Milwaukee Ballet’s Valerie Harmon as the Black Swan. -Photo: Jessica Kaminski
When it comes to producing “Swan Lake,” the size of your bevy matters.
“After the Rain,” featuring Victoria Jaiani and Fabrice Calmels, was performed by the Joffrey Ballet during the 2010-11 season. – PHOTO: Herbert Migdoll
Ballet is enjoying renewed public interest and generating enthusiastic audience responses. But has this classical art form retained its relevance amid the dramatically changing social and artistic landscapes of recent decades?
Dance fans who will never grow up should be delighted by the return of Milwaukee Ballet’s high-flying production of “Peter Pan.” The work, which premiered in 2010, returns to Marcus Center for the Performing Arts for four performances from May 10 to May 13.
Meredith Webster and David Harvey of Alonzo King LINES Ballet perform in
Collaboration in the arts often yields surprising results, in the best cases creating a whole greater than the sum of its parts. This season’s collaboration between Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and San Francisco-based LINES Ballet offers a blend of the former’s earthy athleticism with the latter’s ethereal neo-classicism that well proves the thesis.
NomadicLIMBS dancer Lauren Treat. - Photo: Courtesy Patrick Trautffield Photography
The city’s newest and perhaps most innovative dance troupe aims to fill the void that perennially affects the dance world during the warmer months.
Milwaukee Ballet Artistic Director Michael Pink. – Photo: Adam Horwitz
As far as Michael Pink is concerned, comparisons between him and Billy Elliott, the fictional lad from northern England who gave up boxing to pursue ballet, are purely coincidental. But as artistic director of the Milwaukee Ballet, Pink has created a one-two punch during his nine-year tenure, coupling narrative with athleticism in ways that have turned the ballet into one of the city's performing arts heavyweights.
Leave it to the undead to help bring a struggling Madison arts company back to life.
Next month, the Madison Ballet will stage the world premiere of “Dracula: A Rock Ballet” at the Capitol Theater in Madison’s Overture Center for the Arts. The two-hour original ballet, danced to a score by Madison composer Michael Massey, is the third of four works in the ballet’s 2012-13 season – a season marked by expansion, new ballets and a return from the financial precipice, says W. Earle Smith, Madison Ballet’s artistic director.
“Billy Elliot the Musical” has become one of the most highly decorated and beloved musicals to hit the boards in the past decade. Out actor/ dancer Christopher Howard believes that’s because the narrative about a little boy who would rather dance than box has redemptive qualities.
Dancer Marc Petrocci gets hoisted during a rehearsal of the Milwaukee Ballet’s “Peter Pan.” – Photo: Courtesy
The easiest way to get to Neverland is to follow the second star to the right and then head straight on till morning. But you need to be flying in order to get there.
