook is always upbeat.

King comes over to help them push the partnering in a new direction, and when they repeat, there's a fearless spontaneity in her movement, even as she places each foot, each limb with surgical precision.

The luminous Rocher joined Lines Ballet in 2007, arriving with an impressive resume of national and international credits. If at first she seemed a touch otherworldly, even tentative, in her approach to King's famously probing and challenging choreography, nevertheless, in the five seasons she's danced with the company she's imbued her performances with a rare warmth and intelligence and become a soulful and unpretentious interpreter of his work.

Caroline Rocher connects the dots to Lines Ballet

Spring Eggstravaganza: Golden Gate Park egg hunts

Why does a bunny bring eggs at Easter? If you can catch him hiding the eggs for Saturday's Spring Eggstravaganza in Golden Gate Park's Sharon Meadow, maybe you can ask him.

Sponsored by the Recreation and Park Department, this year's event has an "Alice in Recreation Land" theme. It will feature not only the obligatory Easter egg hunts, but also plenty of other amusements - including rides, jumpy houses, arts and crafts and a rib cook-off "Top Chef"-style, between Rec and Park and the city's Police and Fire departments.

The event will pack a lot in, according to Connie Chan, deputy director of public affairs, who says that the Recreation and Park team is expecting thousands of visitors for what has become a springtime tradition.

Spring Eggstravaganza: Golden Gate Park egg hunts

Pointe magazine – Upheaval at Ballet San Jose

Upheaval At Ballet San Jose
After a period of uncertainty during which Ballet San Jose artistic director Dennis Nahat’s authority was gradually eroded, the board officially removed him from the position this January. Nahat cofounded Cleveland Ballet in 1976, shepherded it through its dual-city days as San Jose Cleveland Ballet, then became artistic director and moved the company permanently to San Jose in 2000. “I have no idea what went wrong, but it felt like a hostile takeover,” Nahat said after learning he’d been pushed out.

Like many ballet companies, BSJ has struggled financially in recent years. In an effort to boost its reach, in December the company announced a partnership with American Ballet Theatre. BSJ executive director Stephanie Ziesel explains that the idea grew from discussions with her sister, Mary Jo Ziesel, who serves as director of education and training at ABT. The initial concept was to incorporate ABT’s National Training Curriculum into the BSJ School, but the conversation soon expanded to involve a larger arrangement, in which BSJ would gain access to ABT’s repertoire and coaching staff.

Ziesel says that moving forward, the company will be led by a principal ballet master, former BSJ dancer Raymond Rodriguez, and an artistic advisor, former ABT II director Wes Chapman. “Wes has been engaged for the season,” says Ziesel, “while Ray is a permanent, full-time appointment.”

Ziesel says she wants Nahat to remain involved with BSJ. But none of Nahat’s ballets are on the group’s 2012 lineup, which features six works new to BSJ—including ABT staples like Robbins’ Interplay and Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante. “I hope that soon we can put this behind us and talk about the future,” says Ziesel. —Mary Ellen Hunt

Pointe magazine

Robert Moses Kin review: Sophisticated dance

Robert Moses' choreography not only moves you, it makes you want to move. A sexy jolt of the hips, a sinuous dip of the shoulders - as you watch the unfolding of his enigmatic "Helen," which premiered Friday night at the Yerba Buena Center season opener for Robert Moses' Kin, you might be thinking that you could steal a few of those moves next time you go out dancing.

His is sophisticated dance, smart work for smart people. Whether working with simple abstraction or agenda-tinged, spoken-word essays, it's clear that Moses has a lot of respect for the intelligence of his audience, and that means you leave one of his shows feeling not only stimulated, but satiated.

That's not to say that "Helen" is easily comprehended. What is the contentious relationship between the men and the women about? Is one of the women set up to be the legendary Helen of Troy? But then again, what does it matter when there is such gorgeous dancing onstage?

Robert Moses Kin review: Sophisticated dance

'The Secret History of Love' review: Soul mates

The eternal question of how to find your soul mate is at the heart of "The Secret History of Love," which made its debut on Thursday night at San Francisco's Dance Mission Theater.

Built upon reminiscences gathered by Sean Dorsey from interviews with gay, lesbian and transgender individuals, "The Secret History of Love" is sometimes a tour, sometimes docudrama and occasionally burlesque, although it also leaves a lingering sense that editing down the sprawl of material was difficult. The result is sometimes poignant but can also feel somewhat fractured and episodic.

