Real men don’t cry. Generations of men have been taught this — and lack of emotional connection and depression have resulted.

Thanks to the Milwaukee Ballet, three young choreographers will have a chance to push the boundaries of dance while Milwaukee audiences judge the results.

Even casual dance fans have heard of the Christmastime classic “The Nutcracker,” but what about “The Mutt-cracker” ballet?

’Tis the season of The Nutcracker, a time when ballet companies nationwide celebrate the joys — and the spike in revenues — that Tchaikovsky’s timeless work offers.

Some call dance the original art form, with the body as the original instrument. Every time you tap your foot to music, you’ve joined the art of movement.

Wisconsinites enjoy entertainment at many levels, prices and places. This year’s preview of the 2016–17 performing arts season focuses on the largest and best-known performing arts groups and venues in Milwaukee and Madison, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg in a state with a remarkabl…

At the height of the summer, corn fields are getting taller, tomatoes are starting to ripen, cows are grazing — and ballet dancers are pirouetting and leaping across the grass.

Don’t be late for the very important dates of May 19 to 22. That’s when the Milwaukee Ballet will be closing its 46th season with Alice (in wonderland), a stunning production that brings the Lewis Carroll classic to life with vivid, surreal staging. The production will feature 30 dancers fro…

Acclaimed choreographer Pascal Rioult is joining Madison’s Kanopy Dance for a Valentine’s concert of passion. Rioult: Hearts Entwined will feature three of his works and two of his dancers, in a program running Feb. 12 to Feb. 14. 

Milwaukee Ballet fans have enjoyed the music of Philip Feeney since frequent collaborator Michael Pink became the ballet’s artistic director in 2002. From Peter Pan and Dracula to Esmeralda and Mirror, Mirror, the English composer’s musical stamp and unique complexities have underscored Pink…

Friends of Li Chiao-Ping would describe her, first and foremost, as a dancer and choreographer extraordinaire. Other words that come to mind include athlete, educator and, most certainly, fighter.

Dance is often considered the ultimate art form, one that uses the original instrument — the human body — as the medium for its message. When that artistic message also involves social commentary, dance can have a profound impact on its audience.

Call it coincidence, or credit dark forces dancing in the human psyche. Either way, Wisconsin’s two premier ballet companies are opening their seasons with productions of a story that ballet fans will really be able to sink their teeth into: Dracula.

The beauty of Sergei Prokofiev’s narrative score and Milwaukee Ballet artistic director Michael Pink’s enchanting vision will unite later this month, to wrap up the ballet’s 2014–15 season with the timeless tale of “Cinderella.” 

Think of humanity’s earliest forms of art, and the average expert may point to the Paleolithic painting of a dun horse in the Lascaux Caves in southwestern France as a prominent example. Glenn Edgerton, artistic director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, suggests we look elsewhere.

In 1841, composer Adolphe Adam wrote the music for Giselle, the consummate ballet of mid-19th-century Romanticism. The story of heartbreak, loss and forgiveness is timeless. A young peasant girl falls in love with a nobleman who encourages her affections but is betrothed to another. When she…

As a student of noted choreographer Martha Graham, Lisa Thurrell learned early the power and grace found in her mentor’s works. Now, as the co-artistic director of her own company, Kanopy Dance, Thurrell will recreate that power and grace in Madison.

For aficionados of ballet, nothing is more evocative of its possibilities than narrative-free, abstract dance pieces like those showcased in the Milwaukee Ballet’s upcoming Spring Series.

Romeo and Juliet live happily ever after? Fortunately, that’s not how Michael Pink sees it.

Take Romeo and Juliet, imagine them traveling in a time machine set for three distinctly different stops in the 20th century, and you’ll have some idea how Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet will bring the star-crossed lovers to the stage next spring.

Summer in Milwaukee means few performance opportunities for dancers. The absence of activity perfectly suits out dancer and choreographer Thom Dancy, whose NomadicLIMBS troupe is again filling the void, and the dancers have been busier than ever.

When it comes to producing “Swan Lake,” the size of your bevy matters.

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 la…

Leave it to the undead to help bring a struggling Madison arts company back to life.

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?

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.

“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.

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.