There are strong performances onstage from Dorsey, along with collaborators Brian Fisher, Nol Simonse and Juan de la Rosa. As a group, the four share a kind of gestalt, moving, interlocking, even breathing with a persuasive consonance that makes the duets, trios and quartets a pleasure to watch.

'The Secret History of Love' review: Soul mates

Robert Moses' Kin poised for 'Helen' S.F. premiere

Underneath choreographer Robert Moses' urbane, composed exterior, you can almost feel the frothing intellectual energy of a mind always in motion. A conversation with Moses can range from sociopolitical ground, through poetry, and into music, art and philosophy with such ease that you wonder how he has time to think about all of this, as well as create new work for his 10-member company, Robert Moses' Kin, teach at Stanford University, raise his young kids with fellow choreographer and dancer Mary Carbonara, and still have time to sleep.

"Actually, I don't really sleep a lot," he says. "Now, I tend to go to bed when the kids go to bed at around 8:30, and I'm usually up by 1. Then I'm up and down through the evening, listening to music or writing, sometimes I'll just sit and consider stuff. I'm really up about 5, which is when my day gets going with other people because 5 a.m. is 8 a.m. in other places."

Robert Moses' Kin poised for 'Helen' S.F. premiere 

Dance: 26th Annual Izzie Awards presented

An atmosphere of casual collegiality pervaded the crowded ODC Theater on Monday night as the Bay Area dance world gathered for the 26th Annual Isadora Duncan Awards, affectionately known as the Izzies, hosted by choreographer Val Caniparoli and Oakland cultural maven Denise Pate-Pearson.

In the production categories, Lines Ballet's production of Alonzo King's "Scheherazade" was a big winner, taking home awards for music and visual design.

Miami City Ballet director Edward Villella was on hand to present a Sustained Achievement Award to Deborah DuBowy for her ongoing lecture series "Words on Dance."

Still, there was a sad irony in that Cathleen McCarthy and Joan Lazarus received kudos for their work with the WestWave Dance Festival in a year when harsh economic realities have forced a scaling back of much of the summer festival's performances. Among the literally thousands of artists whom WestWave has brought to the stage were Alex Ketley, Kara Davis, Katie Faulkner and Manuelito Biag, whose collaborative effort "Terra Incognita, Revisited," which debuted last year on a WestWave program, took home top choreographic and company performance honors.

For a complete list of nominees and winners, visit www.izzies.org.

Dance: 26th Annual Izzie Awards presented

S.F. Ballet Program 6 review: New territory

I could have used a road map to view Ashley Page's "Guide to Strange Places," which San Francisco Ballet premiered Friday night at the War Memorial Opera House, but unfortunately it wasn't until much later that I realized that there actually was a map in front of us nearly the whole time, a guide to parts unknown and unfathomable.

Urged on by the thumping, pulsing score of the same name by John Adams, the 18 dancers ricocheted off each other in quartets and pairs, showing off finely tuned musculature in Jon Morrell's body-hugging tops and shorts in various midnight shades of ruby, sapphire and emerald.

At the start, Frances Chung and Pascal Molat buzzed through complex machinations against a scrim painted like a vast road leading into darkness. That quickly gave way to scattered clusters of bodies pulsating with limb-cracking speed yet dwarfed by Morrell's burning weblike backdrop (lit by David Finn), which looked both ambiguously spidery and geometrically manmade. It is in fact a road map, though Page has said he prefers not to say to which strange place (suffice it to say that it is a highly recognizable location for many Bay Area audience members).

S.F. Ballet Program 6 review: New territory

S.F. Ballet review: 'Dances' lacks cohesion

It would be too easy to call Edwaard Liang's "Symphonic Dances" - which had its world premiere on Wednesday night when San Francisco Ballet opened Program 5 at the War Memorial Opera House - an abstract ballet.

Set to the music of the same name by Sergei Rachmaninoff and given an epic, if brisk interpretation by the orchestra under the baton of Martin West, "Symphonic Dances" looks lovely on the surface. The cast of 18 dancers, arranged in hierarchies of four corps de ballet couples, two soloist couples and six principal pairs, are sleekly striking in costume designer Mark Zappone's diaphanous shades of orange ranging from deep to pale, which contrast pleasingly with lighting designer Jack Mehler's deep undersea teals and heated russet reds.

But for all that, "Symphonic Dances" feels less abstract than simply lacking a core sense of purpose, an essential concept to tie the pretty dances together.

S.F. Ballet review: 'Dances' lacks cohesion

ODC/Dance Downtown review: 'Transit' really moves

Bold lives in motion energized the stage at the opening gala for ODC/Dance's repertory season, which kicked off on Thursday night at the Novellus Theater at Yerba Buena Center.

KT Nelson has integrated the velocity of wheeled movement into "Transit" in the form of artist Max Chen's distinctive bicycle art. Corey Brady and Natasha Adorlee Johnson coast in grand circles around the stage on a "breakfast table" bicycle, while Vanessa Thiessen and Daniel Santos fret and frivol over a morning cup of joe on a combination park bench and bike.

These unusual vehicles add an amusing and fantastical air to a portrait of everyday commuter lives, and they could have ended up as a mere gimmick, but Nelson is too savvy to rely solely on the oddity of her props. When "Transit" really needs to move, the dancers park the bikes and take flight off of their own considerable leg power through a space decked out to feel like a city square. Sheer curtains create windows that frame domestic scenes, and a small wedge of steps serves as a people-watching spot under bare lightbulbs suspended over the stage like droplets of rain.

ODC/Dance Downtown review: 'Transit' really moves 

ODC preps for Dance Downtown series at Yerba Buena

Things are getting a little talky during a rehearsal in the largest of ODC's broad, airy studios on Shotwell Street. Four of the company's women are dissecting a small problem - how to get a particular movement completely synchronized and match their angles. But as they work on it, choreographer Brenda Way taps Daniel Santos briskly on the shoulder and offers a simple imperative.

"Dance."

Within moments Santos and the guys are running through their paces under Way's watchful eye.

Clearly, there is not a minute to waste as the 10-member troupe preps for its annual ODC/Dance Downtown season, which opens tonight at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Over 41 years, under the close guidance of founders Way, KT Nelson and Kimi Okada, ODC has grown from a dance collective run by friends to a veritable institution, with its own school, home and theater. If there's one thing that has served this nimble organization, it is the ability to keep all those parts going.

ODC preps for Dance Downtown series at Yerba Buena

iFLY SF Bay: Indoor skydiving's safe thrills

If the kid in you has always dreamed of flying through the air in free fall, but the adult in you hesitates at the idea of jumping from a plane, indoor skydiving may be just the thing for you.

In Union City, iFLY maintains a vertical wind tunnel that keeps fliers afloat on a cushion of air that mimics actual skydiving so closely that competitive professionals use the equipment for training. But iFLY's staff say the tunnel diving is so safe that even kids as young as 3 years old can try it out.

"Actually, 3-year-olds fly fantastically," says Cameron Cole, a supervisor at iFLY. "They tend to relax even more than older kids and adults do, so sometimes they do better."

iFLY SF Bay: Indoor skydiving's safe thrills

Ballet Flamenco: Troupe's fresh take on tradition

"I prefer to say we are blending rather than creating a fusion," declares Carolina Lugo, the vivacious dancer and leader of Ballet Flamenco, which premieres "Alas del Tiempo" ("Wings of Time") this weekend. "I think the word 'fusion' is overused."

Call it what you will, the brand of modern flamenco that Lugo and her daughter Carole Acuna have brought to stages around the Bay Area has a potent energy, whether it finds its roots in the Moorish hues of Granada or the pulsing samba cadences of Brazil.

"All those rhythms and melodies are a part of flamenco because Gypsies traveled through so many different countries," Lugo explains, "and blending those is a more apropos term for what we try to do."

Ballet Flamenco: Troupe's fresh take on tradition

Alvin Ailey review: Cool formality, hot hip-hop

There may have been changes at the top for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, now under the direction of the affable Robert Battle, but the spirit of the dancing was as bright as ever at the first performance of the company's regular weeklong Cal Performances run at Zellerbach Hall on Tuesday night.

If Battle, who took the reins last summer, seems content to steward the company's considerable repertoire, nevertheless there are hints that his leadership will continue to push Ailey in fresh directions, with commissions and acquisitions by choreographers well known to the company, but works just offbeat enough to pique curiosity about the future.

Leading off Program A - which repeats on Friday - was hip-hop choreographer Rennie Harris' "Home." For the Bay Area premiere, the extraordinary Matthew Rushing - who shifted from full-time dancer to company rehearsal director in 2010 - returned to the stage as a guest artist and he is the heartbeat of Harris' pulsing body of 14 dancers.

Alvin Ailey review: Cool formality, hot hip-hop